Rumors are flying around the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado that a 20 pound trout has been caught on the Frying Pan River.
The buzz initially went national when the Taylor Creek Fly Shop made mention of the rumor yesterday afternoon on Facebook and Twitter. A respected resource in the valley, such a rumor from such a source almost allows for fact.
The details remain undetermined, but some assumptions might be dead on:
1. The trout was a fat brown hooked and landed in the “toilet bowl” on a mysis shrimp pattern.
2. The trout was a fat brown hooked and landed in the “flats” or the “bend pool” just below the “toilet bowl.”
These Frying Pan spots also go by different names and there are some different spots that may have produced the pig, but as many who frequent “the Pan” know, Colorado has three tailwaters that are fed by reservoirs that spew mysis shrimp through their spillways. The Frying Pan River, the Taylor River, and the Blue River all hold massive trout near their spillway as a result of forward-facing trout that will gobble mysis patterns with little discrimination. (Note: the pattern above comes from Will Sands, a guide at Taylor Creek Fly Shop whose pattern is sold by Umpqua Feather Merchants.)
We’ll keep you posted on the pig. Until then, check out some mysis shrimp patterns from Umpqua, by clicking here.
I remember when they sold mysis patterns made from ziplock bags tied fore and aft. They worked like magic. But anglers would avoid them because they looked, “Too plain.” So they started dressing them up real nice and charged way more. Then they became a hit.