The FryingPan

So I guess the idea of this blog is to give a little insight into my trips out into the fishing world here in Colorado. And maybe even a brief trip report. Or maybe those are the same thing. I guess I haven't figured that out yet.

I have decided that I am a creature of habit. Last night I packed up my stuff and headed to the Pan after dinner for a little evening of fishing. I have decided that I like fishing in the evening especially on the FryingPan because the crowds are less and I can find a spot to fish. The funny thing about that statement is there are 13 miles of river to fish and I fish the same 750' of river pretty much every time I go out. Last night was no different.

I come around the corner and see the little parking area and usually get fairly excited especially when there are no other cars there. Last night there was 1 car. That's OK I can share my spot. Well sort of. I geared up and headed down to the river.

For those that don't know the FryingPan is what the flyfishing world calls Gold Medal water, in other parts of the country it might go by Blue Ribbon water, it has something to do with either the number of trout per mile or the weight the of trout per mile. Something like that. To me, it just means it is a kick ass river. The Pan is a tail water which means it sits below a dam and in this case it is a great thing. There are lots of bugs, the water stays the same temperature year around pretty much and the fishing is basically good always.

This is big mayfly season here in the valley, the Green Drake is hatching and the trout are looking for in most cases bigger flies. Last night while I was weeding through my fly box I looked up and there was a fox staring at me from the other side of the river, it was pretty cool and a little spooky at the same time. People that know me, know that I am not a big fan of wild animals. And basically I figured he would attack me at any second. So I quick thought about all of my friends and wife, just in case I was killed by that fox. I continued my search for the perfect fly while every once and a while looking up to see if killer fox was still there. The second time I did look he was gone. The funny thing was, I turned around to see if he was behind me. He wasn't...

I began fishing and thought about how it looked like it was going to rain and that I was glad I brought my jacket. I noticed that it seemed that the flow had dropped on the Pan and it had, it went from 278CFS to like 235CFS, I was glad because it made wading and fishing a little easier.

I had my first strike about 20 minutes into the evening. The fish took a swipe at a size 12 parachute green drake. I quickly got the fly back out and 2 casts later I had my first fish on. It was a nice rainbow, I got a real nice look at him, probably in the 16"-18" range, I say I got a nice look at him because just as I worked out that size estimation in my head, he threw the hook and was gone. Bummer for me. But at least I had one.

I casted a few more times in that area and decided to move back toward my car because it was raining a little bit. I changed flies, decided on a size 16 Royal Wulff which is a great fly for me on the Pan, I guess to the fish it casts a shadow that the think is either a Drake or a Pale Morning Dun. 4 casts into my new location, I had a really nice take. And a few minutes later I had a nice Brown in the net. He was maybe 14" pretty fat and nicely colored. I took the hook out and give him a nice look and dipped him back into the cool waters of the Pan and off he swam. I made a few more casts and decided to call it a night. It was getting dark due to the clouds moving in. All in all it was a good night.

As I took my waders off, tore down my rod and put my things back in my car, I thought about the fox that I had seen earlier in the evening and wondered where he ran off to. I wondered if he had found a spot to hunker down for the evening or if he had caught a trout to eat for dinner. I hoped he was OK. The evening produced not very many fish for me. I haven't quite yet solved the riddle of higher flows on the FryingPan but it is fun to try. Someday I will have it all figured out.