A cloudless day that quickly changed had the fish excited on 4/20. As the weather rolled in, the fishing picked up as well as the afternoon winds. A 10am start was ideal for the Eagle River in Avon/Beaver Creek today as we walked right up to sipping trout on the surface, eating microscopic midges. We threw on the smallest flies in the box and fished right below the surface of the water it produced accordingly. As the risers wised up to our approach, we moved into quicker-moving pockets, lengthened our leaders, and put some weight on our lines. The deep nymphing improved once we noticed the bites we were getting were on the blue-winged olives above our small midges. The more bwo's we put on our line, the better the bite. The weight differed in each quicker-moving section of the Eagle River that the boys and I targeted, and we continued to see rising fish, even in the faster water! The rain came through in small cells, but it only improved the fishing, and we even got a few worms and big nymph bites. We moved downstream to another similar section of water, but as the rain cleared, the fish had a siesta, and we did not see another rising fish downstream. We walked out content and mostly dry.
Mid morning was the time to fish today. When they turned off, they turned OFF and that was right about 2:00. The early midges were a fun little surprise as it's mostly been a baetis bite first thing but not today! Maybe the overcast weather had them comfortable eating their brunch off the surface. Fishing up-valley was the right move and the flows weren't too high but the water was clear, unlike the Eagle River down in Eagle, CO. Though clearer and not as high, it is still pushy and slippery so be careful wading the Eagle River in Avon. Give us a call for up-to-date Eagle River fishing reports!