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although i am a utah'n, welcome to colorado theangler, you run a top notch website here.
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Hi the angler. Don't stick to primarily fly fishing for trout, which many people so wrongly do. I have caught so many huge trout just drifting nightcrawlers in the colorado river. Read my posts about the colorado river near glenwood springs for specific spots. The following is the most effective way to fish for river trout:
I usually use light line, 4 or 6 lb. test. I use a #6 eagle claw bait holder hook, and 1 1/2 ft. above that put between 1-3 water gremlin sinkers in sizes 3-5, adjusting based on current and depth. Then put on 1/2 of a fat nightcrawler
Cast out anywhere from about 12-2 o'clock, again depending on bottom structure and conditions.
You want your nightcrawler to be ticking the bottom and you to be feeling rocks usually, unless it is sandy and then you will just feel bottom. The rocks feel like: tick.....tick.....tick really gradually, and trout is a series of sharper taps in the drift, usually happening quite a ways downstream from you, but occasionally happen right in front of you or just a bit to the upstream or downstream side.
If you fish for browns, they will hit like this: tap, tap, tap really quickly and fairly solid. If you fish for rainbows, they may only occasionally hit like that, the most common hit being they really crush it or you feel a tiny tap, or a series of taps much more slowly than the brown.
Set the hook as soon as you feel any bite, doing this will ensure, for even someone new to this, roughly 95% of trout to be hooked in the side of the mouth.
For a seasoned master like me at this, I could go on and on about other little variations you can do to increase your hits, especially my famous "downstream jig" of a nightcrawler where it is fairly far downstream from you, and you bounce it off of the bottom a lot. (more complicated) My hooking rate in the lip or jaw is roughly 99% according to my statistics.
If you like browns, they tend to be in shallower, swifter areas with a rock bottom. They will be in deep areas a lot too but they need a rock bottom mainly due to the fact that their favorite forage (sculpins) live in rocks.
If you like rainbows, they tend to be in the deeper, slower areas with sandy bottoms are your best bet. The downstream jig and fishing way downstream from you seems to work better for this fish than it does for browns who seem to favor a typical drift more. Hang on to your rod because you will get a few bone-crunching strikes!
If you like big rainbows, only the deepest, slowest holes with sandy bottoms will do. If you like big browns, I have noticed that the best fishing spots are fairly deep runs with rocks and moderate current. (downstream jig not nearly as effective in runs like this)
Also, the majority of large river trout that I have caught (6lbs.+ meaning) have hit extremely light, usually a sway in the line or the slightest tick.
Like I said, I could go on forever about bouncing a nightcrawler, but you'll just have to find some other cool stuff out for yourself!
(try winter fishing this way in a river when it isn't quite frozen over in the deepest holes you can find, this is the best time of year as the huge trout, particularly rainbows, are suckers to the same place in a stretch of river. Find one, you'll find 90% of them. Remember to drift it much slower)
Fish this way in the colorado river particularly. Other good rivers for this are sections of the yampa, the upper roaring fork (where legal), the eagle river, and the gunnison river. I suggest the colorado river after where the roaring fork goes in for trout that average 3 lbs. In the colorado, a good flyfisherman can catch 10 in a whole day, I average nearly 50, and I have a much lower mortality rate.
Enjoy!
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