Monthly Archives: July 2010

Eagle River – 7/10/10

Time: 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Lease water between red rocks canyon and Eagle, CO

Fish Landed: 2

Eagle River 07/10/2010 Photo Album

Jane, Beth, Dave G, and I did a walking tour of Eagle, CO and had lunch at the Grand Avenue Grill on Saturday morning. After lunch we returned to the house and prepared to fish. Dave G and I decided to check out the clarity of the water on the lower Eagle River above Eagle, CO. It looked good as we drove along the east side of the river in Eagle, so we decided to give it a chance. We parked at a narrow pullout at one of the access points roughly midway through the state lease.

Petunias Spill from Barrel

Near where we began there was a small side channel around 5-8 feet wide on our side of the river. I headed up the small channel while Dave G stayed along the main river. I spotted a deep spot in the channel with an area covered with foam around five feet long and four feet wide. As I watched the foam I could see some movement and then a fin poking above the foam. Next I spotted occasional dimples in the foam, but the foam was so thick that I couldn’t really see what kind of fish it was or what it was eating. The foam looked like half inch thick shaving cream. I was able to see that the fish was facing downstream, but apparently the foam was blocking its vision of me.

I had a yellow Letort hopper and a beadhead hares ear, and began casting into the foam. I could barely see the hopper in the foam. On perhaps the tenth cast I spotted a dimple in the vicinity of where I thought my fly was, and set the hook. Immediately the fish shot upstream a short distance then turned and raced past me, down the channel and into some fast water in the Eagle River main stem. I allowed the fly line to rip off the reel as there was no turning this fish in its current state of rage. I decided I needed to follow this fish to have any chance at it, but as I pivoted to face downstream, my foot slipped and in the instant when I raised my arms to catch my balance, the line popped and the foam fish disappeared.

I was almost shaking after this encounter, and was feeling rather optimistic about the afternoon. I returned to the main river and walked upstream a bit to an area of nice pockets and long slots. Dave was above me at this point. As I fished a particularly nice long slot behind a rock that was four feet deep or so, I began to notice small mayflies emerging. They were small size 16 pale morning duns and as the minutes passed the intensity increased. A decent imitation of PMD nymphs is the pheasant tail nymph, so I tied one on below the hopper. After numerous casts, the hopper went sideways and I set the hook and was attached to a decent rainbow for a split second. I could see the bow turn sideways and slip the hook. Would this fish fall for a fly again? The section looked so attractive that I felt there had to be more fish there so I continued working to the left and above where I’d seen the fish. As I did so, I once again saw the rainbow occasionally move out from its lie to snatch insects. Several times it grabbed a fly near the surface.

Could I tempt the rainbow with a dry? I clipped off both my flies and went to the trouble of tying on a light gray size 16 comparadun that worked well for me on the Colorado River PMD hatch. Sure enough, on around the third drift, the rainbow finned up and sipped the comparadun. The fish shot downstream and below me toward the heavy current, but I applied side pressure and coaxed it back to the soft water below. After several shorter runs, I overcame the rainbow’s resistance and netted a beautiful fat 16 inch fish.

Fine Rainbow from Eagle River on Saturday

I released the beauty and continued fishing upstream with the comparadun, but when I reached a beautiful deep junction pool at a bend in the river, there didn’t appear to be any more mayflies hatching and casting the size 16 fly in the big water seemed futile. I tied the hopper back on and attached a beadhead pheasant tail. It was now getting late in the afternoon, and Dave G and I wanted to fish some nice pocket water that had yielded many nice fish to us many years ago so we moved quickly to that area.

Dave G took the tail of the pockets where the river fanned out over rocks with water perhaps three feet deep and landed several fish. I worked up along the left side fishing the attractive pockets, slots and seams for a 50 yard stretch. I managed one nice 12 inch rainbow on the beadhead pheasant tail in this area. As I neared the top of the targeted stretch, Dave approached from below, and we found our way out of the lease and walked back down route 6 to the car.

Brush Creek – 7/10/10

Time: 7:00PM – 9:00PM

Location: Eagle Ranch

Fish Landed: 6

Brush Creek 07/10/2010 Photo Album

Dave G was adamant that we were going to fish Saturday evening in spite of protestations from our wives. Dave G had discovered a place with a three foot undercut bank, and he wanted to experiment with a mouse fly tumbling off the bank. I was skeptical that this tactic could work in a small tributary stream such as Brush Creek. Call me a doubting Thomas.

Dave Gears Up for Evening Fishing

We finished our Thai curry noodle bowl dinners and did some clean up then headed to the stream. We hiked upstream on the path from the house beyond the bridge over the creek and then another .2 miles or so then cut down to the creek. I tied on the usual Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear. Dave was using a Purple Haze trailing a beadhead pheasant tail. Once again we hopped from pool and run to pool and run. I was giving Dave first crack at each attractive stretch of water, but he was staying back from the water so I could try my flies after he’d taken first shot.

Coming Down the Trail

Dave was getting quite a few refusals to the Purple Haze on his first casts to new water. My combination wasn’t doing a thing, and I had little confidence that this would change. There were quite a few caddis flitting about as daylight faded so I tied on a bushy size 14 caddis with a palmered body. This provoked at least a refusal. Perhaps they liked the caddis concept but I needed to go smaller? I replaced the bushy caddis with a sparse light gray deer hair caddis on a size 16 hook. Nothing. Finally we neared the two long runs that Dave was targeting with his mouse. Dave G moved up ahead to work the mouse, but suggested I try something darker to contrast against the sky. I searched my fly pocket and came upon a size 14 royal stimulator that I’d tied several years ago out of the Scott Sanchez book. The fly had a 2XL hook with peacock herl body and a red floss section in the middle. A hackle was palmered over the body and a white calf tail wing swept back over the body down wing style.

Concentrating on His Fly

I noticed a small soft area of water against a three foot high bank on the opposite side of the main current. I figured Dave hadn’t touched this water, and perhaps I could get a decent downstream drift by positioning above the slack water and feeding down to it before the main current grabbed my line. I was right. On the third cast a 12 inch brown slashed at the stimulator, and I landed my first fish of the evening.

Next I moved upstream to the first of the long runs that Dave was targeting. The next half hour or so turned out to be some of the most memorable fishing ever. The sun had just dropped below the horizon and daylight was waning. Some birds (nighthawks?) with wide wings and white stripes on the wing were flying frantically back and forth up and down the stream eating insects and adding to the excitement. First I tossed the royal stimulator to the tail of the run and wham I was hooked to a powerful brown. I landed it quickly and dried my fly. The only thing that limited my fish count over the next half hour or so was the time it took to play and release the powerful browns I was catching. In almost every case the trout slashed my fly, and when I set the hook they rocketed upstream and beneath the undercut bank. Only strong side pressure prevented losing the fish. In every case the royal stimulator was embedded deep in the mouth of the fish, an indication that they were taking the fly with confidence. When I’d landed the fifth fat brown, I asked Dave G to photograph me. I offered him the stretch I’d been fishing and one of my flies. He declined the fly, but did swap runs with me.

Dave’s Fine Catch Late Saturday

I moved to the last run before the private boundary and promptly landed a 13 inch brown. The royal stimulator had now produced fish in three separate locations so it was beyond fluke status. When I returned to the first run with the deep undercut bank, Dave G accepted my royal stimulator offer, but struggled to thread the eye with the waning light and a poorly tied fly. I’d crowded the head with the calf tail wing and also closed it with head cement. Dave held his light while I managed to thread the hook eye and tie a clinch knot. Alas, the calf tail fibers were pulling free due to all the handling and poor workmanship on my part. Dave G got in a few casts, but the lack of white wing for visibility and the fact that I’d already pulled four fish from the water provided difficult circumstances. We called it an evening and returned to the house. Wow!

Eagle River – 7/9/10

Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Fish Landed: 11

Eagle River 07/09/2010 Photo Album

After lunch we hopped in Dave G’s rental car and drove to the rest area in Edwards, CO. We hiked along the fisherman path upstream from the parking lot to a point where a long pool is fed by an attractive deep run. Here Dave hooked and landed a decent brown to start his afternoon. I moved beyond Dave and fished the attractive pockets between the long pool and the pedestrian bridge. In one of the lower pockets a decent brown smashed and inhaled my yellow hopper. The area around the rest area represents my favorite stretch of the Eagle River, and I was very optimistic at this point.

Dave G. moved past me and fished the pockets along the left bank. He finished covering the pocket water and moved beyond the pedestrian bridge and out of sight, while I continued prospecting the pockets, but trying to cover water a bit beyond what he had just covered. I didn’t have any luck, and perhaps the fish became wary due to Dave G’s presence along the bank.

Fishing Buddy Dave Gaboury

After finishing the pockets, I moved quickly up to the pedestrian bridge and crossed to the south side of the river. A fisherman (wearing shorts but a fishing vest) stopped and asked me why I went around the nice deep pool at the bend just below the bridge. I showed him how I was set up for dry/dropper fishing which requires fishing shallower water and not very effective in the deep pools. He nodded and I moved on. I dropped down just below the bridge, waded under it, and then began fishing the pockets along the right bank. I knew from previous trips that this stretch contains many nice fish, and I feel it doesn’t get the degree of pressure as the left bank because it is difficult to get to, tough to wade, and requires backhand casts.

Fat Eagle River Brown

Sure enough, I started hooking fish. The sky clouded up some, but I didn’t see much hatching or surface feeding, so I stuck with a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear. I landed eleven additional trout in the 100 yards or so of water along the west/south side of the river. Many were fat spunky browns in the 13-15 inch range. I was catching half on the hopper and the other half on the beadhead hares ear. I used the same hopper throughout the afternoon, and it held up quite well until losing a bunch of deer hair near the end. There was one sweet area where the river curled against the bank then flowed back out between some rocks and fanned into a wider pool/pocket. I landed at least four beauties from this spot and had some additional hookups that I didn’t land. In fact, in addition to the eleven landed fish, I probably had another 5-6 refusals and momentary hookups.

Another Brown from Eagle River

At around 4PM I reached the top of the pocket water area where the river makes a 90 degree turn and parallels route 6. Dave G appeared on the opposite bank and I could see he was fishing half heartedly, so knew it was time to go.

Brush Creek – 7/9/10

Time: 10:30AM – 12:00PM

Location: Eagle Ranch

Fish Landed: 1

Brush Creek 07/09/2010 Photo Album

As I drove from the Arkansas River through Leadville and on to Eagle on Thursday evening, the weather grew clearer. I could see that the Eagle River was clear and a bit high as I followed it down the valley to Eagle, CO. I stayed overnight with my friends the Gaboury’s, and Dave suggested we fish Brush Creek in Eagle Ranch in the morning then hit the Eagle River near Edwards in the afternoon. Friday turned out to be a gorgeous day from a weather standpoint with relatively clear skies and temperatures in the upper seventies or low eighties.

Dave G. and I were ready to fish by around 10:30, so we hiked down the path behind their house and entered the water downstream. Brush Creek is kind of small for two fishermen, so we decided to alternate attractive pools. Dave was catching small browns on a beadhead pheasant tail, but I wasn’t having any luck whatsoever. I was using a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear, beadhead green caddis, copper john, and beadhead pheasant tail. We reached a point where the creek divided into two channels with roughly equal volume, so Dave G. took the north side and I explored the south. There was some caddis buzzing about, so I made yet another fly change and tied on a size 14 beadhead prince nymph. Halfway through the south channel just below a bend and in a seam, my hopper disappeared, and I hooked a nice brown that probably measured around 15 inches. I photographed the fish while holding in my hand as there was tall vegetation all around and no good spot to place the fish.

Nice Brush Creek Brown

I continued fishing the south channel and met up with Dave. We moved rather quickly now as Dave G. wanted to try a stretch .3 miles upstream where he’d caught some very nice browns on previous outings. There was one spot that Dave had already fished with a refusal to his stimulator where I hooked three fish, but only landed a very small brown that didn’t meet my minimum length for counting. After this I thought perhaps the prince was the magical fly to turn things around, but alas, it didn’t produce again. We called it quits around noon and returned to the house for lunch.

Arkansas River – 7/8/10

Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM

Location: Stone Bridge

Fish Landed: 5

According to the DWR site, the flows on the Arkansas River near Salida were down to 775 cfs. From past experience, this is decent for edge fishing, and the fishing reports from the fly shops were touting this very approach. I had to meet the house inspector for our new house at 8AM, but hoped to be on my way by 9AM. I had the minivan packed with all my fishing stuff plus my suitcase for a weekend in Eagle, CO with our friends, the Gaboury’s.

As I drove southwest on US 285, I could see heavy cloud cover, and when I stopped for gas in Aspen Park it was quite chilly. This was the story of the day. I passed through a stretch between Kenosha Pass and Fairpay where there was 2-3 inches of snow on the road, and then passed through several thunderstorms before arriving at the Stone Bridge parking area at around 1PM. There was no precipitation at the time of arrival but nasty looking clouds were approaching from the west. I ate my lunch in the car, then put on my waders and rigged my rod.

I used the steps to go over the fence, then slid down the bank and went under the 291 bridge and up the left bank a bit. It was quite cloudy and chilly and I wore my fleece plus raincoat. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a beadhead hares ear. This didn’t produce, so I switched out the BHHE for a beadhead pheasant tail. I worked up the left bank for the next couple hours and fished the likely pockets and slow areas behind rocks. I managed to land five small brown trout on the BHPT. Part way through the afternoon, it thundered and I saw lightning, and it rained fairly steadily. I fished beyond the raft launch area at the Stone Bridge access area, but never really got in a good groove. At 4PM I hiked back to the car and stashed everything to dry out while I drove to Eagle, CO to visit the Gaboury’s.

Roaring River – 7/2/10

Time: 11:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Ypsilon Trail Fork Upstream

Fish Landed: 19

Roaring River 07/02/2010 Photo Album

I stopped at Estes Anglers to buy a tippet spool and the Aussie behind the counter told me Roaring River was fishable, although high due to heavy rain the previous day. He suggested Glacier Run as another alternative in RMNP. The Big T was swollen from the rainstorm.

Roaring River Near Where I Stashed My Gear

I drove to the Lawn Lake Trailhead and after a 40 minute hike uphill with my gear in a backpack, stopped at my normal sandy area to stash my backpack and put on my waders. It was a beautiful day weather wise with temperatures probably in the upper 70’s and partial clouds most of the day. Some small storms rolled north and south, but never affected me. The stream remained quite high, almost as high as when my friend Allen and I hiked along the trail on Memorial Day.

Still High Flows

As it was nearly lunch, I hiked down from the Ypsilon Trail crossing and fished my way back to my base area for lunch. I began with a lime green trude attractor and caught a small greenback in short order. I caught a second before I reached the log bridge crossing, but it was now noon and I was quite hungry, so I returned to my base camp and ate lunch. While eating I spotted three trout holding in some slack water in front of a large boulder near where I was eating. After lunch I tried for these from the right side behind the boulder, but had no success.

Scarlet Head

I hiked back down to the Ypsilon Lake Trail and crossed to the other side. The volume of water was still high and the current very swift. The only places where fish held were in the pockets and soft water along the bank where there were current breaks such as boulders and logs. I worked my way upstream along the left bank casting to these types of areas. There were long stretches between fishing spots where the gradient was steep and few refuges from the current existed. I could see some fish and they weren’t reacting to the lime green trude, so I added a BHPT. When I arrived across from my lunch spot I cast across to the three fish and landed two on the trailing BHPT.

Super Macro of Teardrop Flowers

At one point as I moved up the left side I spotted a decent cutthroat in a shallow lie behind a stick covered with moss hanging in the stream. I knew I couldn’t cast the dry/dropper as I would catch the stick on the trailing fly, so I removed the combination and tied on a black fur ant with an orange poly wing post for visibility. On the third cast the greenback made a quick move and I hooked and landed it. I was very proud of this catch. I moved on using the fur ant a bit, but it was very difficult to follow in the fast water, so I tied on a Chernobyl ant trailing a beadhead hares ear.

Colorful Trout

I used these flies for the remainder of the afternoon and caught most of my remaining fish on the Chernobyl. Even the large Chernobyl was difficult to follow in the foaming water and glare at times, and I received numerous refusals. I lost two beadhead hares ears to rocks and trees, so I replaced with a bright green caddis pupa at some point. But I probably could have made life easier by fishing the Chernobyl solo. I’d guess I received one refusal for every catch.

Indian Paintbrush

At around 4PM, the skies darkened a bit more than usual and I was extremely tired so I found the trail and returned to my base. I was probably further upstream than I’d ever been on the Roaring River before. I changed back into my shorts and stashed everything in my backpack and hiked back to the trailhead and the minivan.

Bear Creek – 7/1/10

Time: 5:30PM – 8:00PM

Location: O’Fallon Park Upstream

Fish Landed: 7

Bear Creek 07/01/2010 Photo Album

I needed to take Dan to the airport for his trip to China, so I planned to fish close to Denver when I returned. I wanted to take advantage of the long hours of daylight and perhaps hit some evening hatching activity. I used the time before driving Dan to the airport to gather my gear and tie five size 18 yellow body deer hair caddis. I felt these would more closely imitate the caddis that I captured on Bear Creek on Sunday evening.

I arrived at O’Fallon Park and began fishing at around 5:30. Another fisherman was already working the water just upstream of the parking lot at the end of the park. I hiked above him and entered the water near the picnic tables just as I had on Sunday. I tied on the yellow caddis and almost instantly had a momentary hookup with a small brown in a slot behind a rock.

Next I moved up to the nice deep bend run that goes against the Bear Creek Restaurant. Once again I had an audience. Initially an older gentleman from Texas observed. While he was watching a brown darted up and sucked in the caddis in the soft water on the left side above my position. I worked the deep center run and the seam along the far bank, but couldn’t entice any fish. I moved around the bend to the next nice pool and landed a small brown from the top of the riffle where it enters the pool. I continued working my way  upstream and caught one more trout before approaching the nice long pool where I’d done so well on Sunday afternoon.

Small Brown from Bear Creek

Dark clouds threatened a storm on several occasions, but nothing ever materialized. It was a pleasant evening with temperatures in the 70’s. Seeing no fish rising in the long pool, I switched to a Chernobyl ant trailing a beadhead pheasant tail. This didn’t produce either, but when I moved above the long pool I caught two additional browns on the BHPT and photographed one. I went under the bridge and fished my way up quite a distance, but again no success.

I climbed up the short bank and hiked back down the road at around 7:30, then crossed the bridge and checked out the long pool hoping to see some caddis activity as dusk approached. Nothing was showing, so I continued down the path to the restaurant. A woman and two men were standing outside the restaurant posing for photos. They spotted me, and photographed me as I began fishing. On the third or fourth cast at the top of the riffle a nice brown darted up and smashed my yellow caddis. It immediately ripped out line as it dashed upstream then made a run back past me to the bottom of the pool while my spectators looked on. I dipped my net and landed a 12 inch brown. Where was the applause?

Next I moved up to the nice pool around the bend. I’d spotted a trout refusing my fly several times previously at the very tail of the pool. It was a tough lie with a protruding branch a couple feet above where I need to place the fly. My first couple casts went to the right, but on the third attempt I dropped the fly just above the trout and below the branch. Bam. The small brown jumped on the yellow caddis, and I landed my seventh fish of the evening. Next I cast up to the very top of the riffle. On perhaps the fifth drift a trout tipped up and took the caddis. I set the hook, and felt weight a bit heavier than normal for Bear Creek, but it quickly turned and slipped off the hook. I went downstream a bit and made some casts to no avail, but it was now getting dark, and I was getting hungry, so I called it a day and returned home.