Big Thompson River

Big Thompson flows spiked a couple days ago but that proved to be short lived as they quickly dropped back down to 38 cfs. At this level, flows are slightly below the historical average and the river feels skinny in most sections. On the plus side, sight fishing is relatively easy right now thanks to gin clear water. Do your best to locate trout before blindly casting but if all else fails, focus on deep pools, runs and pockets. Actively feeding trout will slide into riffles on warm afternoons, but the deeper water will give you more bang for your buck. A dry dropper with one or two nymphs is our preferred tactic right now when trout aren’t actively rising. Patterns such as Amy’s Ants, Hippy Stompers and PMXs effectively tow multiple nymphs and support tungsten bead nymphs or split shot if you need 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. Midges, BWOs and caddis are all active right now, so if you find yourself in a strong hatch, switch to a single or double dry fly setup. Small midge patterns such as Griffiths Gnats, Midge Clusters and Parachute Adams will produce the best results during the morning. In the afternoon, #18 Parachute Adams and Parachute BWOs 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. During the late afternoon/early evening, be on the lookout for caddis.