“We are excited to again offer two great winter activities in guided waterfowl hunting and fly-fishing,” says Tim Patterson, longtime guide and co-owner of RIGS. “Many of our Private Waters have received considerable funding from such groups as the Colorado Division of Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited in order to enhance wildlife habitat,” says Patterson. “We have access to two major stopovers on the flyway within the Uncompahgre Valley that are full of birds and get very low pressure.”
“Winter fly-fishing is extremely popular for those in the know, and who enjoy fly fishing on a regular basis. There’s not as much angler pressure and the fish are still hungry.
Water levels are lower and identifying where the fish are becomes easier. It’s unique to offer these great activities in combination or on their own.”

Patterson, with RIGS business partner Bill Sheppard, fish the Uncompahgre River Valley’s local waterways including secluded waters with exclusive private access for some of the regions best year-round angling opportunities. RIGS has commercial permits on public waters including the Uncompahgre, Cimarron, Gunnison and Lake Fork of the Gunnison Rivers as well as access to several different private water fisheries. “Our guiding options are full of diversity and productive opportunities,” says Patterson “We truly have some incredibly unique settings.”

Telluride’s signature water, the San Miguel River, primarily freezes over each winter as the river becomes nearly un-fishable, moving to lower elevation is essential. Ridgway’s Uncompahgre River and tail water sections below the Ridgway Reservoir acts as a prime location for anglers.

“Another nice thing about getting down to the Ridgway area is that we’re lower in elevation so mid-day temperatures tend to be more comfortable,” says Patterson. “The region is unique in that way, we have several tail water fisheries, (that’s water released out of dams,) that fish well year-round. The water temperatures tend to be consistent, rivers don’t freeze over and flows are stabilized.”

RIGS fishes the Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Dolores and Cimarron rivers, and the Lake Fork of the Gunnison. Rivers and tail waters are the five-year-old company’s main fishing haunts but still-waters are also frequented such as ponds and private lakes.

RIGS offers half-day, full-day and multi-day trips for both Fly Fishing and Guided Waterfowl Hunts, as well as a full service fly shop right on Ridgway’s main drag. For more information or to book a trip visit www.fishrigs.com or give them a call at (970) 626-4460.

Fly Fishermen, Spin Casters and bait fishermen alike, all have locations in which they can enjoy making some casts to the regions diverse selection of trout. Rainbow, Brown, Cutthroat and Brook Trout, as well as the occasional Konkanee Salomon, can all be found within a short drive from Ouray. Throughout the summer, excellent access to the high country offers anglers unparalleled beauty and incredible insect hatches. Eager fish, crashing the waters surface are sure to keep your attention.

So whether you’re looking for a fun and relaxing place to take the family or you’re in search of remote and productive trout waters, the region has something for everyone.

To help determine which location would be best for you and your group, here are a few suggestions of some of the Counties better options for wetting a line!

Uncompahgre River
Although section of the Uncompahgre River through the City of Ouray are too turbulent for productive fishing, a bit further down river offers gentle and easily accessible. The Pa-Co-Chu-Puk & Dallas Creek areas within Ridgway State Park offer classic tailwater river fishing, small creeks and stocked ponds the whole family can enjoy. *Access here excellent for all ability levels, including disabilities.

Ridgway Reservoir

Dutch Charlie Area
Enjoy great shoreline fishing especially on the south shore of the cove where it opens out into the main body of the reservoir. It’s close to picnicking sites, a playground and a modern, universally accessible fishing pier.
Dallas Creek Day Use Area
Highlights include a long shoreline for river or reservoir fishing with convenient drive-up areas and parking spaces. The best fishing is often found where the Uncompahgre River empties into the main body of the reservoir. Kokanee salmon are here during their autumn run.
Cimarron River & Silver Jack Reservoir
The Cimarron River offers great angling opportunities for Cutthroat, Rainbow and Brook Trout. This often overlooked fishery can provide excellent dry fly-fishing throughout the year. A good piece of tail-water angling lies just below Silver Jack Reservoir. The Forks of the Cimarron River offer incredibly scenic fishing in the Big Blue Wilderness, while easy hike access to several scenic high alpine lakes is excellent.

Creeks and High Lakes

Dallas Creek: This large feeder creek flows into Ridgway State Park Reservoir and is home to an excellent trout population, access is limited.
Canyon Creek: One of the few good streams in the Ouray area for fly fishers. Both brook and rainbow trout are found here.
Cow Creek: Upper Cow Creek offers excellent opportunities for those seeking solitude. The more difficult the access (bushwhacking required), the bigger the trout
Crystal Lake: Located just a few miles from Ouray, up Red Mountain Pass to Ironton Park, and on your left is a crystal clear spring feed pond that has some nice dry fly fishing.
Blue Lakes: These three lakes sit at an elevation of approximately 1,100 with stunning views and some nice size trout as an added benefit. Unfortunately, access to these beautiful lakes is accomplished by hiking four miles into the Mt. Sneffels Wilderness area on TR #201. The three lakes range from 6 to 16 acres in size. Remember to go prepared for all types of conditions.

*Don’t forget to contact the local fishing shop to receive the most up to date information on conditions, locations, licenses and supplies.

RIGS Fly Shop & Guide Service, in Ridgway on Hwy 62.
888-626-4460

RIDGWAY — Bill Sheppard reached into the icy water of the Uncompahgre River and grabbed the first rock he could reach, quickly before the hands went numb.
He pulled it into the air and watched as the rock came alive with crawling insects.
“Here’s a Baetis and here’s a netbuilding caddis and, see, here’s a small stonefly,” he said, pointing out the many aquatic insects scurrying away from the bright mid-winter sun and unwanted intrusion. “There’s plenty of bug life available to trout, even in winter, but most of it’s pretty small. Midges and stuff, you know.”
Too many anglers forget about winter fishing, instead thinking the activity is limited to drilling a hole and peering into the dark water.
While that’s one way to look at it, a better way is to find an open section of river and trick a trout into biting.
“We don’t get much winter river fishing around here, but there are a couple places on the Gunnison that stay open except in the coldest part of the year,” said Rod Cesario, owner of Dragonfly Anglers fly shop in Crested Butte.
“Right now, it’s minus 16 outside and just too cold to be out there, but in a month or so the days will warm up,” Cesario said Tuesday. “I’ve actually gone down to the Gunnison and sat in my truck until it warms up enough to fish, but that’s mostly February.”
If you can’t wait, there are many rivers that offer open water for winter angling. Some of your best bets will be the tailwaters below dams, including the Fryingpan River below Ruedi and the Uncompahgre River in Ridgway State Park.
The Taylor River below Taylor Park Dam has a reputation for holding big fish in open water even during the coldest months, but the lingering drought has water managers shorting the releases down to 50 cubic feet per second, barely enough to keep the river bed wet and certainly not worth driving three hours to fish.
Other open water can usually be found on the Roaring Fork River from Carbondale to Glenwood Springs, the Colorado River from Glenwood Springs to Rifle and, on warmer days, the White River near Meeker.
When it comes to winter fly fishing, size matters, and a very big reason many fly anglers forgo winter fishing is the tiny flies.
“During the winter you find real small stuff in the water,” said Jesse Eckley of Western Anglers fly shop in Grand Junction. “Actually, midges are the main meal year-round, but in the summer the other hatches can hide a midge hatch.
In the winter, he said, a trout usually doesn’t have a whole lot else from which to choose.
Midges are tiny ipteraimicroscopic bugs that tease tired eyes yet hatch in numbers so prolific the water often is covered with shucks.
In his book “Trout Fishing,” the late Joe Brooks recognized that conundrum.
“It’s one thing to fish a small dry fly that matches something equally small that you see on the surface,” wrote Brooks in a book first published more than 30 years ago. “It’s quite another to be able to picture a correspondingly small nymph drifting along under the surface and to believe that a fish will see it and take it.”
Of course a trout will take a midge. It’s been suggested that a trout in cold water often has to eat up to 3 percent of its weight daily to survive.
If the hatches are right and water temperature is too, that means a two-pound trout might eat 500 or more midges a day.
That’s a lot of opportunity for you to stick your hook into.
Cloudy days can bring clouds of midges, offering dry-fly fishing to rival that of summer. Most midge fishing, however, is underwater, dredging motes of steel and thread through deep holes where the big fish lie.
Cesario and Eckley said a strike indicator is important to increase your hook-up success.
“The takes are more subtle, your leader kind of stops and you have to be able to see it,” Cesario said. “The fish are in the deepest water and are going to be kind of sluggish, so it will be hard to tell when a fish has your fly without an indicator.”
Eckley loves to fish midges and small flies in blues, blacks and purples, “the colors you think of when you think of being cold,” he said.
That being said, one of the more-popular winter midge patterns currently going out the door of Western Anglers is the Marvel midge designed by Eckley. The fly has a blue body with a red head, and was named after the superheroes found in Marvel Comics.
“It’s sort of a Spider-Man-looking thing,” said Eckley.
But the real winter-fishing secret might be Woolly Buggers and other furry creatures. Winter trout aren’t very active but they’ll move a bit to get a big hunk of protein, particularly when it’s right in front of them.
“I love to come down here in the winter and toss a Woolly Bugger for big brown trout,” Sheppard said as he eyed a deep, slow pool on the Uncompahgre. “Fish it real slow and get it deep.”
Eckley, who caught a striking rainbow on the wintry White River using a large black sculpin pattern, recommended crawling the bigger flies across the river bottom.
“It’s a big meal for a trout but most anglers forget to use a sculpin or Woolly Bugger in the winter,” Eckley said. He recounted a recent visit to the Gunnison when a big brown trout came up into the shallows and ate a struggling, 10-inch rainbow.
“We rarely use streamers in the winter, but they can produce some big fish,” he said.

Years Guiding: 5

Adam Pate is a bluegrass loving western North Carolina native. He grew up fishing the creeks and rivers in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Adam has been a fly fishing guide for a little over 5 years and loves sharing his passion with young and old. His patience and extensive knowledge of aquatic insects and fish behavior makes him an ideal teacher on the water. A couple years ago, his dream of guiding in SW Colorado finally came true and he now calls Ridgway home. If he’s not in a creek or river waving a stick, he can be found kayaking, rafting, backpacking, rock climbing, or strumming his guitar.

Walk and wade the Uncompahgre River and its tributaries in Ridgway State Park, (just 10 minutes from the shop!) Southern Colorado’s newest tail water fishery below Ridgway Reservoir, offers anglers a chance to discover an unparalleled fishing experience year-round. Extensive rehabilitation has resulted in prime habitat for Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat trout with catch and release waters revealing deep runs and large pools. Whether you are a veteran or novice, our certified professional guides will provide you with a quality angling experience. This stretch of river lies within Ridgway State Park.

Jason has been a professional guide in the industry as long as anyone on the staff. He specializes in training our Raft Guide Staff every spring and has been doing so with RIGS for the last 8 years.  He has more river miles than most of our staff combined and is certified in SRT & WEMT-I. His past work experience in the industry includes a Colorado State Parks River Ranger and Ski Patroller.  “JY” brings the necessary skills for Float Fish guiding in the Gunnison Gorge and a true understanding of customer service skills to be a an exceptional guide. Enjoy quality river time with a true professional!