[OURAY]

Fished the Uncompahgre River below Ridgway Reservoir today. It was partly cloudy with gusty winds at times out of the West. Temperature was in the high 40s to low 50s. I Started to fish around 1 pm. I caught three Browns, one Cutthroat and a nice 19" Rainbow. I Used a  #16 bead head pheasant tail below a  #12 orange colored egg pattern. They all took the pheasant tail. I tried fishing without the egg pattern and they would not touch the nymph by itself.  I put the egg pattern back on and again continued to catch fish . There was good  midge activity and probably would of done better with a midge dropper but forgot to bring my midge patterns.  :-[ Over all a descent day and very quite with only two other anglers seen during the time I was there. 

 

[IceInTheVeins]

I have fished the river below Ridgeway once. I used panther martins and smaller jigs during february and caught 5 rainbows and two browns that day and had other fish follow but not strike. Most of the rainbows were 14- 18" and one was about 3 pounds. One brown was about 11" and the other was 19". Good fishery but I prefer the Colorado. More fish and they are often bigger.

 

[TroutFishingBear]

I prefer the colorado too, but the uncompahgre is coming back! I only wish the reservoir above was more productive.

 

[IceInTheVeins]

Yeah Ridgeway is poor fishery at best. The rainbows are stocked as catchables and do not grow well because it really is too warm. Ridgeway should be managed for smallmouth bass, walleye, and pike. Of course until the USFWS programs are ended, that won't happen. A few larger browns call ridgeway home, but it has a pitiful koke run where adult spawning kokes are 8 - 10". Too bad those kokes aren't in Turquoise, Granby or Ruedi for Mackinaw food.