Time: 12:00PM – 2:30PM

Location: Upper part of canyon before some cabins near wide pullout

Fish Landed: 4

I finished closing the month of August at Saddleback Design on Thursday, and I was anxious to get in some fall fly fishing. The weather forecast called for overcast skies and scattered showers for Friday, so I hoped to hit a nice BWO hatch. BWO’s love overcast wet cool conditions. I needed to remain at the new house and wait for a repairman to come and change out a window in the guest bedroom, so I knew I couldn’t get an early start. This ruled out the Arkansas River or Colorado River, so I focused on the reports on Clear Creek and the Big Thompson River. The Big Thompson River mentioned BWO’s in the canyon, so I elected this as my destination. Unfortunately the repairman didn’t arrive until 9:15AM and it took him 30 minutes to complete his work, so I didn’t leave the house until 10AM.

By the time I drove to the Big Thompson and ate lunch, I began fishing at around noon. I chose some water that I’d never fished a couple miles below the dam in Estes Park. As predicted, the sky was cloudy and overcast and the air temperature was cool. While eating lunch, I spotted three trout in a small pocket behind a large rock along the bank. I decided to cast to these fish first before moving downstream and then fishing back up. I tied on a gray body deer hair caddis, but the targeted fish showed no interest. However, I fanned a few casts to the left in a nice run toward the middle of the stream, and a brown rose up and sucked it in. I landed the 11 inch brown, and it seemed to have a disproportionately large hooked jaw for its size, so I attempted to photograph it. When I pulled the camera from my case and tried to turn it on, it wouldn’t start, and I realized that I’d removed the battery to charge and never replaced it. There wouldn’t be any photos on Friday.

Having covered the lunch section, I retreated to the road and walked downstream to a point where I saw a private property/no trespassing sign. I cut in to the river ahead of the private area and worked my way back up stream. The caddis wasn’t producing so I clipped it off and tied on a Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear. I flicked this combination to likely lies and caught another decent brown along the right bank in a shallow riffle on the Chernobyl ant. I continued prospecting and covered quite a bit of water and added two more trout that grabbed the trailing beadhead hares ear. At around 2PM I moved a bit beyond my lunch spot, but I was doing a lot of casting and wading with no action. Judging from the worn bank, I guessed this stretch next to the highway received a lot of pressure, so I decided to move further downstream.

As I put my rod and front pack back in the car, I noticed some dark clouds building in the west and moving my way. Perhaps some rain would prompt the BWO’s to emerge and create some great fishing. I drove down the highway another four or five miles and parked just upstream from a location where there is a handicapped platform. This water presented some deeper runs and plunge pools, so I decided to use a strike indicator and the beadhead hares ear and a small beaded baetis nymph. The wind was now gusting and I put on my ski cap, fleece and raincoat and positioned myself next to a nice deep pool. The wind now began to gust fiercely, and I had to turn my back to the wind and light rain. Over the next half hour I worked my way upstream a short distance making half hearted casts between the strong gusts of wind and rain.

My fingers were developing a serious ache, and I wasn’t really enjoying the experience. My mind was anticipating the 4PM Phillies playoff game more than the fishing, so I reeled up my flies and called it quits at around 2:30. I can put up with difficult weather conditions if there is a good hatch or I’m catching fish, but suffering in rain and cold with nothing to show for it is not my idea of fun.

Time: 1:30PM – 3:30PM

Location: Below Road to Bear Lake in RMNP

Fish Landed: 5

Big Thompson River 05/16/2010 Photo Album

Jane wanted to go to Rocky Mountain National Park on her last day before hip surgery. She also wanted to meet her ex-boss at Public Service Credit Union since he lived in Ft. Collins, and Estes Park would be somewhat of a midpoint. I checked the flows, and they were 129cfs below Estes Lake, which is pretty high for that streambed. The flows in the Big Thompson above Lake Estes near Moraine Park, however, were 35 cfs.

We met Steve for lunch at the Big Horn Restaurant on the edge of Estes Park. Steve and Jane then dropped me off at Moraine Park, and they continued to Sprague Lake. I hiked down along the river and underneath the road to near a cabin at the edge of RMNP. At this point I discovered I’d forgotten my front pack containing my nymphs, hemostats, nippers, tippet, prime flies, split shot and strike indicators. Jane had taken the car, so I debated hiking back up to the road and hitching a ride to Sprague Lake or trying to make do with what I had in my backpack. I had three fly boxes containing all dry flies and a couple spools of old 6X tippet. I elected to make a go of it.

I tied on some tippet then an olive body palmered caddis that could have been a stimulator. I began prospecting with this fly and much to my amazement, landed a small brown. I continued working upstream, but wasn’t getting any more looks and the fly was sinking so I switched to a Chernobyl ant. In the next two hours I landed four additional small brown trout in the 9 inch range on the Chernobyl ant. All the fish were caught along the edge in fairly slow moving water. The deep runs and pockets in the middle of the stream cried for a beadhead dropper, but my lack of preparation precluded this option.

Time: 12:30PM – 3:30PM

Location: Downstream end of catch and release stretch below Lake Estes

Fish Landed: 8

Big Thompson River 04/18/2010 Photo Album

Jane agreed to accompany me back to the Big Thompson so we could shop in Estes Park for a wedding gift for our nephew. We arrived in Estes Park around 10:30 and did some shopping then stopped at Subway and picked up sandwiches for lunch. We drove down along the Big Thompson and stopped where I’d quit on Thursday. I ate my lunch and prepared to fish.

The weather was cool with temperatures in the low 60’s or upper 50’s and partly cloudy and breezy. The flows were up a bit from Thursday at 52 cfs and the water had a bit more color. I walked down along the highway and descended the bank to where I’d exited on Thursday. Jane accompanied me and took the camera while I hooked a rainbow in short order on a beadhead pheasant tail. Jane took several photos and then headed back up to the minivan to read while shielded from the wind.

I was fishing a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a BHPT. Even more so than Thursday, my success was limited to slack water with three feet of depth or more. Most of this water was along the bank. I rock hopped the roadside bank and picked up five total trout on the BHPT. All were rainbows except for one brown.

I wasn’t getting any action on the hopper so I switched that out to a Chernobyl ant for better flotation. After a slow spell of roughly half an hour with no fish, I removed the BHPT and tied on a beadhead hares ear as the dropper. This worked quite well, and I landed an additional three rainbows in the last hour. Two of these were quite nice fish in the 13-14 inch range, and I caught them in the tails of some deep pools in the center of the stream.

Jane and I decided to call it a day around 3:30 and headed back to Denver.

Time: 12:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Downstream end of catch and release stretch below Lake Estes

Fish Landed: 11

Big Thompson River 04/15/2010 Photo Album

With work light and forecast of temperatures in the 60’s, I decided to try another day of fishing. I read the various reports, and the Big Thompson sounded like the least affected by the low elevation snowmelt continuing from the late March early April snowstorms.

I purposely started late since I knew it would be late morning/early afternoon before the air temperature and water temperature would allow the trout to become active. I drove to the downstream border of the catch and release area below Lake Estes and arrived around 11:30 AM. I ate my lunch and then began fishing above the bridge that marks the catch and release border.

I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a beadhead pheasant tail nymph and then a light olive beadhead midge larva. I fished for a half hour or so before catching my first fish, a small rainbow. My losing streak of three outings without a fish was over! I attempted to photograph the rainbow, but it got off the hook while in the net as I tried to position for a photo. I continued prospecting the water picking up fish on a fairly regular basis, although numerous casts were required to attractive water to get hookups. The fish were definitely somewhat lethargic.

Around 1PM I switched the midge larva out for a beadhead RS2. The reports I read said there were BWO hatches in mid to late afternoon in the lower to middle canyon on overcast calm days. I was covering my bases. The third fly continued to cause tangles if I didn’t pause long enough on my backcast to allow the flies to straighten, so I removed and fished the hopper/BHPT combination.

This proved to be a smart move as it eliminated wasted time spent untangling flies and didn’t impact my catch rate. I discovered that most of my catches were along the bank opposite the road and in slack water with depth of 3-4 feet. Of the eleven trout I landed, approximately four took the hopper and the remainder sucked in the pheasant tail. I hooked up temporarily on an additional 4-5 fish and had several refusals on the hopper, so the fish were definitely looking up. The best action occurred between 1-3, and it was quite slow in the last hour. A BWO hatch never materialized, although the sky was largely bright blue and cloudless. I’m guessing I caught 4 browns and 7 rainbows.

Time: 10:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: Rocky Mountain National Park, Moraine Park

Big Thompson River 07/29/2006 Photo Album

Jane and I drove to Rocky Mountain National Park and arrived around 10:30AM. We parked near the Cub Lake Trailhead, and Jane decided she to go horseback riding, since we were across from the riding stables. She hiked up the road with me and then to the bridge, where Cub Lake Trail crosses the Big Thompson River. I prospected above and below the bridge, while Jane snapped some photos. During this photo opportunity I hooked up with one trout, but it escaped and avoided my net. I was not having much luck, and it was 11:30AM, so Jane and I returned to the car in order to eat our lunch. 

Descent Bend

After lunch I hiked across the meadow from where we parked to intersect with the stream. I planned to fish back upstream to where the trail crossed the bridge. I started fishing a narrow channel with the royal stimulator and landed a few small brookies. I added a beadhead pheasant tail, but that never produced, and I looked up and noticed a husband and wife with a daughter 30 yards upstream. They appeared to be disturbing the water, so I climbed out and headed farther south. I was skeptical that the small stream next to me was the full volume of the Big Thompson River, and sure enough I discovered another larger channel after a short stroll through the meadow grass.

Narrow Channel

Once I intersected with the main stem, I walked downstream farther, before I started fishing upstream. I caught mostly brook trout, some extremely small, and I omitted them from my landed count. I spotted a decent fish at one point, but it was not interested in the fly I presented, so I switched to a light yellow Letort hopper, since hopper habitat in the form of tall grass bordered the stream. I never tempted the fish that caused me to switch, but the hopper did produce a rainbow of around 11 inches. I prospected the hopper and beadhead hares ear dropper for awhile and landed some brook trout but eventually lost the flies.   

Colorful Brookie

After losing the two flies I tied on a lime green trude size 14, and this produced a fair number of trout. I caught my nicest brook trout of the day on the lime green trude and photographed it before I released it to live another day. At some point I spotted another decent trout, and I was unable to tempt it with the lime green trude, so I knotted on a size 12 gray parahopper with a beadhead hares ear trailer. The parahopper produced a nice brown, and I photographed the third leg of the grand slam. I ended up catching 3 browns on the day. I tested the parahopper for awhile, and then I switched back to the royal stimulator. 

Cutthroat Completes Grand Slam

The royal stimulator was probably the most productive fly of the day, and I landed the last eight countable size fish on it. I also caught my one and only cutthroat trout on this fly towards the end of the day. I was quite surprised to achieve a trout grand slam. 

I ended my day at the Cub Lake Trail bridge and hiked back down the road, where Jane was waiting in the shade and reading. 

Fish Landed: 18

Big Thompson River 11/02/2005 Photo Album

First Trout of Day – Brown

I made a late season trip to the Big Thompson River on November 2, 2005, and the linked photo album documents the day. My fish counter indicates that I landed six fish, but I did not prepare a fishing log entry to provide more details.

Fish Landed: 6

The Successful Caddis

Lunch Pool

Time: 11:00AM – 3:30PM

Location: Special regulation area .5 miles above Waltonia Bridge

Big Thompson River 09/18/2005 Photo Album

Jane works with a guy (Ben) who has a son and daughter, and the son wanted to fly fish, so I agreed to take them fly fishing on September 18. Consequently Jane and I drove Ben, Jessica and William to the Big Thompson River. I packed my extra rods and waders, and when we arrived at the stream, I gave them casting lessons in the parking lot and showed them how to tie on a fly. Once this education was behind us, we approached the stream. I guided William in the morning, and he generated some rises, but they were either refusals or he did not react fast enough. At one point, I took the rod to demonstrate how to cast. I floated a caddis dry along the far bank, and a brown rose and slurped in the fly. I landed it and showed William how to catch and release.

Crystal Clear

After lunch, I worked with Jessica. Her casting was not very good…too much wrist, and she did not pause enough before she executed her forward cast, so the casts were piling up at our feet, and the wind was adding additional difficulty. In an effort to counter these negatives I set her up with a double nymph rig and indicator and showed her how to sling it forehand and backhand. I put a prince nymph on the top and yellow beadhead caddis pupa on the bottom. The stream was relatively low and clear, and this added even more difficulty. We approached a fairly deep run below some white water, and she hooked up with a brown (I saw it flash sideways before it came off), and then added a momentary hookup with another fish. Finally she hooked a rainbow, and she played it to the pool below us before it came off. We worked upstream farther and finally in another deep pool, she hooked and landed a nice rainbow. While wading upstream she spotted a stonefly nymph case. I assumed it washed off a rock and was there for a while. I had her hold it while I took the photo with the super macro. I think I could have focused it slightly better. I set to manual focus and hit the up arrow until it looked focused on the viewing screen.

Stonefly Nymph Case

After Jessica caught her fish, William wanted to fish again. He didn’t put the waders back on, but eventually I got him to hook up in another deeper pool upstream. William’s fish was a rainbow, and he caught it on a prince nymph. When I work with rookies, it really makes me appreciate my accumulated knowledge of fly fishing. Being able to place a cast exactly where you want it is extremely key. Also, my flies are on the water in likely areas far more than novices. I think that may be the most important factor. And of course requiring multiple casts to the target area really reduces the chances of catching a fish.

Fish Landed: 1

Don’t Let Go