Keep your ear to the ground
Keeping your ear to the ground is one of the most important things you can do as a fly fisherman. At all levels it is important to try and gain knowledge through your counterparts in this sport/hobby. There are many ways to do this: 1. Go to your fly shop. The people that work in the fly shop have a finger on the pulse at what is going on in the river. After all, everyone who has had a good day loves sharing it with shop staff! 2. Read, Read, Read. Great information can be found in fly fishing blogs, articles, books, etc. We can recommend some great ones. 3. Go on a guided trip.Guides are on the water every day. If they don’t know what’s going on with each water system, then nobody does! A few weeks ago one of our top guides came in telling us that one of his customers had a special trip where they caught many fish over 20 inches. Jon Easdon (owner of the Blindside and one of our top guides) and I looked at each other and that was all it took. We were headed to the South Platte above Spinney Res.
When we got there we realized it was going to be an epic day. One glance into the water and we saw twenty or so rainbows stacked up in a riffle behind some rocks. It took us a few minutes to find out the “money” fly but Jon tied on one of his Zebra midge imitations and he started picking up fish after fish. I tied on a black beauty and had similar results. By the end of the day, which turned out to be noon, we had both landed over 20 fish and all of them were very healthy.
Here is one of the nicest fish of the day.
Tim Hannan
Retail Manager
Angler’s Covey