Intro | Bugs & Calendar | Little Poudre Rivers | Big Thompson

Bugs and Calendars
The Cache la Poudre can be successfully fished 12 months a year, but don't save your pennies for a winter fishing trip here. Locals sometimes find sections of ice-free river on balmy January days, there is a little black stonefly that comes off in February, and there are midge and Baetis hatches prior to runoff, but you need a break in the weather and need to be willing to drive up the canyon on multiple exploratory missions to find these events. The Poudre can be hit-and-miss in the early season.

Most people don't fish the Poudre in June-that's kayak time. When snow melts in the high country, runoff hits the Poudre hard, and fishing is not only difficult, it's dangerous. Mid-July produces more tolerable flows and then the games begin in earnest.

High-stick nymphing in Poudre pocketwater is a good way to catch fish between the hatches. A hopper/dropper combination consisting of a large, high-floating dry fly with a bead-head nymph below it is a good way to probe the riffles and shallow pockets holding trout. Green Drake imitations, Stimulators, and hoppers make good top flies. Bead-head Pheasant Tails, Hare's Ears, and Copper Johns work well as droppers.

Grannom and other assorted caddis species are the main summer feast on this river. Use tan or olive #14-18 down-wing dry flies such as the X-Caddis, CDC & Elk, or Tak's Trapped Caddis. [Editor's note, see FFM March 2004, page 52, for photo and recipe for Fort Collins fly tier Rick Takahashi's Trapped Caddis. The Editor.]

Subsurface, brown and olive pupa imitations such as the LaFontaine Deep Sparkle Pupa, or a local variation called the TNT, work well dead-drifted as a dropper under a dry fly or deeper with split-shot and an indicator. When caddis are actively hatching, swing a pupa imitation or a simple soft-hackle to bring strikes at the end of the drift as the fly rises to the surface.

Western Green Drakes are the most exciting mayfly event on the river. These #12-14 battleships start hatching in late June or early July and last for several weeks as the hatch progresses upstream. Along with the Green Drakes you also see Pale Morning Duns, Golden Stoneflies, and Yellow Sallies through July and into August.

The grassy terrain along the length of the river produces great grasshopper "hatches." Together with the river's stonefly population, this produces trout that are receptive to large downwing flies like olive and yellow Stimulators (#6-16), Letort Hoppers, Club Sandwiches, or anything else with a foam body and rubber legs.

Ant imitations can be rewarding as well, especially in late summer when aquatic insect hatches are over or subsiding. A selection of foam beetles is a necessity in late summer and early fall. In late September through October, #20-22 Baetis return to give anglers fantastic end-of-season dry-fly fishing.

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