That's a tough fish to catch. It appears to be randomly swimming in the back water taking mayflys on and just below the surface. It's so close to the surface he only sees things directly in from of him. Ummm. This sort of random activity requires a soft pin point cast close to the fish but as you state, your line ripping off the water puts the fish down. The stream appears small also making things more difficult.

I have two set ups that might work. Go with a 12-15ft leader tippet combo. The wind does not appear to be blowing hard so you should have an opportunity to still make a pin point cast. The longer leader should help with not putting the fish down on your backcast. Don't be afraid to go with two drys and a dropper. The more flys the better chance you have with being directly in front of the fish. Tie your dropper on with florocarbon so it may work its way below the scum. You should now have above and below the scum covered. Mono floats higher. Rather than putting the fish down 10 mins hold off on your backcast until the fish has swam away then cast again. The longer leader will reduce the disturbance taking your fly line off the water. The fish appears to be cruising pretty good. Limit your cast for when the fish is in the right position. The way I see it you only have so many good cast at a fish.

Use fly floatant on your tippet about 6 inches above your dries. This will help keep the dries up.

Option II.

Use a Tenkara Rod. The soft presentation will not spook the fish. The ease of casting in tight spots will make you more accurate. With a majority of the line off the water you won't spook the fish "ripping line off the water" on your backcast.

I would use the same set up as above except go with the braided leader for the Tenkara. It acts as your fly line only it is much softer.

By the way, I'm not getting paid to pitch these rods. I just love them. Come on over to the darkside.

It looks like, from the video, that you're on the same side of the river as the fish. I assume you're downstream, but it's hard to tell. What I can see is that little ripples are coming in from the left towards the area where the fish was. I think, if possible, would have tried to get in the river (downstream of the fish) and cast into the ripples (which look relatively foam free) and let the fly/flies bob into the zone. I'd also try to slowly pull the flies out of the zone to recast (when it was time) by retrieving line rather than picking up, but you were probably doing that already.

hard to see! take home opinion: it really looks from the video like the bank wasn't the best place to be.

yrs-
Evan!

Size up to an 18 non-parachute pattern and keep the emerger on. Cast and play the waiting game. Let him find your fly instead of presenting it in front of him

Are you planning on releasing the fish aftrer it's caught? If so then I would try to match the hatch and get a bunch of crud on the leader that would make it disappear in the foam.

If you were planning on keeping it, a .22LR makes a small hole and you would just have to get the net downstream from him.

Maybe the fish was just camera shy... Try it without the camera on him. If that doesn't work, we're only going to know what you tell us, if you get my drift.

That pun was an accident.

I think that your best bet would probably be using a lightly weighted (with lead wire not split shot) nymph version of that fly. keep your rod lower to the water than usual since the wind is a big factor. Try to fish the fly right beneath the surface or in the film, not on top of the surface scum. I've had similar situations on creeks fishing for brook trout and this worked well. Or you could just skip the small flies altogether and tie on a streamer with a moderate sinking tip. cast it in front of the trout and strip it back with quick jerks and pauses. One of those should work very well on any trout, no matter what the size or species.

since all that backwash is carrying all kinds of trout goodys in it matching the hatch wont help, your fly will just blend in, especially with the poor visibility created by the scum. The answer would be to use something that stands out from the scum and the other insects, say a size 8 or 10 humpy in red??

A big ol' nightcrawler?! just kidding

Not sure about all the conditions or exact bugs coming off, but if your fishing the scum pockets of the Colorado, tie on a spinner pattern of the bug you "think" he's eating, add a long dropper with a smaller spinner pattern and sink it! If he's crusing around in the scum, he might just be after the spent mayflies collecting in the pocket.

In this situation I would put on a hevier fly so that it will be able to sink under the scum. Then it may be more visble for the fish and you would have, possibly, caught it. Also, as elkslayer said, I'd lose the dropper, too.

use somethin a little longer, heavier, and more colerful so u can catch its attention its just eatin somrthin that it sees movin when the waters like that.

I can't dissagree with the longer, finer tippet theories, but I don't know what he's using and will assume he's tried that. I would tie a spinner pattern on as a second fly, rub it in some muck so it will sink a bit. Spinners are a go to for me in back eddy foam.

Try a Dave's grasshopper. It is a cure for non biting trout every time. I have caught alot of rainbows. just by changing to a grasshopper. Another thing to do is to try to catch him on a Panther Martin Spinner. That again is the magic cure for non biting trout.