3 Flies for the Week: June 2, 2025 - Warmwater Edition
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Time to read 3 min
Runoff is finally here, leaving many of our rivers unfishable. There are a few exceptions with this, as some of our freestones seem less affected due to the low snow pack. But for the most part, the rivers are high and dirty. This is a perfect time to take advantage of our amazing warmwater fishing that we have in the Denver metro. Whether you want to test your technical sight fishing skills with carp, throw streamers or poppers for aggressive bass or pike, or hope to tangle with something unique on the fly, such as walleye or wiper, there’s plenty to do close to home!
If we haven’t mentioned it already, we love our warmwater fishing. It’s close to home, the fish can grow to great sizes, and there’s plenty of water to go explore. We’re constantly finding new “hidden” gems in our metro that have amazing fishing. We’ve already spent a fair share of our spring targeting carp, pike, bass, and even wiper. Just like all fishing, some days are better than others, but we still find success. I wouldn’t expect high catch rates, this isn’t trout fishing. Warmwater fish are primarily predators, so getting these fish to eat can sometimes feel demoralizing. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, you will be greatly rewarded.
All that being said, let’s get to this week’s 3 flies for warmwater fishing!
#1: Headstand - Olive sz8
The headstand is a flat out killer carp pattern! It can resemble a leech, damsel, or swimming beetle, but really it’s just a buggy pattern that gets the fish in a feeding mood. Just like all carp fishing, you need to drag and drop this pattern to a feeding carp. Personally, I like to drop the fly about six inches from the carp’s face at 45º. I prefer this angle rather than right in front of them or to the side. Why I don’t like placing the fly right in front of them is because carp have poor monocular sight, therefore it’s difficult for them to see objects directly in front of them. On the other side of things, I don’t like putting the fly right on the side of their face because they have incredible binocular vision, so they can see objects to the side of them incredibly well. I like bridging the gap between the two because the carp can still see the fly, but can’t thoroughly inspect it.
The headstand is a great fly for fishing our local ponds, or fishing the DSP (Denver South Platte) when the flows are on the lower end!
#2: Belly Scratch Minnow - Chub sz1
If you’re looking to target bass, there’s few fly choices that will outfish a baitfish pattern. The bell scratch minnow is a simple baitfish pattern that offers a ton of realism. Due to the weight placement, this hook will ride point up allowing to freeswim or crawl on the bottom. Crawling a streamer, or even letting it sit still on the bottom can be a great method for catching bass. Although they are aggressive predators, bass are lazy like us and would rather eat an easy meal from a dying minnow than eat a fast moving one.
The chub coloration allows you to fish at any body of water that bass reside in, regardless of what baitfish are present. So if you’re looking to stock up in only one color, this would be the one. However, if you’re fishing in waters with thick populations of bluegill or shad, it would be smart to get a few of those respective colors. If nothing is going on and/or you can’t figure them out, then looking to get a reaction bite with the black or chartreuse/white works as well.
#3: Lynch’s Triple D - Olive/Yellow sz2 (In-Store Only)
Like it or not, lures catch fish. And they do it really well, particularly in a stillwater environment. Most streamers don’t have the build to properly dart, dive, or change directions to entice a strike in a lake. That said, there is one series of flies that can do all of these things. Tommy Lynch’s Drunk and Disorderly lineup is built intentionally to mimic the action of a jerkbait. Although he designed this fly for brown trout and Great Lakes steelhead (everyone has their opinion on this, let’s not start the same argument for the millionth time), this fly is perfect for targeting pike.
Julian and I brought this fly out recently to Spinney Mountain Reservoir in hopes of catching trout and/or pike. We were lucky enough to catch three pike, and even though they weren’t of great size, the fly did its job. I would say coloration doesn’t matter too much when targeting pike, but the olive/yellow is a well rounded color that can imitate brown trout, perch, and even suckers, all of which pike happily go after.
Thank you for all reading along this week and we hope this blog was enough to convince you to target some warmwater species! The Headstand and Belly Scratch Minnow are available online and in-store, whereas the Triple D is only available in-store.
Xavier Puls
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to Xavier on email at xavier@goldenflyshop.com, or call the shop at 303-330-1292. Thank you!