Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Flies and Spinners for Colorado

I'll be in the Colorado Flat Tops in a week hunting elk. Any suggestions on flies or tackle ? I'll be bringing what flies I use in Michigan and a few Panther Martins for the spincast ,

That's what I had the last time I was there , but we were camped right at 2 big lakes with zero fish and our plans to fish Trappers Lake and the White River before we packed in got turned upside down.
Thanks for any thoughts.

I'd throw in some old fashioned Colorado spinners, you can use them with a fly rod or spinning rod. I've also had good luck with gold or copper colored acme phoebe lures.

Mike, where can a guy still buy Colorado spinners??? I had some years ago and somehow they became lost... I would like to buy a bunch if I can find them.. Ted Trueblood mentioned them years ago in one of his articles.. Great lure..

Well, I haven't tried to buy any in a few decades - stocked up in the '80s and haven't needed any. You may have to hunt around. If all else fails do a web search - sometimes you'll only turn up colorado spinner blades as components to build your own rigs, but I did find a couple of places (that I've never bought from) that list the compete rigs. There must be more places that still sell them.

https://www.landbigfish.com/Hildebrandt/Hildebrandt-Colorado-Spinner

http://www.yakimabait.com/products/colorado-spinner/

Those spinners look great, I don't have time to order any for this trip , but I'll stop in a sporting goods store in Meeker or close by .

BigPine Try the hardware store on Market St. They used to carry lots of fishing lures, haven't been to Meeker, for a couple of years, was born and raised there. Good Luck on your elk hunt, Flat tops are a fun place to hunt, Trappers Lake is great. Rio7

Thanks Rio , we're going to spend 2 nights at Fritzlans before we pack in .fish the white river and trappers lake

I would wait until you get to near your fishing destination- the local shops will give you the best advice on what is working on the waters you want to fish, both for spinners and flies.

For fishing with spinning gear with a bubble the best is a Pistol Pete, yellow has always worked best for me. It is basically a wooly worm with a small propeller. Vary your retrieve but just fast enought to spin the prop works best for me. The other fly that works very well behind a bubble or from a fly rod is the Renegade in sizes 18-14. Works best when trout are rising. For a good searching fly the humpy is as good as it gets. Red and yellow work best for me in size 16 but good to have 18-14. Nymphs the GR Hares's Ear 20-14 , and small midge pupae 22-18 work well. For spinners Panther Martins work well and small spoons such as 1/8 oz KastMaster or Thomas Bouyants also work, gold is the popular color. Almost forgot soft hackles work good too, fly rod or behind a bubble. My favorites are Grey Hackle Yellow size 16-14 and GR Hare's Ear 16-14.

Thank you for the info !

In streams my absolute favorite go to spinner is a #1 Blue Fox Vibrax in gold/polished brass. It works everywhere on both rainbows and browns.

The reasons I prefer a Vibrax is it starts to spin easy, it won't twist the line as much as other spinners, and I believe it emits a better sonic vibration. Many brands and colors of spinners will catch trout but over the years I've found that a gold Vibrax will out fish other spinners in most situations.

Thanks everybody... I'll put all that to use that I can . We're going to fish the White River some and Trappers Lake on Friday before we pack in Sat. morning to hunt...of course some more fishing in the Flat Tops.
Thanks again

Thanks Mike!! Have a great trip BP!!

Mepps #2 gold

You'll thank me later.

I never go anywhere without a half dozen black and gold 1/16th ounce Panther Martins. There are probably better choices for specific places but those have never failed to get me some sort of fish attention. They're kinda like the '06 of spinners, maybe not master of anything but certainly a jack of all trades.

Tom

Whoa.

Is a 308 is more better.

Oh wait ...

What about the .270?

Is a 300 Win Mag too much?

Is a .223 AI spinner enough gun ?

Yep that color and size of PM are the snizzle.

For murky water after a rain in Colorado I have had very good results with hand made wooly worms (similar to these) with a spinner similar to these