Big Thompson River

Big Thompson flows spiked earlier this week, putting them in line with the historical average. At 200 cfs, cover a lot of water as trout are well spread out. Start by drifting the banks and outer seams. From there, work your way towards the center of the river and prioritize seams around rocks, pockets, soft runs and pools. Dry fly, dry droppers, nymph rigs and streamers are all viable setups depending on the time of day and weather. Midge hatches have been consistent with the most prominent occurring during the mid-morning and early evening. Warm air temps will bring out caddis between 10 am and 1 pm. On mild and partly cloudy days, trout will key in on BWOs during the early afternoon. Cluster Midges, Parachute Adams, HI Vis BWOs and Elk Hair Caddis are good flies to have on hand for these hatches. Sub-surface, larger attractors and pupa/emerger patterns with some flash are getting the most attention. Pat’s Rubber Legs, Electric Caddis, red Copper Johns, Frenchies, Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ears, Flashback PT’s, Rainbow Warriors and Perdigons are productive lead attractors. For your trailer, do your best to match the hatch. Mercury Black Beauties, Mercury Midges, Blue Poison Tungs, Sparkle Pupas, Sparkle Wing RS2s, Darth Baetis and Mercury Baetis are hot right now. Small streamers are fun to fish in deeper pools and runs. Experiment with dead drifting, twitching and erratically retrieving the streamer.