Big Thompson River

Since last week, Big Thompson flows have been all over the place, briefly hitting a high of 160 cfs late last week then quickly decreasing in a stair step fashion. Sitting at 52 cfs, Big Thompson flows are low but anglers willing to cover a lot of water and make adjustments throughout the day will still put trout in the net. As the water starts to warm up, surface activity is strong with trout feeding on midges, mayflies and terrestrials. Small midge patterns such as Griffiths Gnats, Midge Clusters and Parachute Adams will produce the best results during the morning. In the afternoon, Parachute Adams, Sparkle Duns, Amy’s Ants, PMXs and Hippy Stompers are the way to go. Trailing a Black Beauty, RS2, Chocolate Foam Back Emerger or Blue Poison Tung is effective when fishing midge and mayfly patterns. With hoppers, you can trail multiple nymphs and utilize tungsten bead nymphs or split shot to get your flies down into deeper water columns. Hare’s Ears, red Copper Johns, Frenchies, Rainbow Warriors, Perdigons and Prince Nymphs are good examples. Pronounced pools, runs, pockets, outer seams, shallow riffles and transitions are holding trout right now. Once you’ve covered every inch of a particular run, pool, pocket, seam or riffle and made multiple depth changes, move on and sample new water.