Flows fluctuated wildly between weekdays and weekends and in mid July flows got up to 125cfs on high flow days and down to 10cfs on weekends. The high flow was better fishing Stimulator #12 on the edges, pockets and any slower water. These high flows get the better fish more active and we took some nice fish on high flow days..Best an 18″ Cutbo.. We fished a dropper behind a #12 Stimulator on high days. Weekends were tough as flows were around 10cfs and fishing pressure was intense.. Later in the month flows were around 80cfs during the week and still around 10cfs on weekends. Caddis patterns worked well especially late in the day..PMD patterns worked best on weekends.
Month: July 2000
Cimarron River Fly Fishing Report 07/25/2000
In July flows remained around 30cfs for most of the month and fishing with Caddis with a Caddis larva or cased Caddis dropper produced well. No rain to speak of this summer and the farmers downstream were demanding water for irrigation and flows remained steady at 30xfs.
Conejos River Fly Fishing Report 07/25/2000
On 7/1 and 7/2 we fished the Pinnacles at 100cfs from Platoro. This is about the highest flow you can navigate in the Pinnacles but it also keeps out the less adventurous anglers. The fish in this pocket water stretch don’t rise like they do on the lower river and a dropper is essential. You need a large dry that floats well with Beadhead dropper {Prince-Copper John-Caddis emerger}Best fish was a 19″ Cutbo but the main attraction here are Browns 13-17″ and we got a bunch of those. On 7/12 and 7/13 we had fair days at 80cfs that ended early due to the onslaught of summer afternoon monsoon conditions which muddied up the flow. You need to bring rain gear as you are often quite a distance from shelter. Another must have item is mosquito repellant as the bugs get bad especially on dark days. Later in the month flows were down to 30cfs from Platoro and the best fishing was in the Pinnacles and above. Water temps in the lower river were near 70* on suuny days and fishing was poor. . In the Pinnacles and above water temps got into the high 60*s by mid afternoon and fishing predictably slowed down.