Time: 12:30PM – 3:30PM

Location: Lower Pond

Davis Ponds 06/11/2020 Photo Album

After a successful day on the South Platte River on 06/04/2020 Jane and I planned a return visit on June 11. Of course that was before I checked the DWR flow data on Wednesday evening and discovered that the water managers opened the taps which resulted in a spike from 150 CFS to 275 CFS. I was tempted to follow through on the original plan at the higher level; however, I read an online report, that suggested it would take several days for the trout to settle in to a new comfort zone. Since our trip was planned for only a day or two after the spike, we modified our plans.

Signature Rock Cliffs

I searched all my Colorado options, and other than some tailwaters that required an overnight stay, I was forced to consider lakes. I pondered several options, but my mind continually returned to my Tuesday outing at the Davis Ponds and the non-stop action that entertained me for two hours on a cold and blustery afternoon. I was confident that the stocked fish remained in place, so why not return on a pleasant spring day to see if the trout remained in a hungry state of mind.

Wild Iris

Since Jane graciously agreed to accompany me, we decided to complete a hiking loop, before I embarked on my fly fishing gambit. The three mile amble through the spaced out pines and green meadows took us past some historic cabins and returned us to the parking lot, where we stuffed our lunches in our backpacks, and I grabbed my fishing gear. We hiked another 1.2 miles to a picnic table overlooking the lower pond, and we relaxed and enjoyed our lunches. Ten anglers were spaced around the lower pond, and for some reason the downstream option seemed more popular than the upper. This was the opposite scenario from that observed on Tuesday.

Lower Davis Pond Starting Point

The weather was spectacular, as the temperature hovered in the low seventies, and the wind was weaker and less frequent than two days prior. Once I finished my lunch, I assembled my Orvis Access four weight, and I strolled around the handicapped platform to the angled rocky section of the dam on the west side of the spillway. I yearned for the same area that rewarded me with constant action on Tuesday, but a woman and her son were positioned in the southeast corner, and I conceded them adequate space.

I began with a beadhead emerald caddis pupa and a dark cahill style wet fly, and I began spraying casts in all directions from my position along the rock dam wall. Within the first fifteen minutes I landed three small rainbow trout, and I was certain that the magic of Tuesday was about to continue on Thursday. A lull over the next ten minutes, however, assured me that ridiculously easy fishing was not a reality for Thursday, June 11.

On the Board

I was craving the southwest corner of the pond, when the mother and son decided to call it a day, so I immediately hooked my flies to the rod guide and circled across the metal bridge and descended to the area ten feet beyond the concrete spillway. This spot would remain my home for the remainder of the afternoon. Unlike Tuesday when I experienced extended periods, when fish attacked my fly on every cast, I had to work for my fish count on Thursday. My catch rate was decent, but I never settled on a single fly that was a dependable fish attractor. I cycled through an abundant quantity of fly changes, and it seemed that each one fooled a fish or two, and then the pond residents became educated and ignored my offerings.

Not Too Bad

By 3:30PM when I called it quits, I landed fifteen stocked rainbow trout, and all were in the nine to twelve inch range. I cycled through numerous flies that included a wiggle damsel nymph,  prince nymph, leadwing coachman, hares ear wet fly, bright green sparkle caddis pupa, partridge and orange, soft hackle emerger, black parachute ant, brown-olive body deer hair caddis, and Jake’s gulp beetle. Nearly every fly duped at least one fish, but only the wiggle damsel nymph registered more than a couple netted fish. The damsel accounted for at least four of the fifteen fish that rested in my net during the three hours of fishing.

The wind ebbed and flowed, and when it died back, the smooth surface of the pond was sprinkled with small expanding rings from sipping trout. I was never able to observe the food that spurred these feeding spurts, but I experimented with a fur ant, adult caddis and a black beetle. The ant generated only refusals, but the caddis and beetle produced a few fish. When the wind accelerated to create a surface riffle, the fish shifted to subsurface feeding. I remained faithful to the double wet fly combination, because I enjoyed more success below the surface, although the action was much more inconsistent than that of Tuesday. I suspect that I encountered very recently stocked trout on Tuesday, and by Thursday the hatchery raised fish had already developed a bit of wariness.

Caught My Attention on the Return Hike

Thursday was another enjoyable day of fly fishing in Colorado. I accompanied my wife on a magnificent hike through the forest, and then I landed fifteen trout in three hours. Admittedly the fish were stocked and not as gratifying as wild trout, but given my lack of success on lakes and the limited options on streams, I was quite pleased with my results.

Fish Landed: 15

Time: 12:00PM – 2:00PM

Location: Lower Pond

Davis Ponds 06/09/2020 Photo Album

Tuesday was a cold and blustery day after steady rain on Monday evening into Tuesday morning. Reports of snow in the high country caused Jane and i to be concerned about encountering the white stuff on our exploratory adventure to Davis Ponds. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were pleased to learn that snow was absent from the area; however, we both slipped on several layers and head wear that covered our ears. I wore a fleece and light down coat along with my New Zealand billed hat with the ear flaps down. I was concerned about the wind, but opted to carry my Orvis Access four weight, and I made the assumption that I could fish from the bank without waders or wading boots, and this premise proved to be accurate.

A Pretty Valley

After a one mile hike Jane and I arrived at two ponds that were staggered in a small valley among large pine trees. The upper pond was occupied by ten anglers, so Jane and I used the path that traversed the dam of the upper pond, and we set up a base camp at a picnic table that overlooked the lower pond from the northwest corner. I quickly assembled my fly rod, after I spotted a few random rises within casting distance of the northwestern shoreline. I began my quest for Davis Pond trout by knotting a size 18 olive-brown deer hair caddis to my line. I sprayed casts in all directions with emphasis on the area that recently revealed rises, but no response was forthcoming. I experimented with stripping the dry fly to create small intermittent wakes, but none of the retrieval ploys paid off.

My Pond for Two Hours

One of the Better Fish

In a state of uncertainty and mild frustration I carefully moved closer to the inlet area and fired some casts to the slow inflow. Sometimes trout gather where food arrives from the stream, but in this case the tactic was met with a lack of interest. In addition to the cool temperatures the wind was another significant factor. I chose the north end of the pond because of the rises and because the pond was protected from the wind by a high bank. However, after twenty minutes with a lack of success, I tossed my theories aside and walked around the lake to observe. I passed the handicapped platform and then crossed the bridge at the dam of the lower lake, where a tiny stream sluiced down a concrete spillway.

When I arrived at the southwest corner, I scrambled down the jumble of rocks that formed the dam, and I noticed a random rise or two, so I began to drop some casts to the vicinity. Eventually a couple of nine inch stocked rainbow trout nailed the caddis, as I twitched it or lifted it for another cast. Clearly movement was a prerequisite for action. I could see quite a few trout in front of me, and I observed them, as they followed my fly, while I slowly stripped it, but they seemed to turn away more often than not.

Washed Out Stocker

I decided to try something just below the surface and knotted a bright green sparkle pupa to my line. This fly sparked additional action, and I jumped the fish count to five, but the number of trout following and refusing greatly exceeded the eaters. Perhaps two wet flies would spur more interest while allowing me to experiment with different flies? I extended a twelve inch tippet section from the eye of the caddis pupa, and I added a size 16 leadwing coachman, that my friend, Jeff, gave me in Pennsylvania while fishing to isonychia. This fly proved a winner, and the trout absolutely crushed it.

I began catching a trout on nearly every cast, and I had a blast for the last hour and fifteen minutes stripping and hooking stocker rainbows from the lower pond. I broke off the smoking hot leadwing coachman at one point, and I replaced it with a dark cahill wetfly, that I tied more than thirty years ago, and the cahill was quite effective as well.

Wildflowers in Abundance

In the midst of the fast action I lost the dark cahill and replaced it with a prince nymph without a bead, and that fly also fooled some fish, before I secured it to my rod guide and quit for the day after landing twenty-two trout. I noticed Jane was huddled against the wind and staring at me, so I knew it was time to end the fun. Of course, they were all stockers, but after being skunked on two previous stillwater outings, I confess that it was fun to enjoy intense action for a change. Stocked trout are put there to catch, aren’t they?

Fish Landed: 22

Time: 10:00AM – 12:30PM

Location: Ponds near south parking lot

Sawhill Ponds 06/02/2020 Photo Album

I can easily count on one hand the number of times I fished in lakes for warmwater species over the last ten years. I do recall landing a pair of small bass on Penns Creek during my 2018 visit, but these were bonus catches, as I was targeting trout at the time. My last recollection of actually targeting warmwater species on a Colorado lake was from a trip to Lake Mary in Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge on June 12, 2011. Yes, that was quite a while ago.

I recently embarked on a book reading binge in response to the coronavirus and my sedentary existence resulting from recovery from heart surgery. Initially my reading list focused on western mystery novels such as those authored by Craig Johnson and C. J. Box. I devoured these books at an alarming rate, so I decided to augment my list to include books by John Gierach. Trout Bum was his first effort that followed his usual collection of humorous stories about fly fishing, and one of the chapters was titled Sawhill Ponds. This caught my attention because Jane, Dan, Amy, Zuni and I hiked the Sawhill Pond area in December 2019, so I was familiar with the location. Gierach described his success during  the month of April each spring casting to bluegills, while they protected their spawning beds. Of course Trout Bum was written before we moved to Colorado, but at least I knew that the ponds were still there, and they were available to the public. I was unclear whether Gierach still visited the warmwater ponds during the spring spawning event.

My success at Pine Lake in Pine Valley Ranch was nonexistent, and similar results from Harper Lake frustrated my attempts to land trout from stillwater. The peaking snow melt on flowing water eliminated that option, and I was largely confined to lakes. Could warmwater species reverse my lake fishing fortunes? I performed a Google search on Sawhill Ponds and discovered, that they were created by a gravel quarry that filled in with underground water, and there were eighteen in the area next to Boulder Creek. Belly boats were the only water craft allowed, but I planned to fish from shore, so that information was irrelevant to me. Very little additional information was available on the internet for Sawhill Ponds. On Tuesday, June 2, 2020 I decided to pay a visit to the Sawhill Ponds in Boulder, CO.

Pond Fishing

A forty minute drive delivered me to the south parking lot by 9:30AM. The sun was very bright, and the temperature was already eighty degrees, as I pulled on my thick waders and assembled my Sage four weight. I considered wading wet, but I was unfamiliar with the territory, and the area struck me as a potential mosquito, snake and poison ivy hotspot. In my mind, a bit of perspiration was preferable to these dangers. There were lakes on the east and west sides of the parking area, but I decided to hike a bit to escape the nearby fishing destinations. Generally places by parking lots are highly pressured, and a stroll of .5 mile or a mile yields less educated and possibly larger fish. Unfortunately on this venture I only knew there were eighteen ponds to choose from, but I knew nothing about the quality of each.

Reeds Are Cover

I began hiking west on a dirt road and passed a pond on the left and right, before I encountered a larger body of water on the left. As I surveyed each pond, I noted that several were already heavily choked with aquatic weeds, For fishing poppers or dry flies this did not present a problem, but I saw only a few random rises, and concluded that I might be stripping a streamer or wet fly, and the subsurface salad would present a hindrance to this method of fishing. The larger lake on my left offered several very open areas, and this appealed to me, but I decided to continue walking the road to explore additional options. By now I was beginning to perspire, and the vegetation ahead suggested that another body of water was not in close proximity. I decided to discontinue the steam bath and returned to the large lake, that I just passed. Later I checked out a map next to the parking lot and noted that my choice was Sawhill No. 2.

I carefully waded into the lake at the western end, but I quickly discovered that the bottom was very soft, and my wading boots suctioned into the muck. Fortunately out of habit I had my wading staff, because pulling my boot out of the quagmire was a balancing act, and having a stick to lean on was a necessity. A few random rings appeared beyond my casting range, but this observation prompted me to tie a moodah poodah to my line. The moodah poodah is a black foam fly that appears to be a cross between a beetle, cicada and housefly. I spent the next thirty minutes fanning casts straight ahead and along the shoreline in both directions, and a few small fish bumped the fly with their noses, but the new fly was largely ineffective on the fish of Sawhill No. 2. I moved east, as I paralled the shoreline, and I reached a location that displayed deeper troughs that lacked significant subaquatic vegetation. I decided to experiment with a subsurface combination.

Covered This Shoreline

I removed the moodah poodah and replaced it with a wiggle damsel nymph and prince nymph from my fleece wallet. I fired forty foot casts in all directions, but the best I could manage was a few temporary snags on aquatic plants. I employed all manner of retrieves and fished at varying depths, although the lake was not very deep. After a fair allocation of time, I exchanged the prince nymph for an old unnamed wet fly that I tied, when I still lived in Pennsylvania. Eventually I felt a bump and raised my rod and celebrated the netting of a three inch sunfish. Amazingly the sunfish grabbed the size 12 wet fly. Another lengthy lull ensued, and I began to stare into the water at my feet. I was quite surprised to see a school of bluegills swimming around my boots in a small depression. I began to wonder if I was over analyzing the situation, and could these bluegills be fooled by a worm; a San Juan worm?

No. 1

I dug in my fleece and replaced the wiggle damsel with a flesh colored worm and retained the wet fly that produced my only success. I dropped the worm at my feet to test the reaction from the visible school, and sure enough, a brave scout fish followed the worm and eventually nipped at the head or tail. This same teasing skit played out quite a few times, but the panfish eventually grew wise to the faux worm and never opened their tiny mouths over the hook point. I glanced at my watch and noticed it was approaching noon, and I grew weary of the small fish and the frustrating nipping game that they wanted to play. I climbed the bank and began walking back toward the parking area.

When I approached the eastern end of the lake, I noticed a pair of random rises in a deep clear hole just beyond a thick bank of aquatic vegetation. I decided to switch back to a dry fly to see If I could tempt the sporadic risers. I removed the split shot, worm and point fly and replaced them with a size 14 Jake’s gulp beetle. I flicked the terrestrial to the location of the sporadic rises and allowed it to sit for a minute before I twitched it back in. Were I a fish, I would have eaten the beetle in seconds, but the lake residents had other ideas. After ten minutes I surrendered and wandered back to the car knowing that I landed only one three inch sunfish in two hours of fishing. Clearly the stillwater game had me perplexed.

A Bluegill in My Net

Before quitting I ambled to a bench that was in front of a car three over from the Santa Fe. I had a beetle on my line, and I decided it would be irresponsible to not make a few casts in the nearby lake. I waded into the water several feet in front of the bench, and I focused my attention on the shore north of my position. I slung ten to fifteen casts to the area that paralled the shoreline, and my only reward was a few nips by a fish too small to get its mouth around the size 14 beetle. I turned my attention to the area fifteen feet to my left, where a moderate sized tree branched over the water. Beyond the tree a small narrow gravel beach ramped up to another bench. As I gazed at this area, I began to see a series of swirls and rises within ten feet of shore. I assumed these were small fish, but one never knows. I began plopping the beetle in the area, and landed four spunky bluegills in the next half hour. The fish did not attack the terrestrial, until I stripped it, so it created a very small wave, and that seemed to be the trigger for attack. I am almost embarrassed to admit that I salvaged my day by landing five inch bluegills, but after two hours of futility it was actually fun. I was debating in my mind whether to include warmwater fish in my fish counter, but I dodged the decision since none of the sunfish or bluegills exceeded my six inch minimum rule.

Another Beetle Chomper

I landed five small panfish in 2.5 hours of fishing, and nearly all came within the last thirty minutes. Would I return? Before I return, I would study Google maps to gain a better understanding of the layout of the eighteen lakes. I am also considering going for a non-fishing hike as a scouting expedition to determine if other better options exist. Typically lakes and streams come alive in the evening especially on hot days like Tuesday, so a late afternoon/evening visit might be another ploy to elevate my chances of success.

Fish Landed: 1 sunfish, 4 bluegills

Time: 10:00AM – 11:00AM

Location: The west and southwest shoreline.

Harper Lake 05/28/2020 Photo Album

Thus far during 2020 I caught trout in January, February, March and April. I spent most of May recovering from surgery, but I tested my casting arm yesterday at Pine Valley Ranch and determined that I was capable of short stints of fly fishing. Unfortunately I was unable to land a trout at Pine Valley Ranch Park, so the streak of at least one trout per month remained in danger of being broken.

I receive a biweekly CPW fishing and stocking report, and during the run off time of year, I browse the stocked lakes in the northeast for possible destinations. I noticed on the May 8 report that Harper Lake was stocked in late April, and I recognized this body of water to be in Louisville, CO near my son’s home. On my return trip from the cardiac rehab center in Boulder on Wednesday I negotiated a short detour to Harper Lake. As I stood on the southwestern bank, I spotted two rises, and then I was astounded to view two fairly large fish, as they cruised twenty feet from the shoreline. Both fish were almost certainly in excess of fifteen inches, and this glimpse of fish life in Harper Lake elevated my interest in a return visit.

Looking South

My calendar was clear of medical obligations on Thursday morning, so I decided to make the short drive to Louisville with the hope of a return engagement with the large cruisers from Wednesday. I arrived at the parking lot off of McCaslin and snagged one of the three remaining slots. Before climbing into my waders I needed a pit stop, but I learned that the bathroom was locked due to the coronavirus situation. This bit of adversity caused me to jump back in the car, and I retreated to a Conoco station near the Boulder Turnpike in order to gain relief.

North View

By the time I returned to the Harper Lake parking lot and pulled on my waders and assembled my Sage four weight, my watch indicated that it was 10AM. Another angler occupied the area that I scouted the previous day, so I wandered on the gravel path along the western shore, until I circled around a father with two young girls. The surface of the lake was mostly ruffled with tiny waves, and this made spotting surface rises impossible, so I defaulted to a streamer strategy. I knotted an olive and black woolly bugger to my line and then extended some tippet from the hook eye and added a bright green g02 caddis pupa. After a few fruitless casts I added a split shot to achieve a faster sink rate. For the next forty-five minutes I sprayed thirty to forty foot casts from the shoreline and then methodically moved to my left by another three steps before repeating the cycle. I covered forty yards of shoreline, but never felt a bump. Midway through my shoulder and arm exercise I exchanged the go2 pupa for a damsel wiggle nymph. The change made not difference to the inhabitants of the lake.

The Prize of the Day

At 10:45 I exited the lake and decided to follow the path to scout out other areas of Harper Lake. Quite a few anglers occupied the northeast and eastern portions of the lake, and all were fitted with spinning rods, but none demonstrated any evidence of success. I returned along the south bank and found a spot a bit to the east of where I spotted a pair of larger than average fish on Wednesday. I disengaged my flies from the rod guide and made a last ditch effort to notch a trout during May of 2020. I am disappointed to report that fifteen minutes of focused fishing failed to reverse my fortunes, and after one hour of effort I returned to the car with nary a fish or even bite on my scorecard. I have three more days in May to keep my streak alive, so some diligent research appears to be in order.

Fish Landed: 0

Time: 3:45PM – 5:15PM

Location: Pine Valley Ranch Park

Pine Valley Ranch Park 05/26/2020 Photo Album

Tuesday afternoon at Pine Valley Ranch was not the celebratory return to fly fishing that I envisioned after my heart surgery, but it felt great to be outdoors in beautiful Colorado, and my casting arm stood up to an initial stress test less that six weeks after surgery. I fulfilled my 11:45AM anticoagulation appointment in Boulder, CO; and then Jane and I headed directly to Pine Valley Ranch. In anticipation of our afternoon adventure we packed the car with lunch, hiking gear, and fishing equipment. The goal of the trip was mainly to introduce Jane to the pretty Jefferson County park and to enjoy lunch in an outdoor setting. The fishing gear was included to test my shoulder and arm. I had very low expectations for the amount of time I would fish, and any amount of success would be deemed a bonus.

It took us a little over an hour to drive from Boulder, CO to the park near Pine Junction, and although quite a few cars were present in the lower lot, we easily found a space. I tugged on my hiking boots and stashed my lunch in my day pack, and we quickly departed in search of a comfortable lunch location that adhered to the social distancing rules. Eventually we found some benches on a fisherman dock on the north side of Pine Lake, and we munched our lunches, while I carefully observed the lake for signs of fish. During a lull in the breeze the lake assumed a smooth appearance, and I noted six or seven riseforms, and I was reassured to learn that trout did in fact exist in Pine Lake.

Snacking at Pine Lake

After lunch we returned to the car and then turned on to the Narrow Gauge Trail. We followed the two track gradual grade westward, as it followed the North Fork of the South Platte River to a point .3 mile beyond the boundary of the park. During this hike at a comfortable pace I scouted the river, and although it was high and a bit murky, I concluded that I could find enough slack water to entertain me on my initial foray into fly fishing after heart surgery.

Slack Water Spot

By the time Jane and I reversed course and returned to the parking lot, and I climbed into my waders and fishing gear and then ambled back to my designated spot to fish, it was 3:45. I found an easy access point and progressed upstream along the right side of the river for an hour; but, alas I was unable to identify any proof that trout actually existed in the North Fork of the South Platte River at Pine Valley Ranch. I began with a 20 incher and flesh colored San Juan worm and then cycled through an array of flies, before I called it quits at 4:45. The worm was present throughout this portion of my quest for fish, but the 20 incher was replaced with a beadhead hares ear nymph and orange scud. I also added a second split shot to make sure that I was probing the depths, in case the trout were hugging bottom, while the ice cold snow melt rushed overhead.

Along the Rock Wall

At 4:45 I hiked back along the Narrow Gauge Trail, until I reached a footbridge that spanned the river. I made a right, and the bridge delivered me to the north side of Pine Lake. I met Jane by the footbridge, so she moved her folding rocking chair to the opening next to the lake, where I began to cast. The surface of the lake was slightly riffled, and this masked surface feeding, so I tossed my indicator rig out a few times. Standing on the bank watching a stationary indicator with no evidence of fish was too boring for this avid angler, so I stripped in the flies and removed the indicator and replaced the flies with a conehead haymaker and go2 caddis pupa. I fanned casts in a semi-circle from my position on the bank and experimented with various strip cadences, but again my efforts were futile. As this was transpiring, I spotted a small fish, as it darted to the surface to nab a small morsel within a few feet of the bank. In a last ditch effort to get on the board on Tuesday, I removed the split shots and two flies and knotted a size 18 black parachute ant to my line. The ant failed to entice the small fish near the bank, and after five unproductive casts I reeled up the fly and moved to the handicapped platform, where Jane and I ate lunch. I observed closely for rises, but the light wind disturbed the surface, so I fired some medium range casts to the area around the platform. I could only tolerate this style of fishing for five or ten minutes, before I stripped my fly in and returned to the parking lot.

Back to the Lake

Jane and I shared a delightful lunch by a pretty lake in the Colorado foothills, and the three mile hike built my confidence in my improving fitness. I was reassured to be able to cast in the river and lake for 1.5 hours, and this was probably the most significant take away from Tuesday afternoon. Getting skunked was a disappointment, but my expectations were low. I’m already considering some additional Front Range lakes for future fishing outings.

Fish Landed: 0

Narrow Gauge Trail