Time: 10:15AM – 3:30PM

Location: Downstream from Wolcott

Eagle River 07/05/2022 Photo Album

Jane and I celebrated the Fourth of July with a pickleball marathon in the morning and then relaxed a bit for a backyard cookout at my son and daughter-in-law’s house in Louisville, CO. With the Fourth holiday now behind me, I was anxious to resume my fly fishing blitz on Colorado freestone rivers, while the flows remained elevated yet clear. In the early part of the previous week I spent a day on the Arkansas River and another on the Eagle River. Both large freestones remained in an attractive range for my preferences, and I decided to begin my week on the Eagle River. My schedule contained commitments for Thursday and Friday, so Tuesday and Wednesday were my designated fly fishing days for the first week of July.

I arrived at my chosen pullout near the Eagle River by 9:45AM, and I quickly assembled my gear and fit together the Scott five weight that Dave G. loaned to me, while I waited for the broken tip on the Sage One to get repaired. Once I was properly equipped, I hiked to my favorite starting point and began my day of fly fishing. The air temperature was in the low seventies and the river was chugging along in the mid-500 CFS range. The flows were lower than my visit on the 06/28/2022, yet the river remained at an elevated level that dictated wading caution, and I was largely confined to tossing my flies within the twenty foot band of water along the bank. The sun remained bright until 1:30PM, when a series of large dark clouds moved in from the west. I never experienced rain, but the cloud cover held the temperature in check with the high probably in the upper seventies.

My initial rig included an amber ice dub chubby Chernobyl, an iron sally and a salvation nymph. I progressed upriver along the left bank until 11:45AM, when I broke for lunch, and during this time I landed two fish. One was a small rainbow, and the other was a feisty rainbow that measured around thirteen inches, but it fought like a champion and tested my fish landing skills.

I sat down to eat my lunch by a gorgeous long run, and as I munched my sandwich, a sparse emergence of pale morning duns advanced into a fairly dense hatch, and three or four trout appeared to pluck surface naturals. In addition, golden stoneflies and yellow sallies joined the party, and although the hatch was not as dense as the PMD’s, I was convinced that the stoneflies offered another viable food source for the river residents. I finished my sandwich and decided to stuff the rest of my lunch in my backpack for later consumption, as I did not wish to squander any more of the valuable hatch time.

I snipped off the chubby Chernobyl, iron sally and salvation nymph; and I selected a size 14 yellow stimulator to imitate the stoneflies and a size 16 cinnamon comparadun to mimic the pale morning duns. I carefully approached the long and deep run that showcased a number of feeding trout, and I began to flutter casts through the area. Initially I witnessed a few refusals to the yellow stimulator, but eventually the trout threw caution to the wind, and I hooked and landed three absolutely stunning rainbow trout. One of the netted trout stretched the tape to eighteen inches, and its girth suggested that weight watchers was in its future. The first two trout attacked the stimulator, but number three sipped the trailing comparadun. This was easily the hottest fishing of the day, and I enjoyed it immensely. In addition to the three robust rainbows, I hooked and failed to land two additional hot fish that managed to escape after relatively lengthy engagements. I’ve come to expect this relatively high lack of respect from the Eagle River residents.

I migrated upriver from the productive run and raised the count to seven, as I added another pair of thirteen to fourteen inch rainbows. These fish favored the the size 16 cinnamon comparadun, and I donated four comparaduns and three stimulators to the Eagle River environment during my double dry fly period. Several fly losses may have resulted from foul hooked fish that simply charged into the fast water, and I was unable to contain them from there.

Once I attained seven fish the sighting of pale morning duns ceased, and concurrently the presence of rising fish ended. A few stoneflies continued to make an appearance, so I retained the yellow stimulator, but I replaced the comparadun with a purple haze. The purple haze allowed me to add a couple medium sized fish to the tally for the day, and one was my first and only brown trout.

By 2:45PM I approached a series of ideal wide and deep runs that rushed between the bank and a strong main current. The band of water was approximately fifteen feet wide, and I knew from previous experience that the stretch harbored some large and freakishly powerful trout. The double dry no longer represented a desirable commodity, so I decided to revert to the dry/dropper approach that I deployed in the morning session. In previous years the dry/dropper method yielded some very memorable catches. I knotted another amber ice dub chubby Chernobyl to my line, and beneath it I dangled the iron sally and salvation nymph. Surely stonefly nymphs and pale morning dun nymphs continued to be a food source in the bottom of the water column.

Alas, the ploy was solid in my head, but apparently not what the trout had in mind. I spent the remainder of my time prospecting through some terrific water to no avail. When I arrived at some shallower riffles I took the time to switch back to the double dry with a gray stimulator and purple haze, but again there was no evidence of trout. I stripped in my line at 3:20PM and made the ten minute hike back to the car.

Once again the numbers were not overwhelming, but I landed at least five rainbow trout in the thirteen to eighteen inch range. These fish were terrific fighters and quite beefy for their length. I was very challenged to land them, and as documented, I failed to land an equal number of noble combatants. I managed to log another day of successful edge fishing, and hopefully I will report the same result for tomorrow after my planned trip to the Arkansas River.

Fish Landed: 9