Fly Fishing Eldorado Canyon

The weather could not have been better today.  There was a light wind, the sun was out, and it was finally too warm to wear even a thin jacket.  Due to these conditions, the fam and I decided to check out Eldorado Canyon State Park today as we have only mildly used our yearly park pass and we wanted to do anything but stay indoors on such a nice day.  After arriving at the visitor’s center, I started to take a walk near the stream’s edge in order to look for surface activity and to get an idea of the current water conditions.  While I did not see any trout slurping the surface, I did see many jetting in and out of the small currents no doubt feasting on a variety of midges, presumably baetis this time of year.  Needless to say, out came the fly rod!  At first I attempted to nymph, but soon realized that there was just too much muck on the bottom to make this an effective approach.  I switched to a dry-dropper running a small mosquito pattern at the surface and a jujubaetis at the rear about 12 inches down.  This quickly provided some action.  Nothing was too large today, not surprisingly,   but it was nice to be back on the river again after a long winter huddled over my vise at the tying bench.  Game on!

The baetis are among us!

Clear Creek is looking very good. So good in fact that it was hard not to rush back home, grab the fly rod, and head back out into the wild. Instead, I decided to take a few water samples and explore the micro-chasm that governs the type of fly fishing day that we will all have in the area. This is really my first time doing this so early in the season and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect this time of year.


After reviewing my water samples, I can attest that the baetis are among us! I took eight small water samples total. Together, the baetis numbered over 100 with the only variation being size and not species. Based on what I was able to collect, I would recommend hook sizes between 20 and 16 with brown and olive variations being the focus.

Baetis Bicaudatus

The Rojo Midge

The Rojo Midge was created by Greg Garcia. At this point, this is the smallest fly that I have attempted to tie at size 22. I have fished this pattern many times in the past and would add that I have had more luck with it in early spring than during any other time of year.  You can fish it alone, but I have typically used this pattern to follow a more predominant nymph like a prince or stone pattern.  I have also had a lot of success including this as the trailing midge behind a dry or hopper pattern.   In reality, it’s a great fly and one that can be very effective in all kinds of water conditions, especially during those slower days when the trout seem reluctant to bite.