I had the opportunity to spend four days in Northern Arizona with my son to celebrate his birthday and flyfish the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry.  I had always heard stories of fishing the “big rivers” and the quality of the fishery.  It definitely delivered on both accounts.  We hired our guides with Lee’s Ferry Anglers and took accommodation at Cliff Dwellers Lodge which sits below the fabled Vermilion Cliffs – a spectacular setting.

The Colorado River here is a tail water that flows out from below the Glen Canyon dam.  A spectacular setting where you are surrounded on each side by the 800-1000′ sandstone canyon walls and for us, a brilliant blue sky for much of our trip.  We met our first guide, Terry Gunn at the Lee’s Ferry boat launch a little before 8AM and quickly stowed our gear and headed up river.  From the launch point there are about 16 river miles to the dam.  The Colorado River here has limited points where you could walk-in to wade, so without a boat your wading will be limited to a very small portion of the river around Lee’s Ferry landing.

The river current is swift (and very deep in some areas) and we fished several different set-ups.  Our first set up was using 9′ 5wt. and 6 wt. rods with sinking tips (25-30′) Our flies were #10 olive or black, bead head woolly buggers.  We didn’t use strike indicators and 5X leaders were used.  Fish here are pretty selective – and sometimes the guides will go to 6X AND 7X tippet.  Casts were made out and across to start their swing right along the main seam in the current and above a shelf in the riverbed.  Be prepared to make fairly long casts (50’+).  As the fly enters the swing we were told to make some small “jigging” motions and allow the sink tip to take the fly deeper – as the swing begins we “slowly” would begin stripping the line in (~4-5″ at a time).  All strikes occurred within half a dozen strips of the line.

The second set-up we had was a dry fly set up with a dropper.  The fly on top was a #14 Stimulator (as I understand it – this high floating pattern doesn’t really represent anything – just buggy looking “food”) The dropper used was either a #18 San Juan worm (pink or pinky-tan color) or a #18 Bead Head Midge (Zebra Midge) blue or black or a “rusty scud” (There are thousands of scuds/freshwater shrimp in this river that live in the abundant aquatic vegetation – their color is battleship grey but the natural color doesn’t fish as well as orange or rust).

Note: We were also told if we ever wanted some exciting dry fly fishing to come for the annual cicada hatch – this is in July and we heard this is a very fun time to catch large rainbows (and if you are lucky – browns) on this large terrestrial.

Both days we were on the river our guides put us on to some great fish.  Both of us were into four or 5 fish in the 17″+ range each day.  Many fish in the 12-16″ range that put up a great fight.  This is the time of year where the fish are at their strongest – well fed and ready for the cold weather.  There is plenty of great water here and we never had to share our spot with any other anglers.  Again – if you come here “get a boat” to maximize your options.

Attached are just a couple of pictures from the trip and the contact information for Lee’s Ferry Anglers and ask for Terry Gunn or Jimmy Daniels. Both of them were extremely professional, patient and fun to fish with.

Lee’s Ferry Anglers & Cliff Dweller’s Lodge

(800) 962-9755

Tight Lines!

Tim