What a fun day for Jeff and his 12-year-old daughter, Allie. With some flexibility in their daddy/daughter vacation, these two opted for an afternoon on the Eagle River, and it was in their best interest. We fished up-valley in Avon, with water in the low 50s, and we experienced all sorts of bug activity. Though never very thick, we saw caddis in multiple sizes, a few types of mayflies (including the first PMD mayflies), and midges, all in the 4 hours of our Eagle River fly fishing adventure. Even bugs we didn’t see were getting eaten, like the golden stones we used for point flies on our two and three-fly rigs.
Allie was a quick learner and was getting great drifts early on. Her fish was keen on eating the big golden stone nymph and small pheasant tails early on. Jeff wasn’t too far behind and was catching him on similar bugs as well as small caddis emergers. Guided fly fishing trips aren’t always about casting and catching trout, so when Allie was looking for a small break to warm up her feet, we decided to cheer on her dad, sing along to Taylor Swift, and flip over rocks to try to identify aquatic macroinvertebrates. Jeff continued to fish hard, and we ventured further out into the fast water with his casts, finding that the Eagle River brown and rainbow trout thoroughly enjoyed small caddis and mayfly emergers in the faster flows.
The Eagle River spiked recently (finally!) thanks to blue skies and warmer air temperatures, melting the higher-elevation snows. It’s always fun to introduce fly fishing to the next generation and Allie was a great listener. The best fly fishermen on a guided fly fishing trip are always the best listeners! Though fishing was only a small part of her trip, she and her father really enjoyed their time together in the mountains and capped it off with other fun adventures in the Vail Valley. I can’t wait to do fun things like Jeff and Allie with my daughter when she is Allie’s age!
