Learn
The parts worth getting right first
Free to read, written in the order a newer angler actually needs them, and aimed at the handful of skills that change your day more than any amount of new gear will.
Articles
Reading water: where trout actually sit
Current seams, feeding lanes and the difference between water that looks good and water that holds fish. The skill that makes every other skill worth having.
Nymph rigs, and why yours is not getting deep enough
How a nymph rig is put together, what each part is for, and the handful of adjustments that separate a drifting fly from a dragging one.
How to read a river gauge before you drive
What cfs actually tells you, why the same number means different things on different rivers, and how to use a USGS page to decide whether a trip is worth taking.
Find Your Gaps
Not sure which of these you actually need?
The Colorado Skill Test is 20 situational questions across five categories. It takes about five minutes, it is free to take and free to finish, and it needs no account. At the end it tells you which category is your weakest, which is usually a better guide to what to read next than a table of contents is.
What it covers
- Colorado River Knowledge
- Hatches & Fly Selection
- Rigging
- Reading Water
- Colorado Fishing Situations
Questions are situational rather than trivia: each one puts you on a piece of water and asks what you would do.
Then Apply It
Skills are general. Rivers are not.
Knowing how to read a seam matters more once you know which river you are standing in and what it does through the season.