Week 6: February 15-22, 2014.
The fishing was great both during the day and in the afternoons, with lower light conditions. 20lbs+ fish seemed eager to take our flies at every moment. In this respect, it was noon when long time client, Dave ML, landed the biggest fish of the week, a 28lbs silver fresh hen, when the temperature was at 17 celcius degrees and a very mild breeze was just breaking the surface helping us to mask the landing of both line and fly.
The weather and river conditions remained the same as the prior weeks, with typical Rio Grande weather: sunny, very windy and mild to cold temperatures. Wind kept blowing hard and steady along the whole day and night (up to 45 mph, W direction) with the exception of the last days of the week when it blowed softly and upstream (from the East), making casting and catching a little more difficult.
The fishing was great both during the day and in the afternoons, with lower light conditions. 20lbs+ fish seemed eager to take our flies at every moment. In this respect, it was noon when long time client, Dave ML, landed the biggest fish of the week, a 28lbs silver fresh hen, when the temperature was at 17 celcius degrees and a very mild breeze was just breaking the surface helping us to mask the landing of both line and fly.
Sink tips were mandatory as the days remained very sunny (added to the low water condition) and the fish looked for shelter in the deeper pools where they stayed deep most of the day. The best options, still, where the skagit lines with short and heavy tips with sinking rates up to 9 ips.
In what respects to flies, the classic are still going strong. Yuk Bugs, Pepe´s nymph, wonder bugs, prince nymphs and leeches were the most succesful ones.
We are still waiting for some rain to stir things up a bit but the forcast says that we will have more sun and wind along the next weeks.
Largest fish of the week, 28 lbs.
Fish over 20 lbs: 18
Fish over 15 lbs: 39
Alejandro Martello
Villa Maria Lodge Fishing Manager
