Telluride Fishing Report

The San Juans finally experienced a taste of monsoonal weather and it was certainly welcomed.  The San Miguel bumped up to 110 cfs and has leveled out at around 80 cfs, bringing with it a little sediment and lower temps.  The fish have really responded to the cooler water and fishing has been fantastic.  Dry dropper is still the recipe for success with some standard patterns such as Chubbies, Guides Choice Hares Ears and Soft Hackles.  As fall approaches it may be necessary to downsize your fly selection to match the smaller BWO and midge hatches.

We're back!  The Dolores valley has seen the majority of the storm cells over the last week, which is great news for both the Stoner Mesa fire and the river drainage.  The combination of the much needed precipitation and the release of 20 cfs from Groundhog reservoir has bumped the Dolores to 107 cfs near the town of Dolores.  With cooler temperatures in the forecast we should see sustainable flows and safe water temps for the foreseeable future.  Smaller mayfly patterns in both dry flies and nymphs will be the ticket this fall.  Parachute Adams, Melon Quills and H & L Variants will work great on top and small Brown Glass Bead Micromays, Military Mayflies and Two Bits  would be good nymph choices.

In a summer of desperately low water and hot weather, the Lower D has been a beacon of light; it feels really good to say that.  The releases continue to be regulated with 5 days at 26-28 cfs followed by 2 days of around 70 cfs.  Both the fish and aquatic insects seem to be responding very well to this schedule.  The good news is we are seeing fairly large Trico hatches on an almost daily basis.  The bad news is they are Tricos, not only incredibly hard to replicate but trout seem to hunt the spinners and their expired brethren in off-current locations, rarely sipping in a feeding lane.  My best advice is to fish a very small, sparsely tied no hackle fly that sits low in the water column.  These fish will still fall prey to an ant, beetle or hopper at any given time and we are seeing fairly good numbers of October caddis showing up. Perhaps reach deep into your box for an old school Stimulator?

The Lower Gunnison is still fishing really well but the flows have been decreasing steadily.  At 463 cfs it is becoming a bit of a bumpy ride in a drift boat, but totally doable.  There is still an opportunity to throw hoppers and fool some fish, and streamer fishing is picking up as well.  You will most likely encounter pods of fish picking off Tricos in the shelf flats and there are still a few caddis around.  With shorter and cooler days we should start seeing BWOs soon.