Time: 10:30AM – 1:00PM
Location: Last public access above Green Mountain Reservoir
Fish Landed: 0
Blue River 10/09/2014 Photo Album
Sometimes fishing is not about catching fish. That pretty much summarizes Thursday October 9. The weather forecast for Thursday called for increasing cloudiness with heavy rain beginning by 1PM. Apparently the remnants of hurricane Simon were moving into Colorado from Baja California, and the southern part of the state was expected to receive more rain than the north. Steve and I were returning from Steamboat Springs to Denver, but we planned to fish somewhere along the way. We did not expect to fish all day, so rain in the afternoon would not affect our plans.
We departed Steamboat Springs and crossed Rabbit Ears Pass and then headed south over Muddy Pass toward Kremmling, but as we sped down the highway we saw a traffic jam ahead. One would normally expect a traffic tie up to involve cars, but on this occasion several vehicles were stopped to allow cattle to cross the highway. We joined them and watched as real cowboys wearing cowboy boots, spurs and chaps herded a group of moving beef across the road. I snapped a few photos, and within five minutes the road was clear, and we resumed our trip.
A Real Cowboy
On our way from the Pumphouse Access on the Colorado River to Steamboat Springs on Tuesday, we noticed a dirt road that turned left before we reached route 9, and we were curious where this led so on our return trip to Denver we decided to detour a bit and check it out. Perhaps this would be a fishing destination for Thursday. We turned right as we climbed the hill south of the Colorado River crossing, and then made another right just before reaching the Blue River. We were now driving north along the Blue River, and after a couple miles we reached a parking lot and BLM pay station. We jumped out of the car and stood on a high bank at the edge of the parking lot where we could see the confluence of the Blue and Colorado Rivers. The Blue River was running at 750 cfs, and that is quite high for that tributary. With flows farther west at Pumphouse running at 1250 cfs, the Blue River was contributing more that 50% of the combined river.
Both rivers were wide smooth pools just above the confluence, and Steve and I both concluded that this would dictate very challenging wade fishing. The rivers were far better suited for boat anglers who could pound the banks with streamers or hopper/dropper rigs. Since we agreed that other locations were more attractive, we moved on and continued traveling south on route 9.
Next we reached a turn that would take us to the dam at Green Mountain Reservoir, and we made another detour to check out this water. Neither Steve nor I had ever fished the tailwater below Green Mountain, but we had read articles about it and were anxious to scout it and possibly make it our destination for Thursday. The road that turned off of route 9 took us across the top of the dam, and then we turned right and slowly drove down a steep hill to a small parking lot. When we jumped out of the car and walked to the trailhead, two young fishermen were preparing to launch their pontoon style raft into the river. There was a thirty yard long steep bank from the parking lot to the river, and they had backed their trailer to the edge of the precipice where they planned to slide the boat downhill while holding it back with a long rope. Rather them than me!
We approached the would be boat launchers and asked if there was a path that could be used by wade fishermen. One of the young men replied that there was a trail that angled more gradually down to the river than the boat launch slope. He informed us that there are two miles of public water below the dam, but only .5-1 mile of it was accessible on foot as a huge vertical rock wall eventually blocked farther downstream progress. Steve and I gazed down at the river, and it was rushing through a narrow canyon with steep walls on both sides at 750 cfs. We both felt that this would be fun water to explore in the future when the flows are 500 cfs or less, but we were not interested in fishing it when the current was crashing through the canyon at its current rate.
We both jumped back in the car and drove along the western shore of Green Mountain Reservoir and then crossed the Blue River above the inlet and proceeded a short distance to the first public access point above the lake when heading south toward Silverthorne. Here we finally decided to halt our scouting trip and actually fish. The sky was quite gray by this time, and we already experienced periods of drizzle and light precipitation. As mentioned previously, the weather experts were calling for heavy rain at times, so we hoped to register a few hours of fishing before the forecast became reality.
When Steve and I were prepared, we hiked down a path that led to the downstream border of the public water. I elected to wade across the Blue River to the west bank, and Steve began fishing with his nymph rig on the east side. The flows on the river above Green Mountain were nearly ideal at 110 cfs. My first choice of flies was a gray pool toy plus a beadhead hares ear and an ultra zug bug. The water was wide and shallow initially and offered few attractive fish holding spots so I moved upstream rather quickly.
After covering a fifty yard stretch of water as described in the previous paragraph, I approached a different section where the river narrowed a bit, and this created deeper pools and pockets. Finally in a relatively nondescript stand-alone pocket behind an exposed boulder, a rainbow rose and slapped the pool toy. I quickly set the hook despite my surprise, and I pricked the fish for a split second. I immediately popped a second cast behind the rock, and a fish once again rose to the hopper. Once again I set the hook, but the rise was either a refusal or I set to quickly, and when I netted the thirteen inch rainbow I discovered it was foul hooked.
At least I found evidence of fish, so I moved on and changed the ultra zug bug for a soft hackle emerger in case the overcast conditions provoked a blue winged olive emergence. BWO’s typically become prevalent as the morning moves into afternoon particularly on gray overcast days. The change however did nothing to reverse my fortunes, and I moved upstream and covered a huge amount of very attractive water with nothing to show for my persistence. By 1PM I replaced the soft hackle emerger with a salvation nymph thinking that attractor nymphs may be the answer if a blue winged olive hatch was not on the menu.
Nice Colors in This Direction
In a long ten foot slick behind a protruding boulder, I cast across to just behind the rock and then held my rod high to keep the fly line off the water as the flies drifted to the tail. As the flies began to sweep and lift, a fish grabbed one of the imitations for a moment, and I set the hook; but once again the weight of a fish was momentary. I continued up the right braid around a midstream island with no reprieve in my bad fortune, and when I reached the top of the island, I encountered Steve. Steve’s fly was in his hook keep, so I concluded he was ready to call it a day. Given my lack of success, I was in agreement, so we waded back across the river and followed the fence line back to Steve’s car.
Once we reached the car, we loaded our gear and departed for Denver before the serious rain developed. Thursday was not about catching fish. Instead scouting locations for future fishing trips was the positive, and that information will be put to good use.