8/27 PM Ed Catches the Biggest Big Thompson Brown

By Chad Pettrone
28 August, 2013
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Afternoon trips are generally more difficult than morning trips because the fish have seen other fishermans’ flies all day, and they tend to shutdown…this is not always the case. Cooler temperatures along with midday rain showers are leading to great afternoons. As we are approaching fall, afternoons with low sunlight will be the best days on the water. Sunshine doesn’t play a factor for fishing mood, rather it relates to specific bugs that hatch in low light conditions. Cloud cover and rain also leads to poor visibility for fish to detect flaws in fly selection.

This afternoons water was off color in a green hue. There wasn’t a large increase in flow, from 70 to 80 cfs in the morning, but clarity didn’t return. Off color water can provide cover for a fish to eat when water clarity is normally extremely clear. With the relaxed fish attitude, fish were rising to midge in subtle pools of slow water surrounded by fast currents. Rather than chase after the couple brave fish rising, we went after the majority of the fish population that was eating subsurface.

Ed caught the biggest wild Brown trout I’ve seen with my own eyes out the Big Thompson River to date, 20 inches (officially measured). The fish ate a small black RS2 on 5X. This fly imitates a bug that didn’t make it out of the water, otherwise called a submerged fly. Learn more about fly selection at www.flyselector.com Great job Ed!