LOWER FRYINGPAN (Basalt upstream to Mile Marker 4)
WATER CONDITIONS: Clear
FOOD SOURCES PRESENT: Blue Winged Olives, Midges, Sculpins
OVERALL RATING: 6 out of 10
THE LOWDOWN: BWOs and midges are about all you'll see here these days, but the fish pushing up out of the Fork can make for a great day of fishing. Certain sections on the lower Pan will have ice clinging to the banks, but it's not frozen over by any means.
Paying attention to what each fish is eating will help eliminate the mystery, and like the upper Pan, the waves of hatches will change frequently, and you've got to adjust.
Euro-nymphers will be quite pleased with the lower Fryingpan, there is a ton of access and these fish aren't as picky as the perfect-presentation-required fish upstream.
If the crowds of people upstream are thick, come explore some lower Fryingpan access spots!
HATCHES: Blue Winged Olives 20-22, Midges 20-26
APPROPRIATE PATTERNS:
DRIES: Mole Fly Baetis 20-22, Harrop's CDC Biot Dun BWO 20-22, CDC Comparadun BWO 20-22, Morgans Midge 18-22, Hatching Midge 20-22, Sprout Midge 22-24, HOH CDC Spent Midge 22-24
NYMPHS: Jerome Baetis 20-22, Ultra Bling RS2 Gray 18-20, Stott's Good Carl 20, Murder She Wrote Rust 20-22, Bling Midge 20-24, Egg 16-18
STREAMERS: Home Invader, Carlton Banks, Skully Bugger, Dali-Lama
HINTS: Fish in the lower river tend to ramble and migrate around, so keep searching if you're not feeling the love.