Monthly Archives: September 2011

Upper Taylor River – 8/7/2011

Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: Upstream and downstream from campground

Fish Landed: 1

Upper Taylor River 08/07/2011 Photo Album

The water near the campground looked just as attractive as the water I’d driven to on Saturday, so I decided to fish from camp. Jane and I had tasty oatmeal for breakfast, and after cleaning up, I headed upstream beyond the edge of the campground. I began fishing with a Chernobyl ant, but received numerous refusals. Next I elected to tie on a size 12 lime green trude. This brought a look or two, but no fish. The third fly was a royal stimulator, but again no interest. The last fly I tried before reverting to the tried and true Letort hopper was a size 16 olive body deer hair caddis which brought no action.

Typical Taylor Park Scene

I finally buckled to common sense and tied on the yellow Letort hopper. I added a BHPT and began catching some fish, but I was covering a lot more water between catches than had been the case on Saturday. By noon I’d landed three browns, two were around 12 inches and that seemed to be the upper end for this water. One nice brown grabbed the BHPT, and the other two hammered the hopper. Just before exiting for lunch I noticed another fisherman had driven back a rough dirt lane from the main road and was fishing above me. This cut me off from further progress, so I elected to return for lunch and then walk downstream for my afternoon fishing.

When I returned to camp, Jane had taken down the tent and was reading. I made a quick lunch while the food was still out, and then walked down the lane to fish downstream. I ran into the campground host who told me the folks that reserved 13 were early and waiting in site 10 for us to leave. When I said my wife was still there and planned to be out by 1PM, he said that is fine as check out time is 1PM. I later learned that Jane drove to another unoccupied shady campsite to read and wait for me to finish fishing.

I walked down the dirt ATV lane and crossed a pedestrian bridge to the other side and then continued downstream another 100 yards are so. I entered the water and fished hard for the next 2.5 hours back upstream until I ended at 3PM and saw Jane waiting by the car. There was a flurry of action from 1-2 when I caught five fish, a couple of which were in the twelve inch range. But after 2PM things slowed considerably as it was quite warm with sunny blue skies and I covered quite a bit of river and netted three more browns to bring my total to 11. I observed a fair number of caddis, but only one or two rises over the course of the day. I added a beadhead RS2 in the last hour and caught one or two on the small gray fly. I noticed a handful of small BWO –like mayflies, and that is what prompted me to try the RS2.

Near Beginning of Sunday Fishing

Upper Taylor River – 8/6/2011

Time: 12:30PM – 3:00PM

Location: Downstream from Dinner Station Campground

Fish Landed: 12

Upper Taylor River 08/06/2011 Photo Album

With most of the stream flows closer to Denver still running high in early August, I had my eye on the Taylor River. We made plans to go to a Rapids soccer match on Friday night so we decided to gamble we could find a campsite on Saturday, always an iffy proposition.

Marmot Strikes Nice Pose

We got up nice and early and packed everything in the Santa Fe in record time and departed at 8:05AM. The drive to Taylor Park was 3.5 hours and we arrived at the campground near the bottom of Cottonwood Pass at 11:30. On the western side of Cottonwood Pass we spotted a marmot and two moose. When we arrived at Dinner Station campground we immediately noticed the campground host and asked him if there were any open sites. He told us 13 was open for one night, so we found it along the river with a few decent shade trees and laid claim. It was great to find a nice campsite at 11:30 on Saturday morning on the first weekend in August.

Our Campsite at Dinner Station

Moose Crossing

We unpacked the food bins and had some lunch, and I wanted to get some fishing in before it got too hot, so Jane accompanied me as we drove back down the dirt road a mile or so and parked in a makeshift lot. There was a tractor with a camper trailer already there, but they never bothered us. Jane took her chair and Kindle and set up along the river while I commenced fishing. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and fished it without a dropper initially. I covered some attractive water and didn’t have any action, so I added a beadhead pheasant tail dropper. The combination began to produce and I landed 12 fish before 3PM when I quit for the day. Roughly half the fish took the BHPT and the other half rose to the hopper.

One of the Nicer Browns on Upper Taylor River

Jane on Her Chair Overlooking the Taylor River

I actually landed over 20 fish but many were too small to count. At three I walked back to the car as Jane was carrying her chair back. We returned to the campsite and set up the tent and had some beverages and hors d’oevres and eventually ate a Mediterranean dinner of pita bread, falafels, chopped onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a yogurt based sauce. Before dinner Jane got the idea that if I caught a couple trout, we could grill them and add them to the pita. I put on my waders and fished in the river near our campsite for an hour or so and had two hookups, but didn’t land any fish. There were quite a few caddis bouncing around, but my caddis imitations drew no interest. Eventually I went to a pair of caddis pupa with a strike indicator, and I managed one hookup on this combination, but did not land a fish. When I needed fish the most, I couldn’t deliver.

Eagle River – 7/30/2011

Time: 9:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Fish Landed: 17

Eagle River 07/30/2011 Photo Album

The flows on the Eagle River declined to the 680 cfs range, and based on previous experience the Eagle gets pretty tough below 500 cfs. Not knowing when I’d have another opportunity, I decided to make the 2 hour trip even though 680 is still pretty much volume. It was forecast to be a bright sunny hot day, so that would make things difficult as well. I got off to a nice early start around 7AM and was on the river fishing by 9:30AM.

Another fisherman arrived while I was getting my stuff together, but I beat him out of the lot. I planned to hit the juicy spots based on prior experience and not dwell on less productive water. This would prove to be a winning strategy over the course of the day. I made a beeline for the nice long deep run first, but unfortunately as I arrived at the water and pulled my line through the rod guides I saw another fisherman waving his line above me in the middle of the run. I traced back over my path and went further up the river to the pocket water above the long run. The river was indeed running along at a fast clip and I could only work the pockets along the edge, some of which were among the willows that are normally on dry land.

I tied on a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear and managed to land a small brown and then a pretty decent specimen around 13 inches long and fat. Both took the Letort hopper on the surface. Once I’d fished the edge of the pocket water, I skirted the large bend pool and crossed the pedestrian bridge and then came down from the other side to the pool. I cast my dry/dropper in the shallower edge water and tail out, but had no success. I spotted a fish angled into the faster current, so I decided to switch to a strike indicator and split shot. I covered the water where I spotted the fish, but had no luck. Next I decided to try the stack mending technique so I walked to the top of the run and cast to the faster water, did a big mend, and then stack mended and fed out line. I got some great drifts through the heart of the hole, but still no takes. Perhaps I wasn’t getting deep enough. I added another split shot and tried again, but on the second or third drift the indicator dipped and I set the hook, but I was hung up on the bottom. All I could do was apply direct pressure, and I ended up tearing off one of the split shot and both flies.

Right Bank Above Bridge Was Productive

Frustrated with the lack of action in the nice pool, I walked back under the footbridge and then out to the river underneath it. There was a nice area here where I could fish ten feet or so out from the bank. I landed one nice brown here that grabbed the beadhead emerald caddis in a fairly shallow spot along the bank under some overhanging branches. I also foul hooked another fish that took me down the river a bit before I could control it and release. I also had a momentary hookup.

It was close to 11:30 so I decided to hike back to the car for lunch before going further up the river along the right side facing upstream as it is difficult to exit if one gets too far above the bridge. I returned to the car and grabbed my lunch and walked down the path to the river near where my car was parked at the rest area. I sat on a fallen log and ate my lunch and noticed a sparse hatch of small mayflies and many swallows were snatching them from the air above the river. The area before me was pretty nice with numerous pockets so I decided to fish out this area after lunch before returning to the right bank above the bridge.

When I returned with my rod and wading stick, as I was walking down the muddy path to the river at the bottom of the pocket water stretch, my feet slid out from under me on some slick moss and I fell backward with my back landing on the pointy gnawed off stump of a narrow tree. It felt like I got stabbed and I checked for a wound or blood, but feeling none I moved out in the river and began fishing. At the bottom of the stretch and out toward the middle I hooked two fish on the hopper at the very tail of some pockets. I landed one nice fish comparable to two of the morning fish, but lost the other one in the ensuing fight in the swift pocket water below.

Check the Spots on This Beauty

I continued fishing upstream hitting all the nice slots and pockets, but didn’t have any additional action so I exited and hiked back on the road and then across the bridge and then down to the river under the bridge again. Over the next two and a half hours I fought the current and the willows and made left handed and backhanded casts into the narrow pockets along the right bank and landed eight fish. I also had numerous hook ups that didn’t result in landed fish and broke off two sets of flies when the fish ran downstream in the heavy current and wrapped me around sticks. The action was not as hot as other times I’d been there, but considering the blue sky and high air temperatures still rather acceptable.

Small Side Pockets Were the Ticket

Tough Fishing Right Along the Edge

When I reached the bend where the river curves to the east and runs along route 6, I debated what to do. I like the small braid that runs on the north side of the island just ahead, but it was higher than normal and a woman was sitting on the bank enjoying the serenity so I didn’t want to infringe on her moment. In addition I would have to walk all the way around to the bridge and then up the other side. I climbed up the bank to the highway and walked east a bit until I saw a path down to the river just below where it forked around the island. I went down to this area and ran a few casts through the slack water. Then I noticed some more slack water below me so I cast to the current seam and did some stack mends, and I was startled to see a fish rise to the hopper. I set the hook and had a momentary hook up, but it got off rather quickly. I tried the stack mend thing again and as the flies drifted beyond the previous rise, the hopper slowly dipped and I belatedly set the hook and felt momentary weight. Apparently a fish had taken the pheasant tail, and I was late again.

I couldn’t move up the river due to the heavy current and brush, so I once again retreated to the highway and walked up the shoulder to a point above the island adjacent to some churning pocket water. I found a path to the river and covered some nice pockets along the bank for the next 1.5 hours and landed another five brown trout. Several were similar in size to the morning browns. I spotted one fish when it moved toward my hopper but didn’t take it. The fish appeared to be of decent size and it did a couple more refusals, but on a later drift it spotted the trailing pheasant tail and grabbed it. That was a gratifying catch.

There were limited spots where I could get through the dense vegetation and climb the bank to the road, so when I saw one at around 5PM, I took my exit route and hiked down the road, through the condos to the pedestrian bridge, across the bridge, and then the bike path back to the rest area. It was a taxing day, but successful nonetheless.

Arkansas River – 7/27/2011

Time: 1:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Lunch Rock upstream

Fish Landed: 3

Arkansas River 07/27/2011 Photo Album

I convinced Dan that since the fishing slowed on Chalk Creek we should move to the big river, the Arkansas, and give that a try. We returned all our gear to the Santa Fe, and I drove the half hour or so to the Arkansas River below Salida. I parked at the big rock I refer to as Lunch Rock. We made sure we had our water and sunscreen as there was less cover and we were at lower elevation.

The river was still running fairly high at 1320 cfs when ideal is typically 500 – 700 cfs. The edges were clear and there was usually around five feet of water to fish. Dan and I took turns casting to the likely runs and pockets. Dan continued with the Chernobyl ant, but in spite of some expert casting wasn’t creating any interest. I switched to a yellow Letort hopper because the fly shop reports usually recommend something large and yellow. I landed three 11-12 inch browns over the first hour or two, so I switched Dan to the same fly with a hares ear dropper. I had a beadhead pheasant tail dropper, but most of my action was on the hopper.

The wind did gust from time to time and we were punching casts directly into the wind most of the afternoon. The conditions seemed to support good hopper fishing. We arrived at a large rock that protruded out into the river ten feet or so, so we walked out on the rock and observed the eddy created behind it. We were probably ten feet above the river and we initially spotted a nice rainbow hovering a foot or so below the surface where a myriad of currents met. As we continued to observe, we spotted two more fish further out in the eddy right along the seam of the downstream current where the backflow met. Dan cast for the near rainbow first and in short order the fish darted up and grabbed his fly. Dan set the hook and for a split second felt the weight of a decent fish but it managed to free itself before being introduced to the net.

Next he cast a bit further out and in a flash a fish crashed the hopper. Dan played the fish expertly while I clumsily scrambled around and down the rock to net it. The brown was a nice fat fish, and Dan loved the visual experience of seeing it all develop. We tried to find additional spots to sight fish in this manner, but they didn’t exist at this stage of flows in the area where we were fishing.

Dan's Catch of the Day

We were re-energized and moved up along the bank continuing to cast our hopper/droppers until five PM. I had a couple refusals and missed a decent fish, but our fish catching pretty much ended mid-afternoon, and we suffered through a long dry spell at the end of the day.

Casting Along Arkansas River

Chalk Creek – 7/27/2011

Time: 10:00AM – 12:30PM

Location: Upstream from Cascade and first bridge

Fish Landed: 5

Chalk Creek 07/27/2011 Photo Album

Dan took a vacation day on Wednesday so he and I could go fishing and break in his new waders and boots. In addition, Dan purchased a fishing license and net and I made him a wading staff. There was an assortment of stocking stuffer fishing gadgets to try out as well.

I picked Dan up at 7AM, and we departed for US 285. It was shaping up as a bright sunny day and we arrived at our Chalk Creek fishing destination at 9:45AM. Chalk Creek was flowing at around 73 cfs and clear. 73 cfs is higher than ideal but still fishable; however, there are fewer holding lies for the fish. We took our time getting into our waders and rigging our rods. Dan had to remove his waders from the bag, that’s how new his things were!

When we started, I tied a Chernobyl ant to Dan’s line and let him cast into the first decent water as the stream was rushing pretty rapidly on my north side. It didn’t take long before Dan landed a couple 6-8 inch browns. I decided to try something different initially and fished a large size 12 caddis with a palmered body, and this netted me a small brown. Dan started off on fire and continued to pick up fish as he waded up along the left side of the creek. In addition to landed fish, he was also getting a fair number of long distance releases and refusals.

Dan Works to Release Catch

Meanwhile I switched out the large caddis for a royal stimulator, but that didn’t produce and sank quickly. Next I experimented with a yellow Letort hopper and added a beadhead prince dropper. After a bit I exchanged the beadhead prince for a beadhead hares ear. I was catching my fish mostly on the beadhead dropper, but it seemed like I wasn’t getting action in places that should have yielded fish.

Dan on Chalk Creek

As we approached noon, the sun got higher in the sky and the air warmed up considerably and the fishing action slowed measurably. I finally switched to a Chernobyl ant and slowly caught up to Dan. When we decided to break for lunch, Dan had landed 6 and I was at 5. We pulled out our lunches and ate in the shade of some trees by the car.

Natural Ground Cover Along Chalk Creek