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.