2022 Fly Fishing Season Recap

Oct 30

What a year! We enjoyed some incredible fly fishing adventures in 2022. Getting out on horseback and fishing these remote wilderness waters never gets old. Here’s a quick recap on our summer (and early fall) fly fishing season…

Fly fishing for cutthroat trout in the Flat Tops Wilderness

The summer began with great water conditions, plenty of moisture and wildflowers everywhere - and that theme really carried throughout the summer. With a healthy amount of rain through much of the summer, the grass was tall, the flowers were blooming and hatches on the river were insane.

That led to excellent dry fly fishing from June, all the way into early October. Caddis, mayflies and terrestrials were all abundant throughout the entire season. The only downside is that we did a fair amount of fishing and horseback riding in the rain! But compared to many other summers in the high country when it’s hot and dry with fire danger, you didn’t hear any complaints from us!

Guided fly fishing in the Flat Tops Wilderness in Colorado

A bit of rain was a small price to pay for the beautiful conditions we had this year. We enjoyed fishing with some of our longtime friends as well as new ones. We saw many people catch their first fish on a fly rod! That’s an experience that will never grow old.

The fishing was hot all the way into early October when we finally received our first significant snow. Even after that, the fishing was productive. But of course our focus turns almost exclusively to elk hunting by the second week of October.

As we look ahead to 2023, we’re already excited for a great season of fly fishing here in the Flat Tops Wilderness area. Labor Day weekend is already sold out! And at the time we posted this update, at least one weekend in August is already sold out. If you’d like to reserve your dates for the summer or early fall of 2023, please contact us now.

Budge’s Wilderness Lodge is currently the only Orvis Endorsed fly fishing expedition in Colorado! If you’d like to learn more about our remote fly fishing adventures, please take a few minutes to explore our fishing page.

We can’t wait to see you here at the lodge next season!