Fly Fishing the Frying Pan River

The “Pan” is one of the most famous trout streams in Colorado and the country for a very good reason: lots of trout and year round dry fly fishing! Almost every day the fish in this beautiful small river spend anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours sipping emergers or chompin’ baetis duns on the surface. Last Friday it was the latter with 6’ to 20’ rainbow trout doing their thing on size 18 Mayfly duns. The action was fast and furious from 11 until about 1:30 with my buddy and I netting some 15 trout on size 18 BWOs (darker patterns worked the best). Lost three pigs due to the one drawback to this feeding frenzy: 7x tippet is a must. Did bring a couple of 17”ers to hand, which made the day! This awesome fishery does get a lot of pressure, particularly the first three miles below the dam, so my recommendation is fish the middle of the week and don’t let the winter keep you away as this surface action can happen any day of the year. The “fleece factor” cuts out most of the fishermen during the ski season and you can have stretches of the river to yourself for hours at that time of year.

Tight Lines!

Chip Lenihan is a an avid fly fisherman and ranch broker who represents some of the finest Colorado ranches for sale.