Author Archives: wellerfish

South Boulder Creek – 04/06/2020

Time: 11:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Below Gross Reservoir

South Boulder Creek 04/06/2020 Photo Album

I experienced my best day of 2020 on South Boulder Creek on Wednesday, April 1; and with the return of gorgeous spring weather to Colorado, I was itching for a return engagement. For the notoriously variable South Boulder Creek I first checked the flows, and they remained at a very desirable 19 CFS. The weather for nearby Pinecliffe, CO suggested high temperatures in the upper fifties, and with this encouraging information I made the drive to the kayak parking lot high above the creek but downstream from Gross Reservoir.

Loving the Pools Ahead

When I arrived, only one other car populated the lot, and a father and two young sons departed for the trail, as I prepared. I wrapped my North Face light down jacket around my waist under my waders, in case the forecast erred on the low side, and I assembled my Orvis Access four weight. On my previous visit on April 1, 2020 I spent nearly my entire day on one pool and fished to a lengthy hatch. Would Monday April 6 unfold in a similar manner?

Representative Brown Trout

I hiked down the trail for a decent distance to gain separation from the parking lot, and then I approached the stream. The flows were indeed up slightly from April 1, but the clear low conditions continued to dictate a slow cautious approach. The low clear conditions suggested, that I should avoid large and heavy flies that disturbed the water excessively, so I opted for a size 12 hippie stomper with a peacock body. I began prospecting the small attractor to likely trout lies, and after ten minutes with no action, a small brown trout crushed the foam attractor near the tail of a pocket. I continued, but a couple refusals convinced me that the hippie stomper was not the winner that I was searching for, so I added a beadhead hares ear and a super nova baetis as droppers. Another small brown reacted to the hares ear to bring the fish count to two, but once again I covered some very attractive sections with no response.

I found a nice rocky beach by noon and paused to eat my lunch and collect my thoughts. Other than the one small brown trout the nymphs were mainly ignored, but the hippie stomper continued to generate refusals. Refusals frustrate me, but they are a sign that the trout are looking toward the surface for their meals, so I decided to down size to a size 12 Jake’s gulp beetle, and I retained the hares ear and super nova as droppers. The beetle performed in a manner similar to the hippie stomper, as trout rose to inspect but then slowly settled back to their holding positions. One aggressive eater smacked the beetle to bring the fish count to three, and subsequently a brown trout grabbed the hares ear, as it swept along some bank side boulders.

I arrived at a fish count of four, but I was not pleased with the results in spite of the reasonable catch rate. I was convinced that I was bypassing decent fish in areas that historically produced multiple eaters. Sticking with the surface feeding assumption I began to cycle through some alternative dry flies. I tried one of the new desperate caddis, that I recently tied, but it was mostly ignored. How about an ant? I reattached the beetle and then extended some tippet from the bend and added a size 18 black parachute ant, and I fished the double dries through several very attractive pools with only a few splashy refusals to the beetle to show for my creativity. After an hour and a half of fishing through normally very productive water, I was locked on four trout, and I was beginning to dread a disappointing day in spite of the spectacular weather.

Not Sure How I Did This

Some faster pocket water was ahead, and I paused to collect my thoughts before continuing to fish the same way while expecting different results. I decided to revert to my dependable dry/dropper technique with a longer dropper and heavier nymph in the top position. For this application I selected a size 10 classic black Chernobyl ant, and then I added a size 12 prince nymph and a partridge and orange wet fly. I recently tied the partridge and orange, and I was curious to see what it looked like when wet, and whether it would attract the interest of the South Boulder Creek trout. The change proved to be a revelation, as I methodically worked my way upstream and dropped the three fly rig in all the likely locations. The Chernobyl coaxed two takes, but more importantly it did not distract the fish from the nymphs via refusals. The real star of the afternoon session, however, was the prince nymph. In the faster water at the heads of riffles or in deep runs, the prince became a highly desirable commodity. The fish count moved from four to nineteen, and all fifteen additional netted fish were attributable to the prince except for the two Chernobyl ant victims. I was in my element, as I moved quickly and soaked up the sun on a gorgeous spring day.

Chernobyl Ant Classic Worked on April 6

Productive Prince

By 3:15PM I arrived at my normal exit point, so I climbed the rocky bank and began my return trek. I was confident that I could stop at my favorite pool, the one that entertained me Apirl 1, and a brief session would yield at least one additional fish to reach twenty. When I arrived at the celebrated pool, I slowly approached from the bottom left, and I was pleased to see actively feeding trout throughout the deep hole with the center cut current. I began my effort to record number twenty with the three fly combination that served me well during the early afternoon, but the trout demonstrated a single-minded focus on something that did not resemble my offerings. I had changed out the partridge and orange earlier for a sparkle wing RS2, when I spotted a few small blue winged olives above the water.

On Display

For the next thirty minutes I cycled through an array of dry flies, as I attempted to mimic the microscopic source of food that held the attention of the trout in front of me; but, alas, I finally surrendered to the choosy eaters. The size 14 CDC BWO that duped fourteen trout on Wednesday was totally ignored, as I watched fish dimple within inches of my floating fraud. Next I tried a griffiths gnat and then a small black stonefly, but these were also not favored by the pool dwellers.

So Clear

I accepted nineteen as my cumulative total for Monday and slowly ambled back to the parking lot. Nineteen still represented my highest total for the year so far, and I was pleased to discover the effectiveness of the prince nymph. I deployed a prince during green drake time in 2019 with substantial success, but I never assigned it playing time at other times of the year. I now know that South Boulder Creek trout recognize it as a desirable food source in early April. The largest fish was perhaps twelve inches, and most ran in the seven to nine inch range. but I enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the surrounding beauty. Certainly Monday was a fine antidote to the corona virus, and hopefully I can sneak in another day of fishing before the weather inevitably returns to more wintry conditions.

Fish Landed: 19

The Only Rainbow

Super Nova Baetis – 04/04/2020

Super Nova Baetis 04/04/2020 Photo Album

@hopperjuan_fly_fishing is one of my favorite tiers on Instagram, and during the corona virus pandemic he has been posting various patterns to occupy the hours while abiding to the stay at home order. His super nova series caught my attention, and I produced five to test on the local waters. Juan presented two recipes; one for a baetis imitation and one for a pale morning dun. I attempted the baetis version first.

Small Flashy Nymph

Fly ComponentMaterial
HookCurved Nymph hook. Size to match nymph.
Thread8/0 Olive
TailOlive hen hackle fibers
Body8/0 Olive
RibBrown slim rib. I also used several strands of brown super hair.
ThoraxPeacock ice dub
LegsMidge body thread. I substituted black crystal flash.

I largely adhered to his materials list; however, I was forced to make a few substitutions for items that I did not possess. With the stay at home order I am limited to online purchases, and I was too impatient to wait for a delivery. In addition, I am making a concerted effort to draw from my vast quantities of materials that would in all likelihood supply five lifetimes of tiers. Juan’s recipe lists diamond brite, bronze olive for the thorax, and I substituted peacock ice dub. For legs he listed MFC midge body thread, and I substituted black crystal flash. I use black crystal flash for the legs on the iron sally, and I love the look, when small appendages are desired. In one other deviation from the prescribed pattern, I utilized two strands of brown super hair for the rib instead of brown slim rib for three of the five super novas. For the smaller sizes I think I like the finer rib of super hair, and I was making size 18 baetis nymphs.

Nice One

Otherwise, I love the simplicity of this design, and I am hopeful that it effectively supplements my already generous supply of baetis nymph imitations. RS2’s and its variations are my main source of baetis nymphs at the moment, but I am not averse to a new fly earning my trust.

Partridge and Orange – 04/03/2020

Partridge and Orange 04/03/2020 Photo Album

I Did Not Have Orange Thread. Only Neon Orange.

Next in line for trial flies selected from my fly fishing magazines was the partridge and orange. This is a classic wet fly, and I am intrigued to tie some old time favorites to determine, if they might still produce in these high tech times. The materials list specified only a handful of materials, and all were in my immediate possession. This was a relatively simple fly to tie, and I am quite pleased with the result. Wrapping the partridge soft hackle was the greatest challenge, but once I completed one, it became fairly straightforward.

Fly ComponentMaterial
Hook1XL wet fly hook 12 - 18
ThreadOrange 8/0, I used fluorescent orange since that is all I had.
BodyOrange floss
RibFine gold wire
ThoraxTan dubbing
HackleGray partridge

Since I tied this fly in early April, and I completed a couple trips afterward, I tested the partridge and orange on a local stream. Unfortunately I am unable to report any success; however, when wet, it looks amazing. I will continue to test it during 2020, and I am very confident that the old reliable partridge and orange will produce its share of fish. A fly would not last this long without a history of success.

I Love This Macro Look

South Boulder Creek – 04/01/2020

Time: 11:00AM – 3:30PM

Location: Below Gross Reservoir

South Boulder Creek 04/01/2020 Photo Album

After a productive day on Tuesday on the Arkansas River, I noted that the weather forecast for Denver for Wednesday projected highs in the upper 60’s. Could my body and arm endure back to back days of fishing early in the 2020 season? There was only one way to find out. I made a trip to the South Boulder Creek for a day of fly fishing below Gross Reservoir.

The DWR graph indicated that flows were around 16 CFS, and I knew from experience that 16 CFS is low but amenable to decent fishing. When I arrived at the kayak parking lot, six vehicles preceded me, and I concluded that other Colorado fishermen were taking advantage of a nice day while social distancing. The dashboard temperature was 51 degrees, as I assembled my Orvis Access four weight and wrapped my light down North Face coat around my waste under my waders. I was hopeful that the sun would dominate and warm the air temperature in the canyon, but my down coat was a safety net in case that scenario did not unfold.

I hiked a good distance from the trailhead and passed four anglers along the way. Assuming each car contained one angler, I accounted for four of six, but when I reached one of my favorite pools, I jumped in knowing that a huge amount of open water was above me. As expected, the flows were on the low side, but the large pool in front of me was very attractive (check the photo album link for a video of the pool). I assessed the situation and decided to begin with a single dry fly. Splashing a large foam attractor and beadhead nymph was probably not an effective strategy in the low clear flows on April 1.

Looking Ahead

Surprisingly as I scanned the surface of the pool from left to right, I spotted a pair of subtle rises along the center current line. In response to this observation I gazed at the surface of the creek and the air space above, but I was unable to determine an obvious food source. A periodic breeze rustled the trees, so I opted to tie a size 18 parachute black ant to my line. The choice was not totally off base, as two separate trout rose to inspect the terrestrial, but each turned away at the last instant. Clearly the fish were tuned into surface food, but my ant was not on their menu.

I pondered the situation and considered my next move, and concurrently the number of feeding fish increased. I was standing below the tail of the pool near the left bank, and I could observe several quite nice trout eagerly looking toward the surface for a morning snack. I suspected that the object of their desire was midges, but I was unable to spot any to evaluate the size or color, so I gambled on my tried and true size 24 CDC BWO. In similar situations in the past the minuscule dry fly served me well in a variety of tiny insect hatch scenarios.

CDC Olive in Lip

I searched in my box for the smallest version and quickly knotted it to my 5X tippet. I began tossing casts directly upstream and angled to the right and drifted the small morsel through the pool with quite a few actively feeding trout. Between 11AM and noon I managed to land four trout on the CDC olive, so my choice was somewhat verified. I say somewhat, because I probably made twenty casts for each landed fish, and the one hour period included several temporary connections and a significant quantity of refusals. I never determined what caused the random takes in the face of so many rejections.

At noon I paused once again to assess my path forward. I was pleased with four trout in one hour of fishing, but I sensed that I could be doing better. The frequency of rises escalated even more, yet my fly was being ignored by some very aggressive feeders along the center current seam. The visible trout, that were hunkered down at the tail, were totally ignoring the drifts. I decided to experiment with some alternative offerings. Before doing so, however, I stretched my mesh over the mouth of the net and seined the water for a minute. The only thing that appeared was an empty midge larva that was a bit over 1/4 inch long. I also noticed a solitary spent wing black adult midge in the surface film, so I began cycling through my supply of tiny midge adults. My first alternative fly was a size 24 griffith’s gnat, and it generated three close looks, but the fish did not close their mouths. Next I experimented with a trico spinner with poly wings and a trico with CDC wings. These flies never even attracted inspections from the greedily feeding pool residents. I found one of my FP emergers, a gray bodied midge emerger that I tied for the Frying Pan river, and it was likewise ignored. In my small fly canister I spotted a tiny parachute adams and knotted that to my line. It produced a pair of last minute refusals, but again no success was forthcoming.

Again I considered the situation. The CDC BWO, while not a sure thing, was clearly my most successful pattern in the current circumstance. I returned to the blue winged olive theme, but tried a Klinkhammer BWO. One small brown near the tail of the pool recklessly charged to the surface and inhaled the Klinkhammer, and my optimism surged. Alas my elation was short lived, as the emerger blue winged olive floated unmolested through the upper sections of the pool for the next ten minutes.

Bringing It Closer

The pool was now alive with aggressively feeding trout, and I could see many in the upper section moving several feet to grab unidentifiable morsels from the surface. If a blue winged olive hatch were in progress, I surely would have noticed adults gliding into the atmosphere above the creek or floating among the currents. Despite this lack of evidence I returned to the fly that delivered some level of success, and I knotted another CDC olive to my tippet.

Although I was building quite an appetite, the active feeding in front of me precluded a lunch break. I began sending casts of the CDC olive to the various sections of the pool, and surprisingly I enjoyed sporadic favorable results. The fish count climbed from five to thirteen, and enough trout showed interest to vindicate the CDC olive as the fly to utilize. I estimate that 60% of the landed fish were rainbows and 40% were brown trout. The size of the fish was generally in the nine to twelve inch range. The rainbows were colored in spectacular fashion with brilliant crimson stripes and vivid spots and speckles throughout the length of their bodies.

Another Perfect Rainbow

By 1PM the pace of feeding slowed, and I decided to rest on the bank, warm my feet and eat my lunch. The shrinking number of rises directed my thoughts to the rest of the creek, and after lunch and an additional fifteen minutes in the pool, I decided to alter my approach. I removed the olive and replaced it with a size 14 Jake’s gulp beetle and then extended a section of 5X tippet from the bend and attached a soft hackle emerger with no bead. The beetle with an orange indicator would be my lead fly, and a pause or dip would indicate that the soft hackle had been intercepted.

Looking Down on You

I ran the beetle dry/dropper through the mid-section and upper portion of the pool, and two fish streaked toward the small wet fly but turned away at the last instant. I suspect the ploy might have worked with a smaller emerger, but I only had size 20’s in my possession. I finally decided to abandon the gorgeous pool to sample other South Boulder Creek areas. A nice small triangular riffle area existed just above the top of the pool, and the right border of the triangle reflected off a large exposed rock. I flicked the beetle to the top right area of the triangle, and as it slowly drifted toward the V next to the rock, a large mouth appeared and engulfed the foam terrestrial. Imagine my joy, when I netted a wild thirteen inch rainbow after a spirited battle.

Speckles Right Into Tail

Perhaps prospecting with the dry/dropper would extend my streak of outstanding fly fishing on April 1, but that scenario never materialized. I began to migrate upstream, but I vowed to be very selective about my target casting areas. It was readily apparent that the trout were concentrated in the deep pools perhaps as a result of the low flows. Only recently had the flows been raised to 16 CFS after a long span of trickles in the 7 – 10 CFS range. The beetle prompted two refusals in relatively marginal runs, and then I encountered another very attractive long smooth pool, and once again evidence of surface feeding appeared in the form of several rises near the center current seams. I lobbed the dry/dropper throughout the pool, but these trout were not interested. I stripped the flies in and quickly converted to the CDC olive once again, but my earlier magic could not be resurrected. In a desperation move I replaced the CDC tuft with a parachute black ant with a pink wing post, and a cast to the shelf to the right of the center current yielded an eleven inch brown trout that confidently moved six inches and sipped.

My watch told me that it was now approaching 3PM, so I skipped a long swath of unattractive water and approached an area that provided favorable results in previous visits to South Boulder Creek. I was along the left bank, when I encountered a small but deep pocket beneath an overhanging branch. This was not the type of water that produced earlier on April Fools’ Day, but I gazed into the deepest point, and spotted a fish. Would this trout respond to my ant in this overlooked and out of the way location? It was worth a try, so I flicked the ant slightly under the overhanging branch, and after a six inch drift, the shadow darted to the surface and consumed the black ant. I raised the rod and connected, and before I could feel smug about outwitting this hidden gem, it streaked toward the bank and under the branch and managed to free itself. I was sorely disappointed over my inability to conclude the highlight presentation, but I celebrated my effort nonetheless.

Glistening

I continued upstream to some attractive deep pockets without success, and then I encountered a pair of young men with small buckets and a shovel. Were they panning for gold in South Boulder Creek? If so, this was a first. I took this as a sign that my day of fishing was complete, and I made the hike back to the parking lot and stowed my gear. When I began my return drive, I checked the temperature, and it was at a comfortable sixty degrees.

Wednesday April 1 evolved into my best day of 2020. I landed fifteen trout, and fourteen came from the pool that I began in. Anyone who follows this blog will recognize what a deviation this is for this avid angler. My fly fishing mantra is move, and I generally allocate three to five casts to likely places and then move on. To remain in one pool for 2.5 hours is a testament to the length of the hatch and the number of pool residents. I estimate that at least fifty trout were present in what may be the best pool on the stream. I never found the perfect fly, but the CDC BWO was close enough to produce thirteen trout, albeit with an enormous number of casts. Another anomaly for April 1 was the fact that all fifteen trout resulted from a dry fly; a rarity for this early in the season. Hopefully when the weather improves I will have an opportunity to return.

Fish Landed: 15

Arkansas River – 03/31/2020

Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Below Salida

Arkansas River 03/31/2020 Photo Album

In response to the corona virus Colorado governor Jared Polis issued a stay at home order that took effect on March 26, but the the document allows residents “to travel to outdoor areas for hiking and exercise” while maintaining social distancing. I rarely get within six feet of anyone, when I undertake one of my fly fishing trips, so I decided to take the plunge with a drive to the Arkanasas River on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. I topped off the gas tank the day before, and this allowed me to make the three hundred mile round trip without stopping for fuel; and this action further avoided contact with human beings or shared public surfaces such as gas pumps.

March 31 also happened to be the last day that my 2019 fishing license was valid, so I made a mental note to purchase a new license online, when I returned. During my day on the river I saw three other anglers, but they remained on the opposite side of the river, and therefore, a safe distance away.

Another Promising Spot

When I arrived at my favorite pullout along U.S. 50, I assembled my Sage four weight and pulled on my light down parka, which I wore during my entire time on the river. It was 51 degrees, when I began at 11AM, and by the time I finished at 4PM, it was 60 degrees. The weather was partly sunny, but the wind was ridiculous. I spent the entire day casting upstream into a head wind; and miraculously my arm, wrist and elbow remained in one piece. The true test of my early season physical endurance will be the state of my body when I awake Wednesday morning.

Release Imminent

I waded across the river at my usual crossing point at the tail of the long pool next to where I parked, and when I attained the bank across from the highway, I rigged with a New Zealand strike indicator, split shot, 20 incher and sparkle wing RS2. Between 11AM and noon, when I broke for lunch, I landed two brown trout. The first nabbed the RS2, as it began to swing through a deep trough, and this brown was a decent twelve inch fish. The second brown trout was around nine inches, and it grabbed the 20 incher, as I began to lift in a relatively short pocket next to the bank.

This Deep Trough Produced the First Fish

After lunch I continued west along the north bank, and after a fairly lengthy dead period, I landed a long but skinny brown that nipped the sparkle wing RS2. During the unproductive time I added a second split shot to my line in an effort to get the flies deeper earlier in the drifts. It was around this time that I snagged on a stick in a deep swift run, and I was forced to snap off both flies in order to avoid bodily harm. The line broke just below the two split shots, so I used the reconfiguration process as an excuse to replace the 20 incher with an iron sally, but I retained a sparkle wing RS2 as my point fly.

Better Light

Over the last three hours I landed six additional brown trout to raise the cumulative total fish count for the day to nine. Among these catches was a fine fifteen inch fish that crushed the iron sally, as the flies drifted through a deep run next to a large exposed rock. Most of the remaining fish were healthy browns in the twelve inch range.

Outstanding

The wind during the morning hour was a nuisance, but the afternoon gusts were even more intense. At one point I netted a fish and waded to a rock along the north bank to photograph and release it. I removed my sun glove and rested it on a rock, while I handled the trout for a photo. I was about to press the camera button, when a strong gust blew my hat off my head, in spite of it being tethered to my coat. The hat landed crown side down, and I thought it was going to rest next to a rock, but it immediately began to curl into some faster current. I quickly deposited my disconnected net containing a trout in some shallow water and lunged downstream to snag my slowly escaping hat. Meanwhile, another blast of air lifted my sun glove into the water, but miraculously the net remained in place, and the trout was still nestled just below the rim. Eventually I placed my wet hat back on my head, snapped a few photos, and shoved my wet sun gloves in my fishing backpack. A simple photo and release session morphed into a battle against the elements.

Typical Productive Water

Between 2PM and 3PM I noticed tiny blue winged olive mayflies, but they were instantly swept into the air after spending a minuscule amount of time on the surface. I stuck with the RS2, and all of my afternoon landed fish nabbed the small baetis nymph imitation. In addition, I experienced three temporary connections. The most productive water during Tuesday was riffles and shelf pools that ran at a depth of three to four feet.

Pent Up Energy

At 3PM I approached a long smooth pool with a slow moving foam line eight feet from the north bank. I paused to observe, and a pair of rises caught my attention. This was a place where the slow current allowed fish to pick off stillborns and cripples; so I removed my indicator, split shots, and flies and converted to a single dry. My fly choice was a Klinkhammer BWO. Unfortunately by the time I made the conversion, the fish stopped rising. After observing for what seemed like an eternity, I launched some prospecting casts between wind gusts, but the small emerger was ignored.

Very Appealing Stretch

I advanced beyond the deep pool to a short section populated with deep pockets and riffles. This structure was not appropriate for the single dry, and I was averse to revisiting the deep nymphing method, so I quickly went to a yellow fat Albert, iron sally and BWO soft hackle emerger combination. For the last thirty minutes I prospected some nice deep runs among the plentiful exposed rocks, but the trout were either absent or unwilling to sample my offerings.

In spite of the irritating wind Tuesday was a productive day on the Arkansas River. The sparkle wing RS2 took center stage, and I enjoyed steady action, as I progressed .6 stream miles from my start. The size of the netted fish was average for the Arkansas River, but compared to Boulder Creek and the North Fork of St. Vrain Creek they were a welcome upgrade. Because of the constant gusts it was difficult to assess the intensity of the blue winged olive hatch, but I suspect it was surprisingly strong. With seventy degree days in the forecast for early next week, I may undertake a return engagement.

Fish Landed: 9

Desperate Caddis – 03/30/2020

Desperate Caddis 03/30/2020 Photo Album

As outlined in my 03/29/2020 post regarding the better woolly bugger, I initiated a project to tie new flies that intrigued me, when they appeared in the many magazines that I subscribe to. The next item in my scanned fly pattern queue was the desperate caddis. The designer of this fly promised that it was a very quick but effective tie, and after producing five at my tying bench, I am inclined to agree. The fly only requires four materials including the thread and hook. The designer’s main revelation is to eliminate a dubbed body on a fly that has dense hackle wound around it, because the body is barely visible to the trout. In the desperate caddis design the thread suffices as a body.

Fly ComponentMaterial
HookStandard dry fly hook
Thread6/0 gray
HackleSize 16 grizzly saddle feather.
WingElk hair

Size 16

I sat down at my vice and created five desperate caddis. I chose gray thread, which yielded a gray body, because I find gray to be universally effective in caddis adult dry fly situations. The Adams is a great example of a generally imitative dry fly, and it possesses a gray body. The desperate caddis is a very simple dry fly that should fool numerous greedy trout in the coming year.

Bring Them Closer

Better Woolly Bugger- 03/29/2020

Better Woolly Bugger 03/29/2020 Photo Album

I completed my normal production tying for 2020, and my bins contained adequate quantities of my favorite patterns for the upcoming season. The corona virus continues to require self quarantining and compliance with the stay at home orders, and this in turn curtailed my usual progression of outdoor activities, so what should an avid fly fisherman do?

I subscribe to six fly fishing magazines, and I accumulated a twelve inch stack of back issues in my office closet. I saved them, because I planned to flip through them and scan articles to retain electronically, before I relegated them to the recycling bin. I adopted the practice of scanning articles that pertain to fly patterns of interest and new fly fishing destinations, that I might visit. Storing electronically conserves shelf space, and I find it easier to find articles with the search capability of an electronic device. During the covid19 pandemic I reviewed roughly half of my stack of back issues and scanned quite a few new fly patterns, and I decided to begin the project of tying small batches of intriguing designs.

Fish Will Love It

The spin doctor was the first example of my new project, and I was quite pleased with the foam topped mayfly spinners. The next pattern that appeared in my scanned backlog of flies was called a better woolly bugger. The step by step instructions as presented by Tim Flagler appeared in Fly Tyer Magazine, and I was curious to learn why it was defined as a “better” woolly bugger. I knew from following Tim Flagler on my Trout Unlimited weekly newsletter, that he created a large inventory of fly tying videos, and after a brief search I found the YouTube content that corresponded to the article in Fly Tyer. I personally view Tim Flagler as one of the better tying instructors in the fly fishing world, as he seems to have a knack for simplifying the steps, and he speaks with great clarity. In short his tying videos are succinct, well thought out, and very clear.

Fly ComponentMaterial
HookMustad 3665A Size 8 Limerick
Thread3/0 Olive
Weight .02 Non-Lead
TailOlive Marabou
FlashSilver Crystal Flash
HackleLarge Grizzly Hackle
BodySmall medium olive chenille

With this background I assembled the necessary materials and manufactured five better woolly buggers. I tied numerous woolly buggers in the past, and they are typically a fairly easy tie. In fact most beginner classes start with a woolly bugger. All my buggers were constructed with medium olive tails and bodies along with olive grizzly hackle. I utilized a conehead bead, as it was the only type available in my drawers that would slide around my old Mustad size 8 streamer hooks. In the end I actually deviated from Tim’s method, and hopefully that does not disqualify my fly as “better”. He demonstrated tying a woolly bugger by tying the hackle in at the head of the fly and then palmered it over the chenille body to a point just in front of the tail, where he left the thread and bobbin dangling. He then counter wrapped the thread back through the hackle wraps to the head of the fly. I was not comfortable with the counter wrap, so I tied the grizzly hackle in by the tip in front of the tail and then advanced the thread forward to the conehead, where I then tied off the base end of the feather, after I palmered it forward. Otherwise, I liked his method of sizing and pinching off the tips of the marabou clump, and I appreciated his technique for tying in the crystal flash strands along the sides of the tail. I also wrapped non-lead wire around the forward portion of the hook shank to add weight, just as he demonstrated on his sample fly.

Lots of Olive Here

I was pleased with the results, and you can view the output in the embedded photos in this post. Now, I need to train myself to adopt streamer fishing on a more frequent basis to take advantage of these expert ties.

Spin Doctor – 03/27/2020

Spin Doctor 03/27/202 Photo Album

I subscribe to at least six fly fishing magazines, and before I dispose of an issue, I flip through it and scan any fly patterns that stir my interest. With my fly boxes replenished with all my favorite patterns, I decided to review my scanned patterns for new additions to my ample supply of flies. Of course tying new flies is only a first step. I tend to revert to favorites, and it takes extra commitment to provide a fair test for a new pattern.

Fly ComponentMaterial
HookDry fly hook
Thread6/0, color to match body
TailsMicrofibbets
Overbody1MM foam strip
AbdomenDubbing, color to match natural
WingsPoly or organza, white or clear
IndicatorSmall orange 1MM foam strip
ThoraxDubbing to match abdomen

If you follow this blog, you know that I am a big fan of Andrew Grillos, the king of foam. One of the fly patterns that I scanned with the intention of trying is called the spin doctor. This fly is essentially a conventional spinner; however, Andrew incorporated two sections of 1MM foam to provide improved buoyancy and visibility. Because I normally fish during the late morning and afternoon, I rarely encounter strong spinner falls. Mating mayflies and spinner fall events tend to occur in the early morning and evening hours in the west, since these times generally coincide with the calmest hours of the day.

A Different View

One notable interaction with pale morning dun spinners took place on the Conejos River during a July 2016 trip. For the full story check out my post of 07/20/2016, and scroll toward the end. On this day I was camping near the river, so after dinner and clean up I wandered to a nice nearby hole and began to fish. As luck would have it, a pale morning dun spinner fall commenced, but when I frantically searched my fly boxes, I was disappointed to learn, that I did not have spinner imitations of the appropriate body color. I subsequently remedied this oversight and stocked a variety of spinner flies, but at the time I shifted into improvise mode. I plucked one of my size 16 cinnamon comparaduns from my box, and I mashed down the deer hair wings, so they parted in the middle and spread out at ninety degree angles from the hook shank. If you read my post, you learned that the ploy paid dividends, and I enjoyed some fine action over the remainder of the evening.

Zoomed on the Bunch

Despite this improvisational success story, I realized that I had not tied spinner flies in quite a while, so I decided to create some spin doctor patterns in pale morning dun body colors. I crafted two with light amber, two with a light olive body, and two with the aforementioned cinnamon. I am anxious to give the spin doctors a test during the upcoming season.

Damsel Adult – 03/21/2020

Damsel Adult 03/21/2020 Photo Album

With the corona virus necessitating self quarantines in Colorado, and a snowstorm placing a freeze on outdoor activities, I decided to return to my vice. During the winter I cycled through all my mainstay flies, and I was now positioned to undertake some experimental patterns. But before I forged into the new and untested, I remembered a day on a Frost Creek pond, when I was frustrated with my inability to hook trout in spite of the presence of abundant quantities of large rising fish. Rising is really an understatement, as most of the trout were aggressively slashing at surface food. My post of 07/12/2019 describes the discouraging day on a Frost Creek pond.

The obvious food that the Frost Creek trout craved was adult damsel flies. Hundreds of delicate blue aquatic insects fluttered about and perched on the reeds along the shoreline. At the time I vowed to remedy this lack of matching imitations, and with the completion of my standard tying for the upcoming season, I prepared to tie damsel adults. I started with an on line search of damsel adult patterns, and I began with one of my favorite tiers, Charlie Craven. I was pleased to discover that Charlie had a parachute damsel adult on his web site, and I promptly decided to make this pattern my first prototype.

Angled

Unfortunately the recipe called for a braided damsel body material, blue 2mm foam, and blue dubbing. I possess drawers full of tying materials, but the color blue is totally absent. I made the drive to Charlie’s shop in Arvada, and Charlie himself help me find and purchase the necessary materials. He was out of blue damsel body braid, so I bought white and a blue marker and colored my own. This actually worked out quite nicely, when I finally sat down to make my first batch of adult damsels.

Fly ComponentMaterial
HookSize 12 Tiemco 2457
ThreadGray 6/0 (blue prescribed by Craven)
AbdomenBraided damsel body
Thorax2 mm foam
WingsLarge grizzly hackle

A Batch of Five

The Craven parachute adult damsel is actually quite easy to tie, and I quickly produced five for my fly box for the 2020 season. In Charlie’s introduction to the tying steps, he mentioned the teneral stage of the adults. This refers to the stage of the adult when it first emerges from the nymph while clinging to vegetation along the shoreline. The adults are pale yellow to olive at this time and very vulnerable to getting swept into the water by gusts of wind, and this circumstance is not overlooked by the nearby ravenous trout. In preparation for encountering this event, I tied two additional adults with a light olive braid, foam and dubbing.

Olive Color

Hopefully the corona virus will pass before the summer fishing season, and I will be prepared to cast my damsel adults on Colorado lakes and ponds.

North Fork of St. Vrain Creek – 03/18/2020

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Buttonrock Preserve

North Fork of St. Vrain Creek 03/18/2020 Photo Album

With my scheduled surgery on my birthday postponed indefinitely, and the corona virus spreading at unprecedented rates, I decided to take advantage of a forecast mild late winter day, before a snowstorm moved into Colorado on Thursday. Because Jane, Amy and I traveled to Vail for a day of skiing on March 9, we were self quarantined, but a day of fly fishing seemed like a safe and enjoyable form of social distancing.

I narrowed my destination choices down to four, and the list included the Cache la Poudre in Ft. Collins, the North Fork of St. Vrain Creek in Buttonrock Preserve, the same North Fork in Lyons, and the South Platte River in Deckers. I consulted with my fly fishing buddy, Trevor (@rockymtnangler), and he promptly recommended Buttonrock Preserve. Trevor enjoyed an outstanding day there several weeks ago, and the flows were around 20 CFS with a high temperature in Lyons projected to be in the low sixties. These factors convinced me to make the one hour and fifteen minute drive to the small front range stream near Lyons.

A Good Place to Start

I arrived at the parking area by 9:30AM, and I was surprised by the number of cars in the lot. Obviously quite a few self quarantined workers were unable to work, and thus, taking advantage of unexpected free time to hike the access road. I quickly assembled my Orvis Access four weight and threw on my light down coat and strode at a medium pace through the gate and followed the dirt road to a point just beyond Longmont Reservoir. Trevor mentioned that he had success along the entire length of the creek, so I decided to sample the lower creek, that I normally skip past.

I Skipped This Pool

I configured my line with a yellow fat Albert, a 20 incher, and a fly that resembled a Frenchie without the jig hook. I spent the next two hours working my way upstream with the dry/dropper rig but failed to interest a single trout in my offerings. Needless to say I was frustrated. During this unproductive quest for trout I cycled through a salad spinner, Frenchie, ultra zug bug, chartreuse copper john, and hares ear nymph in addition to the first pair of flies enumerated above. Nothing worked, and I was perplexed regarding my inability to attract interest from the small mountain tailwater trout.

I arrived at a nice pool across from the incomplete Chimney Rock Dam by noon, and I paused to down my lunch and collect my thoughts. The sun was out, and it climbed high enough above the vertical rock wall opposite my position to bathe ninety percent of the stream in sunshine. As I observed while munching my carrots, I spotted a shadow, as it hovered above a large light colored flat rock. Sure enough the dark form moved from side to side, as it appeared to snatch small food items from the drift. Clearly the trout were feeding on something, but what was it?

Classic RS2

Salvation Nymph Nabbed a Pair

By 12:30 I stood next to the stream near my lunchtime dining spot, and I was refreshed and anxious to continue my pursuit of cold water fish. I retained the yellow fat Albert, but beneath it I knotted a salvation nymph and a classic RS2. I began lobbing casts upstream of the previous location of the trout shadow, that I observed during lunch, and I allowed the fat Albert and trailing flies to swing past the flat rock. I am not sure whether it was the same fish, but on the fourth drift a ten inch rainbow trout snatched the RS2, just as it began to swing, and the fish counter registered one. After two and a half hours of fruitless casting, I was finally on the scoreboard.

One of the Better Fish

Huge Appetite

For the next three hours I prospected the dry/dropper rig upstream, and the fish count increased from one to nine. The highlight of this period was an eight inch brown trout that crushed the size eight fat Albert. Two of the first nine landed fish grabbed the salvation nymph, but the main producer was a sparkle wing RS2 that replaced the classic RS2 after a thirty minute trial. I made the change hoping that the sparkle wing would serve as a more visible attractor, and the tactic seemed to pay off. Of course four or five temporary connections were part of the scene, but in many cases the drop offs were very small trout that may have measured beneath my six inch standard.

Risers in This Long Pool

At 3:30PM I approached a long smooth pool, and sporadic rises caught my attention. I astutely avoided splashing the large fat Albert in midst of the feeding trout and removed the three fly set up and shifted to a single fly approach. For my single fly I chose a size 22 Klinkhammer BWO. I did not observe any naturals, but the sky was clouding up, and it was the baetis time of the year, so I played the hunch. In an earlier slow moving pool, I switched to a CDC BWO, but that choice prompted only a couple refusals, before it was ignored entirely. Shortly after the earlier switch to a dry, I spotted a pair of small gray stoneflies, and I regretted not testing one of my size 18 early stonefly imitations.

Klinkhammer BWO Caught Two

Sipped Dry

My late afternoon Klinkhammer selection proved to be a winner, and I landed two nine inch brown trout that could not resist the low riding emerger imitation. In addition to the landed fish, I connected ever so briefly with several additional opportunistic feeders. Landing two trout on the Klinkhammer dry in the last thirty minutes was icing on the cake for my first double digit day of 2020. Of course the trout were small, but in spite of this minor drawback, I was challenged to find a combination of flies that would dupe wild fish, and I managed to partially solve the riddle. Three fish were in the nine to ten inch range, and the remainder were between six and eight inches. Wednesday was an example of social distancing at its finest, as I never came within six feet of the other outdoor enthusiasts that paraded along the road high above me. Hopefully the March 19 storm will fade quickly, and I will experience additional corona virus induced outdoor adventures.

Fish Landed: 11