Big Thompson River October Report

October is officially the off season up at Fun City…and the town actually reverts back to Estes Park. The tourist traps have closed until next year. And you can even find a spot on the Big Thompson to fish. The river though the canyon (between Estes Lake and the town of Drake, along RT 34) is low and clear (about 70 cfs) and the fishing has been good…is good…and will be good. My recommendation is to go early (not crazy early, just be there before ten) and start below the dam at Estes Lake. If you go on a Monday through Thursday there may only be one or two other dew bags to fight with… You will likely find some 12 to 16 inch browns rising to midges. Scale back to 6x and try the size 22 and 24 midge dries. After 15 minutes working one fish a #24 rusty RS2 took my best fish the other day. Now, once you migrate farther down the canyon things start to loosen up a bit. I got away with a #14 Clown Shoe Caddis (there will be caddis around at some point in the afternoon) on a 9ft 5x leader with a #20 Black Poison Tung nymph dropped off about 16 inches with 6x tippet.