Frying Pan Anglers

I’m giving FPA 4 stars, but it would have been 5 had the day gone a bit more smoothly.
The store/​person answering the phone is very nice and helpful, but a few things started off wrong. The night before, we were suppose to receive a call from the guides telling us what to bring/​do for the trip. Never received one and no apology that it didn’t happen from either of them.
One of the guide showed up 20 mins late, again no acknowledgement — strange.
We did a whole day trip which started at 8AM, but with him being late and then spending about 45 mins at Whole Foods to get lunch (I’d rather save the extra $ 75 tacked on for the whole day and buy my own $ 10 sandwich and chips). We were smart enough to bring our own drinks.
Anyway, finally get to the river and on the boat by 9:45AM. Our guide didn’t have a ton of patience in teaching us to fly fish, but overall it worked out and he definitely knew where most of the fish liked to lay and the deeper parts of the river. He wasn’t much of a talker, but once he «warmed up» then his coaching got much better (or maybe the hangover was done). He did have a great ability in navigating the waters and did go back upstream to hit the right spots which was very nice. I caught over 10 Brown Trouts and a large Rainbow Trout
My friends were on the other boat and that guide was SUPER NICE, but didn’t shut up for the entire 7+ hours. Non-​stop talking and kept having them fish on the shoreline and perhaps why they only caught 3 – 4.
During this season, the fishing gets better in the afternoon when the sun is out, but the sun also goes down at 6PM. We paid $ 475 to be on the boat, learn how to fly fish, and expected this service for that price. We gave our guide a small tip which he wasn’t happy about (he texted us that evening). I’m not sure what he expected as he didn’t clean any fish and do anything else but his JOB.
Overall, I learned how to Fly Fish in one of the most beautiful places in the US and had a ton of fun. It would have been a perfect experience had it not been our guide’s sense of entitlement and hopefully FPA can get better guides to work for them in general.

We went on a half day float trip with Mike and Cameron. They were great. We had 3 who had never been. They were patient and encouraging. I would highly recommend if you are near Aspen!!!