The South Platte near Deckers is still holding about 80cfs and despite the low water the fishing has been solid, especially on the cloudier days. With the low flows and the grass as over grown as it is your best approach is lighter dry dropper and hopper dropper rigs. This will help keep you out of the weeds but also keep presentation light and stealthy!
The mornings are starting a little cooler and the midge hatch has been THICK bringing fish up in the water column early in the day. Our guides have been having good luck with cluster midge patterns like Renegades and Griffiths Gnats in #18-22 with a Mayhem Midge Grey or Olive #20-22 as a dropper. The nymph rigs still plays but I would recommend minimizing the weight and trying to suspend your rig mid column with smaller midge patterns. Bling midge, chocolate thunder, and miracle midge are all great options under the indicator. With Fall setting in it is a good time of year to break out the egg box and try some lighter colored globugs, eggstacy eggs, or trout beads as a lead fly in your nymph rigs.
Once the midge hatch fades and the sun hits the water we recommend taking advantage of what’s left of hopper season! The fish have still been keen to eat a bigger meal even with the low flows so a #8-14 Chubby is still a great lead fly for the late morning and early afternoon. With our droppers your best bet is chasing the BWO hatch with small baetis and BWO emerger patterns. Barr’s Emerger BWO #18-22, Juju Baetis #20-22, and Olive Rs2s have been the hot ticket leading up to the hatch.
On the cloudy days we have been seeing really strong Blue Wing hatches pushing fish up to the surface and into the riffles. Dry dropper rigs with a Parachute BWO or Paramerger and a Barr’s BWO or Rs2 have been deadly but you have to go SMALL. We are fishing the dries in #20-24 and emerger and dropper patterns in #18-24. If you are having trouble tracking with the smaller dry fly you can keep the hopper on your rig as an indicator and run the dry fly 18-24 inches behind the hopper.
With the Fall setting in here is our annual reminder to MIND THE REDD when you are fishing this time of year. Be careful as you are wading that you are not walking through a fishes spawning bed and if you see fish on or around the bed LEAVE THEM ALONE! Let’s all do our part to keep our fish happy and our rivers and reservoirs healthy!
Tyler Banker