Animas Lunch Report – 2/23/16 – Spey Casting the Animal
You may have noticed an uptick in the mercury this past week. Yep, looks like spring is well on the way…well besides today though. Today it is snowing and blowing here in Durango. I made a quick decision to #forgettheforecast (as all the social media people know), and do a little spey casting and streamer swinging on lunch.
As if the Animas wasn’t hard enough, I like to stack the cards against myself even more. If you don’t know, swinging flies with a spey rod isn’t often the most effective way to catch trout (it can be, but not often). It’s ok though, I like to catch fish on my own terms. It’s a lot of fun if you have not tried it. Stop in the shop, I would love to talk to you about a trout on the spey.
Anyway, how about a report! The flows have bumped a little and are hanging at about 340 cfs. Water clarity off with about 1-2 feet of visibility. I personally have been swinging dark streamers and intruders very slow with slight twiches. I had one very large fish come unbuttoned today after attacking a black One Sculpin. Rob has been having a good run of success with nymphs and streamers lately. With off color water, fish dark bugs deep. I am talking dragging on the bottom, 3-4 split shot deep. #12 caddis larva, Prince Nymphs, and dark Copper John’s are all getting it done.
Rob and a streamer eatin, shovel-nose brown on the Animas.
In other news, looks like Silverton is moving ahead with Superfund plans on the Animas. This will be a long process, but we are looking forward to what this means for the future of the Animas. You can read a little bit about the Superfund plans in a recent Durango Herald article.
Fishing is picking up and will only be getting better. Get out there while the getting is good!
