Time: 10:15AM – 3:00PM

Location: National forest land

St. Vrain Creek 07/03/2026 Photo Album

I fished for a couple hours during our trip to Steamboat Lake State Park, but I was anxious for another outing. We had grandson kid sitting duty on Thursday with another session scheduled for Saturday, so I felt the need to take advantage of an off day from sitting on Friday. I was not up for a long drive, so I surveyed the options near Denver and settled for St. Vrain Creek. It had been awhile, since I fished the St. Vrain, so I was uncertain how my day might develop.

Early Brown Trout

I arrived at my chosen destination by 10:00AM, and I was next to the stream ready to cast by 10:15AM. The air temperature was in the low seventies, and I chose my Orvis Access four weight for the small Front Range creek. I did not have a source for the flows, but the creek was chugging along at a decent pace. Clarity was perfect, and the water felt cold, and I was sure the fish were appreciative.

Attractive Section

My day can be broken down into three segments. Initially I tossed a tan pool toy hopper, a hares ear nymph and an ultra zug bug. This combination resulted in three landed fish with one small brown trout nipping the ultra zug bug and two browns grabbing the hares ear nymph. The pool toy hopper was noticed by the fish, but it only produced looks, refusals and very brief nips. The action stalled, and I broke for lunch stuck on a fish count of three.

Decent Hole

I reacted to the signals from the fish, and I replaced the dry/dropper rig with a double dry configuration that featured a peacock hippie stomper and size 16 light gray deer hair caddis as the trailer. This was the second portion of my day, and the double dry approach commenced after lunch. The caddis produced a pair of trout, and the hippie stomper yielded two, before the action once again stalled with the fish count at seven. Although a few fish nailed the hippie stomper, it created two refusals for every eat, so I swapped it for a size 14 Jake’s gulp beetle. Almost instantly the beetle duped a trout in a nice riffle of moderate depth, and that action was followed in short order by a grab on the light gray deer hair caddis.

Very Nice Pool

The fish count rested at nine by one o’clock, and while moving upstream to a new location, I spotted a western green drake, as it slowly floated above the creek. Would the trout favor a green drake imitation? July 3 is very early for a green drake emergence. I eventually saw a second natural, and that was the total observed on the day, but it was enough to prod me into switching to a green drake dry fly.

High Gradient

I removed the beetle and caddis and knotted a parachute green drake to my line. Clearly the trout were aware of green drakes, as instantly my fly became the object of their desire, but not quite. I endured a flurry of refusals and uncertain nips to the parachute green drake. This lasted for twenty minutes, as I persisted with the parachute style drake knowing that it is typically my top producer during western green drake season.

Prize of the Day

Finally I acknowledged that the paradrake was not what the trout desired, and I switched to a user friendly green drake. This fly contains a foam strip that aids in floatation, and consequently it requires very little in the way of prep and care to maintain its buoyancy on the surface. The user friendly clicked, and I advanced the fish count from nine to sixteen. The bushy drake imitation fooled many fish, but it was also refused. For some reason casts across the creek accompanied with a downstream drift seemed to entice takes. I am not sure whether to attribute this to the fly entering the trout’s window ahead of the line, or whether it was a function of fishing the less pressured opposite bank from the road.

Very Promising

Once again a lull occurred, and the user friendly failed to attract looks or refusals, so I made another change. In this instance I introduced a green drake comparadun size 14, and the third green drake imitation fooled one trout, before I called it quits at 3:00PM.

One of the Better Brown Trout

Friday evolved into a fun day. I landed seventeen brown trout with the last eight attempting to eat a green drake. I love fishing the large bulky green drakes, so hitting a sparse hatch in early July on a seldom fished creek was very rewarding. The day was not without challenges. The section I fished consisted of a steep gradient, and this in turn resulted in some very challenging wading. Actually it was more like rock climbing than wading. The relatively high flows tight to the bank and steep gradient created numerous situations, where I was forced to leave the creek and carefully climb around huge streamside rock obstacles. Many times I was forced to put down my fly rod in order to utilize two hands to pull myself up and over barriers. The fast flows also reduced the number of fish holding lies, and this in turn dictated longer than normal moves between casting spots.

I have three open days next week after the Fourth of July, and I am already considering options. Stay tuned.

Fish Landed: 17