Dentry: Anglers will have to go with the flow

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

So you're a stream angler. What to do? Full-bore runoff has kicked in, muddying trout rivers - which, anyway, are thunderous and laden with squealing whitewater rafters.

Face it. Memorial Day weekend in the Rockies does not encourage contemplative fishing escapes. When mountain snowmelt charges downstream, anglers have few alternatives.

You can pick a number and join the crowd in some tame tailwater beneath a dam. Or pull up to a lake and sit down. Anything's better than staying home.

Some die-hards actually prefer to tiptoe along the banks of raging rivers to play Colorado's toughest fishing game. It's not unheard of to catch trout in rivers bounding with murk, tumult and floating trees.

"I guess you could throw something about 4 inches long and black and maybe round something up," said Brian Kampf of Duranglers Flies and Supplies in Durango, where the muddy Animas River was scooting past Tuesday at a lively clip, 3,300 cubic feet per second.

For river fishing that extreme, a life jacket is recommended. You sneak upstream, casting bright spinners or big streamer flies tight to the banks. Retrieve them with the current.

Don't try to wade, unless you want to visit your uncle in Los Angeles.

After a month of early runoff, warm weather last week switched the afterburners on snowmelt. From already high, rivers are reaching higher.

The good news: The water wizards predict an early end to runoff. That means we should enjoy a long, happy summer of stream fishing.

Meanwhile, we have the current situation:

Arkansas River

Reasonable anglers are sitting this one out while high, muddy currents (2,300 cfs at Wellsville) prevail. But the crew at Royal Gorge Anglers in Cañon City says the end is near. Give the river two weeks to start clearing. Then fish the edges with stoneflies, hoppers and terrestrials.

Blue River

Heavier releases in the past few days have swept gobs of mysis shrimp from behind Dillon Dam, which makes the choice of fishing flies a no-brainer in Silverthorne. Currents are mostly clear, 490 cfs, and 40 degrees.

Keep clear, however, of the Blue below Green Mountain Dam, where releases leapt from 100 cfs Friday to 1,000 cfs. They've stabilized at 750 cfs, but another jump is expected.

Colorado River

Currents at Parshall are high, off-color, but fishable, with midges hatching mornings, caddis evenings. Stonefly nymphs are active and expected to hatch in less than two weeks. The flow in from Williams Fork has risen dramatically since Friday, from 70 cfs to 403 cfs.

All bets are off farther downstream: Kremmling and Pumphouse, 2,600 cfs and muddy; Dotsero, 9,570 cfs and muddy; below Glenwood Springs, 14,400 cfs and thick.

Eagle River

With visibility of about 1 foot, fly fishers have been fishing streamers along edges and matching good hatches of caddis. The flow at Avon on Tuesday was 2,960 cfs; below Gypsum, 4,340 cfs.

Frying Pan

Ever the escape hatch for runoff-weary anglers, the Pan remains clear, although releases from Ruedi Dam have stepped up since Friday, from 500 cfs to 700 cfs. Mysis shrimp are abundant, and high flows have concentrated trout in eddies and pocket water.

Rio Grande

Anglers have reason to celebrate the short shrift snowfall gave to this basin last winter. Kevin Leggit, of the Rio Grande Angler in Creede, predicts clear, wadeable flows for the salmonfly hatch, which should start two weeks early, during the first week in June. Runoff has peaked. The flow is 2,140 cfs at Wagon Wheel Gap, including 1,000 cfs tumbling out of Rio Grande Reservoir.

Roaring Fork River

Gnarly flows (6,250 cfs at Glenwood Springs) have rendered downstream reaches unfishable. But, at 484 cfs, the Fork is more hospitable upstream at Aspen. Fish stoneflies and streamers tight to the banks there. Water clarity is best evenings.

South Platte River

Harnessed and tame, the Front Range's playground stream is ready and waiting to accommodate holiday crowds. The Dream Stream stretch below Spinney Dam is running an off-color 299 cfs, a little high. In Cheesman Canyon and Deckers, the flow is a meager 53 cfs, but trout have been rising for No. 18 caddis in the afternoons.

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com