by Michael Crosby

During the winter, the “shack nasties” can attack anybody after they’ve been off the water for a couple of months. Why, by February, a normal, rabid trout fisher who has been cooped up all winter restocking fly boxes can become downright depressed. This happens to me virtually every winter, and with the Sierra’s fishing still a distant speck on the horizon, with all of the fly boxes full (as if this could actually ever happen), and with the desire--no, rather a mandate--to fish, I always keep several winter flyfishing spots available to accommodate the fishing gods who are obviously cry out for a road trip. Last winter was no exception.

Several destinations immediately came to mind as to where I could go, but the closest of these was the Colorado River below the dam at Lake Powell—an area known as Marble Canyon. A quick call to Page, Arizona confirmed that most of the rain we had gotten had missed their area, that their weather had been pleasantly nice with midday temperatures in the mid 50’s, and that the forecast for the next several days was for continued good weather. This, coupled with the excellent tailwater fishery that lies in the canyon below the Glen Canyon Dam, and now definitely the road called and I had a destination.

As luck would have it, for me anyway, two good friends also expressed an interest in getting in some midwinter fishing. Chuck, a pilot for Federal Express on a four day layover in Phoenix, and Dick, a background artist for Fox Entertainment in Phoenix, arranged to rendezvous with me at Page. Now with the destination and companionship issues settled, we all hit the road.

After my eight hour drive and one excellent Clive Cussler book-on-tape, we all met at a friend's house very late and spent the night. Early the next morning we quickly drove the 42 miles from Page to Lee’s Ferry. We had prearranged rental of a jet-powered boat from Lee’s Ferry Anglers, which is located seven miles beyond the turnoff to Lee’s Ferry. This fly shop possesses an excellent assortment of equipment and flies, and many knowledgeable guides available to help those just wishing to talk fishing or those who want to hire a fully guided trip. We decided that we would go it alone however, so after a short course on the boat’s operation, we were on our way to the launch ramp, and hopefully to the beginnings of a winter doldrums cure.

As I readied the boat at the ramp, Dick and Chuck loaded the gear up. We were all excited and anticipating a great day on the river. The day had turned out beautiful with an expected high projected in the mid 50’s. Even so, the water temperature, at 48 degrees, makes for a cool ride upriver during the winter months (It should be noted that the year round water temperature changes very little here, with a temperature range from 48-52 degrees year round, so this would not be considered a wet-wading river even when outside air temperatures are in the 90’s--I know this first hand because I’ve tried it in July and like to have got hypothermia in my lower extremities.

On the trip upriver, not much sun finds it way down into the canyon either, as you spend most of the time in the shade looking up at enormously high, reddish orange sandstone cliffs which make up the upper end of the Grand Canyon in this region. No other word other than “breathtaking” can describe the trip up the canyon to the base of the dam as the muted lighting dances between the canyon rims. The 15.5 miles we covered was filled with literally hundreds of ducks including mallards, teal, buffalo head, coots, and several other species I did not recognize, but which Dick recognized easily, because he's an artist extraordinaire and hunter who easily recognized the various types of ducks that inhabited the canyon.

The sheer, red cliffs drop straight down into the water in many places, although there are enough sandbars and pullouts on the way upriver to provide areas for campers to stay overnight on the river, and other areas that allow day use for fisherman. The highlight of our ride upriver was the one lone, bald eagle sitting high on a red escarpment. This made the trip upriver truly special even though with the temperatures hovering around 40 degrees with the chill factor, it was a cold trip indeed. Why, the natural splendor of the canyon, coupled with the wildlife we encountered would have made anybody's trip complete. Who needs trout? Yeah, right! Sights alone just do not clear up the shack nasties, at least not mine, I need fish.

Because neither Chuck nor Dick had ever been up the canyon here, we decided we would motor all the way up to Dam Island (14.8 miles upstream) to start our day. In the slick little rental jet sled, we made it to the Island in around 50 minutes, and by the time we got there, we were elated to find ourselves in the sun again. We had all gotten slightly chilled on the way upstream, but fortunately, the air temperature had climbed to 55 degrees, midges were hatching around us, and the fish were here and actively feeding by the time we arrived at 11:15. The adrenalin starts flowing when you encounter large, actively feeding fish in the middle of winter, and suddenly the nasties seem but only a faintly dim vision from your past. And cold? What cold! I didn’t remember being cold, even though moments before I would have sworn I was freezing to death.

My previous trips to fish here had left me with the knowledge that diverse types of insect life didn’t exist on this part of the Colorado. The trout’s primary diet consists of Gammarus scud (orange, tan and brilliant green), midges (black, red and brown), smaller fishes, and during the spawn, roe that can be simulated with Glo bugs (orange, pink and chartreuse) or beads. These fish are fall spawners, with the period from November through March finding them on shallow gravel bars attempting to propagate the species. A lot of debate exists about the success of their efforts, but we caught a number of fish that appeared to be carrying eggs as well as some slightly hook jawed males filled with milt. They may not be successfully spawning, but it’s surely not for lack of trying. Their eggs were approximately 4MM (just over 1/8 inch) across and a translucent light orange in color, a size much smaller than most conventionally tied Glo Bug patterns. We tied on small Glo Bugs to imitate the size and coloration of what we’d seen. These smaller Glo Bugs worked better.

With this in mind, we rigged up quickly. As there were thousands of midges in the air, but no rising fish, we rigged with small, size 18 black midge larva with either a Glo Bug or size 18 Brassie or Colorado River Midge tied directly to the larva’s hook bend as a dropper 10-12 inches below it. Adding a small splitshot 12 inches above the larva would get the offering down quickly and placing a sliding indicator at a level allowing the brassie/Glo Bug to just bounce the bottom where the fish were feeding quickly proved to be quite effective. The fish did not appear leader shy either, as we tied the larva on with 3X and the droppers with 4X. This enabled us to rapidly play and release the fish without undue stress.

Wearing polarized glasses, we were able to clearly see literally hundreds of fish in the 2-4 foot deep riffles on the East side of Dam Island. These fish possess brilliant color at this time of year, and we soon learned the key to hookups was to present your offering upstream allowing it to drift down into their feeding lanes drag-free. Oftentimes you would see the fish turn to pick up the offering, and the slightest irregular movement of your indicator telegraphed the message that you needed to raise the rod, often resulting in a fat rainbow at the other end. Soon it was goodbye nasties, and hello life! While we had only intended to stay at the island a short period, the fish kept responding, the sun warmed us continuously, and the 200 yards of riffles became our home for the day.

As the day waned, we sadly bid farewell to the riffle and headed downstream towards the takeout at Lee’s Ferry. We stopped at several other riffles on the way down, and continued to pick up fish, but the midge hatch was gone, and the action never regained the strength it held at the upper end. Of course, this probably was more a function of the time of day than the location fished, as many of the riffles held great promise of large fish.

After loading the boat, we discovered we still had 45 minutes to fish before we would have to return the boat to the Lee’s Ferry Angler’s. Just enough of the day's nasties remained that we all decided the time would best be spent in wading pocket water about 1/2 mile below the boat ramp. Surely we could satisfy the remaining urges, and, after all, the rods were still rigged. As it turned out, the fish were still obliging and we rapidly picked up a few more fish to cap a gloriously beautiful day. We had experienced great fishing all day long and had landed many fish from 12-18 inches long with all being in excellent shape with brilliant color.

Everyone had to go their separate ways early Sunday, so we decided we would not rent the boat again, but rather, would wade the section fished the previous night. After a restful night at the Marble Canyon Lodge located four miles away, we awoke to a partly cloudy morning. The wind had come up due to a front moving into the area, but it did not prove to be much of a problem as the river level had stayed steady at 10,000 cfs due to the decreased power demand in Phoenix, and wading was easy with most casts being from 15-25 feet to get the desired placement in the knee deep water

Even though the wind kept us from seeing any apparent midge hatches, gut feelings told us the larva still had to be in the river near the bottom as they had been on the previous day, so we rigged identically. We only had to hit the river to prove the theory. In a period of three hours, we managed to land over 30 fish from 14-17 inches long while experiencing at least as many more long line releases. All too soon the day had to be ended, however, as Chuck had to fly back to Memphis, Dick had to get back to Phoenix and his animation, and I had an appointment in Idaho.

We all had a great time, and the shack nasties were almost completely gone--that is until I called home and found out that our local Southern California Mountains had received 15 inches of snow. Now, let’s see, when does the Baetis hatch start on the Green River? Is it March or is it April?

SPECIAL NOTES: The river flows can fluctuate dramatically due to changing power requirements in the city. At the time we were there, during the day in the middle of the week, flows were averaging between 15,000 to 18,500 cfs, with nighttime flows dropping to 8500-10,000 cfs. Lower flows generally prevail on weekends due to decreased power demands, but this is not always the case. You do not want to get caught way out in the river if it starts rising. Call ahead to 1-800-752-8525 for flow release information, and always use extreme caution when wading away from the shore!

Also, when fishing in the winter, be especially cautious of the spawning beds. Don’t wade in them and avoid the “San Juan” shuffle. This destroys insect habitat and can gravely injure the spawning beds. If these fish are spawning successfully, this surely will hinder their cause.

We used Glo Bugs, Beadhead scuds, large Brassies (size 10-12), zebra midge, and the Colorado River Midge (recipe below).

Colorado River Midge:

Hook: Daiichi 1140, Tiemco 2487, or Mustad 80100BR Size 18-20
Thread: 8/0 color to match body or red
Rib: Single strand of twisted pearl Krystal Flash
Body: Fine Ultra Chenille/Vernille in red, black or brown

Tie as you would a San Juan Worm, but the piece of chenille will only be about 1/4 inch long. Wrap the twisted Krystal Flash 6-8 times around the midge body as you palmer it towards the hook eye. Tie it off, whip finish, and burn the ends of the chenille resulting in a tapered point at both ends of the larva. The sparkle on the fly really makes a difference.

CONTACTS:

Lee’s Ferry Anglers at Vermillion Cliffs

Marble Canyon Outfitters 

OTHER INFORMATION:

Dave Foster, a guide and whose family owns/used to own Marble Canyon Lodge, has a good guide book out.  It can be found at Amazon.com by clicking here.