Author Archives: wellerfish

South Platte River – 04/14/2023

Time: 11:00AM – 4:30PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 04/14/2023 Photo Album

Nothing ventured, nothing gained is an apropos saying for Friday, April 14, 2023. After a very enjoyable outing on 04/10/2023, during which I encountered a decent blue winged olive hatch, I was on the lookout for another opportunity. When I reviewed my calendar for the remainder of the week of April 10, I was disappointed to realize that I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday and tickets to the Cardinals vs. Rockies game on Wednesday followed by Theo Thursday, when my wife and I babysit for our grandson. All that remained was Friday, but a quick review of the weather created reservations that this senior fly fisherman could tolerate the wintry conditions. The high in Lake George was predicted to peak at 49 degrees, and the probability of rain during the afternoon was 50% or greater. Wind in the low teens suggested another adverse factor to a day of fishing in the narrow canyon. On the other hand these conditions were the very same ones that prompt heavy blue winged olive hatches. I decided to make the trip, as I rationalized that I could always quit and return home, if the conditions were too wet and cold.

I departed the house by 8:00AM and arrived at my favorite pullout along the South Platte River by 10:30AM. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter partly sunny skies, and the dashboard temperature registered 44 degrees. With the prospect of rain in the afternoon, I bundled up in my fleece hoodie and North Face light down, and I snugged my billed cap with earflaps tight over my head. I stuffed fingerless wool gloves in my pockets and added my rain shell and lunch to my backpack. I was ready for the worst.

No Luck in This Promising Deep Run

I hiked up the dirt road for .3 mile and dropped down a path to the edge of the river next to some pocket water and immediately rigged with a yellow size 8 fat Albert, beadhead hares ear nymph, and size 18 crystal stone. A short stint of prospecting the pockets failed to produce any interaction with the trout, so I exchanged the crystal stone for a size 20 sparkle wing RS2. I worked my way up the river to a normally productive pool, and on a cast to the entering run next to the left bank, I saw the fat Albert plunge, and I instantly reacted with a connection to a very fine fifteen inch brown trout. Needless to say I was thrilled with this early action on Friday. The run and riffles failed to generate additional action, so I waded up the river to the long and wide pool with a vertical wall on the west bank. This was the location, where I landed most of my trout on April 10. No surface action appeared, and I found a large slanted rock and downed my small lunch, while I observed the pool and entering run and riffles. At this point the sky was mostly cloudy with occasional patches of blue sky, and the wind gusted on a periodic basis.

Seam on the Far Side of the White Water Delivered

Turned Around

After lunch I resumed my dry/dropper prospecting, but I replaced the hares ear with a weighted 20 incher to gain deeper drifts, and I swapped the sparkle wing RS2 for one with a longer wing. I launched fifteen to twenty casts to the top of the run, and I succeeded in hooking another brown trout in the twelve inch range on the RS2. Another shift in location was in order, so I moved to the small run and pool situated midway between the long pool and the large bend pool by the tunnel. Here I experienced a momentary hook up, before I once again waded upstream to the location just below the large bend pool. I ran some drifts along the current seam and through the troughs on either side with no luck, and then I once again moved to the bend pool. I had it to myself, and I was quite pleased with this circumstance. Since a dry/dropper was my current set up, I began at the entering riffles, and a small brown grabbed the RS2 on a twitch in the area, where the riffles fanned out to become a slower moving pool.

Snow on the Bend Pool

At this point I observed three or four dimples on the surface near the midsection of the pool. I continued with the dry/dropper and swung it through the area of the surface rises, but the ploy did not yield favorable results, so I stripped my flies in and converted to a single dry fly, and that choice was a size 22 CDC blue wing olive. While this changeover was in progress, the sky darkened, and suddenly snow pelted the river and me. Instead of snowflakes the frozen precipitation took the form of small white pellets, and the downpour became so dense, that I was unable to see my fly on the surface through the dense curtain of descending tiny white snowballs. I paused and waited for the heavy snowfall to wane.

Heavy Snow Pellets

After five minutes the snow abated enough for me to track my fly, and I began covering the seams in the wide riffle section at the top of the run. The trout were tuned in, and I ratcheted up the fish count from three to seven, and quite a few of these fish were very respectable browns and rainbows in the thirteen to fourteen inch range. If I were forced to leave due to the arctic conditions at this point, the day would have been a resounding success. But I persisted, and Friday transformed into a sensational early season outing.

Keeping It Wet

Big Tail

Between 1:30PM and 4:30PM I continued fishing the large bend pool with downstream drifts to the gluttonous feeders. The snowfall came in several waves, but the olives emerged consistently from 1:00PM until I quit at 4:30PM. In fact, rising fish remained at the time of my departure; but my feet, hands and core were so chilled, that I feared for my health. My catch rate stalled at seven, so I decided to test my new found technique of using a soft hackle emerger fished in the surface film. I plucked one from my fly box and dabbed floatant to the underside and primped up the wing and tails. It was a stroke of luck, as the fish count soared to twenty, before I quit. After a few landed fish, I was having great difficulty tracking the low floating emerger or cripple, so I placed an olive size 14 hippie stomper on my line and then added an eight inch tippet section to the bend and placed the soft hackle emerger on the point. I could now track the hippie stomper with ease, and I focused my attention on the eight inch radius around the lead fly. In some cases with the downstream cast, the emerger swung around and drifted below the stomper. The technique worked very well and produced thirteen eager eaters that visited my net. There was a period when the soft hackle emerger seemed to fall out of favor, and I switched back to a CDC BWO to catch a few, but eventually I returned to the double dry with the emerger to move the count from fifteen to twenty.

Very Shiny

Spread Out for Photo

Same Fish Angled a Bit

What an afternoon! In addition to experiencing steady dry fly action for three and a half hours, the size of the fish was above average. The ratio of browns to rainbows was around 50/50, and quite a few chunky fish in the thirteen to fifteen inch range graced my net. The skies brightened a bit around 3PM, and the sun even poked through, so that I could shed my wool fingerless gloves for a period, but then more gray arrived, and the wind kicked up thus creating another chill. By the time I quit at 4:30 my body was so stiff that I struggled to step off an exposed rock, and my feet were stumps, while my hands were gnarled claws. In spite of this discomfort I was ecstatic over a twenty fish day landing fish of above average size predominantly on dry flies. In this case I risked a venture during adverse weather and gained one of the best days of the year. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Fish Landed: 20

South Platte River – 04/10/2023

Time: 11:15AM – 4:00PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 04/10/2023 Photo Album

Monday, April 10, 2023 was finally a gorgeous spring day in Colorado, and I took full advantage. I was unhappy with the sparse blue wing olive hatch that I encountered on the Arkansas River, so I made the drive to the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon. I knew from past years that the BWO hatches in the canyon tailwater were dependable, and they consistently spurred the wild fish population to feed ravenously.

Great Blue Heron in the Center

I arrived at a pullout along the dirt road that borders the river by 10:45AM, and the dashboard thermometer registered 48 degrees. I pulled on my fleece hoodie and added my raincoat as a windbreaker layer and a means to retain my body warmth, and then I assembled my Sage One five weight. Wind and the potential for larger fish dictated my choice of rod. Once I was prepared, I hiked up the road for .3 mile and then dipped down a steep gravel bank to the edge of the river. Flows were running low at 64 CFS, so I elected to deploy a dry/dropper rig to minimize the impact on the water. I knotted a yellow size 8 fat Albert to my leader as the surface fly, and then I added an translucent apricot egg and a sparkle wing RS2. I began fishing in a narrow section of the canyon that featured some attractive pocket water, and I experienced four split second connections in the first forty-five minutes, before I broke for lunch. Needless to say I was frustrated by the lack of landed fish, but I was pleased that my flies were attracting attention.

A Good Place to Begin

After lunch I advanced up the river to the gorgeous, long pool that entertained me on many a spring day during baetis hatches. I also used lunch to adjust my offerings, and I replaced the egg fly with a size 18 crystal stone as well as swapping the sparkle wing RS2 for a new version with a more pronounced wing. Unfortunately the pool was devoid of activity, so after I prospected the entering runs with no success, I moved up the river once again. I covered some marginal pockets with the dry/dropper, and then I arrived at a nice riffle and run that flowed into a small pool. In the past I had a bit of success here, but never the level of action that I derived from the long pool or the big bend pool that was fifty yards upstream. I flicked some casts to the entering run along the left bank, and then I turned my attention to the deeper riffles directly above me. On the fourth drift the fat Albert dipped, and I set the hook and found myself in a struggle with a very rambunctious rainbow trout. After some torrid runs I turned the tide and netted the river warrior that extended across the mouth of my net thus measuring fifteen inches. The wild chunk displayed the crystal stone in its lip. I reloaded and fired some casts upstream and to the right, and in a short amount of time I connected with another feisty rainbow trout. This one was in the thirteen inch range, but it fought quite heroically, and this fish nailed the sparkle wing RS2.

Best of the Day Was a Beast

Source of Rainbow Slab

Smaller Than One, But Still a Fine Specimen

Run Next to the Large Exposed Boulder Delivered

As these two battles evolved, I began to notice a few blue winged olives, as they emerged and fluttered in the air above the river. The hatch was very sparse, but I decided to circle back to the long pool just in case the mayfly emergence initiated some feeding. The move paid huge dividends, as I observed three or four fish gulping food morsels from the center of the pool. Not wishing to waste a minute of dry fly time, I removed my nymphs, split shot and fat Albert, and I replaced the deep set up with a single CDC blue winged olive. The choice was spot on, and I quickly advanced the fish count from two to eight, as the active feeders slashed at my blue winged olive imitation with confidence. These trout were not as large as the two nymph feeders, but they were mostly in the 11-13 inch range, and I was not complaining. Fast paced dry fly action is always a welcome circumstance in my opinion.

Hook Removal Was a Chore on This Guy

Lots of Rising Activity in This Area

Eventually the density of the hatch waned a bit, and the frequency of the rises slowed, and the fish began to ignore my drifts. My CDC olive got wedged in the hard cartilage of the mouth of one of the browns, and it required significant pressure to pull the fly free thus putting a bend in the hook. I replaced the fly with another, however, it possessed a fluffier wing, and the fish seemed put off by the larger CDC puff. During the fall of 2022 I discovered that a size 20 Craven soft hackle emerger fished in the surface film fooled selective trout, so I gave that ploy another try on Monday. Voila! it worked, and I added three more trout to the fish tally. The eaters of the soft hackle emerger seemed to pluck the fly from the surface just as it began to drag or skate, so movement seemed to be an attractor.

Another Nice Brown Trout

Finally the hatch slowed to a trickle of stragglers, and the rises diminished as well, so I decided to stroll up the river to investigate additional favorite spots. My first stop was the large bend pool just below the tunnel, and as I arrived on the west bank, another angler occupied the east side at the tip of the narrow island just above the pool. I asked his permission to fish the side opposite him, and he graciously approved. I spotted several fish rising in the entry riffle fifteen feet from the head of the run, and I began to place downstream casts above the feeding fish. On the fifth cast a very nice fourteen inch rainbow sipped the soft hackle emerger, and I quickly scooped it in my net. One more trout nabbed the soft hackle emerger in the bend pool, but then I entered a period of frustration, as sporadic risers ignored my soft hackle emerger and a new CDC BWO dry fly. Eventually I surrendered and moved up the river and wished my pool partner good luck, as he persisted with the picky pool residents.

Oh, Another Slab Rainbow

I advanced around the bend and quickly moved to the smooth pool along the steep left bank downstream from the vertical rock wall. I paused to observe for a few minutes and eventually spotted a few small rings toward the opposite bank. I executed some expert downstream drifts over three or four sporadic risers, but they treated my flies with disdain. I reverted to the soft hackle emerger, but neither style of fly could generate interest.

My next stop was the pool next to the vertical rock wall, and quite a few trout were feeding in this section. The area where splashy rises persisted was entirely within a shadow, so tracking my tiny tuft of a fly was nearly impossible. I deployed the technique of guessing where my fly was and then lifting, if I saw a rise in that vicinity, and I managed to prick a pair of fish, but never brought one to my net.

Keeping This One Wet

Once again I adopted a nomadic state, and I wandered farther upstream to another wide and smooth pool with several very attractive deep entering runs. I spent ten minutes at the top of the pool, and I spotted two trout hovering just below the surface in a nice run toward the far bank. I caught a glimpse of two fish, and one rose one time, but my small olive imitation generated one look, and then I concluded that the trout were wise to my presence. I retreated to the shoreline and carefully waded to the tail. A young man was seated along the bank across from the tail section, so I asked his permission to fish, and he granted it saying that it was going to be a while until he wet his line. He was feverishly working on his line and flies, so I took advantage and waded to the extreme tail and along the far bank. I saw two sporadic rises, and I may have generated a refusal from the closest fish, but that was the extent of my action at the tail of the wide and smooth pool.

It was now approaching 4PM, and the hatch essentially ended. The sky was a brilliant blue with no clouds in sight, so I concluded that additional waves of baetis hatches were not going to be forthcoming. I hooked my BWO into the rod guide and found a fairly accessible path up the steep slope to the road and hiked back to the car.

I finally fulfilled my goal of encountering a blue winged olive hatch in 2023, and I was very pleased with the result. My best trout grabbed nymphs just before the hatch, but then I landed eleven additional trout on blue winged olive dry fly imitations. I had a blast, and April 10 qualifies as my best day of fly fishing in the new year in terms of size of fish and quantity of fish. I can only imagine the feeding frenzy should I hit a day with heavy afternoon cloud cover. I will keep my eyes on the weather forecasts over the next week.

Fish Landed: 13

Arkansas River – 04/07/2023

Arkansas River 04/07/2023 Photo Album

Finally an extended streak of nice weather encouraged me to seek out another day of fly fishing. High temperatures in the upper sixties on Friday, April 7, 2023 translated to fifties on the Arkansas River and South Platte River. I chose the Arkansas River because the ArkAngler’s report stated that blue wing olives were active and hatching in the Salida area.

I departed at 7:40AM, and this enabled me to pull in to my favorite pullout along US 50 by 11:15PM, and the temperature registered 46 degrees. Yes, if you do the math, you can determine that my usual 2 hour and 45 minute drive took 3 hours and 25 minutes. I sat in the first position of a long line of traffic for twenty minutes while waiting for a flagman to release us at the top of Kenosha Pass. I was not happy.

A Good Place to Start

I pulled on my North Fork light down coat and my raincoat for a windbreaker, and then I rigged my Sage R8 four weight for a day of casting. Two anglers ambled past me, while I was preparing to fish, and I held my breath that they would not head toward my chosen starting point. They did not, so I crossed the river and hiked downstream, although a guide with an inflatable raft was sitting on top of the nice deep run and shelf pool that usually serves as my starting point. I killed some time rigging my line with a New Zealand strike indicator, split shot, olive-black Pat’s rubberleg and sparkle wing RS2; and then I prospected a nice trough behind an exposed rock with no success.

Yielded a Trout

By the time I was ready to move on, the raft had disappeared down the river, so I circled around on the adjoining floodplain and positioned myself to fish the normally productive deep run and shelf pool. After ten minutes of unproductive casting, the indicator dipped, and I found myself attached to a feisty thirteen inch brown trout that gobbled the RS2. I snapped some photos and savored my good fortune and resumed my upstream migration.

Uncoiled

I experienced a momentary hook up in the short run, where I began, when I lifted the flies to recast in front of a submerged rock. The wide deep run and riffles below the upstream island looked very attractive, but I was unable to generate any interest, so I continued along the main branch of the river on the south side of the island. Near the top I once again connected for a split second with a fish, but it escaped very quickly, and it almost felt like it was foul hooked.

I retreated back to the downstream point of the island, and by now I could see the two fishermen that hiked past me at the car, but they were seventy yards away. The north branch of the river next to the island was very low as a result of flows in the in the 200 CFS range, so I decided to modify my approach to a softer presentation. I removed the split shot and the two nymphs, and then I knotted an olive hippie stomper to my line and dropped the beadhead sparkle wing RS2 below it. I left the tuft of neon chartreuse yarn that served as an indicator in place, as it was near the end of the fly line, and I felt it was far enough away from my flies to not affect the trouts’ interest. The ploy worked to some degree, as I landed a second trout, when it grabbed the trailing RS2, as it drifted along the bubble line near the head of the pool. I also generated two refusals to the hippie stomper, but that was the extent of the action in the usually productive north channel.

Yucca Clump

I advanced up the river above the island and stayed with the dry/dropper for a bit, and in a relatively shallow pool along the right bank, I managed to land a small brown trout in the eight inch range. This little guy also nipped the RS2. I was gaining confidence, but then I approached a long section with faster riffles and a few pockets, and the stomper/RS2 combination did not seem appropriate for exploring the deeper and faster water, so I once again made a switch. I reverted to the indicator (which remained in place), split shot, and a 20 incher nymph and RS2.

20 Incher

Sparkle Wing RS2

With this deeper water rig I decided to cherry pick the most attractive spots that featured depth and a slower current. My strategy seemed sound, but the fish did not agree, and I moved all the way back up the river to my crossing point with nary a fish to add to the count. At this point I crossed the river and climbed the bank and then dropped down to the juicy riffle section just upriver from the high rock wall and pool below my parking space. I began covering the wide riffle over four foot of depth and a very rocky bottom, and after ten minutes the indicator paused, and I set the hook into another fine thirteen inch Arkansas River brown trout. This healthy fish nailed the 20 incher, and I was fairly confident that the promising riffles, pockets and deep runs along the left bank would produce more action.

Nice One

Alas, my confidence was misplaced. During the 2:30 to 3:30 time period two circumstances commenced. The wind, which was bothersome due to intermittent gusts up until the early afternoon, began to blast down the canyon on a more consistent basis, and this made punching casts an arm-challenging event. Also during this time frame some heavy clouds blocked the sun, and I noticed a sparse hatch of blue winged olives, as they tumbled along the surface of the river. They never rested in one spot long enough to catch the interest of the fish, and consequently, I never spotted a single rise. I was, however, convinced that my RS2 would represent a tasty subsurface treat, but that thought was misplaced.

I reeled up my line and hooked the RS2 to the guide and clambered up a very steep bank to the highway at 3:30 and called it a day. Three hours and fifteen minutes of fly fishing yielded four trout. Two were fine thirteen inch chunks. I made the trip seeking the BWO hatch, and I found it, but I never intercepted the surface feeding that I was anticipating, and the nymph action was very slow. On the plus side I mostly had the river to myself, and my Sage R8 performed admirably. With another five days of nice weather ahead of me, I will continue to search for blue wing olive hatches in Colorado.

Fish Landed: 4

Clear Creek – 04/02/2023

Time: 12:00PM – 3:00PM

Location: Clear Creek Canyon

Clear Creek 04/02/2023 Photo Album

I endured the last two weeks of March with no break in the weather that promised a solid day of fly fishing. Nice days in March consisted of high temperatures in the low fifties in Denver. and highs at that level translate to low forties and thirties at best in the foothills and mountains, where I fish for trout. Fortunately the weather forecast projected a brief window of nice weather on April 1 – 3, so I jumped at the opportunity. Unfortunately the best day was Sunday, and as a retiree I am loathe to fish on weekends, but I decided to leverage the small window of seventy degree weather before another cold front rushed across the state.

Nice Starting Pool

I reviewed my Front Range options and settled on Clear Creek in the canyon west of Golden. Why? High winds were a factor on South Boulder Creek and the Big Thompson. Bear Creek and Boulder Creek were viable options; however, flows were low, and these two destinations do not offer as much space in case of crowded weekend conditions. The North Fork of St. Vrain Creek was also considered, but I experienced minimal success on my first trip of the season, and I was also fearful of elevated fishing pressure there.

Source of Rainbow

I arrived at my chosen starting point at 11:30AM, and I layered with my fleece hoodie. The temperature was a comfortable 64 degrees, but the wind accelerated periodically, and I was in the shade of the narrow canyon from time to time. I rigged my Loomis five weight two piece, and then I devoured my small lunch, since it was approaching noon.

Fat Albert

Another Decent Trout

Big Pocket

After lunch I hiked downstream from my parking space and fished mostly along the south bank of the creek. Thick patches of snow and ice shelves remained, but they receded significantly from previous scouting hikes along Clear Creek, and the stream was in fine shape at 27 CFS. I began my quest for trout with a size 8 yellow fat Albert, a beadhead hares ear nymph, and an ultra zug bug. In the early going I landed five rainbow trout, and I was quite pleased with the success. One of the bows grabbed the ultra zug bug, and one aggressive feeder crushed the fat Albert, while the remainder nabbed the hares ear nymph. Based on past experience I knew Clear Creek as primarily a brown trout fishery, so I was unable to explain the heavy weighting of rainbows on this fine spring outing.

One of the Better Fish

Finally a Brown Trout

Number six was a thick ten inch brown, and I built the fish count to eleven over the remainder of the afternoon, as I steadily worked my way upstream. On my hike to my starting point along the south side of the creek, I passed at least six other fishermen stationed on the north side, but by the time I reached their positions, they had abandoned the effort.

Sweet Spot

My lineup of flies remained the same as the start, and on the day I tallied one on the fat Albert, three on the ultra zug bug, and seven on the hares ear nymph. Most of my action materialized from riffles and the tail of runs that consisted of three to four feet of depth with a slowing current. Nine landed trout were rainbows and two were browns. I have no explanation for this aberrant ratio of species compared to my normal experience.

Lifted Briefly

I am off and running with a double digit day to start April, and hopefully the weather will afford me more opportunities than were available in March. It is blue winged olive time, so trips to the Arkansas River and South Platte River are highly anticipated.

Fish Landed: 11

South Platte River – 03/14/2023

Time: 11:15AM – 3:15PM

Location: Deckers

South Platte River 03/14/2023 Photo Album

How can a river be crowded, yet not allow me to catch a single fish? Did the other anglers experience more success?

The weather forecast predicted another brief temperature spike in the sixties in Denver, so I made plans for a second day of fishing in the 2023 season. I considered the Arkansas River, the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon and the South Platte River at Deckers. Because Deckers represented a shorter drive, and the air temperatures were moderately higher than Eleven Mile, I made Deckers my choice.

With the time change on Sunday, the temperature took longer to rise to comfortable levels, so I took my time on Tuesday morning and did not depart until 9:30AM. This enabled me to arrive at my chosen destination by 11AM, and I was on the river fishing by 11:15AM. I was surprised at the number of vehicles occupying the pullouts along the river, and fishermen were spaced out for the entire distance, before I stopped.

Beginnings

The air temperature was in the low fifties when I began, so I wore my light down coat, my raincoat, and my billed hat with ear flaps. The river was flowing along at 182 CFS, and the clarity was perfect. I began below the downstream border of the special regulation section, but I encountered two fishermen near the ninety degree bend, and circled around them, until I was in the section, where the river flowed from east to west. I explored a short thirty yard length, before another young angler cut in above me. I glanced at my watch and noted that it was nearly noon, so I climbed the bank and returned to my car for lunch.

Angler Cut in Right Above Me

During the forty-five minute morning fishing session, I deployed an indicator and split shot rig. Initially I used an apricot otter egg and zebra midge, and after a lack of success I switched to a San Juan worm and salad spinner. None of these flies provoked action, and I spotted only one twelve inch fish, as it darted from cover along the bank, as I approached the river.

After lunch I moved downstream to three sections outside the special regulation area, and I failed to land a single fish. I stuck with the indicator and split shot at the first and second spots, but I swapped the San Juan worm for a salvation nymph, and I modified the end fly from the midge pupa to a classic RS2. This combination was ignored as consistently as the first two pairings.

Nice Deep Run

The third afternoon stop featured a series of nice pockets that bordered the western bank, so I elected to change my approach to a dry/dropper method. I removed the indicator and split shot and substituted a size 8 yellow fat Albert, but I retained the salvation nymph and RS2. I hoped that the three fly combination would attract interest in the small bankside pools and runs of moderate depth. The strategy never attracted so much as a look or refusal, but I persisted with it at my last stop.

Fourth Spot

My confidence in the last two hours of fishing was rock bottom, and I rarely feel as futile, as I did on Tuesday. I saw no insects nor was I able to spot a single trout in spite of nearly ideal visibility. Several times I paused on the high bank along the road to scan deep troughs and pools, but I never spotted the outline or shadow of a fish.

A Favorite Pool Failed Me

By 3:15PM I could no longer contain my boredom, so I stripped in my line and returned to the car. I never saw another angler landing a fish, although I was focused primarily on my own pursuit of trout and did not pay much attention to others. Some adverse weather is predicted for Wednesday, so I will pause my fly fishing for a bit, until more spring-like weather returns. I suspect I made the wrong choice for my destination on Tuesday in favor of mild temperatures and a shorter drive. In spite of the lack of fish, the weather was delightful, and I was present in a beautiful locale.

Fish Landed: 0

 

North Fork of St. Vrain Creek – 03/10/2023

Time: 11:15AM – 2:30PM

Location: Buttonrock Preserve

North Fork of St. Vrain Creek 03/10/2023 Photo Album

January, February and March have been consistently cold months during the winter of 2023, and I anxiously awaited a break that would enable me to visit a local stream to kick off the new season. When I checked the high temperatures in Denver for Friday, March 10, I noted sixty-one degrees, so I immediately checked some towns near Front Range streams. This process led me to Lyons, CO with a high of 59, so I decided to initiate my season on the North Fork of the St. Vrain northwest of Lyons. A quick check of the flows revealed 20 CFS, and although this was on the low side, I decided to give it a go. My history with opening days was not good, so I set my expectations low for Friday.

I arrived at the nearly vacant and muddy parking lot at 10AM, and the temperature on the dashboard registered thirty-two degrees. I was skeptical that 59 was attainable, but even more problematic was the gusting wind that sent chills down my spine, as I exited the car to gear up for my first day of fly fishing. I quickly pulled on my fleece hoodie and North Fork light down and then added my raincoat as a windbreaker. My bag yielded a New Zealand billed hat with ear flaps, and I searched through the fishing bag for my woolen fingerless gloves. This was evidently winter fishing and not the warm spring outing that I anticipated. My new Redington waders barely slid over my bulky layers, and when I slipped on my new backpack and front pack, I realized that the straps needed significant adjustment. By the time I had everything tuned up, my hands were stinging from the cold and wind, so I jumped back in the car and turned on the engine and listened to some sports talk for ten minutes.

Deep Pool

Finally my hands were back to normal, so I tugged on my fingerless gloves and snapped on my front pack and backpack and assembled my newly repaired Sage four weight and began my hike on the dirt road that follows the creek. By 11:15 I arrived at my favorite starting point, and I was sheltered to some degree in the canyon, although the wind remained a nuisance throughout the day. I began with a size 8 yellow fat Albert and added a three foot dropper with a beadhead hares ear nymph, and these were my flies of choice for the 45 minute morning session prior to breaking for lunch at noon. The late morning creek exploration failed to yield a single landed trout, although a fairly nice fish crushed the fat Albert and immediately cleared the surface, before it shed the hook and escaped to freedom.

Looks Promising

After lunch I exchanged the hares ear for a green and black Pat’s rubberleg in order to gain more depth, but the stonefly imitation was not on the menu. In the 45 minutes after lunch I prospected with the rubberlegs, bright green go2 caddis pupa, and ultra zug bug, but the subsurface offerings failed to interest the stream residents. I did, however, manage to hook and land a ravenous nine inch rainbow that slurped the yellow fat Albert, and I celebrated my first fish of the year. Unfortunately the little fighter wrapped the trailing rubberlegs and caddis pupa in an ugly snarl, and I spent five minutes untangling the mess.

First Trout of 2023

By 1:30PM I approached a gorgeous long smooth pool with several swirling current seams, and before I could make a cast with the dry/dropper, I noticed a series of sipping rises. What could be bringing these trout to the surface? I decided to take advantage of the unexpected early season surface feeding, and I removed the nymphs and fat Albert and tied a size 24 CDC BWO to my leader. I spent ten minutes spraying casts to all the locales that revealed sipping trout, but the tiny mayfly imitation was soundly ignored. Were the fish eating small black stoneflies? I encountered them previously on this section of stream, so I knotted a size22 black bug to my line with a swept back poly wing. The move did not pay off. The flurry of rises seemed to follow strong gusts of wind, so I guessed that perhaps ants were blown from the trees into the creek. I stripped in my line and replaced the black stonefly with an olive size 16 deer hair caddis and then added a parachute black ant on an eight inch dropper. Some excellent drifts with the visible double dries were met with total disregard, so I returned to the dry/dropper that produced my only trout.

Nice Pool

For the next hour until I quit at 2:30PM I prospected upstream with a size 14 peacock body hippie stomper, ultra zug bug and size 20 BWO soft hackle emerger. After a reasonable trial period the emerger got stuck in my frontpack mesh, and I bent it in the process of removing, so I replaced it with a size 20 sparkle wing RS2. One refusal to the hippie stomper was the extent of my action on the dry/dropper combination, so I hooked the RS2 to the rod guide at 2:30PM and retreated to the car. The sky was partly cloudy, and the wind continued to howl, as I tramped back along the road to the mud bound Santa Fe.

One fish in nearly three hours of fishing was not a stellar outing, but I was, nonetheless, pleased to land a rainbow in order to initiate the fish count for 2023. The cold and wind provided significant hurdles to success on Friday, although I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a brief hatch. I also broke in and adjusted new equipment, and that should prepare me for future fly fishing ventures. I am rooting for you, spring.

Fish Landed: 1

Green Drake Comparadun – 02/07/2023

Green Drake Comparadun 02/07/2023 Photo Album

I tie five different styles of western green drakes, and although the parachute version typically outperforms the others, there are occasions when it goes ignored, and a different style saves the day. I am fairly certain that the second most successful green drake tie is the comparadun style. I use dark coastal deer hair for the wing clump, and I surmise that this fanned out image does an exceptional job of portraying the large fluttering wing of a green drake. Although I have not studied the matter scientifically, it seems that the comparadun excels during the densest portion of the hatch, when the drakes are fluttering and skittering on the water the most.

Closer Look at Left Side

Historically I utilized microfibbets for the tails of my comparadun green drakes, but over the last several years I became dissatisfied with the buoyancy of the comparaduns. They tended to get waterlogged and sink after a fish or two. Having viewed the effectiveness of the moose mane tail on the parachutes, I transferred the same tailing material to my comparaduns during my tying efforts this winter. It will be interesting to see if this move is popular with the fish. Perhaps the comparadun is now too similar to the parachute? It will be fun to continue the experiment during the upcoming summer.

Six Completed

Parachute Green Drake – 02/05/2023

Parachute Green Drake 02/05/2023 Photo Album

My love affair with the western green drake continued during the summer of 2022, and the hands down leader in the dry fly style of green drake remained the parachute version. For more background information on the parachute green drake, I encourage you to visit my post of 11/14/2021.

Opposite Side

If you read that blog post, you will learn that I settled on two salient features for my parachute green drakes. First and foremost was the usage of moose mane fibers for the tail. The trout seemed to show a demonstrable preference for this fly design feature. I also settled on using white poly for the wing post. This material stands out more than a turkey flat, and this translates to better visibility for the angler. In addition, poly provides more bulk, and I believe this better imitates the struggles of a large green drake attempting to get airborne.

From the Side with Materials

Several excellent outings on South Boulder Creek during 2022 put a significant dent in my parachute green drake supply, so I approached the vise and manufactured fifteen additional versions in size 12 and 14. I cannot wait for the green drake days of 2023.

Chubby Chernobyl – 01/24/2023

Chubby Chernobyl 01/24/2023 Photo Album

Each year I resort to the chubby Chernobyl more frequently. My post of 02/12/2022 provides further background on my experience with this awkward looking fly. Links from that post can guide you to my introduction to gaining confidence in the chubby Chernobyl, but suffice it to say that large trout on the Yampa River favored a chubby with a tan ice dub body.

Angled Front

When I utilize a chubby in the surface position on a dry/dropper, and a fish grabs the trailing fly, I find the progressive submersion of the chubby wing to be quite seductive. I suppose that makes me weird, but I must confess to this predilection.

Clump of Five

After I counted my carry over supply from 2022, I determined that the chubbys needed replenishment, so I churned out an additional five for the upcoming season. I cannot wait to see the white wing disappear once again.

Fat Albert – 01/23/2023

Fat Albert 01/23/2023 Photo Album

Refer to my recent post on the pool toy hopper for a comparison of the pool toy hopper and the fat Albert. They are very similar. Check out this link to my report from 2022 for additional links and narrative on the fat Albert.

Refurbished Fat Albert

I continue to deploy the fat Albert early in the season, when I desire a large and buoyant top fly on my dry/dropper set up, and it does the job quite well and even occasionally pounds up an eager fish. The fat Albert also sees heavy usage during the end of June and early July, when I edge fish the larger rivers, as the snow melt remains high, but the rivers are clear, and the fish are bunched along the banks seeking refuge from the fast current. Again the buoyancy is a major plus, and the large yellow bodied foam fly also imitates the golden stoneflies that are prevalent during this time period.

Teeth Marks Make Them More Effective

As was the case with the pool toy hopper, I found five flies in my damaged fly canister that were missing legs, so I simply added legs to restore my inventory to adequate levels for the upcoming season. These flies will see action within a few months.