A buddy from Denver came down this past weekend for three days of fishing. The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 70s with some afternoon clouds. Fall conditions are tough with tiny flies. We did see a lot of rises, but had trouble hooking up. Our best dry imitation were size 24 and olive or brown. On the Animas, these could have been BWOs, but probably midges. The fish were definitely rising to BWOs on the Dolores.
This was my first trip to the Dolores. The drive is over 2 hours and really takes me on the border of the Great Sage Plain where I usually start looking for ruins this time of year. The 12 mile drive up the canyon from Bradford Bridge is worth a trip just for the scenery.
The Dolores was a suprise: 40 CFS still makes a very nice stream and being a tailwater, the water temp is much much colder than the Animas.
A crew of DOW workers were doing a survey nearby and we were lucky enough to see them work. On a stream where we wondered if there were any fish, they netted at least 50 fish with several browns and rainbows well over 20".
They told us to consider fishing just below their area, at a spot called the Ice Hole. This is where I will go back to every time I visit this beautiful river. We spent the day casting to large rainbows sipping size 24+ BWOs and midges. I hooked up with one 16" rainbow, but the fish activity was incredible. The Dolores' rep as a technical fishery with spooky fish is no joke. I can't wait to go back.
Both pics are from Animas Valley Angler's site: http://gottrout.com/RiverInfo/Riverindex.html
A look at the Dolores:
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