Animas River

The Animas is fishing well right now. Winter is starting to give up to Spring and temps are warming. The river has been clear for the most part, the only thing making it dirty is the construction at the Santa Rita Whitewater Park. Hopefully the City of Durango will get it right this time and will stop wasting money on a new whitewater feature every year. Above Santa Rita is fine, the water is clear and there are lots of fish to be had. On warmer days they have been rising pretty consistently, my favorite fly has been a Purple Haze size 20. The nymphing has been good too, my best flies have been a beadhead pheasant tail and a disco midge. The river is fishing well and is the perfect escape for all of the doom and gloom surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak. We are still running trips during this time, the only changes we have made to our fishing program is to eliminate guide lunches. We are asking our guests to pack their own lunch to keep cross contamination to a minimum. We look forward to seeing you on the water!

The temps are starting to warm up and it’s got me thinking about chucking streamers on the Animas! I thought this would be a good time to give a quick couple of pointers to help with your streamer game. First of all, grip on the rod is very important. Your hand naturally wants to slide down the grip until it is near the bottom of the cork close to the reel. Choke up on that grip! By moving your hand to the top of the cork with your thumb directly on top you will have more power in your cast and will have more room between the reel and your stripping finger to grab the line. When stripping try to keep your tip low or in the water and keep your rod tip in line with the fly. All of these actions will help to eliminate slack and come tight to the fish quicker. More streamer tips will be coming soon in a new blog post.

This morning was chilly but the fishing was hot! I fished with William and Don Knight, a pleasure as always. We let the river warm up and hit it about 9:30 am. The bugs were coming off pretty well, but William wanted to learn how to fish streamers better, and his Grandpa was up to the challenge as well. We started at the top of the stretch we were fishing and started working downstream. Will missed a couple due to the old trout set and we had to take a minute to talk about strip setting and why it’s so important. Once he figured that out it was game on. Will put a clinic on those fish, landing a good number of Rainbow and Brown Trout. We got some great pictures with he and his grandpa, and Will capped off the day by landing a sweet 22 inch brown. All in all it was an incredible day on the Animas with plenty of fish and not one other angler in sight!

The weather has really been warming up lately and the Animas is fishing well. Solid midge and BWO hatches have been getting the fish fired up. Small zebra midges, and KF emergers have been working for midge patterns. I’ve had luck on pheasant tails and juju baetis size 16-20. Flows are low and the water is clear, make sure to be extra sneaky when searching for the big boys! Get out there and enjoy this weather!

The Animas is fishing well right now, with good midge, caddis, and BWO hatches. Flows are low and there is some moss coming down, so be sure to clean your flies often. Small flashback pheasant tails and zebra midges have been good patterns. With the low flows its best to go down to 5X leaders and tippet. Look for the deeper pockets until the water temps come down a little to let the fish move into the shallower spots.

The flows are starting to decrease on the Animas and the water is looking really good. Wading will still be a bit of a challenge until flows are in the 600 cfs range. Fish are going to be tight to the banks after all of the high water. Try skittering caddis patterns in the evenings right against the banks and nymph any slow pockets you can find. Wooly buggers followed by a pheasant tail or caddis pupa would be a good choice. We’re excited to hit the banks with big meaty streamers from the boat, flows are excellent to book your Animas float trip today!

The fishing on the Animas is very weather dependent right now. The early heat wave we experienced brought the water up pretty fast and dirty. It has cooled down lately and the river came down and cleared. Streamer fishing has been our go to lately, and we have been seeing some really nice meat eaters through town and below. Early caddis are showing up, light tan and green pupa patterns are working well along with small baetis and midge imitations.

The Animas is fishing well right now, flows are low and clear. Mostly midge hatches and a few BWO will be strongest in the warmer hours around mid day. We’ve had luck fishing caddis larva followed by a beats imitation such as a Hares Ear or Pheasant Tail Nymph. Zebra or Disco midges in size 18 have also been producers. The Animas through Durango is fishing well, beware of the equipment in the river in Santa Rita Park, as it can dirty up the water for quite a ways below it. Our private water stretches are also fishing well right now, get out and join us on the River!

The Animas is fishing really well right now. The leaves are falling and the browns are getting frisky. Cooler temps have brought out the BWO’s and even some tiny tricos, as well as solid midge hatches. I haven’t heard too many reports of risers, but the nymphing and streamer eat is on. Try standard pheasant tails and RS2 patterns in size 16-20 and midges in the morning size 18. I like a black zebra midge or disco midge behind my mayfly nymph. Please remember to stay off the redds and don’t be lame and fish to spawning fish- you’re a better fisherman than that, and their success will provide you with much more ethical fishing fun in the future!

The Animas has been fishing well, and flows are down to wadeable levels. The float fishing this year was super good, we managed to land some extremely large, mean, healthy trout. Streamer patterns were the way we fooled most of these brutes and they will still produce fish in the lower water but I would try mostly first thing in the morning and at dusk. The hatches have been pretty solid lately too. Baetis and midges are definitely the predominant bugs, but there are some caddis still popping around as well. Favorite patterns for the Heads Up Crew have been flashback pheasant tails, soft hackle hares ears, and foam wing emergers. A twitched stimulator in the pocket water might even provoke a rise if you’re persistent enough with it. Theres plenty of slabs still coming to hand on the River of Lost Souls, come on out and enjoy a day with us on the home turf!