The Crooked is in good condition and has been fishing well throughout the day. Bugs are plentiful and the trout are keyed into a couple different hatches. Look for your smaller baetis and midges in the mornings until the sun gets over that canyon. Once the bugs start flying a dry dropper rig is going to be your best bet when searching for trout, the dry fly should be big enough to see clearly so you don’t miss any takes on the nymph either. I would fish a small Chubby Chernobyl or Purple haze depending on how many mayflies are in the air. When the hatch is on I like to use emergers or unweighted nymphs closer to the surface, but when searching for fish it helps to have a little weight for the fly to get to the bottom where the fish are.
The weather is looking cloudy and a little bit wet this weekend so expect some BWO’s for sure, the fish love these little mayflies and will often look for them in the shadow of the canyon or shallow riffles. Fish a hackle stacker or Sparkle dun and if you want to tie on a dropper a micro mayfly in a size 18 is hard to beat.
Suggested Dries: Sparkle Pupa #18-20, Sparkle Dun PMD or BWO #18, Purple Haze #18-20, Tilt Wing PMD or BWO #16-20, Hackle Stacker PMD or BWO #16-20, Thorax BWO #18-20, PMD Sparkle Dun #16-20, Tilt Wing Dun Mahogany #14-16, CDC Thorax PMD #16-20.
Suggested Nymphs: Mighty May Baetis #16-20, Zebra Midge #18-20, Bead Wing Midge black #18-20, Juju Baetis black or purple #18-20, Super Sinker black #18-20, French Nymph Jig black #14-16, SR Bullet Quill #16-18, Duracell Jig TB #14-16, Perdigon NY Black #14-18.