Time: 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Philadelphia Mills Open Space Area west of Idaho Springs

Fish Landed: 9

Clear Creek 08/14/2011 Photo Album

Dan called while I was in Eagle and wanted to fish on Sunday, so I suggested we could meet in Idaho Springs and fish in Clear Creek on my return trip. As I drove along Clear Creek on my way to Eagle I observed that the stream was still somewhat high but clear as its name suggests. I was hoping that the fish would still be hungry from the protracted snow melt.

Jane drove on ahead to Denver, and I met Dan at a parking lot near interstate 70 in Idaho Springs. We transferred Dan’s gear to my car and drove west on route 6 paralleling the interstate. We turned into the open space and crossed an old bridge and parked. We both got into our waders, and although I noticed some dark clouds to the west, I eschewed my raincoat. We hiked back across the bridge then along the shoulder of the road heading back east until a point where the stream bends and runs along the road.

Dan started with a Chernobyl ant with a beadhead hares ear, and I tied on a gray Letort hopper with no dropper. Almost immediately I experienced several refusals to the hopper and then hooked and landed a small fish. Meanwhile nothing was looking at Dan’s Chernobyl, so we tied on a yellow Letort hopper and paired it with the BHHE.

Brown Trout from Clear Creek

After we’d changed Dan out, there was a spot with an overhanging branch. I attempted to shoot a cast back under the branch and succeeded only to see a refusal to my hopper. On a subsequent cast I looped my line over the branch, and as the hopper dangled above the water, a trout leaped and tried to grab it. Next I cast further upstream and hooked another branch. I wasn’t able to free the fly, so I suggested that Dan make a cast while I held my rod and line back so as not to interfere with his cast. Sure enough he flicked a cast under the branch and a small brown rose up and smashed his hopper.

The fly change worked and Dan began landing browns on the hopper. The river spread out near the bend and afforded us the ability to fish together in parallel. Dan took the north shore and I remained on the more shaded south bank. I watched Dan make an expert cast within a foot of the bank near some evergreen trees and a nice brown rose and took his fly.

Dan Perched on Rock in Clear Creek

As this was taking place I noticed two lumbering green drake naturals buzzing up from the stream. Also the dark clouds were moving closer. I clipped off my hopper and tied on one of the bushy green drakes I’d bought at the Conejos River Angler shop. This was a magical move as I landed a couple fish on the first cast. It started to rain lightly, and I called for Dan to come over so I could tie a green drake on his line. He came over, and I tied on the second and last bushy green drake that I’d purchased. I told him to test it in a nice long pocket above us, and a fish immediately rose and smashed it.

Now the intensity of the rain increased, and I told Dan I was going to return to the car and get my rain coat. As I walked along the road, it rained pretty hard and my fishing shirt was saturated by the time I got to the car. I removed my shirt and went with my T-shirt with my raincoat on top of it. I grabbed Dan’s net, raincoat, and a vial of white powder for drying flies and returned to where Dan was positioned. I fully expected him to report that he’d landed three or four fish on the green drake while I was gone. Unfortunately he announced that he’d snapped the fly off on the first fly that rose and then tied on a bushy caddis and landed a fish on that fly.

Of course the rain ended when I got to the car, and the storm clouds were replaced with partly cloudy skies and occasional sun. When the weather changed, the fishing also deteriorated. We worked the stream a bit more, and I landed a couple fish but the shadows and sun glare made it difficult to follow our flies. Eventually as we neared the bridge, we saw another fisherman, so we exited the stream and hiked back across the bridge. I suggested we go upstream from the parking lot and fish for another hour until 5PM so we scrambled over some large boulders on the steep bank just below interstate 70.

We got to a spot where the river spread out and there was a nice long smooth pool on the opposite side so we waded a bit beyond midstream and made some casts. Dan got a refusal on his Chernobyl, and I had one on my fly. I saw several mayflies that looked like PMD’s so I tied on the gray comparadun and flicked it out near a rock and let it drift the bottom half of the pool. At the very tail a small brown sipped it in. We made a few futile attempts in the pockets above the long pool, but as 5PM approached we decided to call it a day and return to Denver.

Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM

Location: Philadelphia Mills Open Space

Fish Landed: 3

Clear Creek 10/29/2010 Photo Album

Denver high temperatures were projected to be in the 70’s on Friday, so I decided to give fly fishing another try for the 2010 season. Since it was quite chilly in the morning I busied myself running errands and taking care of other miscellaneous chores, as I waited for the fall sun to warm up the air. I left the house at around 12:30 and headed to Clear Creek west of Idaho Springs. I arrived at the Philadelphia Mills Open Space parking lot and was dipping my boots into the water at 1:30PM.

Clear Creek with I70 Above

The stream was up a bit from the September low point probably due to melting snow in the high elevations. I began fishing just above the bridge and tied on an olive body deer hair caddis. I covered 30-40 yards of water with no success, and concluded that this was futile with the water temperature quite cold due to snow melt, so I tied on a Chernobyl ant trailing a beadhead hares ear on a long 2.5 foot dropper. I fished this combination for an hour or so. At one point I flicked it into an eddy behind a large boulder next to the bank and spotted a fish rising to inspect the Chernobyl, but no take. When I got close to the eddy, I spotted several fish hovering in the slack water below the rock. I cast above the rock and felt a tug and landed a small brown trout on the BHHE. I could see at least five trout in this area, but once I landed the small brown, they were showing no interest in my offering so I moved on and considered returning on my way back at the end of the day.

The wind began to gust in frequent intervals, and I ended up with several significant tangles. The wind was blowing from the north across my backcast, and this was causing the double flies to catch my fly line on the forward stroke. I spent fifteen minutes trying to undo one particularly nasty tangle that resulted in tight knots that I picked apart with the point of two fly hooks.

Once I’d saved my leader from the epic tangle, I decided to go to an olive woolly bugger with a black marabou tail. I began working the deep pools of which there were quite a few. I tried casting up into the pools from below and bouncing the bugger with an up and down movement. I experimented with casting across the center current and letting the line drag the streamer down and across. The last technique was to cast three quarters downstream and strip the fly back across and then up toward me. I was enjoying the casting and creativity. I’d fished the bottom of a nice hole and placed the rod in my left hand while I grasped my wading stick to move to the top of the pool and try some downstream presentations. The rod was out over the water and the woolly bugger was dangling in the current. When I glanced back to look at my fly I saw a fish quickly move to the surface and grab the fly. I set the hook and landed my largest trout of the day; all of eight inches. It had extremely dark coloration; in fact so dark that I thought it was a catfish at first.

Largest Fish from Friday

With this positive reinforcement, I continued working the woolly bugger with renewed enthusiasm. But alas it wasn’t drawing any attention, and in fact I wasn’t even seeing any fish. At around 3PM the sun was getting lower in the sky and casting shadows across much of the water, and I was bored with the lack of action, so I hiked up the steep bank and walked back toward the car on the shoulder of interstate 70. When I reached a point which I thought contained the large boulder with the pod of brown trout, I dropped back down to the stream. However, I was mistaken and had to wade downstream along the edge of the bank for a bit before I eventually found the sought after boulder.

Olive Woolly Bugger

I stopped above the boulder and swung the streamer down from above and then twitched it through the pocket in front of the rock. I kept recasting and feeding out a bit more line. On the sixth cast the fly swung back toward the side of the boulder, and I felt a bump and hooked and landed a small brown similar in size to the first fish of the day. Next I waded to the top side of the large boulder and peered over the top into the eddy behind it. I spotted a decent sized trout along the stream bottom in the middle of the eddy. I twitched 5-10 casts through the eddy, but the observed trout was ignoring my efforts.

I thought perhaps the trout would move to something on top so I tried the olive deer hair caddis, and the targeted fish actually moved up toward it a bit but rejected. Maybe I needed something small? Next I tied on a CDC BWO and tried to tantalize it with the tiny olive morsel. Gusting winds might be blowing ants in the water? I tied on a parachute ant and let it spin in the eddy, but the fish showed no interest. That was enough fun. I allowed the smart eddy resident alone and quit fishing for the day.

Time: 6:00PM – 9:00PM

Location: Philadelphia Mills Open Space

Fish Landed: 1

When playing tennis with Dan on the weekend, he asked whether I’d be interested in fishing the South Platte some night after work. I replied that I needed to check the conditions on the South Platte, but I was definitely interested in some after work fishing.

I checked the South Platte and flows were elevated to 366, but not coming from the bottom of the dam, and the previous week, while they worked on the dam, the flows were cut to a low level during the heat wave. Flies and Lies shop took temperature readings in the low 70’s. I decided the South Platte probably wasn’t a good choice as conditions were fluctuating too much.

I emailed Dan and told him the South Platte probably wasn’t a good choice, but I’d had a blast on Clear Creek, and that was only an hour away, so why not give that a try. He replied that he was in, and could we go on Monday after work. I loaded the car and picked Dan up at 5:15 and we drove to the Philadelphia Mills open space and parked a bit west of my Friday venture. There were several other fishermen that we worked around. We crossed the bridge and went down the road to the midpoint of the area I’d fished on Friday. I tied a Chernobyl Ant on for Dan, and he began fishing the likely pockets. I didn’t tie on a fly until Dan had been fishing for an hour or so. Dan landed a couple decent trout by Clear Creek standards in the first hour on the Chernobyl. He followed his fly and saw the trout take and set the hook. He was doing quite well, so I tied on a caddis and began fishing in parallel with him. I was still helping him a bit and netting the fish for him, so I was fishing sporadically.

When we reached one of the fishermen, we skirted him and re-entered the stream 40 yards further upstream. Dan caught another rainbow along the left bank in the glare, and I was quite impressed. I still wasn’t having luck, so I swapped the caddis for a royal stimulator. The stimulator brought a few refusals, but still no fish. We encountered another fisherman, so once again went around and under the bridge near where we parked. We went upstream from the bridge quite a ways while prospecting some narrow slots along the bank with no success. Finally near the bend where the creek widened out a bit, Dan landed a fourth brown that he hooked when he felt it as he couldn’t follow his fly in the low light and glare.

When we got to the wide area at the bend, there was a smooth pool on the far side. I spotted a fish working on the surface so I waded into position across from the pool. I had switched to a Chernobyl and tossed five to ten casts in the pool and had several refusals. It was now getting pretty dark at 8:30 or so, so I used my headlamp and switched out the Chernobyl for a light gray caddis. I couldn’t see my fly when I resumed casting, but watched for a rise in the vicinity of where I thought my fly was. I hooked and landed a tiny no-counter towards the top third of the pool. Dan was laughing at the minnow as I released it. I dried my fly and cast toward the middle and above where I’d seen the initial fish working. I felt a tug and set the hook and landed a 9 inch brown to prevent a skunking. We both decided to head back to the car over the boulder field while there was still a glimmer of remaining light.

Time: 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Philadelphia Mills Open Space then east of Hidden Valley

Fish Landed: 14

Clear Creek 07/23/2010 Photo Album

On Friday morning I returned to work and finished the commentary package for June. I left work at around 11AM and returned home. I’d left my fishing gear in the car hoping to get a trip in to a closer destination that allowed me to return in time to accompany Jane to pick up Dan at DIA as he returned from three weeks in China. Originally I was considering the North Fork of the St. Vrain at Wild Basin within RMNP, but I wasn’t going to depart until around noon, so that crimped my fishing time. Next I considered Bear Creek, Boulder Creek and Clear Creek. I could make it to each of these destinations in an hour or less. I’d read reports on the Orvis store email and on Blue Quill Anglers recommending Clear Creek as a decent nearby fishing destination. I called Blue Quill Anglers, and asked Chris, the young man who answered the phone, for a recommended stretch of Clear Creek.

He pitched the Clear Creek Canyon stretch between Floyd Hill and Golden, but he fishes it in the evening. Since it was a very warm day again with minimal cloud cover I decided to drive further west beyond Idaho Springs to an area called Philadelphia Mills Open Space. I’d fished here several years ago. I parked on the eastbound side of the Frontage Road and began fishing at the eastern edge of the open space. I tied on a Chernobyl Ant and landed a brown and cutbow from the first two deep slots I tried. This hot fishing continued for the next three hours as I landed 13 trout, three bows and the remainder browns. All fish were in the 6-10 inch range, but quite feisty.

At around 2PM, I began to notice sporadic green drakes taking off, so I tied on a green drake comparadun and prospected the likely locations. This produced three trout, but then I experienced a dry spell so I reverted to the Chernobyl. Once again the Chernobyl came through and I picked up the remaining six trout. At around 4PM the action slowed considerably so I decided to experiment and drive back down I70 toward Denver and try an area east of Idaho Springs.

I exited at Hidden Valley and then turned left and drove .2 miles on the frontage road to a place where it dead ended, and a bike trail began. I parked and grabbed my rod and hiked down the bike path .2-.3 miles or so to a place where the stream fanned out a bit from the narrow fast chute that characterized much of the stretch. I began working some deep slow areas between the bank and stronger current. I spotted a brown holding in the water three feet behind a boulder and tossed the hopper/dropper above it, but there was no interest. Since I’d sighted a fish, I decided to switch flies and try to entice it. I removed the hopper/dropper and tied on a lime green trude. Once again there was no sign of interest. Next I clipped off the trude and tied on an olive-brown deer hair caddis. On the third drift the brown drifted up and sipped the caddis.

After releasing the fish, I moved up 5-8 feet and began casting again. Once again I spotted a trout hugging the bottom. This fish was demonstrating no interest in the caddis. I decided to try something different and tied on the royal stimulator on top and trailed the caddis. On my first cast I created a serious tangle between the two flies. As I was untangling my mess along the edge of the stream three rafts went by and pulled in to the bank just below me. I could still see my target fish. But then a flotilla of rafts, perhaps five, came down the rapids and pulled in practically next to my elbow. Occupants jumped out of the rafts, and the guides encouraged them to climb the bank and jump in the creek and float the rapids in their life jackets. While I was untangling, one of the guides asked me how I was doing. I replied that I was doing pretty well until they arrived. He told me that unfortunately this was the only slow spot on their drift and, therefore, they were going swim here. I replied that didn’t do me much good, and climbed the bank and hiked upstream beyond the narrow chute stretch.

Once I untangled, I continued prospecting some nice water and no additional rafts appeared. I landed two more trout in the 7-8 inch range and when I reached the minivan, called it a day.