Time: 11:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Below Lake Estes

Big Thompson River 10/07/2025 Photo Album

After a non-fishing weekend in the Flattops, I was anxious to resume my sampling of western waters in 2025. I made plans to fish with my friend, Nate, on Wednesday, so I was reluctant to make a long drive on Tuesday, and I decided to visit the Big Thompson River. The flows were a favorable 51 CFS, and the high temperature was expected to peak around the mid-fifties, which is in my tolerable range.

I arrived at a pullout in the canyon below Lake Estes a bit after 11:00AM, and I quickly geared up with my rod choice being my Sage R8 four weight. The dashboard registered 51 degrees, and the sky was quite overcast. I judged that the sun’s rays would not be warming things up to a great degree, so I wore my Under Armour long sleeve undershirt, fishing shirt, North Face light parka, and raincoat. For head gear I pulled on my billed hat with earflaps. I was concerned that I dressed too warm, but I was glad to have the layers throughout my day on the stream.

Not a Bad Start

My day can be divided into three segments. The first was the morning, when I deployed an amber ice dub chubby Chernobyl, an olive perdigon, and a salvation nymph. I used these flies for thirty minutes before lunch and netted a couple small rainbow trout.

Nice Pocket

After lunch I switched to a peacock hippie stomper and trailed a size 14 caddis in a double dry arrangement. In the first session the chubby attracted a few refusals, so I concluded that the trout were looking to the surface for their food; and, thus, the double dry. The hippie stomper accounted for one fish as did the caddis, but the two surface flies followed the lead of the chubby Chernobyl and produced quite a few refusals. By 2:00 the fish count rested on seven, but I suffered a long dry spell, so I modified my approach for segment three on the day.

Another Respectable Brown Trout

I replaced the hippie stomper with a tan body mini chubby, since trout were attracted to the chubby Chernobyl in the early session, but refused to eat. I bet that a smaller chubby with a tan body might generate improved effectiveness. Next I downsized the trailing dry fly to a size 16 deer hair caddis with an olive body. The small caddis yielded a trout, but, otherwise I was no better off.

Slots Along the Far Bank

I noticed a few tiny blue wing olives in the air, so I reverted to a dry/dropper with the mini chubby leading an olive perdigon and size 22 sparkle wing RS2. This combination produced a few fish to elevate the fish count to ten. During this time the most effective technique was an across stream cast, and then I held my line high to keep the fly line off the water, while the flies drifted downstream, and I completed the maneuver with a lift. This action seemed to spur the interest of the fish.

Better Side

By 3PM the sparse hatch was over, and I once again endured a slump, so I exchanged the RS2 for a bright green caddis pupa. The caddis pupa and the mini chubby fooled a pair of fish, and I ended my day by 3:30PM with the count at twelve.

Nice Little Pool

After fishing the last pool, before I quit, I looked up and was a bit startled to encounter a young fly fisherman. He was playing a fish, and his rod was in a significant bend. He asked if I could net the fish for him, so I waded within range, but as I approached, the fish dove under a large exposed boulder. The young angler climbed on the rock and reached down and pulled the leader away from the rock and freed the fish. By now I was within range, and I could see that the fish was foul hooked, so I scooped it into my net. The young man thanked me and quickly announced that he forgot his net. He said that the fish hit the dry fly on the second cast, and it was his first trout landed in Colorado. I asked him where he lived, and he said Pennsylvania, and I told him I was also from Pa. He was from the western part of the state, and he was in Loveland, CO on a job and searched on line for a nearby stream. I was pretty happy for the young man and his early success.

Tuesday was a so-so day on the Big Thompson River. I managed to hit double digits, but the fish were small. Six of the landed fish were browns in the nine to eleven inch range, but the fish count also included a bunch of six and seven inch dinks. I was never able to find a consistently productive fly or combination. It seemed like the fish were not selective, but they also were not very hungry. I was pleased to record one more day with reasonable weather before the winter cold moves in.

Fish Landed: 12