Time: 5:00PM – 7:30PM

Location: Philadelphia Mills Open Space Upstream from Idaho Springs

Fish Landed: 5

Clear Creek 06/24/2012 Photo Album

Normally in June I am anxiously checking the stream flows for signs that the water is dropping and perhaps I can fish on a stream by July Fourth. I need to keep reminding myself that it is only June as the air temperatures and the lack of snow pack make the rivers and streams of Colorado look like it is late July or even August. Starting on Friday June 22 through June 26 Denver experienced five successive days with high temperatures over 100 degrees. With this backdrop Dan and I decided at the last minute on Sunday to make a trip to Clear Creek for an evening of fishing.

I picked Dan up at 4PM and we were parked and ready to fish on Clear Creek by 5PM. The eastbound traffic on interstate 70 looked ridiculous so I hoped it would clear by the time we elected to make the return trip. Because of the heat, Dan chose to wade wet with shorts and chacos. We soon discovered that some entrepreneurs purchased land just east of the open space and opened a zip line business. There were at least six wooden towers; three on each side of Clear Creek with wires connecting each tower. We also noticed there were no trespassing signs on all the towers, so we walked beyond the eastern boundary and descended the bank to a stretch where we began fishing in previous years.

Zip Line Towers Take Over Favorite Stretch of Water

Dan began fishing with a Chernobyl ant and waded to the north side while I tied on a lime green trude and fished the half of the stream closest to the road. Fairly quickly I had a refusal and then a couple momentary hook ups on the trude. Dan meanwhile wasn’t having much action. I moved upstream a bit and finally connected on a couple small browns. Dan moved up along the right bank roughly parallel to my position. After I landed a third brown on the trude from beneath an overhanging branch along the bank, I noticed that I was getting close to the first wooden tower, and I wasn’t sure if I was in private water. A man with a red shirt was gathering trash bags at the base of the tower, and eventually he began walking toward me. This could only mean one thing, I’d crossed the line.

I made a hasty retreat back downstream to near the area where we’d begun, however, Dan couldn’t move as fast because wading in chacos requires careful foot placement. When Dan and I met near our starting point, I asked him what the gentleman said, and Dan said he couldn’t hear over the rushing water, but he was motioning with his thumb to get out.

We ascended the bank and walked back up the frontage road to a spot just beyond the western border of the zip line property where we dropped back down to the creek. This time Dan stayed on the south bank closest to the road, and I waded across to fish along the north side. By now Dan had switched to a lime green trude and it wasn’t long before he shouted, and I looked toward him and saw an eleven inch brown trout doing cartwheels as Dan had set the hook pretty hard. He wasn’t about to lose this one. I waded toward hiim and snapped a decent photo then returned to the business of fishing.

Dan Shows Off His Catch

After I moved upstream a bit I reached a ten foot stretch of water where only around two feet of slack water existed between the current and the bank that could hold fish. I flicked a few backhand casts upstream and the current pulled my fly right along the grassy bank. On the third or fourth such drift a brown emerged from the bank and slurped the trude.

As I continued upstream II felt like there were more fish than we were pounding to the surface so I tied on a Chernobyl ant and dropped a beadhead hares ear off the bend. I was mostly using the large foam attractor as an indicator and hoped to get some action on the nymph as I approached the bridge. I fished up to the bridge and then waded underneath and up along the bank on the opposite side. I’d seen kids swimming in this area and didn’t hold much hope so I covered this water fairly quickly and then came to some additional bank side pocket water forty yards above the bridge.

Clear Creek Below Bridge in Open Space

Here in a short but deep hole in front of a large rock a 10-12 inch brown emerged from the depths and sipped in the Chernobyl ant. This occurred no more than five feet across from me and was quite cool to observe. Dan was having difficulty seeing his trude in the bright glare on his side of the river, so I suggested that after I covered two more attractive spots upstream, that we should call it a night and return to the car. Dan found a spot where he could ford the creek while I fished out the stretch of pockets, and then we scrambled over the large boulders along the stream and reached the car by 7:30PM.

Dave's Last Catch on Chernobyl Ant

We had escaped the heat, landed a few fish, and had additional action in the form of momentary hook ups and refusals so we decided to celebrate and wait out the traffic some more by stopping at Tommyknocker’s Brew Pub in Idaho Springs for dinner. The two fish tacos I consumed rank among the best I’ve ever had and the Black Powder Milk Stout only added to my enjoyment. It was a grand early summer evening in Colorado.

Time: 6:00PM – 8:00PM

Location: Downstream from Hidden Valley exit

Fish Landed: 2

Clear Creek 05/18/2012 Photo Album

Dan and I made plans to fish after work on Friday, May 18 at Clear Creek. I planned a retro day and wore my old fishing shirt and took my Fenwick fiberglass fly rod out of mothballs. I was still waiting for my repaired Sage rod, so I let Dan use the Loomis five weight that he has become comfortable with, and I dusted off the old fiberglass since it is a short rod and better for small streams such as Clear Creek.

A change of weather was rolling in to Denver and the skies were overcast most of our time on the stream. Dan met me at the Woolly Mammoth parking lot near the geologic cut out and we continued in my car to the parking lot at the start of the bike trail off the Hidden Valley exit of interstate 70. We hiked down the trail to the area where the creek widens near the large green Blackhawk road sign on I70. Dan waded across to the north bank and I worked up the south or left bank. I began fishing with a yellow Letort hopper and added a beadhead hares ear dropper approximately 2.5 feet below the hopper. Dan used the same flies with a shorter dropper.

Dan Ties on a New Fly Along Clear Creek

In short order Dan landed a small brown, but it took me half an hour or so to connect with my first fish. Over the next 1.5 hours we paralleled each other as we worked up along opposite banks. I landed one more fish in the last half hour. Dan landed a second fish as well but earlier in the two hour window of fishing. I probably failed to land an additional four or five fish after making a hook up. I attribute this to the soft nature of the fiberglass pole, and my failure to adjust my hook set technique to accomodate the increased flex deep into the trunk of the rod.

Dusk on Clear Creek Along Interstate 70

Fishing during the last half hour was very challenging as there was a glare on the water in the dwindling light. I switched the top fly to a parachute hopper during this time to gain better visibility of the white wing, but this only marginally improved things.

Time: 5:15PM – 7:45PM

Location: Downstream from Hidden Valley exit along bike path starting below green I70 sign

Fish Landed: 15

Clear Creek 05/09/2012 Photo Album

Was I padding my numbers? Perhaps a bit, but I really enjoyed my evening on Clear Creek on Wednesday, May 9. Making the relatively short 45 minute drive to Clear Creek just east of Idaho Springs and fishing into the evening when the sun dropped behind the mountains and the air cooled reminded me of evening fishing in Pennsylvania when I began fly fishing.

I threw all my gear in the back of the Santa Fe when I got home from work and departed for the mountains. I had to maneuver through some heavy traffic on I70, but still managed to arrive at Clear Creek by 5:00PM. Initially I planned to fish upstream from the Hidden Valley exit, but there were road construction workers up ahead on the road, so I decided to turn around and park at the bike path trailhead and walk downstream. I hiked down the path beyond my previous furthest point and entered where Clear Creek fans out from its normal narrow chute.

Nice Wide Area

I tied a nice dark olive deer hair caddis to my line and began casting in some very attractive water at the tail of a run over moderately deep water. There were caddis in the air, so I was hoping to get some action on top before resorting to nymphs. However, I covered the nice twenty foot run with no signs of interest from any fish, and the fly was difficult to see in the sun glare and the swirly water, so I elected to tie on the tried and true yellow Letort hopper with a beadhead hares ear nymph dropper.

It didn’t take long before I hooked and landed a small brown on the hares ear as I moved up above the long run to some shallower pocket water. At this point the stream was shallow enough that I could cross, and I concluded that the north or right side of the stream would remain in the sun longer, so I made the move and worked my way up along the right/north bank.

For the remainder of the evening I scrambled over the rock embankment and popped casts to the likely deep slower moving pockets along the north bank. I landed an additional fourteen brown trout mostly ranging in size between seven and ten inches with perhaps two or three stretching the tape to eleven inches. I caught a few no counters and had numerous long distance releases and refusals. The key was to keep moving and not dwell on spots where a fish showed but wouldn’t take. As time passed I also found that the fish liked to hit the trailing nymph as I lifted the rod to make a new cast. Of the fifteen fish landed during the evening two inhaled the hopper and the others bit the hares ear.

Typical Clear Creek Brown

By 7:30 the air had chilled to the point that my hands were cold, and the sun disappeared behind the mountains to the west. I decided to scramble up the steep bank to the shoulder of interstate 70 and walk back to a point where I could cross and return to the car.

Yes, the fish were small, but I enjoyed my evening and remembered fishing during cool spring evenings in Pennsylvania on the Monocacy Creek and Little Lehigh Creek. I’ll do it again if the snowmelt holds off.

Time: 12:00PM – 3:00PM

Location: I70 Overpass west of Hidden Valley exit to near small tunnel before Idaho Springs

Fish Landed: 14

Clear Creek 04/14/2012 Photo Album

The weather on Saturday was supposed to be cool and windy, but still better than Sunday when there was a chance of snow and rain. I was anxious to get in some more fishing before the deterioration in weather following my fun outing on Friday on the Arkansas River. I decided to make a quick trip to Clear Creek on Saturday afternoon after a morning run and a big breakfast. I can reach some nice water on Clear Creek with a relatively short 45 minute drive.

I arrived at a pullout next to Clear Creek below the I70 overpass just west of the Hidden Valley exit by 11:45AM and after downing a sandwich and some carrots, I was on the water by noon. I didn’t want to fish deep with nymphs having done that all day on Friday, so I tied on a Chernobyl ant and trailed a beadhead hares ear nymph. It was quite chilly, probably around 50 degrees, with frequent gusting wind when I began with a thick Adidas pullover windbreaker as my outer layer. I tossed an initial cost up along the left bank while standing next to the I70 bridge support, and as the Chernobyl drifted back it took a dip. I set the hook and landed a small brown on the BHHE on my first cast.

First Cast, First Fish

This was an auspicious start, and I was quite pumped for a great afternoon of fishing. Unfortunately as I made additional casts with the Chernobyl ant, I began to see fish inspect the large flashy ant, but then return to the stream bottom. In other words, I was getting refusals and after not taking the fly, I couldn’t tempt them to take the trailing nymph.

I decided to swap the Chernobyl for a yellow Letort hopper, and kept the trailing beadhead hares ear, and then continued rock hopping along the bank. I began picking up fish at a faster clip, but still noticed the occasional refusal to the hopper. Unfortunately for me, the wind gusts were becoming a huge nuisance, and untangling flies seriously cut into the amount of time my flies were on the water. I was fishing in a southwesterly direction and the wind was blowing from the west, and pushing my tailing flies into the extended line on my backcasts. In addition I snapped my flies off on an evergreen tree once and also looped my line over an evergreen branch another time with an errant hook set. I was able to recover the snapped off flies, but had to retie. The looped line incident required me to hang on a branch as I dangled above the earth until I moved hand over hand to a point where my feet rested on the ground.

At around 1PM, I suspected that there might be BWO nymphs in the drift so I added a RS2 beneath the beadhead hares ear, and made the ridiculous decision to fish with three flies. This did not work out well. I caught a decent number of fish in between unsnarling nasty tangles. I probably had 10 tangles over the course of the three hours that required me to clip off the flies and retie. The other problem was fish taking the hopper or top nymph and then mercilessly tangling the trailing flies around itself and ultimately the fly in the fish’s mouth.

A Monster by Clear Creek Standards

In spite of all this tangle misery, I landed eleven fish by 2:30 by moving along the rocky bank quickly and popping three to four casts in the small slots and pockets between the bank and fast current. The fish were all browns in the 7-9 inch range with an occasional 10-11 inch monster. Two fish inhaled the hopper, one or two nabbed the RS2, and the remainder grabbed the beadhead hares ear.

Clear Creek Below Interstate 70

At 2:30 the sky was clouding up more than usual and the wind was picking up and I was frustrated with all the entanglements, so I decided to clip everything off and try a dry fly. I pinched a size 16 dark olive deer hair caddis from my frontpack foam patch and tied it to my line. It didn’t take long for a feisty brown to rise and smash the caddis. I continued moving up the bank at a rapid pace fluttering the caddis in all the likely pockets and caught two more browns bringing my total to 14. At this point it was slightly after 3PM and the sky was even darker and I was quite chilled, so I decided to head back to Denver.

Despite the frustration of the wind and the tangles, I explored a new stretch of water on Clear Creek and had quite a bit of success. I wish I’d gone to the single dry fly earlier to avoid a lot of frustration, but a lesson was learned for future trips.

Time: 11:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: Whitewater Park above Lawson for first two hours then HIdden Valley exit of I70 upstream just beyond Central City Parkway bridge

Fish Landed: 6

Clear Creek 03/25/2012 Photo Album

After attending Cody Scott’s informative presentation on fishing Clear Creek on St. Patrick’s Day at the Blue Quill Angler I was anxious to apply some of my new found knowledge. Unfortunately I picked up a nasty head cold beginning on Tuesday, and the congestion was invading all parts of my head by Sunday. But it was another beautiful unseasonably warm early spring day, and I’d spent Saturday building a raised bed next to the patio, so I decided to make a short trip to Clear Creek.

One of the stretches Cody mentioned was Clear Creek west of the Whitewater Park by Lawson. He assisted in electroshocking Clear Creek in 2011, and discovered that the fish density was greatest in this area. I exited I70 at Lawson and followed the frontage road underneath the highway and saw an immediate pullout on the left. I wasn’t certain this was the correct place but decided to give it a try. I initially rigged up with a Chernobyl ant and trailed a chartreuse copper john and olive midge larva. I worked my way upstream through some attractive water and noticed one small brown inspect the Chernobyl. But that was the extent of action and after a half hour of unproductive prospecting, I encountered a young man who had waded into the stream fifty yards above me. Since I was between private homes, I didn’t want to create an encounter, so I decided to retreat back to the car and search for the whitewater park.

I turned left off the frontage road and drove a short distance until I saw a sign by a parking lot denoting Whitewater Park. I found a parking spot and grabbed my rod and noticed three or four fishermen already working the water in this area. The stream had been modified in this stretch to a series of perhaps twenty pools. Each pool had a short waterfall or riffle at the top, then a run that fanned out into a nice deep pool. I hiked the path along the south bank and circled above the last fishermen already in the water and began fishing near the western end of Whitewater Park with perhaps five or six pool sections. I continued fishing the dry/dropper combination but experienced no action, so I decided to switch to an indicator with a weighted rubber leg stonefly nymph and reattached the olive midge larva.

Whitewater Park on Clear Creek

I worked these flies through the deep pools and thoroughly drifted the seams along the runs at the top of each pool. I wasn’t having any success and didn’t even see fish. Perhaps the fishing would improve beyond the stream improvement stretch? I went a bit beyond the last manmade pool, but continued to be thwarted in my efforts to catch a single fish. I was also observing an increasing quantity of snow and ice due to the narrow nature of the creek bed with steep banks on both sides. It was now approaching 2PM, and I was getting hungry so I decided to retreat to the parking lot.

I grabbed my lunch bag and found a nice large smooth rock to rest on while I ate my lunch and observed the water. Another fisherman was prospecting the head of a pool across from the parking lot with a spinning rod, but didn’t seem to be having any success. I decided to drive further downstream after lunch to water that was perhaps warmer and more open to the sun.

I hopped back on I70 and drove beyond Idaho Springs to the Hidden Valley exit where I’d caught my last two fish of 2011. I grabbed my rod and descended the bank next to where I parked and decided to test the wide riffle stretch down the bank from the car and then work my way upstream underneath I70. By now I’d clipped off the stonefly, added a split shot and attached a beadhead hares ear and beadhead RS2. I cast across the middle section of the riffles and let my flies swing at the end of the drift and felt a tug and miraculously landed my first small brown of the day. At least I wasn’t going to get skunked.

First Brown Landed

I moved up to the top of the pool, but by now some dark gray clouds moved in and blocked the sun, and I was feeling quite chilly in my fishing shirt, so I reeled up my line and climbed back up the bank to the car to add a fleece layer. When I returned to the stream I began lower in the run and fairly quickly I hooked a second small brown on the RS2 as it began to swing at the tail of the drift. I also noticed a sporadic rise or two along the far bank. Perhaps the cloud cover had initiated a BWO hatch?

I moved upstream to an area under the I70 eastbound ramp and landed two more small browns in some riffles and pockets. The fish seemed to be taking the fly just as it began  to swing. One of the ramp fish took the beadhead hares ear and the other grabbed the RS2. The next stretch of water was fairly unattractive so I quickly moved to the north side of I70 and worked up around the curve behind the store that sells propane. I covered quite a bit of water with no success and then encountered another fisherman walking back along the south bank presumably to his car. We chatted a bit, and he said he’d landed a few fish on some sort of tiny tinsel fly.

Largest Fish of the Day

In a nice run just before the Central City Parkway bridge I landed perhaps my largest fish of the day, still only perhaps 10 inches, on the beadhead hares ear. I continued upstream through a narrow channelized stretch where the DOT was doing some sort of excavation. Just above this there was a long deep pool right under I70. I slowly worked my way to a position on a large flat submerged rock and observed the water. Suddenly I spotted a dimple eight feet across from me. I still had my nymphs and indicator on, so decided to switch to a dry fly. It was getting late in the afternoon, and I was considering quitting, so why not end the day by casting some dries?

I tied on a CDC BWO and cast above where I’d seen the rise. It was difficult to follow the tiny gray fluff, but I believe I noticed a refusal to my fly. But as I made a couple more casts to the same general area, I observed several rises several feet out from the cement wall under the bridge and across from me. I decided to shoot a cast to that general area even though I certainly couldn’t follow my fly from that distance in the shadows of the bridge. But as I watched I saw a fish sip something on the surface so set the hook and amazingly hooked a brown. This brown was probably equal in size the the previous fish, and I quickly played it to the net.

I meticulously dried the CDC wing and then attempted to catch the fish that had resumed rising sporadically across from me. I wasn’t seeing any BWO’s in the air, but did notice four or five midges buzzing about. Another fish rose across and below me near the tail of the long pool so I fired some long casts down and across, but this didn’t result in any hookups. Finally I gave up on the deep pool and hiked under the I70 bridge and crossed to the opposite bank where I climbed back up to the frontage road and returned to the car. The water on the other side of the bridge looked quite attractive, and I made a mental note to give it a try on a future trip.

Time: 12:00PM – 2:30PM

Location: Hidden Valley Exit Off of Interstate 70

Fish Landed: 2

Web Album Link

The days remaining in 2011 were dwindling, particularly the days nice enough to get out on a stream and fish. With unseasonably warm days forecast for Thursday and Friday, November 17-18 I cleared an afternoon on Friday to resume my quest to surpass the 2010 cumulative fish count. I wanted a destination within an hour of Denver and limited my options to Clear Creek, Bear Creek or the South Platte River. The South Platte flows were extremely low at 50 cfs, and that makes for difficult fishing. Bear Creek is a very small stream, and low fall conditions would make this a challenge as well. By process of elimination I chose Clear Creek.

I left work at 10:30AM, returned home and tossed all my fishing gear in the Santa Fe including a lunch. I arrived at the Hidden Valley exit off of interstate 70 at noon and parked at the bike path trailhead and ate my lunch. I was on the water by 12:15 and elected to walk down the path to a place where the stream fans out into a nice slow moving deep pool. I discovered there was a five foot wide ice ledge along the side that I was fishing from. The water wasn’t very deep so I tied on a parachute hopper and added a beadhead hares ear and then a RS2 as the point fly.

I began casting to the main central run and drifting my flies along the seams into the center of the pool as it fanned out into the deepest section but I had no results. Next I probed the deep water within a couple feet of the ice shelf and moved to the top of the pool with no success. I hiked along the bike trail toward the car and dropped down to a couple sections where there were nice deep slow moving troughs along the south bank, and again did not experience any success. In fact, I did not spot a single fish and the area I was fishing was totally covered by the shadows of the hills running along the south side of the narrow valley.

When I arrived at the car, I carefully picked my way down the steep bank and fished the nice wide deep pool below the parking area. Judging from the well worn paths, this area received a lot of pressure, and sure enough I couldn’t connect with any fish in spite of thorough prospecting of the tail, midsection, and top of the area. This pool had a wider shelf of ice along my side of the stream, and I broke a few chunks loose in order to wade closer to the top of the pool for some nice drifts.

Catching number 531 was beginning to look quite bleak as I contemplated my next move. The stream made a forty-five degree bend to the north and then flowed under the on ramp to I70 and then under the eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway. It appeared that the sun was hitting Clear Creek on the other side of the highway, so I decided to make my way under the highway and explore the north side. As I approached the first bridge I noticed some nice short pockets so I unclipped the flies and tossed a cast along the left bank. As I lifted my rod to make a second cast, I felt a throb and set the hook and spotted a small brown thrashing in the water. Could this be the one? Unfortunately when I brought the fish to my net I noticed that the tiny RS2 was embedded in the side of the small brown, and I’d foul hooked the fish. I’d rather settle for a tie than count a foul hooked fish so I quickly released the fish and resumed my quest.

At least I’d now found evidence that fish were in the stream and perhaps showing some interest in following a fly and eating. I was beginning to doubt the dry/dropper strategy, but before switching to an indicator and fishing deeper, I decided to fish the existing flies in the shadows under the highway. I could switch to deep nymphs once I exited to the sunny north side. There was a nice deep slot opposite where I’d foul hooked the small brown so I waded into the stream a bit and cast the hopper and nymphs to the top of the slot and let it drift to the tail. Just as the flies began to drag at the tail I noticed a flash and set the hook and played a nine inch brown trout to my net. This fish was hooked in the mouth by the RS2 and represented the much sought after number 531 for the 2011 season. I photographed the brown on top of a nice waist high rock and released it to resume its winter survival ordeal.

Fish That Put Me Over the Top

I moved up along the stream a bit further and in short order discovered that my landing net was no longer clipped to my Fishpond front pack configuration. Apparently in my euphoria over catching a fish, I’d forgotten that the net was decoupled, and I’d allowed it to drift down the stream. I was cursing myself as I retraced my steps to the large rock, and sure enough it wasn’t visible. I’d lowered the fish in the net to the water, removed the hook, released the fish and gathered my line while allowing the net to drift away. Could I walk downstream and find the net lodged on a rock or stick? I was skeptical but decided to scramble downstream to the car and have a look. Fortunately when I got to the parking area and looked downstream I saw my net lodged against a large rock protruding above some shallow riffles. I quickly scrambled down the bank and waded to the shallow riffle area and retrieved my net.

Next I moved back up under the I70 overpass and fished some additional interesting pockets and slots to no avail. I emerged out of the shadows on the north side of the highway and circled past some wide shallow unattractive areas until I approached a nice area with riffles running three to four feet deep. I made some nice casts here but saw no action and moved to another nice run with some depth along the rocky northeast bank. While standing at the tail of the run, I spotted a small brown briefly look at my fly, but it quickly returned to its holding spot and then ignored more repeated drifts over it.

This provoked me to remove the hopper, and switch to a strike indicator and split shot with the same two nymphs that I’d been fishing below the split shot. I worked the upper part of the run I was in and then moved up to the next attractive water. Here there was a large protruding midstream rock and then eight feet below a large subsurface rock and then a nice soft pocket below that. I drifted the nymphs through the soft pocket repeatedly with not action, and then waded up a bit to cast into the short pocket behind the protruding rock. The combination of the two rocks created a situation where the current was being sucked back upstream against the large rock so my indicator moved back toward the rock and remained stationary. After allowing it to sit motionless for a bit I lifted my rod to recast, but as I did so, a fish grabbed the beadhead hares ear. This fish was around eleven inches and I quickly played it to my recovered net, photographed and released it.

A Second Larger Brown

I continued up the stream a bit further, but the water was largely unattractive as it widened out into shallow riffles. Next I would need to continue underneath the highway into the shadows again, and it was around 2:30 and I wasn’t excited about going back into the shade as the temperatures began to decline so I called it a day satisfied that I’d landed two fish and surpassed my cumulative fish count of 2010.

Nice Stretch of Water North of Interstate 70

Time: 2:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Downstream from Hidden Valley exit 0f I70 along bike path

Fish Landed: 8

Clear Creek 10/3/2011 Photo Album

The gray parachute hopper produced for half an hour on Clear Creek during my last visit and worked great on Tarryall Creek so I was anxious to return to Clear Creek with a fresh supply. During my last visit I vowed to cross to the opposite bank and fish back to the parking lot since I felt the stream flows remained high and few fishermen ventured to the bank next to I70.

I finished closing August at work and quickly logged off my computer and drove home, ate lunch and tossed all my fishing gear in the Santa Fe. I left the house at 12:45 and arrived at the parking area near the Hidden Valley exit off I70 by 1:30. By the time I put on my waders and rigged my rod and hiked down the path, crossed the stream and then hiked down the shoulder of I70 it was 2PM.

Next to Interstate 70

I tied on a parachute hopper and immediately had a refusal and then experienced a momentary hook up and then foul hooked a brown. I had lots of action but nothing to show for it. I continued working all the likely pockets and gradually landed a few fish, but there were more refusals than fish to show for my efforts. After I’d landed three fish, I decided to try something different and replaced the hopper with a lime green trude and seeing a few small mayflies in the air prompted me to add a RS2. In a nice narrow pool next to the bank I spotted three or four fish rising sporadically and after numerous casts got a 10 inch brown to grab the RS2.

Clear Creek Brown

This combination however was not working consistently so I tried a Chernobyl ant trailing the RS2. This caught one brown on the RS2, but that was it, and I wasn’t even seeing refusals to the Chernobyl so I returned to the gray parachute hopper. It was around this time with a fish count of five that somehow my plastic canister that contained my large dry flies and attractors fell out of my front pack. I immediately dropped my rod so I could use both hands to scoop the plastic container from the stream. In the process of doing all this I broke the rope that connects my wading stick to my belt. I recovered my rod and reel and then began looking for the rope and clip that previously attached my stick to my belt. Eventually I realized it was still on my belt, but it slid around behind me.

I looked for a means to reattach the wading staff to my belt, but didn’t see a solution, so I proceeded upstream casting the parahopper to likely pockets and wedging the stick in rocks as I moved along. This worked fairly well as I landed three more browns among numerous refusals. After ten minutes of fishing I spotted audio cables among the jumble of rocks along the creek bank. The cables were coiled and held by a twisty so I removed the twisty and used it to connect the remaining rope to the wading staff. Then as a safety net I used the audio cables to connect the stick to the belt in case the twisty couldn’t handle the stress. This setup sufficed until I returned to the car at around 5PM.

Makeshift Tether Found in I70 Debris

Time: 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Downstream from Hidden Valley exit off of I70 along bike path

Fish Landed: 10

Clear Creek 9/26/2011 Photo Album

When I arrived at work on Monday and checked with the office manager, I discovered that she hadn’t finished her piece of August closing so I completed my routine weekly reports. The city of Denver is doing work on the water, sewer, and electrical lines in front of our studio and the water was cut off, so I decided it was a good time to take the afternoon off and go fishing. By the time I drove home, ate lunch, loaded the car and drove to Clear Creek it was around 1:30. It took me another 15 minutes to gear up and then I hiked down the bike path for another 10 minutes before I began fishing at 2PM.

Scenic Clear Creek by Interstate 70

I began with the traditional yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear. I picked up a couple small browns (6-8 inches) on the beadhead and then as it clouded up I added a RS2. I was covering a lot of water as I was fishing mainly the pockets along my side of the creek. The section I was in was quite fast with the main current a straight chute down the center of the streambed, and the flows were still strong enough that I couldn’t find a safe spot to cross to the north side, although I would have loved to explore those pockets. Eventually I swapped out the hopper for a Chernobyl ant, and I landed a couple small fish on the Chernobyl. But I was experiencing a huge quantity of refusals and foul hooked fish as I reacted to surface movement and hooked fish on the trailing nymphs.

Typical Small Brown Caught Early Afternoon

After an hour and a half I’d landed five small brown trout and experienced a huge amount of frustration due to refusals, foul hooked fish and resultant tangles. Since the fish were obviously looking to the surface I clipped off the nymphs and started to experiment with attractor dries. First I tied on a royal stimulator that I’d purchased, but that gained me one refusal and then not even any looks. Next I rummaged through my small plastic cylindrical container where I stash my large dry flies and attractors, and I noticed a gray parachute hopper. My son Dan told me he caught four rainbows in a trout pond over the weekend on the gray parachute hopper I’d given him, and they slurped it with confidence. I grabbed the parahopper and tied it on to my tippet and began working the side pockets.

Bigger Fish Liked Parahopper

It was magical. Over the next half hour I landed five brown trout and each fish was larger than any of the fish I landed in the first hour and a half. The fish didn’t typically jump on the fly on the first cast, but usually the second or third, and they exhibited a confident take as they calmly rose and sipped it in. Normally I’m a big believer that reading water, fishing where there is less pressure and making good presentations is more important than fly selection. But Clear Creek convinced me that sometimes fly choice can make a big difference.

I’d like to return to Clear Creek while the weather remains nice and cross to the north bank and see if the parachute hopper can continue to work its magic. Unfortunately I lost the productive parahopper in a tree, and my inventory is getting quite low so I’ll need to tie some more.

The Productive Parahopper

Time: 2:00PM – 5:30PM

Location: Upstream from Philadelphia Mills Access and then from trailer park upstream east of Idaho Springs

Fish Landed: 13

Clear Creek 08/15/2011 Photo Album

I enjoyed the success on Clear Creek, and I was caught up at work, so I decided to leave work at noon on Monday and return to the water Dan and I fished on Sunday. I arrived around 1:30 and was on the stream at around 2PM. I remained on the frontage road and fished water upstream from where Dan and I ended on Sunday. This water was faster and required more edge fishing than the previous day.

I began with the gray Letort hopper and had a few refusals before finally hooking a fish. Eventually I added a beadhead hares ear and worked my way upstream mostly fishing the pockets and slots along the south bank. By 3PM I’d covered a quarter mile or so and landed 8 browns between 7 and 10 inches long. Most of the browns took the hopper, but several grabbed the hares ear. It seemed the hares ear worked better in the faster runs and the hopper produced in the slower water along the edge.

Small Clear Creek Brown Trout

I spotted one green drake shortly after I began fishing and tied on a green drake I’d bought at Taylor Creek Fly Shop in Basalt, but this didn’t produce. Next I tried a comparadun I’d tied with an olive CDC body. I promptly hooked this in a spruce tree on my backcast and had to tear it off along with a large portion of my tippet. The green drake ploy didn’t seem to work, so I tried a yellow Letort hopper and BHHE.

At 3PM I decided to go back to the car and drive east beyond Idaho Springs. I exited I70 at the last exit going east and drove on the frontage road over a hill. I came to an intersection with a trailer park ahead of me and a dirt road that turned left and went underneath I70. I liked the idea of fishing Clear Creek on the north side of the interstate so I parked along the dirt road and went down the rocky bank. I immediately caught a couple small browns plus a few too small to count in some tiny pockets tight to the rocky bank.

Interstate 70 is 50 Yards Away

Action slowed however as I reached the overpass and some sweet water around the bend north of the overpass produced only refusals. I switched to a size 14 olive body caddis and this enabled me to land three more browns as I covered quite a bit of water north of the Idaho Springs landscape maintenance facility.