Author Archives: wellerfish

Clear Lake – 06/21/2023

Time: 10:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Next to parking lot and inlet area

Clear Lake 06/21/2023 Photo Album

The rivers and streams of Colorado remained in an elevated state, and I was attempting to ratchet back the strenuous nature of my endeavors for a few weeks, so I decided to visit another lake. On Wednesday, June 21 I opted for Clear Lake, and this was another example of a lake described in my Colorado’s Easy Access Mountain Lakes book. The weather was predicted to be cooler than earlier in the week, and the threat of precipitation was minimal.

I departed Denver at 8:30, and I arrived at my chosen destination by 10:00AM. I quickly assembled my Sage four weight, and I ambled a very short distance to the south side of the beach area next to the parking lot. The easy access book repeatedly emphasized not fishing right next to the parking lot, but I ignored this advice. The sun was bright and the air temperature was in the upper sixties, so I wore no layers beyond my fishing shirt and stuffed my raincoat in my backpack.

Double Dry in Place

In the early going I tossed an olive hippie stomper and trailed a size 16 gray caddis, and this double dry fly combination enabled me to establish a fish count of three. Two of the stocker rainbows caught during this time frame nipped the size 14 stomper, and one grabbed the trailing caddis. I also experienced quite a few brief connections, as the trout bumped the caddis without fully chomping down. The book suggested working along the southern shoreline, but it consisted of a steep rocky bank, and I was reluctant to negotiate the relatively severe terrain with my pledge to reduce stress. I clipped my flies to the rod guide and mounted a dirt bank next to the entry road and then followed a rough two-track to the inlet section. The book suggested that the inlet was the place to be, and the author described hours of hot fishing with a dry/dropper.

Salivating Over This Area

Initially I persisted with the double/dry, but other than a refusal or two, the offering was not effective, so I decided to make a switch. I followed the author’s lead, and I rigged with size 8 tan pool toy hopper, beadhead hares ear nymph and a size 12 prince nymph. This combination proved to be the ticket, and I notched five additional trout before lunch to increase the fish count to eight. The hopper accounted for one fish, but the others nailed the prince. I began fishing the inlet by prospecting the faster run where the creek emptied into the lake, and this locale yielded a fish or two, but when I slid westward, so I was beyond a moderate-sized exposed boulder, I began to enjoy more success. The lake in this area dropped off and still carried some current; however, the tongue of the run fanned out to much slower moving water.

One of the Better Fish

Just before lunch I inadvertently broke off the two nymphs, so after lunch I replaced the prince as the top subsurface offering and then added an iron sally. What a fortuitous move this turned out to be! Just before lunch some thick clouds blocked the sun for an extended period of time, and I grew quite chilled standing in the waist deep water. I decided to return to the car for another layer, but I left my rod and all my gear on the gradual shoreline. I decided to vacate the area, and a solo fisherman was below me, so I approached him and made the offer for him to take my spot. He was very thankful, but I was not certain he would change his position.

I quickly hiked back to the car and grabbed my North Face light down coat, and upon returning to my pile of gear, I snugged the down coat under my thin rain shell. My comfort level zoomed to positive and remained in that status for the remainder of the afternoon. Not wishing to wade waist deep again, I began shooting longer casts to the deep and moving water that rolled by forty feet across from my position. The fun began instantly. On the first three casts a rainbow trout attacked the iron sally, and for the remainder of the afternoon this torrid success level continued, until I boosted the fish count to thirty. Sixty percent of the time a trout locked on to the nymph on the drift, but a strip or twitch initiated action the rest of the time.

Got a Grip

After an hour of this trout catching bonanza a trio of kids arrived, and they set up operations fifteen yards below me. The male of the group was likely in his late teens, and the two females were probably ninth or tenth grade. Their tools consisted of two fly rods and two spinning rods. They were not having much success, and they looked on in awe, as I hoisted fish after fish from the honey hole that was across from me.

At one point between fifteen and twenty landed fish, I snapped off the prince and iron sally on a backcast, and I retooled with a beadhead hares ear as the top fly and stayed with an iron sally for the bottom offering. During this time one of the young ladies asked to see my fly, and when I showed her, she produced her fly box and asked which of her flies I thought would work. I pointed to four flashy hares ear nymphs.

Next to the Bank and Between the Boulders

After breaking off two valued flies I decided to follow the gentleman who was below me before lunch. He crossed the creek above the lake and scaled a steep bank and positioned himself along the opposite shoreline thirty yards below my position and that of the teenagers. I hoped to eliminate the risk of loss during long backcasts, as the prime water ran very close to the bank across from me. The tactic worked, and after a brief creek crossing and short hike I was prepared to cast from the north shore.

Nice Gleam

I was pleased to discover that my catch rate resumed at a similar pace, if not perhaps even greater. The rainbow trout were all over my nymphs, although the hares ear began to produce, albeit at a lower ratio than the iron sally. Several narrow evergreens invaded my space, so I was forced to be very cautious with my backcasts and hooksets. Short roll casts served the purpose of keeping my flies in the water and out of the timber.

From the Opposite Shore

By 3:30PM I grew weary of the easy fishing (I cannot believe I am writing this), so I snugged up my line, climbed the bank, followed the trail, crossed the creek and returned to the trio of teenage friends. I asked the young man, if I could look at his line, and he gleefully handed it to me. He told me the rod was new and called it a Crosswater (I think). I inspected the fly, and he had a thick leader with a tiny elk hair caddis knotted to the end. What comes after 0X? I nipped off the fly and added three feet of 4X using a surgeons knot, although it was very difficult to cinch the thick leader side. I asked if he had any large foam flies, and amazingly he produced a size 10 chubby Chernobyl. I knotted it to the 4X, and then I asked to inspect his fly box. I instantly spotted a pair of flashy beadhead hares ear nymphs, so I added a three foot dropper to the chubby and added the flashy nymph. I proclaimed him ready to catch a fish and suggested that he cast to the area, where I was landing fish after fish from both sides of the lake.

The young angler gave it a game effort, but he was unable to extend a cast more than thirty feet or so, and the sweet spot required another ten feet. He was left handed, and he was applying his forward stroke way too early, and this drained all the energy from the line. I attempted to instruct him on how to pause to allow the rod to load, and he managed it a few times, but then he angled his arm on the forward cast and landed the flies upstream in still water rather than the target area. I began to shout at the moment that the rod loaded on the backcast, and that helped, but his flies continued to fall short. Meanwhile the two females landed a pair of fish on the spinning rod, and I sensed he wanted to transition back to that form of fishing.

One of the Better Rainbows

I said my farewell, and they thanked me for my assistance, and I returned to the small cove next to the parking lot. Several fish rose sporadically, but the hopper/dropper was not their cup of tea, so I clipped off the flies and tied on a size 16 gray deer hair caddis. For the next fifteen minutes I fished this tiny morsel solo, and I increased the fish count to thirty-five, before I called it quits and ambled back to the car. Of the last five fish to feel my net, three reacted to a twitch or strip, and the other two crushed the fly, while it sat in a stationary position.

Ram Tough

Wednesday, June 21 evolved into a fish catching orgy. All the trout were rainbows except for one brook trout that barely exceeded my self imposed minimum of six inches. The iron sally was far and away the favorite of the lake residents, although the prince, hares ear, pool toy, hippie stomper and deer hair caddis contributed to the haul. I suspect another lake fishing adventure lies in my near future, and my confidence in the Easy Access Mountain Lakes book is growing.

Fish Landed: 35

Pine Valley Ranch Lake – 06/19/2023

Time: 2:00PM – 4:15PM

Location: Southern shoreline

Pine Valley Ranch Lake 06/19/2023 Photo Album

After experiencing some mild health setbacks on Friday and Sunday, I desired a less taxing day of fly fishing on Monday, June 19. I settled on Pine Valley Ranch Lake, because it represented a bit over an hour drive, and the hike to the lake was only .2 mile. The high temperature in Denver spiked in the low nineties, so that was an additional consideration.

Jane and I arrived in the lower parking lot at Pine Valley Ranch Park by 1:30PM, and we were fortunate to snag a spot near the trailhead, because only a few spaces remained. June 19 is Juneteenth, a new federal holiday, so we assumed that this circumstance impacted the greater than normal number of park visitors on a weekday.

Looking East

I considered wet wading, but I did not wear the proper shirt to hold my dry fly box, so I reverted to waders, and I never felt overheated during my time on the lake. For casting, I selected my Sage R8 four weight, and I have grown to love my newest graphite stick. Jane and I departed from the parking lot and hiked along the northern shore using the dirt road that separates the lake from the North Fork of the South Platte River. Anglers were spaced out along the south and north shorelines by roughly thirty feet, with the only remaining open spaces on the earthen dam and at the upper end of the southern shore. I decided to inspect the narrow channel at the west end, and it was devoid of fishermen, but as I scanned the shallow slough, I was unable to spot any fish, nor were any fish feeding on the surface. The combination of no sighted fish and no fishermen convinced me to move on. We circled around the west end of the lake, and I grabbed a spot toward the western end of the southern shoreline. The vegetation grew into the water, so waders or wet wading were required to fish in this section. Most of the fishermen at Pine Valley Ranch Lake were shore bound, so I saw this as an advantage. Jane set up her chair in the pavilion in the southwest corner.

West End

Release Time

I began my quest for rainbow trout with a double dry configuration that featured a peacock hippie stomper as the first fly and a size 16 gray deer hair caddis as the trailer. For the next two hours I fired forty foot casts in a fan pattern from my waded position, and I edged my way eastward. After an hour the man and woman who claimed the spot by the angled dead tree departed, and I quickly replaced them. How did I do? I landed nine stocker rainbow trout during 2.25 hours of fishing. I utilized the same technique that resulted in a twenty-five fish day on a previous trip. I allowed the flies to rest for thirty seconds, and then I made quick pulsing strips back to my casting position. All but two of the trout sipped the fly, while it was motionless, and two made a grab on an early strip. The caddis accounted for six trout, and the hippie stomper attracted three smacks. The hippie stomper eats seemed to coincide with a breeze or wind and the presence of a slight chop on the surface of the lake. Many fruitless casts were part of the equation, and doing the thirty second countdown repeatedly tried my patience, but nine fish in 2.25 hours during air temperatures in the low eighties was actually a fairly solid performance.

Send It

By 4:15PM the pace of action slowed to a crawl, and my back began to tighten, so I stripped in my flies, and Jane and I returned to the car. Jane enjoyed watching my efforts and actually called out a take, when I looked away for a split second. We were both awestruck, when an osprey assumed the shape of a wedge and plunged into the lake at high velocity directly across from us. Neither of us had our cameras available, but we then watched, as the majestic bird of prey circled the lake several times. On two occasions it swooped, until it was twenty feet above the surface of the lake, and we were sure another dive was imminent, but on both occasions it backed off and regained altitude.

From the Earthen Dam

I hope to explore a few more lakes within the next couple weeks before rivers and streams return to fishable levels.

Fish Landed: 9

South Platte River – 06/14/2023

Time: 10:15AM – 4:15PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 06/14/2023 Photo Album

My new friend, Nate, expressed an interest in wrangling with a fish that put a significant bend in his rod, and I suggested the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon. During the run off season, the South Platte River was a rarity, with flows running at 47 CFS, so we made plans for a day on the tailwater west of Colorado Springs on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Unbeknownst to both of us, the day held several surprises.

We arrived at my favorite roadside pullout a bit before 10:00AM, and this allowed us to be on the river by 10:15AM. I chose my Sage One five weight, and Nate went with a five weight as well, as his reel that held a four weight line was out of commission. We walked up the road for .3 mile, and then we dropped down an angled bank to the river across from some huge exposed boulders and deep surrounding pocket water. We both began our days with dry/dropper rigs, and in my case I chose a tan pool toy hopper, beadhead hares ear nymph, and salvation nymph. Between 10:15 and noon, Nate and I pushed our fish counters to two. Both my trout were fine brown trout in the twelve to thirteen inch range, and one nipped the salvation nymph and the other crushed the pool toy hopper. I was standing to the side and slightly above a small but deep hole in front of an exposed boulder, and I spotted a fish, as it darted to the surface to grab a small food item. I dropped a very short cast to the pocket, and almost immediately the same fish aggressively smashed the hopper. What a start to my day!

Home of First Brown Trout

Gorgeous Brown Trout

We quickly discovered that the most productive water was deep pockets and runs around large rocks, such as the area where we began. The popular pools seemed devoid of fish, and we quickly lost confidence in these spots. As we approached the next extensive section of pocket water, we encountered a group of three anglers, so we decided to circle around them. At the time we were on the west side of the river, and we normally travel on the east side to navigate our way upstream. I could see a large vertical rock wall ahead, but I assumed that we could sneak by in the river with flows at their low levels. Wrong. As we grew near, we realized that we had to do some rock climbing, if we stayed on our side of the river, or backtrack and cross. We chose the first option, and we endured the first surprise of the day. We clambered up a fairly steep rock face for sixty feet using crevices to gain footing and handholds. However, upon reaching a more level area, we followed the contour of the rock to a position that we hoped would allow us to descend back to the river. Nate went ahead to scout the situation, and he announced that the drop off was too steep, so we resumed our ascent for a distance that more than doubled our initial climb. We were now perched high above the river, so we cut in a southern direction. but once again we encountered an impediment to our progress. The drop off remained more than either of us were willing to risk, so we angled away from the river. At one point I was faced with maneuvering my aging body around a large protruding rock, but I was unable to find good hand grips, even though I handed my rod off to the much younger fishing companion in order to free up two hands. Instead of risking the dicey balancing workaround, I followed a large deadfall, and eventually I found a line that allowed a more gradual descent. Whew! Nate and I were both relieved to return to the river, but we were also pleased with our ability to overcome the rock climbing obstacle.

Wild Iris

When we approached the river again, we were just downstream from one of my favorite pools, the one that I named big bend pool. The river splits around a narrow island and then merges into the pool where the western braid curls around a large ninety degree bend. We noticed a few sporadic rises, but for the most part the pool was dead. Nate chose the upstream portion of the pool, where a nice wide riffle section extended for fifteen yards before the river spread out into the middle section of the slow moving pool. I waded to a position opposite the mid-section, and I began lobbing long casts to a deep trough between two large boulders. One of the boulders was subsurface, and the other peeked above the waterline. I allotted ten minutes to my prospecting, but my confidence was low, and I moved around Nate to some small pockets just above the entering run on the western braid. Nate was focused on a massive tangle that consumed twenty minutes (his estimate), but he announced that he would continue fishing the riffles once the snarl was rectified.

Nice Colors

Tiny Bucket Produced the Rainbow

First I dropped a few casts in a marginal shallow run, but then I fired a cast to a very short but deep pocket above the shallow run. I was just killing time, but almost immediately a hot rainbow trout grabbed the salvation nymph, and the game was on. I battled the cantankerous trout for a few minutes and then landed it for some beauty poses. I love extracting nice trout from obscure areas, and this was a classic example. I continued working my way around the bend and along the west channel, and suddenly I heard Nate cry, “Come here, Dave”. I quickly reeled up my line and hooked my fly to the rod guide, and then I stepped down a worn path on the narrow island, until I was across from Nate. He was enmeshed in the second surprise of the day, as he valiantly battled a very large trout. I whipped out my camera and videotaped three sequences, as the long, fighting cold water species made four or five determined runs away from Nate’s net. Nate performed like a pro, and each time the trout stressed the situation with a bold streak, Nate released line and allowed the combatant its space. Eventually the behemoth tired enough that Nate was able to hoist it over his Fishpond net. I waded across the channel to get some closer photos, and when I approached, I peered down at a twenty inch cutbow. Nate beamed from ear to ear, and why wouldn’t he? I snapped some fin and grins, and then Nate allowed the prize to recover before he nudged the beast back in the river. Nate’s day was already compete at noon, and so was mine.

What a Fish

Cutbow Magic

There Is a Smile

Big Boy Took the Fly Below the Bright Green Bottom

I returned to my exit point and fished my way up to the tunnel pools. By now my watch displayed 12:30PM, so I found a comfortable spot on a grassy bank to eat, and I was joined by Nate within a few minutes. He reported that his legs and arms were still shaking from the adrenalin rush initiated by the largest fish of his young life. As we chomped our snacks, we observed the pool, and we were entertained by a smattering of rises. I also spotted a handful of small mayflies, and we surmised that a very sparse mayfly hatch was in progress. We debated switching to dries to focus on the risers, but I was reluctant to remove my dry/dropper configuration, and I was not certain that the rises were steady enough to create reasonable success or just a tease that would lead to frustration.

Lunch View

We moved on to some faster entering currents, and at this spot Nate bumped into his third surprise. His three fly rig snagged near the vertical rock wall on the far side of the river, and in his effort to disengage, he snapped off all three flies. He undertook the laborious task of reconfiguring his flies with three new versions, and when he cast near the same spot as the snag, his drift was once again interrupted. Upon lifting the flies to free them, he realized that he was connected to the three flies he just broke off. In this instance, however, he waded through some moderately deep water, freed his active flies and recovered the ones that he broke off!

Nate Scanning the Pool

With this bit of good fortune in hand, we decided to vacate the troublesome hook grabbing environment, and we advanced around two ninety degree bends to a wide slow moving pool. A couple was perched on the bank eating lunch, so we circled around them and progressed to a long stretch of pocket water that I targeted early on. I continued fishing the dry/dropper for the next hour, and I covered some gorgeous deep pools and pockets, but only had some refusals to the hopper to show for my efforts. I cycled through a number of nymphs including an emerald caddis pupa, a bright green go2 caddis pupa, an RS2, and an iron sally. I concluded that the fish were not in tune with nymphs, but the refusals to the hopper suggested that surface food was on their menu. I removed the three fly dry/dropper offerings and moved to a double dry set up. The front fly was a peacock body hippie stomper, and it trailed a size 16 olive-brown deer hair caddis.

Great Colors

Although the last two hours of fly fishing would not be characterized as hot fishing, I did increase the fish count to six with three fish netted while deploying the double dry approach. One of the afternoon trout hammered the hippie stomper, and the other two nabbed the trailing caddis. Two of these fish were quite nice including a fourteen inch rainbow and a thirteen inch brown trout. I made a large quantity of fruitless casts for these trout, so the catch rate remained subpar. Nate mostly stuck with the dry/dropper approach, and he advanced his fish count to five, although the monster cutbow made his day, and everything else was gravy.

Beefy

Six fish in five plus hours of fishing is quite slow, but I managed to land some very fine rainbows and browns. Stream productivity in the middle of June is always welcome. Of course, the highlight of the day was Nate’s cutbow, and the euphoria extended into the next day, when I saw him at physical therapy. We already discussed some future trips. His goal of putting a significant bend in his rod was easily surpassed.

Fish Landed: 6

Curtain Ponds – 06/12/2023

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Second Pond

Curtain Ponds 06/12/2023 Photo Album

Cool damp weather stalled the snow melt temporarily in Colorado during the first full week of June, but the conditions did not improve enough to enable a visit to a freestone river. One of my goals for 2023 run off season was to experiment with more stillwaters during the snow melt time frame, and Monday, June 12, 2023 was one of those days.

My new fishing companion, Nate, told me about the Curtain Ponds, and then I received a book for my birthday titled Easy Access Mountain Lakes of Colorado. One of the lakes featured in this book was the Curtain Ponds. The combination of these two independent references to the Curtain Ponds caused me to make it my destination on Monday. I was fairly certain that the ponds would be ice free, and that was another important consideration, although the weather forecast was rather unsettled with rain and thunderstorms predicted for the late morning and all afternoon. I decided to risk the 1.5 hour drive regardless of the negative prognostications.

Looking West

I arrived at a dirt parking lot along the bike path by 9:45AM, and the temperature hovered at 48 degrees. This was colder than I expected, so I took the necessary precautions and suited up with my Under Armour long sleeved thermal shirt, my fishing shirt, my fleece hoodie, and my North Face light down parka. I stuffed my raincoat in my backpack and donned my New Zealand billed hat with earflaps. These were winter conditions, and I was prepared. I fitted my four piece Sage R8 rod together, and began my journey along the bike path in an eastward direction. Nate told me that he had the most success at the second pond, so that became my destination, and I stopped at a worn spot, where the shoreline jutted out into the deep blue-green pond. The book that I cited earlier mentioned that the lake was quite deep, and it suggested making longer casts toward the middle to avoid fishing the highly pressured locations closer to the bank. The book also mentioned the existence of quite a few easy to catch rainbows, but the real prizes were wild brown and brook trout that grew to greater length, but they were also harder to dupe.

Looking East

I knotted a peacock body hippie stomper to my line and then added an olive-brown size 16 deer hair caddis, and I began spraying casts in all directions from the point that I stood on. As I was doing this, I observed a few sporadic rises, so I directed some casts to those locations. On my last lake visit to Pine Valley Ranch Lake, I adopted the practice of casting, counting to 30 seconds, and then twitching and short stripping the flies back. I repeated this cycle on the Curtain Pond, but the trout did not respond. After twenty minutes of fruitless casting and stripping, I directed my attention toward the west, and I was surprised, when a fish raced to the surface to crush the caddis. I set the hook and carefully played a feisty ten inch brook trout to my net. I was on the board, but I was unclear regarding what variables led to my success.

What Colors

I released the brook trout, and as I paused to dry and refresh my flies, I peered eastward and noticed some rises thirty yards up the shoreline, so I made the short hike to a position adjacent to their activity. I managed one or two soft momentary hookups on the caddis on short strips, but the area was unproductive, and I once again turned my attention to the extreme southeastern corner of the pond. In that area I recognized increased feeding activity, so I once again shifted my position. I found a nice point on a small protruding grassy bank, and I began lobbing forty foot casts to the vicinity of the feeding trout. My flies were summarily ignored, and I paused to consider alternative choices. I stripped in my line and extended the tippet to 18 inches in case the stillwater fish were leader shy, and I replaced the caddis with a black parachute ant. The ant might as well have been inert flotsam. I dug out a small plastic canister that I carry in my wader bib that contains an array of tiny dry flies that mostly fall in the size 20 to size 24 range. Whatever these trout were feeding on, it had to be tiny, because I was unable to see anything on the surface of the pond. I retrieved a size 20 parachute Adams, but the desirability of this offering was equal to the black ant. I sorted through the small canister once more, and I located a size 14 midge emerger with a gray body and a wisp of a gray CDC wing. Nothing doing. Finally I stirred the flies again, and I plucked a size 24 CDC trico spinner.

Stunning Brown Trout

As this fly trial and error process evolved, the feeding action in front of me escalated to a full fledged frenzied hatch. There were at least twenty fish feeding aggressively in front of me, and I was unable to interest them in my tiny offerings. It was quite clear that these fish were the wild browns and brook trout mentioned in the book and not the stocker rainbows. I was in a state of frustration, as I tied the small trico on my line. I fluttered a thirty foot cast to a spot occupied by an active feeder, and suddenly there was a bulge near the visible hippie stomper, I set the hook and instantly felt the weight and resistance of a nice trout, and after a brief struggle the fourteen inch brown trout nestled in my net. I was beyond happy with this turn of events, and I rushed to dry the trico spinner to get it back in action.

As I sopped the fly on my sleeve, I heard the sound of distant thunder, and as I was ready to resume casting, a strong breeze kicked up and ruffled the surface of the lake. This either ended the surface activity or made it impossible for me to view it, and within minutes a dark cloud settled above me and delivered light rain. Fortunately my raincoat was in place, but my casting continued to be futile, and I was unable to see my targets. My confidence plunged, and my wet hands began to sting, so I tromped back to the car to warm up and eat my lunch. I waited out the storm, and by 12:45PM the rain subsided enough to consider resuming my exploration of the Curtain Ponds.

I pondered a change of approach during the rain delay, and I removed my Orvis reel with the four weight line and replaced it with a sink tip version. I decided to probe the depths, as suggested by the book, with streamers. I possessed the suggested streamers, and I began with an olive slumpbuster. I began my streamer experiment where the land poked into the lake to the deeper section, and I fanned casts in all directions, but it was to no avail. A black mini leech worked on another lake several weeks ago, so I knotted one to my line, but it was equally unpopular. I knew that the east end of the lake contained a host of fish, so I migrated there and stripped the leech with a jigging action, but futility ensued.

Most Fish Seen In This Area

What now? I removed the leech as well as the sink tip line and reel and returned to the floating four weight line. What about a dry/dropper? I had not tried that approach, so I added a tan pool toy hopper and trailed a zebra midge. Were the feeding fish locked into midge larva and adults? If they were, they were not in tune with my zebra midge. I actually saw a visible fish look at the midge larva, but it turned away without eating it. How about a scud? Dense aquatic vegetation grew from the floor of the pond, and surely an ample quantity of scuds were present. An orange scud replaced the zebra midge, but once again the trout showed no interest.

During the early afternoon, heavy clouds dominated the sky, but precipitation held off for a couple of hours, and the surface of the pond returned to mostly a glassy smooth shimmer. Once again the fish in the corner resumed sipping something from the surface, but the frequency was no where near the frenzy before lunch. I returned to a deer hair caddis in the form of a size 18 with a light gray body. I began firing casts in every direction and especially to those spots, where a fish made its presence visible via a rise. I managed a couple very brief connections on the caddis, as I twitched it, but frustration reigned.

Another Fine Brook Trout

I paused and observed that some trout near a protruding point across from my position fed a bit more frequently, and I had not disturbed that water, so I waded across a shallow cove and took a position near an old stump a few feet out from the bank. A small lagoon extended eastward next to the highway, and several fish began to rise in the space between my position and the opposite bank. Once again some clouds rolled above me, and rain was imminent, but I persisted and managed to hook and land two brook trout in the ten to eleven inch range. Both grabbed the caddis, as I twitched and lifted it.

Rain Resuming

The rain intensified, and my watch announced that it was 3:30PM, and my hands were beginning to chill, so I hooked my fly to the guide and began the walk back to the parking lot. I stopped briefly at the west end of pond number one and made a few casts to places, where a rise was seen, but once again my efforts to land a fish were thwarted.

Stunning

I landed four wild trout in five hours of fishing. I wore my arm out making longer than normal casts, and the weather was quite adverse, although I was able to complete more fly fishing than I expected. I was never able to lock in a fly that consistently fooled the selective feeders at the east end of the ponds, but I saw enough to seek a return engagement at a future date with more favorable weather.

Fish Landed: 4

Pine Valley Ranch Lake – 06/07/2023

Time: 10:15AM – 2:30PM

Location: The lake at Pine Valley Ranch Park

Pine Valley Ranch Lake 06/07/2023 Photo Album

Today, June 7 was all about improving my stillwater fly fishing game. I enjoyed a fun day on Tuesday on the South Platte River, so I was anxious to experiment with a day of lake fishing that did not involve too long of a drive. On June 1 I detoured to Pine Lake at Pine Valley Ranch after a frustrating morning at the Davis Ponds, and after a bit of success I was eager to return. The weather forecast called for a high probability of thunderstorms from 2PM on, so I arrived at Pine Lake a bit earlier than normal. Quite a few cars occupied the spacious parking lot, and I would soon learn that many fishermen were present.

The temperature was in the mid-sixties, so I wore only my fishing shirt over a short sleeved high tech undershirt, and I was comfortable during the morning and early afternoon. I chose my newest fly rod, my Sage R8 four weight, and I was quite pleased with its action and responsiveness for the longer casting required for lake fishing. I began my quest for stocker rainbows by heading to the narrow channel at the west end of the lake, and as I strolled down the dirt path, I passed a woman with a spinning rod, who seemed to be vacating my target area. Once I arrived at the spot, where the lake narrowed into the channel, I encountered another man who occupied the mid-section of the shallow slough. He commented that there were a lot of visible fish, and he was tossing a thin mint (woolly bugger style fly) with a spinning rod and casting bubble. As I looked on, he landed a fish or two, and I asked him if I could fish below him. He approved my request, and I took up a position at the mouth of the channel and tied a size 16 deer hair caddis adult to my line.

Morning Hunting Area

As Good As It Gets

For the next 1.5 hours I fished from my perch and made casts toward the other angler, who was soon joined by the woman that I passed on my hike to the lake. I landed three small stocker rainbows, and then my fly was consistently ignored, so I changed tactics. I replaced the caddis dry fly with a size 18 black parachute ant, and the terrestrial accounted for two more fish. The woman of the pair was chucking a bubble as well, but the landings were not as soft as the man’s, so I felt that my repeated casts and her plops were putting the fish down. I circled around the fishing pair and asked if I could make some casts from the end of the narrow channel back toward them, and they replied that my intentions were not a problem for them.

Aimed to Freedom

I curled around the end of the water-filled ditch and followed a worn path for around ten feet on the opposite bank. A film of pollen washed into the extreme western end area, so I positioned myself to fish the area beyond the pollen scum. Fish were rising sporadically, and I returned my offerings to a size 18 tan body deer hair caddis, and this fly produced a fish or two. After an encouraging start, the fish began to ignore the caddis, so I extended some tippet off the bend and tied on a tiny size 24 griffith’s gnat. I connected temporarily with the gnat, and then I lengthened my casts to prospect new water and managed to land two more rainbows on the caddis.

Showing Off

At this point it was 11:45AM, and the frequency of rises slowed to a very sporadic pace. I decided to vacate the channel and moved to the south shore of Pine Lake. Most of the anglers at the lake were clustered on the earthen dam breast or in the southeast corner, so I had most of the southern shoreline to myself. I dropped down a short path to a small worn beach, where a dead, fallen tree angled into the lake. I switched the caddis and griffith’s gnat for a size 8 tan pool toy hopper trailing a size 14 yellow stimulator. I shot some casts to the area, where the log submerged in the lake, and I was shocked when a feisty rainbow trout crushed the hopper. I released number nine and fired another cast five feet beyond the one that yielded a success, and after a long wait, another rainbow grabbed the stimulator. These two fish elevated my fish count to ten, and I celebrated with a quick lunch. In both cases I allowed the two flies to sit in excess of a minute, before a trout was enticed to strike. This method of fishing was taxing my patience.

Area Beyond the Tip of the Log Produced

Surprise Hopper Eater

After lunch I endured an abundant quantity of refusals to both the hopper and the stimulator, so I paused to assess my options. I concluded that I needed to down size, so I swapped the pool toy for a peacock hippie stomper and replaced the stimulator with an olive-brown size 16 deer hair caddis. This choice proved to be on the money, and the fish count zoomed from ten to twenty-five over the next two hours. initially I landed a few fish that snatched the caddis, while it sat motionless, but then I experimented with a twitching retrieve, and this resulted in some brief hook ups. Eventually I settled on a cycle of allowing the flies to rest motionless for thirty seconds followed by quick short strips, and quite often a fish would grab the caddis on one of the strips. The leading hippie stomper tended to dive briefly and then pop back up, and a few fish went for the stomper, but in most cases I believe the larger foam indicator attracted attention, and the rainbows swiped the  trailing caddis. In a few cases the grab occurred immediately on the first short strip. It was almost as if the fish was watching the flies, and then the twitch caused them to eat for fear of their food source escaping. I also observed that the pace of action seemed to accelerate when the wind kicked up a bit to create a small riffle. I theorized that the surface disturbance interfered with the trout’s vision, and movement of the flies caught their attention.

Looking at the Popular Southeast Corner

Caddis Fan

Of course, I did not catch a trout on every cast, but I estimate that I averaged one landed fish for every three casts, once I settled on the cast, wait, twitch and strip routine. Lake fishing seems to be a game of trial and error to a greater degree than stream fishing. I’ve settled on a warm weather sequence of single dry, double dry, downsizing, dry/dropper, streamers and indicator nymphs. It is harder to view the fish’s reaction to these different methods, so systematic experimentation seems to be the name of the game. Of course, I have been dealing with mostly stockers, so the approach may deviate, when I visit wild trout in high country lakes, once the ice clears.

Fish Landed: 25

South Platte River – 06/06/2023

Time: 10:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 06/06/2023 Photo Album

I reviewed and tracked the flows on roughly thirty streams in Colorado during the 2023 snow melt season, and only a few tailwaters were available for reasonable fly fishing on June 6. One of them was the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon, and the graph depicted flows of 42 CFS. 42 CFS is actually below the ideal range, and low levels suggested difficult fishing. I debated a trip to the South Platte vs. a trip to one of my favorite lakes, and I chose the moving water option.

I arrived at a dirt parking lot by 10:00AM, and this enabled me to be on the water fly fishing by 10:30AM. The temperature was sixty degrees, so I wore only my fishing shirt, but I stuffed my raincoat in my backpack, and I assured myself that I could always return to the car, should I need to add layers. The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms all afternoon, and I knew from the previous Wednesday that a storm produced wind and a temperature drop.

My Playground on June 6

I began my fly fishing effort with a peacock hippie stomper and a beadhead hares ear nymph, and in the one hour and fifteen minutes, before I stopped for lunch, I landed four brown trout. Two of the eager eaters grabbed the hares ear nymph, and the others favored the surface hippie stomper. All the morning fish were in the eight to ten inch range, but I was nevertheless pleased with the early action on a stream in the first week of June.

A Bit Larger

After my quick lunch I resumed my progress upstream, but I abandoned the dry/dropper approach; and I, instead, replaced the hares ear with a size 16 olive-brown deer hair caddis. During this time frame the caddis was the productive fly, but the hippie stomper was attracting an annoying number of refusals, so I replaced it with a size 8 Chernobyl ant. The double dry combination enabled me to boost the fish count to seven, before I noticed another angler twenty yards above me. I was disappointed to get high holed, but there was another stretch I was anxious to test, so I stripped in my flies and made a move .5 mile upriver. During the morning session I noted that most of the trout did not come from the obvious attractive areas such as deep runs and pools, but instead materialized in more obscure lies such as the very top of a riffle or a deep slot tight to a boulder. The three fish landed after lunch ate the trailing caddis, and the size of these fish was moderately larger than the morning catches.

Displayed

Pocket Water Ahead

When I pulled into the pullout at my second location, I replaced my short sleeved shirt with a long sleeved thermal undershirt, and then I added my fleece hoodie and my billed hat with earflaps, I kept the earflaps turned up, but I was prepared for the predicted afternoon storms. When I began fly fishing at my second stretch of river, I applied the knowledge I gained from the morning, and I focused on similar types of water, and the strategy paid off. In the first location I spotted a handful of aggressive rises, but my Chernboyl and caddis were ignored, so I swapped the Chernobyl for a size 12 stimulator with a light yellow body. Voila! The stimulator and caddis combination was quite popular, and I incremented the fish count from seven to nineteen, before I called it a day at 3:30PM. I fished through a forty yard section of pocketwater, and the majority of the trout came from this area. Two of the final twelve trout were rainbows, and the remainder were brown trout. Four of the afternoon twelve attacked the stimulator, and the others favored the caddis. At one point I swapped the olive-brown caddis for one with a gray body, and this change seemed to improve the catch rate a bit. Toward the end of my time in the second section, I snagged my flies on a backcast, and when I tried to rescue the flies by pulling down the branch, I snapped them both off. I spent five minutes scanning the branches for my flies and dangling monofilament, but I finally accepted the loss and moved on. I replaced the yellow stimulator with a gray version. and this fly along with a gray caddis accounted for the last two trout.

One of the Better Fish

Slow Areas Along the Boulders Are Prime

The two rainbow trout were in the twelve inch range, and at least four of the brown trout stretched the tape to twelve and thirteen inches. I do not actually measure them, but based on experience, I am fairly accurate at assessing length. The larger browns all came from fairly obscure lies next to large exposed boulders. In one case (click on the photo album link to view a video of this spot), I thought I spied a very subtle rise in a narrow two foot wide band of water between two large exposed rocks. I made some casts to the  lower part of the run right above my position, and then I targeted the small area, where a fish possibly rose. The first cast landed on the bankside rock and then tumbled into the river below the target area. The next cast, however, was on the mark, and instantly a thirteen inch brown trout smashed the caddis. How gratifying! This was one of my favorite scenarios of the season thus far.

Green Algae Kept Clinging to My Line and Flies

Narrow Space Between the Smallest Exposed Boulder and the One Below Produced

I was very pleased to land nineteen trout on June 6, 2023. While most of the state experienced dangerous river and stream levels, I enjoyed a pleasant day on a clear river in flows that were actually on the low side. The action was not torrid, but the successes were frequent enough to keep me focused for my entire time on the river. While I was fishing, I observed dark clouds to the north and then to the south, but my location was luckily spared. I was prepared with layers, but unlike June 1; wind, chill, and precipitation never developed.

Fish Landed: 19

Pine Valley Ranch Lake – 06/01/2023

Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: West channel and then south shoreline

Pine Valley Ranch Lake 06/01/2023 Photo Album

I was pleasantly surprised to discover blue sky and a bit of sunshine, as I pulled into the Pine Valley Ranch parking lot. I added my Adidas pullover and billed hat with earflaps, and I immediately hoofed it to the lake. My rod remained assembled and featured a sparkle minnow.

I decided to check out the narrow channel at the west end of the lake first. As I approached, I witnessed a family dominating the east end of the slough, but more importantly, fish were rising throughout. There was one middle aged man and two high school aged boys who were fishing and three younger girls in the process of playing along the pathway. The man and one of the boys had spinning rods, and the other boy was fly casting from the side of the channel opposite the path. I cursed my luck to find a spot rich with trout, but I was beat to the punch by the occupants.

Lots of Fish in This Area

I moved to the far end of the narrow lagoon, and I spotted a cluster of trout. They were jockeying for position and sipping small insects on the surface with decent frequency. I was twenty yards from the fly fishing high schooler, so I decided to lob a few casts. I converted from the streamer to a small size 18 deer hair caddis with a tan body, and on the third cast a rainbow trout made an aggressive eat. I played the twelve inch stocker to my net and snapped a few photos. My line got tangled in the bushes during this process, and by the time I was ready to resume, the fly fishing youth moved within ten yards. The group was there first, so I retreated and circled to the south shoreline of the lake.

Deer Hair Caddis Fancier

I stepped down the bank at the midpoint of the south bank, and I tied on a peacock hippie stomper with an olive-brown body size 16 deer hair caddis, and I began spraying forty foot casts toward the middle of the lake. This approach lasted for thirty minutes, and I netted a small rainbow that mistook the hippie stomper for a live insect. A couple of refusals were in the mix, but then I suffered an extended period of boredom, as my flies sat unmolested. I tried stripping them and allowed them to sit motionless, but neither tactic was effective.

Black Mini Leech Eater

I pondered alternative approaches and opted for a beadhead black mini leech. I began methodically casting, and then I stripped and moved a couple steps, and in this way I covered a chunk of the shoreline. I felt two bumps that did not connect, but I also brought two stocker rainbows to my net. By 4:00PM some light rain began, and my neck was sore, so I called it quits in order to return to Denver in time to watch the Heat vs Nuggets in game 1 of the NBA finals. Go Nuggets.

Fish Landed: 4

Davis Ponds – 06/01/2023

Time: 10:30AM – 11:15AM, 12:00PM – 1:45PM

Location: Both ponds

Davis Ponds 06/01/2023 Photo Album

I anxiously looked forward to attending my 50 year reunion at Bucknell University on June 2 – 4. I contracted an upper respiratory illness during my bucket list trip to Iceland, and I was fairly certain it was a common cold. However, when I told a friend about my sickness that originated during international travel, he encouraged me to take a covid test. The trip to Bucknell included a day of fly fishing in central Pennsylvania, as well as my entry in a pickleball tournament sponsored by the alumni network. Needless to say, I was very excited to participate in two of my passions. After I completed my packing on Tuesday evening, I decided to take the home covid test, and it yielded a positive result. I had somehow avoided covid for three and a half years, but now I was faced with contracting the dreaded disease. By Tuesday evening I was experiencing minimal symptoms; perhaps a few random coughs and some congestion, when I woke up on the morning. I pondered the situation, and ultimately I decided to cancel my trip. I canceled the airline reservation, the car rental and all hotel reservations. I informed my friends about my disappointment, and I decided to make the best of my situation.

Thursday is the day when Jane and I babysit for our grandson, Theo. Given my positive test, I decided to vacate the house on Thursday, to avoid the risk of transmission. In place of spending the day with Theo, I made plans for a day of fishing. As a footnote, I took the covid test again on Thursday night, and it once again registered positive, so I researched the CDC guidance for individuals, who tested positive. The directive recommended five days of isolation after the onset of symptoms. I first felt congestion, fatigue and a cough on May 21 while in Iceland. Wednesday, May 31 was ten days after the onset of symptoms, so I probably overreacted by cancelling my trip.

I surveyed all the stream flows, and a few tailwaters remained as viable options for June 1, but I did not desire a long drive, so I opted to visit a pair of relatively local ponds. I arrived at the parking lot and assembled my Sage four weight. The air temperature was in the upper fifties, and some large gray clouds occupied the western sky, so I pulled on my fleece hoodie and stuffed my raincoat in my backpack. I would later regret my choice of attire. I made the necessary hike to the lower lake, and I was prepared to fish by 10:30AM.

In the next forty-five minutes I landed one small rainbow trout on the hippie stomper, and then I experimented with a double dry including an olive-brown size 16 deer hair caddis. I managed several refusals to both dries, before I heard the distant sound of thunder. Dark gray clouds gathered, more thunder sounded, and a flash of lightning forced me to the covered pavilion on the west side of the pond. After I arrived, three other fishermen from the upper pond appeared, and then two women joined the group. They appeared to be a family, and they had a tablecloth and lunch spread out on a picnic table. After ten minutes of approaching thunder and lightning, heavy rain descended. Small ice pellets collected, where the rain dripped off the roof, and I impatiently checked the unending dark sky to the west. I decided to eat lunch at 11:30AM while waiting out the rain.

Ice Pellets from the Storm

By noon the rain subsided enough that I resumed my pursuit of trout on the north pond. I spent the next 1.5 hour circling the shoreline of the north pond starting on the east side of the inlet creek. I generated a few refusals, but I was unable to connect with a single fish. I cycled through double dries with the hippie stomper and the caddis and an ant. I switched to a dry/dropper with an emerald caddis pupa, salad spinner, San Juan worm, ultra zug bug, and nothing worked. Next I removed everything and tied on an old bucktail streamer and stripped it for awhile. There was a period, where I retrieved a black mini leech with no bead, but the fish ignored my antics.

I abandoned the north pond and returned to the south and had it all to myself. Nothing worked. Another set of dark clouds pushed in from the west, This time, there was no thunder or lightning; just steady rain. I persisted through the rain, until I was overcome with chill and my confidence reached a low ebb. No fish were rising, and the end of the rain was not imminent, so I began the one mile hike back to the parking lot. My hands were aching, gnarled claws by the time I unlocked the hatch of the Santa Fe. All I could think about was the heated seats and the heater.

Fish Landed: 1

Iceland Day 10 – 05/25/2023

Iceland Day 10 05/25/2023 Photo Album

Our last day in Iceland was Thursday, May 25, 2023. Our Icelandic Airlines direct flight to Denver did not leave until 5:30PM, so the three of us decided to make the forty-five minute one way drive to Reykjavik. Amy researched the source of some chocolate bars that she purchased at a shop along the way, and that became our number one target. We found the small shop in the Old Harbor, which was the very first locale that we visited upon our arrival. Our arrival preceded the store opening, so we completed a short hike along the seawall, while we waited for the doors to open. We were not disappointed, as the store displayed an abundant quantity of chocolate bars in many exotic flavors. I inherited a licorice chocolate flavor that did not go over well with the ladies.

Arctic Char Skillet

Upon our departure we punched the name of a visitor center in downtown Reykjavik into our maps application, and eventually we found the sought after location. Parking was at a premium, and we circled the city, until we eventually landed in the same lot that held our rental car on our arrival morning. Amy consulted with the guidebook and identified two lunch restaurants within steps of each other along a main boulevard, and we hiked for .5 mile to our chosen destination. The Messinn beat out the Icelandic Street Food, and we enjoyed a simple but delicious lunch. Two pan seared skillets arrived at our table, with one containing Arctic char, potatoes and vegetables; and the other featured Atlantic salmon, potatoes and similar although different vegetables. We all agreed that it was perhaps our best meal of the entire trip.

Salmon Skillet

After lunch we ambled back to the parking lot, and then Amy navigated the endless string of traffic circles, before we returned the car to the rental agency and found our gate. What a trip it was! The greatest impression of Iceland was, unfortunately, the strong winds, but I suppose that is to be expected on an island near the Arctic circle. The stark beauty of the austere landscape remains a major imprint on my memory banks. Basalt rocks, snow-capped ridges, glaciers, and waterfalls are everywhere. Very little green was present, and I would be curious to visit again during the summer months. The weather in May was comparable to March in Denver, and the landscape was brown and gray as can be expected for early spring. The impact of volcanoes and geothermal activity is another prominent feature of Iceland.

Viking Beer for Lunch

What words of advice do I have? Be prepared for wind. Never pass up a WC and take along your own decongestant in case of a cold. Iceland does not sell decongestants, and I developed a cold over the last few days. Fortunately I packed enough pills from the U.S. to carry me through the latter phase of the trip. In many ways the fly fishing was like the island. The wind and cold made it challenging, but the effort was well worth it for the robust and wild brown trout that visited the guides net. The memories will be lasting.

Iceland Day 9 – 05/24/2023

Iceland Day 9 05/24/2023 Photo Album

Scenic View on the Peninsula

On Wednesday we explored the Snaefellsnes Peninsula before returning to our hotel at the airport. We stopped to view three waterfalls; Selvallafoss, Kickjufells Foss, and Svoonfoss. Based on the Lonely Planet book, we detoured off the main route to the extreme northeast point of the peninsula called Ondverdarnes. Here we were in awe of the wind and consequent waves, as they crashed relentlessly against huge black basalt rocks. An additional drive on a twisting gravel road placed us at a short orange lighthouse, and we hiked a brief distance to an underground well. At this point in our travels we were at the eastern most point on the peninsula.

Kirkjafells Foss

Birds on the Beach

Next our survey of the area included the Saxholl Crater. We accepted the challenge and ascended the steep steps to the rim, and the wind blasted us constantly from the side. My body was actually pushed sideways several times. We all agreed that the view of the ancient rocky crater was not worth the effort.

Windblown

Next we stopped in the small town of Arnarstopi, where we consumed lunch at the Stoppin. That was pretty much the last stop before we completed another three hour drive to Keflavik.