The Solitary Angler's Fly Fishing Blog

22nd of March, 2019
In: Colorado, Fishing Reports, New Mexico
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Dream Catcher image

Late April 2018 The ice in the bog crackled under my boots. I hurried. I was excited. Yesterday I had only caught 3 fish but 2 were measured in feet (as in more than 2...) and the 3rd was a fat 22-23 inches. All beautiful browns. The wily ones. The ones we dream about. I had been working hard. Figuring out where and when they were willing to eat my streamer in the high dirty water. I had been crushing it with nymph rigs but i wanted that tight line grab—swinging or stripping. I wanted to tempt Mister Big Brown Trout to come out swinging and I was dialing it in. Getting closer. The tape on my burned stripping fingers ...

If you haven’t been fishing with us, this is what you’ve been missing! standard

Spring Was Fantastic and Summer’s in Full Swing! Wyoming We are already off to a fantastic start to another great year on the Green River and tributaries, catching a bunch of big browns, bows and cuts. Spring was great and now the summer fishing is underway. That means dry fly fishing opportunities on the Ham’s Fk. Smith’s Fk. and Fontenelle Creek as well as possibilities on the Green itself with tricos, yellow Sally’s and at times, caddis. Of course the nymph fishing is always good ! Don’t wait any longer! With only 2 guides a day allowed on the Refuge we are filling up fast!

19th of January, 2013
In: Excerpts from Van's Book, Gallery, New Mexico, Wyoming
2
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Defining Small Streams and Creeks standard

(excerpted from the Flyfisher’s Guide to™ New Mexico by Van Beacham) – In defining a small stream or creek in New Mexico you must first put into perspective the difference in water size here compared to waters in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah. To explain, I’ll tell you a fish story about a fellow guide I know named Rick from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He came to New Mexico to ski Taos and check out the winter fishing I’d been telling him about. I took him to the Red River, at its confluence with the Rio Grande, the first day. After walking almost a mile and a half down the Gorge to the confluence he looked at the two rivers ...

The Rio Grande Gorge standard

(excerpted from the Flyfisher’s Guide to™ New Mexico by Van Beacham) – Most people think of the Rio Grande as a muddy channel along the Mexican border, but like many great American rivers, the Rio Grande originates high in the Rocky Mountains. Two tremendous mountain ranges, the San Juans and the Sangre de Cristos, are the source of hundreds of crystal-clear creeks, streams, and lakes in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, all of which are part of the Rio Grande watershed. After gathering these headwaters, the Rio Grande flows through the broad San Luis Valley and enters the Rio Grande Gorge 14 miles north of the New Mexico state line. Known locally as the Gorge, it was not actually ...

Small-Stream Flyfishing, part 2 standard

(excerpted from the Flyfisher’s Guide to™ New Mexico by Van Beacham) If we all had to guide on strictly wild freestone streams many guides would be out of business. Not only are they unpredictable compared to tailwaters, which makes guiding more difficult, but many beginning anglers don’t have the time or the patience to fish streams that don’t consistently produce. Let’s face it, when you’re learning and you only have a few days a year on the water, you want to go where you have the best chance of catching lots of fish. That means hiring a guide and going to one of the best rivers, usually a tailwater. Even my business, The Solitary Angler, which specializes in “quality flyfishing ...

Small-Stream Flyfishing, part 1 standard

(excerpted from the Flyfisher’s Guide to™ New Mexico by Van Beacham) When most people think of flyfishing the Rocky Mountain West, they probably imagine themselves standing hip deep in a broad western river, casting 30 to 40 feet of line into a deep riffle or pocket they can’t reach by wading. Or floating down a big river in a drift boat, pounding the banks with a big attractor and anticipating the slashing attack of a wild trout. But the reality is that the majority of western flyfishing water is in the form of small streams and creeks, most of which have yet to be discovered by all but the most adventurous anglers. You see, all those big rivers actually start ...