Become A Professional Pick Pocket

The Colorado Front Range has a plethora of small to medium-sized rivers most of which are considered high gradient. What this all translates to is miles upon miles of pocket water. The faster you become proficient on this pocket water the better your fishing experience will become.

Limit yourself to short casts (sometimes no longer than your 9ft leader) don't linger too long at one pocket (a "pocket" is any small eddy or micro-run between rocks or fast water) but, most importantly, always plot a route upstream. You should be thinking three or four moves ahead...like a chess game. Lay a couple good casts to the pockets immediately to your front and side, then wade into one of those pockets that you just fished. This gives you perfect positioning on a fresh set of untouched pockets. I can not stress enough how important proper positioning is for this type of fishing...far more than line mending or even fly selection! Mending fly line is usually a futile effort on skinny, high gradient water. Get in position, make your cast to the head of the pocket and keep your rod tip high! The more line and leader you can keep off the water the less chance of getting drag.