Monthly Archives: February 2025

St. Vrain Creek – 02/28/2025

Time: 2:15PM – 4:15PM

Location: Near Lyons, CO

St. Vrain Creek 02/28/2025 Photo Album

The last day of February was projected to spike at a high in the upper sixties in Denver, CO, so I researched temperatures in nearby potential fishing destinations. My first outing of 2025 was Boulder Creek, so I decided to journey a bit farther north to St. Vrain Creek. Temperatures in the vicinity of my planned fly fishing venture were predicted to be in the low sixties. That was acceptable to this fair weather angler.

Cutbow Surprised Me

Jane and I took advantage of the gorgeous late winter day to play pickleball, and when I returned home, I downed my lunch and packed the car and departed for my planned fly fishing destination. Once I arrived at my pullout, I wore my Brooks long sleeve thermal undershirt, and I chose not to add any additional layers. I selected my Orvis Access four weight and clamped my Battenkill reel to the butt section, and this line featured the loop, that I repaired using the Restorline kit that I bought at The Fly Fishing Show. It worked quite well.

Cutbow Home

I cut to the stream, when I was prepared, and I knotted a peacock hippie stomper to my line and then added a beadhead hares ear nymph as a dropper. I extended the dropper tippet so that I had approximately three feet of leader below the stomper. The creek was relatively low, and I fishing marginal slots and riffles in the first fifteen minutes. I experienced one refusal to the hippie stomper in a nice deep run, and I landed a sub six inch brown trout on the hares ear.

Decent Brown Took Hippie Stomper

The next phase of my outing, however, took a positive turn. In a long relatively deep pool I flicked a cast toward the right bank. and suddenly the hippie stomper exploded, as a trout consumed the fake attractor. I immediately recognized a nice trout was on my line, and I was proven correct, when I slipped my net beneath a fifteen inch cutbow. What a surprise! The trout had a bronze background color on the body and a thin stripe of scarlet along its sides.

Hippie Stomper Brown Was Right Below the Large Exposed Boulder

Shortly after this reward for my efforts in February, a brown trout rose to slurp the stomper. Two trout on dry flies was more than I could have hoped for. I continued up the stream, as I looked for spots with depth, and I soon discovered that my beadhead hares ear broke off. It was not delivering much interest, so I replaced it with a size 14 ultra zug bug.

Pretty Brown Released

I now moved at a faster pace, as I knew that lingering on marginal water was a waste of time. I sought slower moving locations with a fair amount of depth, and this strategy paid off, as I landed another five over the remainder of my outing to boost the final total to seven. I was quite pleased with seven trout in two hours of fishing including the fifteen inch cutbow.

Love the Scarlet Stripe Visible

Two of the additional landed trout were small rainbows, and the remaining three were brown trout in the nine to eleven inch range. The ultra zug bug accounted for the last five landed fish, as the hippie stomper assumed the role of indicator. I did witness another refusal to the hippie stomper.

Rainbow Came from This Nice Deep Run

By 4:15PM the shadows spanned the entire creek, and my hands were quite chilled, thus forcing me to abandon my sungloves. I covered several very attractive deep pools created by stream improvements, but the fish did not seem to be present in these prime lies. At 4:15PM I stripped in my flies and hooked them to my rod guide and hoofed back to my car.

Friday was a successful day on the last date in February. The one negative to the day was a wet right foot, as I squeezed quite a bit of water from my Smart Wool sock. The wetness began around my ankle, so I will attempt to remedy this situation on Saturday afternoon, if the weather cooperates.

Fish Landed: 7

Wiggle Damsel – 02/19/2025

Wiggle Damsel 02/19/2025 Photo Album

More background on the wiggle damsel is available in my post of 01/06/2020. These flies are mainly reserved for stillwater fly fishing. I often read about damsel emergences on lakes, which motivate trout to gorge on the migrating nymphs, as they move toward reeds and weeds along the shoreline. I have never encountered this situation, but I have tried.

Last year in early June I fished Beaver Lake in the town of Marble, CO, and an abundant quantity of damsel flies were present including some nymphs in the process of emerging on the shoreline rocks. I switched to a wiggle nymph, but I was unable to tap into the action. A reader of this blog commented that damsel nymphs should be fished just below the surface, and I think I was using weight, so that may explain my lack of success. It was a lesson learned, and I will surely try one without using weight should I encounter another promising damsel emergence situation.

Wiggle Damsels from My Storage Container

This fly was designed by Charlie Craven, and it features an articulated body. I love the way the rear section undulates, as I slowly hand twist my retrieve.

I counted my wiggle damsels, and I learned that I had adequate quantities for the new season, so I bypassed additional tying. Last winter I also tied some olive mini leeches, and these could also serve as damsel nymphs. It is always good to have backup.

Purple Haze – 02/18/2025

Purple Haze 02/18/2025 Photo Album

You may begin familiarizing yourself with the purple haze by accessing my 02/15/2021 post. Here I describe my introduction to the purple-bodied attractor, and a materials table is presented. I use purple dubbing for the body, but I believe the original fly uses a purple floss thread.

This fly is a relative newcomer to my winter fly tying progression. I attempted to incorporate its usage into my seasonal fishing routine, but I must admit that it tends to lag my usage of the hippie stomper, stimulators and deer hair caddis. Nevertheless, I have allocated some time to the purple haze over the past several summers, and it has produced a few nice fish.

Flies from Storage

I opened my fly storage containers and counted my purple haze population, and I concluded that I was adequately stocked with eighteen size fourteens present. I decided to skip tying the purple haze this year, but I am prepared to tie more should they suddenly be in high demand and require replenishment.

Yellow Sally – 02/18/2025

Yellow Sally 02/18/2025 Photo Album

My earliest post on the yellow sally was on 02/02/2016, and the latest was 02/26/2020. I read both of these, and they are informative, if you have an interest in yellow sallies. Both describe the circumstances that provoke the usage of a yellow sally dry fly.

It has been a few years since I encountered a dense yellow sally hatch like that which amazed me on the Eagle River. Nevertheless, I spy these small stoneflies fluttering over the water quite often during July, August and early September. They are quite prevalent, so it is a good idea to carry some in your fly box. If you read my earlier posts, you will learn that I experimented with several different styles of yellow sally, but I returned to the basic deer hair version. It is tied in the same way as a deer hair caddis, albeit with yellow deer hair for the wing, a yellow dubbed body and ginger hackle.

From My Storage Box

Although I have not tied additional yellow sallies in several years, when I counted my supply, I concluded that I retained sufficient numbers to get me through the 2025 season. Thinking about yellow sallies makes me anxious for summer, and that is not a good thing, since it is only the middle of February.

Parachute Black Ant – 02/18/2025

Parachute Black Ant 02/18/2025 Photo Album

My post of 01/11/2012 contains a materials table and step by step tying instructions that I recorded by watching Tom Baltz tie at The Fly Fishing Show. I referred back to this post before I began tying new parachute black ants. I discovered that my last post on the parachute black ant was 02/22/2018, and that post was informative as well. From this bit of research I surmise that I have not tied ants since 2018.

Narrow Waist Is Key

Even though I have historically experienced decent luck with this small terrestrial, I tend to overlook it when selecting patterns to knot on my leader. I suspect it has to do with visibility, as its low floating posture makes it difficult to track even with the bright wing post. It is a likely candidate, however, to pair with a larger fly in a double dry fly arrangement. I will try to remember that, as I move into the 2025 season.

Materials and Three Size 18 Ants

I counted my stock of size 18 black parachute ants, and I probably had adequate numbers for the new season; however, I gathered up the minimal materials required and produced another three. It was fun to pull up my 2012 tying instructions and make a few fresh terrestrials to stay in practice.

Klinkhammer BWO – 02/16/2025

Klinkhammer BWO 02/16/2025 Photo Album

I recommend reading my post of 01/09/2018 for a more detailed explanation on the circumstances that cause me to knot a Klinkhammer BWO to my line. This article also includes a materials table.

Originally I envisioned the Klinkhammer emerger pattern as a solution to the riddle of disappointing results, when using my CDC blue wing olive during a baetis hatch. I thought that the fish were grabbing emergers, before they were blown away by the strong gusts of wind, and the Klinkhammer style with the dangling abdomen and shuck seemed like a solid bet to solve the riddle. Tilt. They did not perform any better than the CDC blue wing olive, although I have experienced sporadic luck with them. The white wing post is a positive, as it allows me to track the fly better than the gray CDC.

Visible White Wing Post Is Welcome for Tracking

I still carry a supply of the Klinkhammers, and I decided to count the quantity in my bins. The inventory yielded the conclusion that I possessed an adequate supply, so I did not tie additional quantities for 2025.

Comparaduns – 02/16/2025

Comparaduns 02/16/2025 Photo Album

For the background story on my relationship with the comparadun, read my post of 02/21/2014. I just read it, and it brought back many of the details embedded in the adoption story of this fly. I highly recommend reading it, if you are not familiar with or a proponent of this style of fly.

Nice Fan Wing Size 16 Light Gray Comparadun

During a pale morning dun hatch, these comparaduns are indispensable. I carry them in size sixteen and eighteen and with cinnamon and light gray body colors. My poly light gray dubbing has hints of light yellow in it, and I think this is a key to its effectiveness. I bought the stuff in Pennsylvania at the inception of my fly tying career, but I retain a huge supply, and this alleviates any concerns about running out.

Size 18 Light Gray on a Refurbished Hook

I have experienced many fantastic days of fishing to pale morning hatches, and rarely do these comparaduns let me down. I have hit the PMD hatch on the Colorado River in July, the Yampa River in June, the South Platte River in late June and July, the Arkansas River in July, South Boulder Creek in August through September, and the Frying Pan River during August through October. The cinnamon comparadun shines on the Frying Pan River.

Size 18 Cinnamon Comparadun

I usually test the cinnamon version first, and on rare occasions the trout ignore it, so I switch to the light gray body color. Rarely do I find that neither of these flies work. As an aside, the salvation nymph and pheasant tail nymph are also stalwart performers before, during and after PMD hatches, but I usually use the hatch as an opportunity to fish the comparadun dry fly.

Nine New Comparaduns with Associated Materials

As is my practice, I counted my comparaduns, and I concluded that I needed to add three size 18 cinnamon, two size 18 light gray, and four size 16 light gray. Actually, I probably could have skipped tying any, but I wanted to round out my inventory to multiples of five. Why? Don’t ask. It’s just who I am.

CDC Blue Wing Olive – 02/14/2025

CDC Blue Wing Olive 02/14/2025 Photo Album

For a look at my history with this fly inspect my post of 02/18/2022. I was unable to search for more recent posts, so this leads me to believe that I have not tied these flies in a few years. That is hard to accept, because I use and lose these tiny morsels quite frequently; however, I used my chronological listing of posts to scroll back through fly reports for 2023 and 2024, and I found no more current titles referencing CDC blue wing olives. It is also possible that I forgot to complete a write up.

Size 20

At any rate, I tie these flies in three sizes; 20, 22, and 24. I also tie other small blue wing olive imitations such as the Klinkhammer version and soft hackle emergers. Generally the CDC BWO tied comparadun style gets the job done, but frustrating episodes, where the fish ignore my trusty mainstay led to experimentation with variants. Recently small soft hackle emergers fished in the film with floatant have brought a degree of success particularly during windy conditions. I suspect the soft hackle and the swept back fluoro fiber wing represent a cripple or a fly struggling to get airborne in cold temperatures with strong wind.

Minute Size 24

I also suspect that the trout key on movement, and the dead drifting motionless CDC blue wing olive does not cut it, when motion is the image that trout are scanning the surface for. For this reason I tied a few hackled CDC BWO imitations to experiment with in the upcoming season. I made these in size 22, and they are the same as a CDC BWO, except that they feature a small hackle collar wound behind and in front of the wing.

Hackled Variety

My annual count of CDC BWO’s suggested that I tie four size 20’s, two size 24’s and five size 22’s with hackle. I am anxious to continue the experiment with CDC BWO variations in 2025.

Eleven New CDC BWO Flies

Stimulators – 02/11/2025

Stimulators 02/11/2025 Photo Album

Stimulators! I cannot think of a more appropriate name for this fly. They are easy to track, because they float high and dry on all those hackles, and the fish take notice. Fish are stimulated by the fuzzy image of a stimulator.

New Materials Purchased to Make Stimulators

Check out my posts of 02/13/2024 and 02/14/2024 for additional information on this popular fly. Each has links to previous posts for deep drilling this fly further. When I journeyed to Argentina for a fishing trip at Rio Manso Lodge, I bought a fly box in preparation, and it contained quite a few stimulators. When I returned to Colorado, I decided to experiment with them, and I was quite pleased with that decision. Since then, stimulators have become a necessary fly in my fly box.

Pale Olive Body Size 14

I primarily rely on three colors; yellow, gray and light olive. Yellow sees a lot of line time during golden stonefly and yellow sally seasons, and the gray and olive are effective searching patterns all year long. If trout are refusing my hippie stomper as the surface fly, I sometimes switch to a stimulator and trail a smaller dry in a double dry fly configuration. This combination is especially effective on high gradient mountains streams during the summer months.

Size 14 Yellow Stimulator

I counted all my stimulators and determined that I was adequately supplied except for olive, so I produced six additional size 14 and 16 pale olive body stimulators. In addition, I discovered four damaged yellow stimulators in my refurbishment canister, so I repaired them to yield two more size fourteens and two size sixteens. I am very anxious to roll out my stimulators in 2025.

A Batch of Ten

Boulder Creek – 02/07/2025

Time: 1:40PM – 3:30PM

Location: City of Boulder, CO

Boulder Creek 02/07/2025 Photo Album

As I looked ahead at the weather, I noticed the high temperature in Denver, CO on Friday, February 7, 2025 was predicted to be 65 degrees. Could this be my first day of fly fishing in 2025?

I reviewed my Weather Underground app for potential fly fishing destinations, but I quickly learned that high winds were the prevailing weather for Friday. South Boulder Creek was windy and cold, and Clear Creek’s display showed a similar circumstance. I shifted my attention to the South Platte River, and Cheesman Canyon, Deckers and Eleven Mile Canyon were  facing high wind velocities. The only locales that seemed to dodge the gusting wind forecast were Boulder Creek and Bear Creek, and I quickly settled on Boulder Creek due to its proximity.

Low and Clear at the Start

The air temperatures were not expected to reach the fifties until noon, so I decided to play pickleball in the morning and then make the short drive to Boulder. I prepared my lunch on Thursday evening and gathered up some of my essential fly fishing gear, but I was not fully committed in case the wind became a factor in Boulder as well. By the time Jane and I returned from pickleball, it was 12:15PM, so I quickly packed the remainder of my necessary gear, and I consumed my standard lunch. One of the items that I retrieved for my initial fishing outing of 2025 was my new pair of Simms wading boots.

Site of the First Fish of 2025

I arrived at my chosen parking lot in Boulder by 1:25PM, and this enabled me to perch my new boots along the edge of the creek by 1:40PM. I wore my Under Armour long sleeve insulated shirt, my fishing shirt and a fleece layer, and I was actually dressed too warm, as the thermometer peaked at 65 degrees. Boulder citizens and students were out in mass enjoying the unseasonably warm winter day.About to Release Number One

I chose my Orvis Access four weight and marched to the edge of the river near a bridge and began my upstream migration. The water was quite low and clear, although I was unable to check the flows due to ice and snow on the gauge. I tied a peacock hippie stomper to my line, and when I attempted to extend leader from the bend of the stomper to add a nymph, I discovered that my 5X spool only held four inches. This forced me to remove my frontpack and backpack, as I searched the backpack pocket for a new spool. It was there, and I swapped it with the empty spool on my tippet minder, and I added a beadhead hares ear nymph on a two foot leader.

Run Next to Overhanging Bank Produced

For the next two hours I proceeded upstream through some very shallow stretches and along a few ice shelves, as I prospected the two fly dry/dropper. The two hours actually exceeded my expectations, as I landed two brown trout that gobbled the hares ear. The first trout was a respectable twelve inch fish, and number two was eight or nine inches. Nevertheless, I was quite pleased to begin 2025 with a two fish day in February.

Little Number Two

I skipped the shallow sections and searched for faster moving riffles and runs at the entry point to deep pools. I was forced to stay back and execute long casts in order to avoid spooking any fish in the thin water. Both my catches came from the type of water I just described.

Friday was a spectacular day in February, and I managed to land a pair of fish to begin the new year. Hopefully I will not have to wait too long for another mild day, but I am certainly prepared to do so.

Fish Landed: 2