Eagle River fly fishing is still good this summer thanks to these lovely Vail and Beaver Creek thunderstorms! We’ve had a good bit of moisture this week, which has helped our rivers get lower and warm up. Though not unusual for the Eagle River and Gore Creek (these days) to get warm in late Summer, the fish seem to cooperate more with a fresh influx of oxygenated water. That is, until the stain hits the water…
We started our fly-fishing guided trip with clean, cold water, but knew the mud was coming our way. We picked up our clients in Vail and saw that Gore Creek was quite off-color, and knew it would make its way to us in Avon, where we were taking our guests to fish the Eagle River. With that in mind, we got our guests in the Eagle quickly, and the bite was on. Small midges and baetis patterns were the ticket, and everyone hooked up fairly quickly, though these trout didn’t like to hang onto our barbless hooks. Not all Eagle River trout are photogenic! As the morning progressed, the stain reached our fishing hole and worsened until the river looked like the Colorado River in Moab, UT. That said, our local rainbow trout continued to eat as we swapped out our small technical flies for bigger menu items like worms, prince nymphs, and stoneflies.
The timing worked out well. As the bite diminished, the trip came to a close, and we left with satisfied guests, even with a curveball thrown our way – in the form of a chocolate milk river! This time of year, please keep an eye on the weather before you hit the Eagle River, and certainly bring a stream thermometer. Certain parts of our river, specifically the western stretches like Eagle and Gypsum, are getting quite warm, even towards mid-morning. Trout fishing when the water is above 67 degrees can be fatal to trout, so please take care of our fish community by getting out early and finding cold water in the Vail Valley!
Dave
