January Fishing

How about that cold front that whipped through two weekends ago?!? Vail received 37 inches from that storm, which has us back above normal snowpack for this time of year. Hopefully there’s a great deal more to come.

Prior to that rapid weather change, I fished the Fryingpan on January 6th and did pretty well. We started around 12pm and probably should have gotten there an hour or two earlier, but that’s fishing. My buddy had never caught a brown trout so he checked that box off in about 4 minutes because as soon as we showed up, we had rising fish and he did well to catch several beautiful browns. If you decide to hit the Fryingpan during the winter bring your A game and small flies. I used 6x tippet, which is pretty standard for The Pan and was able to wrangle in this healthy cuttbow right away, which was a day maker before the day really got rolling.

I love that The Pan is a dry fly haven almost every single day of the year and I feel fortunate to live so close. I remind myself not to take it for granted, but I’m only human after all. That being said, I have been exploring the Roaring Fork below Basalt more and more because there has been a steady flow of over 400cfs daily and once the water temps were back above 34 degrees after winter reared its ugly head, the fish have been willing to move (at least a little bit) to eat my flies. 

I think I’m just a junkie for new water and I am enjoying my winter excursions on The Fork. There is definitely some public access to be had and I want to explore it now before it’s too late. I have seen a few people here and there, but for the most part I’ve had the water to myself. I don’t love looking up or downstream and seeing other anglers because unless I’m with a friend, I don’t want to fish near anyone. I’m not there for them. I would hope other anglers feel the same way, but I met a guy while leaving the other day and he told me that he had done well there the day before. I never fish the same spot while wading two days in a row. The chances of it being better the second day are slim to none, especially if the first day was a banner one.

Many anglers carry two rods this time of year (usually a nymph rig and a dry fly rod), but for some stupid reason I had never thought to bring two nymph rigs. There have been a few risers on The Fork, but nothing to write home about so unfortunately bringing a dry fly rod is a waste of time right now (at least where I have been fishing). I was intrigued by the double nymph rod idea so I tied completely different flies on each one hoping that if one rod was just OK (or crap) and the other was HOT I’d get to spend more time fishing and less time tying on new flies. That proved wise at least for the first spot I fished this past Sunday morning. 

No matter how many fish I catch in a day I always just tell people that I did OK because I don’t want them to ask me what flies I’m using because I’m not going to ask them. I used to be super competitive and I definitely still have my moments, but I find that when I fish I am competing against myself and I love winning. Being right on the river can’t be wrong.

Some days I do OK and other days I do quite a bit better than that, but I often wonder how many other people are catching loads and loads of fish. As my buddy Darren (who slays fish by the way) jokingly says, “It’s just about being out” and he is 100% right about that. However, 10% of the people are catching 90% of the fish. My goal is to be in that top 10%. If you head out to The Pan pick a cloudier day with no wind and you’ll enjoy yourself. The sunny areas are warmer, but in my experience the fish just aren’t quite as comfortable and you’ll get more looks than eats.

If you fish The Fork or The Eagle, fish some sort of meaty attractor like a worm, egg or leech and your favorite midge pattern. If you see midges in the snow or on the surface and you have two nymph rigs like me, try my version of the Gunmetal Midge or the always reliable Chocolate Thunder. The weather looks decent for the foreseeable future so if you get out on the water, enjoy the crisp, cool air in your lungs and relish in the fact that there’s a little bit more sunlight to be had every single day. 

Here’s a couple freestone brown fish: