Colorado River - Middle

Flows on the Middle Colorado, between Pumphouse and Dotsero, increased over the last few days given some much needed rain. At this point, water clarity is on the lower end, but it should continue to improve through most of this week. Regardless, flows are at a healthy level and productivity has been great. You really can’t go wrong with your approach. However, nymphing and hopper droppers have been our preferred approach as of late. We like to start with an Amy’s Ant or Chubby Chernobyl to one or more smaller droppers in the searcher/attractor variety. Guide's Choice Hare's Ears, Flashback PTs, red Copper Johns and Frenchies are a few of our favorites right now. From there we’ll hone it in on what trout are feeding on and go with something more imitative. Black Mercury RS2s, Darth Baetis, Zebra Midges and Miracle Midges have been effective as of late. In any case, start by hitting the banks and slack water with your hopper dropper and slowly make your way out to the outer seams ensuring that you have plenty of tippet for your droppers to reach the deeper water. While surface action will be on the lower end to start the week, keep an eye on hatch activity as we’re seeing consistent midge, trico and BWO action and trout should be looking to the surface as clarity improves. If you see trout actively rising don’t hesitate to rig up a single, double or dry to an emerger. Otherwise, nymphing the deep and slow water has been our fall back and done most of the work midday. Lastly, streamers have been increasingly effective and for longer periods of the day given mild weather and stable water temps.