Time: 1:15PM – 3:15PM

Location: The first point after tunnel 1 where the stream crosses to the north side of the highway when driving west through Clear Creek canyon.

Fish Landed: 13

Clear Creek 10/25/2014 Photo Album

The original plan for the last weekend in October was to hike and fish with Jane on Friday, work on chores around the house on Saturday, and then hike and fish again on Sunday. Fortunately, the major task of repairing a broken shelf in the garage did not take as long as anticipated, and the high temperature in Denver was once again expected to be in the low 80’s, so I made a last minute decision to visit Clear Creek. I could not forego fishing on such a beautiful day in late October.

Normally a trip to Clear Creek is a blatant number boosting gambit, but on my last visit during the summer I discovered the small fish in Clear Creek canyon were quite selective thus requiring more focus than I normally associate with this small stream. I was apprehensive that the same situation would evolve on Saturday, particularly given the late October date and the scarcity of aquatic insects. As usual most of the pullouts were occupied with numerous cars as I slowly cruised west on route six looking for the ideal spot to wet a line in the early afternoon. The canyon is narrow at most places, so I was mainly looking for a stretch of water that would be in sunlight for a few hours.

Finally a few miles after passing through tunnel number one I reached a place where the creek crossed beneath the highway and ran for a half mile along the north side of the road, and this stretch was bathed in sunlight. I executed a U-turn and parked in a pullout that already contained two cars. I assumed that the fishermen from these cars were in the water directly across from the pullout, and I planned to walk east on the shoulder and then fish back upstream to the car. When I was ready with my Loomis five weight, I followed my plan and walked along the narrow shoulder to a point where I could descend the steep rocky bank without excessive risk of injury.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UGILuD67vvM/VE3AuieKxFI/AAAAAAAAoIo/H00OVIbZyxc/s144-c-o/PA250054.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10252014ClearCreek#6074723378152522834″ caption=”Near the Beginning of My Fishing Outing on Clear Creek” type=”image” alt=”PA250054.JPG” ]

When I reached the edge of the water, I decided to begin with a dark olive size 16 deer hair caddis since this fly performed well on Friday afternoon. The canyon walls at my starting point were fairly steep on both sides, and this topography forced the water through a fairly narrow channel. Despite the high velocity in the middle of the stream, quite a few nice pockets presented themselves for me to prospect. I began popping quick casts into these areas. This type of fishing yielded short drifts, but I landed two small brown trout in a short amount of time.

I continued the strategy of making a few quick casts in all the likely spots as I moved at a fairly rapid pace upstream. During the first half hour I managed two more browns in addition to the two in the initial set of pockets, but then I noticed two or three fish in succession that rose up to inspect the caddis but then settled back near the bottom. The caddis was also requiring more frequent trips to my dry shake canister in addition to developing a rejection complex, so I elected to replace it with a size 12 stimulator with a gray body. The large bushy dry fly could support a beadhead dropper, so I added a short 18 inch section of tippet and tied on a salvation nymph.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-tOmsTir3MYc/VE3AvFgU3rI/AAAAAAAAoIw/DJmH-8qkHmo/s144-c-o/PA250055.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10252014ClearCreek#6074723387556814514″ caption=”A Very Sweet Pool Ahead” type=”image” alt=”PA250055.JPG” ]

With the change of flies I decided to cover the water that yielded refusals from two fish, and each fish stopped the stimulator in its tracks by gobbling the trailing salvation nymph. It was pretty clear that the brown trout in Clear Creek preferred a salvation nymph over an olive caddis. These flies remained on my line for most of the afternoon, and I added six more fish that inhaled the salvation. Several of these fish proved to be the best fish of the day in terms of size, as they stretched the tape measure to ten inches.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-1iygY2Uz5sY/VE3AvjcPyGI/AAAAAAAAoI4/8nuixbOfd44/s144-c-o/PA250056.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10252014ClearCreek#6074723395592767586″ caption=”A Small Brown Liked My Salvation Nymph” type=”image” alt=”PA250056.JPG” ]

By 2:45 the shadows covered most of the stream, and the stimulator with the white wing was sinking more frequently. I was curious to know if adding a second nymph to get my flies deeper would attract more attention, but I required a larger top fly to support the added weight of two beadhead nymphs, so I tied a gray pool toy to my line as the surface fly and then added an ultra zug bug below the salvation nymph. I fished these flies through some water covered in shadows and managed to add a brown that smacked the pool toy to the fish count .

[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-IHDm29XZ8YE/VE3AwMXm36I/AAAAAAAAoI8/oFOVvEnr7mg/s144-c-o/PA250057.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10252014ClearCreek#6074723406579163042″ caption=”Another Salvation Nymph Fan” type=”image” alt=”PA250057.JPG” ]

I was approaching an area where sunlight remained on the water as the canyon opened up a bit, but when I looked up three fishermen came into view. Since my path was blocked by this trio, I circled around them and reentered the stream and fished some attractive water with no positive results. Just as I was about to merge back into the shadows another fisherman appeared, so I decided to quit and scaled the high rocky bank to the highway.

It was admittedly a numbers padding outing as I landed thirteen small brown trout in two hours of fishing. The fish were quite small with the largest measuring ten inches, but it was still an enjoyable afternoon in gorgeous weather in late October.

Time: 11:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: After Tunnel 3 and before stream development area with signs about gold panning

Fish Landed: 13

Clear Creek 09/07/2014 Photo Album

After a spectacular day on Friday on the Arkansas River, I was seeking some easy nearby fishing. I had not fished in Clear Creek since a day very early in the season, and the flows had finally dropped to decent levels, so I decided to give the local stream a try. The DWR web site indicated that streamflows were at 100 CFS, and this level is in the ideal range. The weather was relatively nice with high temperatures forecast to reach the low 80’s with minimal chance of precipitation.

I took my time on Sunday morning as I knew I could make the drive to Clear Creek Canyon in less than an hour. Construction on the short tunnels at Idaho Springs made it difficult to fish in that stretch of water, so I began experimenting with fishing in Clear Creek Canyon west of Golden last year in the fall. I had one fairly productive day in the western end of the canyon near the point where the stream widens and stream improvements had taken place, so I targeted this as my destination. I was shocked to see most of the pullouts filled with cars as I drove along highway 6, but I did not observe many fishermen in the creek, so the owners of the vehicles must have been pursuing other recreational activities.

When I reached the stream improvement area, I did notice quite a few fishermen, so I executed a U-turn and drove east for a mile and parked along the shoulder above a steep bank. I prepared to fish and then hiked east along the shoulder of the busy highway for .3 miles to a point where the bank was not as intimidating. As I carefully negotiated the path to a break in the willows, I noticed some young kids ten yards below me in the shadow of some bushes next to the creek, so I angled to the west and found an opening. I decided to begin with a tan Charlie Boy hopper and beadhead hares ear and then added a copper john as the point fly. Unfortunately I discovered a difficult tangle in my line, and this stymied my enthusiasm for getting my flies on the water..

As I stewed over the tangle, I heard the sounds of clanking rocks, so I looked around the willows and noticed two young men dressed in waders. They didn’t have fishing rods, but they had a large five gallon plastic white bucket and appeared to be turning over rocks to collect bait or insects. Finally they moved upstream a bit and came into view, so I asked if they were fishing, and if I was in their path? They quickly responded that they were not fishing, and conversely they were panning for gold. I do not know much about this activity, but I never saw goldpanners turning over rocks, but I  suppose there are different techniques involved in this popular recreational activity.

At any rate, they indicated that they did not plan to move upstream farther, so I refocused on my tangle and finally had my flies configured in a desirable manner and began to fish. My goal was to have a fun afternoon of mindless fishing that entailed catching a bunch of small fish on dry flies. The gorgeous pool above my starting point amazingly did not produce a single fish, so I should have taken this as an ominous sign. I continued above the pool and covered quite a bit of attractive water before I finally landed a small brown that attacked the Charlie Boy hopper. Shortly after this a ten inch brown slammed the Charlie Boy, and I landed a second fish. Unfortunately it took an hour of focused fishing, a lot of casting, and difficult wading to produce two relatively small fish.

Best Fish from Clear Creek

I was convinced there were more fish than indicated by my fish totals, so I switched to a stimulator. This fly also produced two small browns, but the catch rate continued to be slow, and deep pools continued to be unproductive. In addition to the lack of rises or takes, I could see fish in several clear pockets that avoided my surface and subsurface flies.

At 1PM I adjourned for lunch and walked back to the car. I sat on the shoulder of the road and observed the stream below me. During this time I witnessed quite a few yellow sallies and a smattering of blue winged olives. I resolved to change my approach after lunch so when I returned to my exit point, I covered the lower end of a very attractive pool for a second time. This time, however, I returned to a dry/dropper approach with a Chernobyl ant, beadhead hares ear, and soft hackle emerger. Perhaps I should have started with my workhorse Chernobyl, and maybe the fish were looking for subsurface blue winged olive nymphs and emergers.

Once again my thought process was apparently flawed. I could not find the key to the supposedly naive Clear Creek brown trout. I landed one or two maverick fish that apparently did not get the message about my unappetizing flies, but much to my surprise, the soft hackle emerger wasn’t doing anything. I decided to remove it and replaced it with a salvation nymph. Finally I had a stretch where I landed three or four brown trout on the salvation particularly when I gave the flies a lift near the end of the drift. I thought I was on to something, but this short streak of action quickly ended, and I was back to covering large swaths of water for a few small fish.

Clear Creek at 100 CFS

I was getting frustrated and it was late afternoon when I approached a spot where there was a wide reach of slack water along the bank on the south shore directly across form me. A strong white water current ripped down the center of the creek, but I decided to try drifting my three flies through the slow moving water by holding my rod very high and keeping much of the fly line off the water. This did not produce, but as I was doing this, I spotted a fish hanging a foot below the surface obviously looking for food in the slow moving surface film. In fact it rose subtly and sipped while I was watching. Next I noticed a second fish a bit upstream and closer to the far bank, and this fish was exhibiting similar behavior.

I clipped off the trio of flies and tied on a yellow sally, as I saw a few stoneflies fluttering above the stream. I executed a nice cast and a quick mend and placed the stonefly above the fish that was furthest downstream. I held my breath as the visible fish slowly swam to the surface and put its nose against my fly, but it refused to gobble my offering. I tried for the upper fish which required a longer cast, and received a similar rejection. Could these fish be taking blue winged olive adults? I clipped off the yellow sally and tied on a size 20 CDC olive and began to cast to the lower fish. On the third cast the fish rose and sipped in my fly, and I quickly skipped it over the fast center current and netted it. It was quite gratifying to finally dupe an eight inch brown trout.

I continued casting to the upper fish, but my initial casts were not long enough, and out of nowhere a second brown jumped on the small BWO imitation. This fish also found a home in my net, and then I resumed making long reach casts to the upper fish. Unfortunately I could never interest this fish in my fly perhaps because I was generating instant drag. I decided to end my day on the positive note of landing two fish on a tiny dry fly. Easy fish that enabled me to pad my fish count was my goal. It did not play out that way. Fly fishing can be a contrarian pastime. When one expects easy fishing, it doesn’t happen, and red hot fishing can take place when one least expects it. Go figure.

Time: 2:30PM – 4:30PM

Location: Clear Creek Canyon 2-3 miles upstream from CO route 93

Fish Landed: 3

Clear Creek 03/29/2014 Photo Album

A rare mild day on Saturday March 29 gave me the itch to get out my fly rod and test the waters. The high temperature was projected to reach the mid to upper 60’s, and the weather experts predicted the wind would be moderate compared to what I could expect to encounter Sunday and Monday. I wrapped up some garden chores and completed my long run in preparation for the Cherry Creek Sneak 10 miler and then downed a quick lunch, packed my gear and departed. Since I was off to a late start and didn’t want to drive very far, I decided to sample the closest water, Clear Creek in the canyon just west of Golden, CO.

I drove two or three miles into the canyon, and many pullouts were filled with vehicles, but eventually I spotted several nice wide shoulder areas without cars. The water appeared to have nice alternating pocket stretches and smoother pools, so I executed a U-turn and parked on the shoulder facing east. I put on my waders and boots and strung my rod and carefully scrambled down a steep bank. I began fishing with a Chernobyl ant trailing a beadhead hares ear, and within the first 15 minutes I experienced two refusals to the Chernobyl. This was good news as the fish were looking to the surface for their meal despite the icy water temperatures, but it was frustrating that they wouldn’t close the deal. The water was a tinge off-color, so that was another reason I was pleased to spot fish inspecting my fly.

I moved on and switched the hares ear for a salvation nymph, and in the next nice deep pool another fish appeared below the Chernobyl and then dropped back to the depths. What should I do? It was pretty clear the fish were not interested in my beadhead subsurface nymphs, so I decided to switch the dry fly offering and clipped off both flies and replaced with a size 16 deer hair caddis with an olive body. This didn’t even provoke any refusals, so I scaled up and tied on a size 14 stimulator with a gray body. This generated another refusal or two from some tiny trout. Not only were the fish in this stream small, they were playing hard to get. Clear Creek is renowned for dumb fish that rise readily to attractors, and these fish were certainly rising, but they weren’t slamming the fly like they were supposed to.

Clear Creek Where I Began Fishing on Saturday Afternoon

I sat down on a rock and decided to make a radical change to my approach. I added a strike indicator and a weighted 20 incher and returned to a beadhead hares ear. This proved to be futile, and eventually I snagged a rock in a spot where the water was deep and fast causing me to snap off both flies. Perhaps the discolored water meant that worms and eggs were present in the subsurface drift? These flies worked on the North Platte so why not try them here? I extended my leader and crimped on a split shot, apricot egg and chocolate San Juan worm and began to cover the attractive water. These flies did not attract one iota of interest; however, in one deep run a small brown trout rose and inspected my neon red strike indicator!

How should I interpret this action? In the past when this occurred, I tied on a dry fly that displayed some red coloration; and I had some success with this strategy, so I elected to try it again. I found a size 14 royal wulff in my fly box, removed all the nymphing gear, and tied on the red and peacock dry fly. I began prospecting this gaudy fly that doesn’t really imitate any natural insect and guess what happened? I landed three small trout barely over six inches and in addition had several refusals, a foul hooked fish, and a momentary hook up on a fish that escaped. That represents a lot of action over a hour of fishing, but as 4:30 approached I decided to call it quits and head home.

The fish were tiny and infuriating in their selectivity toward attractor flies, but I partially solved the riddle and managed to land a few fish. Solving the problem is what attracts me to this sport and keeps me coming back.

Time: 12:30PM – 2:30PM

Location: Large turnout after third tunnel heading west

Fish Landed: 2

Clear Creek 11/16/2013 Photo Album

I am admittedly a chronic numbers guy. The weather forecast for Saturday called for highs in Denver of 60 degrees so I decided to make a quick trip to Clear Creek Canyon in an attempt to build my fish count number late in the season. Jane was scheduled to spend the afternoon in the office working, so I had some unexpected time to myself.

I prepared a lunch and headed out the door by 11:30 and arrived at a pullout toward the western end of the canyon by noon. The temperature in the canyon was 53 degrees, but I was concerned by the strong wind I was observing while I munched my lunch in the shelter of my car. Once I pulled on my waders and rigged my rod I decided to wear my ski hat instead of my wide brimmed hat for warmth, and I concluded that I’d be fishing in the shadow of the southern canyon wall most of the time thus not requiring a hat brim.

I walked down the highway a bit and then angled down the steep bank to the water just above a spot where the creek narrowed and churned through a chute. I tied on a Chernobyl ant and a beadhead hares ear and began prospecting the water along the right bank, but didn’t meet with any success until twenty minutes or so elapsed. At this point the Chernobyl dipped and I hooked and landed a small seven inch brown.

I continued moving along the bank next to the road, but I wasn’t seeing any more fish or attention to my flies. What I was seeing was ridiculously strong gusts of wind that prevented me from casting or even facing upstream. I turned my back to the wind and waited for extended periods for the wind to subside before resuming my ineffective casting. My wet hands became extremely chilled by the evaporation and in truth I began to think more about the warmth of my home than the prospect of continuing to fish in these adverse conditions. After another 45 minutes fighting the wind and intermittent fruitless casting, I flicked a short backhad cast to a pocket behind an exposed boulder and once again detected a pause in the Chernobyl and set the hook and landed a nine inch brown trout.

9″ Brown Was Best Catch of the Day

It was somewhat gratifying to catch another fish after battling the elements, but I now decided I wasn’t really having fun, and wasn’t the goal of fishing to have fun? I resumed my progress upstream for another half hour or so, but the gusts of wind became more frequent and lasted longer so I reeled up my flies and hooked them in the rod guide and returned to the car. I opened the side door of the Santa Fe to rest my jeans and shoes and socks on the seat while I removed my waders. Several times I had to chase down my socks and even my waders as the wind picked them up and moved them away from the car.

When I finally returned to the tailgate I removed my glasses from their case and placed the case on the floor of the car while I switched my fishing sunglasses for my regular wire rims. Just as I did this, a monster gust came along, and when I reopened my eyes, I discovered that the case was no longer in front of me. I searched every corner of the car and can only assume that the wind swept the case through the car and out the side door and deposited it somewhere in Kansas. Later I realized that my Texas Rangers ball cap was also missing, so it must have met the same fate as the sunglass case.

Needless to say it was a frustrating fishing outing and certainly discouraged me from making future fishing outings in Colorado in 2013. The weather will need to be considerably nicer before I venture to another stream, and the numbers can remain where they are.

Time: 12:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: MM266.5 in Clear Creek Canyon

Fish Landed: 4

Clear Creek 10/31/2013 Photo Album

Jane and I purchased a 157 piece bag of assorted candy to disperse to trick or treaters on Halloween 2013. We agreed to turn off the lights and head out to dinner once the candy was gone. What time would you guess we departed for Wahoo’s for some delicious Mr. Lee’s pork tostadas?

Most normal people are not thinking of fly fishing on Halloween, but I’m probably not a normal person. The weather forecast called for temperatures in the high 50’s in Denver and I was in a good position to take a day off work, and Jane and I reached a decision not to purchase a second house in Eagle Ranch, so I decided to make a short return trip to Clear Creek Canyon where I experienced decent success catching small brown trout on October 10. I knew the air temperature would be quite chilly in the tight canyon in the morning so I took my time getting ready and departed at 11:15. As I drove west on I70 and then crossed to route 58 in Golden I noticed quite a bit of wind that caused the leaves that remained on trees to flutter and swayed the tall grass and branches. The dashboard thermometer dropped to 42 degrees as I progressed west in the canyon and I looked for a stretch of water that was exposed to the sun.

By mile marker 166.5 I discovered a nice stretch where the stream flowed on the north side of the highway and the south wall of the canyon was lower thus allowing sunshine to stream into the streambed below. I parked in a pullout on the south side of the road and prepared to fish by adding several layers of warm clothes. As the sun was out when I began, I elected to wear my wide brimmed cowboy hat, but I would have preferred the warmth of my ski hat. I dropped my reel containing my sink tip line in my backpack as I planned to include some streamer fishing in my afternoon casting, and once I was prepared to begin fishing I returned to the driver’s seat in the Santa Fe and ate my lunch as it was now close to noon.

After lunch I carefully crossed the highway and found an angled path down the steep bank to the stream below. I noticed another fisherman in the next pullout east of my location, and once I descended to the creek and looked downstream, I noticed him fifty yards below me. To allow the other fisherman more space I walked upstream a bit to a nice area where Clear Creek spread out and created some nice deep pools along the edge. I had my 5 weight Loomis so I tied on a Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear and began prospecting the water. Since during the previous trip I had the most success along the bank, I continued with this strategy, but did cast to some juicy midstream locations on the rare occasions when they presented themselves.

I fished for a half hour or so through some juicy pockets and pools along the left bank with no success, although I kicked four or five nice fish out from lies tight to streamside boulders. These fish were on average larger than the fish I landed on my previous visit on October 10. After covering the nice water up to the head of the pool I encountered a wide shallow riffle stretch so I crossed to the north bank and began prospecting the attracive locations on the side of the creek away from the highway. I normally like this strategy as I believe most fishermen do not take the trouble to cross and therefore the fish are less pressured.

For the next two hours I worked my way upstream and landed three brown trout roughly 10-11 inches long. Two of the fish slowly rose and sipped the Chernobyl ant and one grabbed the hares ear nymph in front of a submerged boulder. In addition I hooked two rainbows I did not land and toward the end of this period at around 2:30, I hooked a brown on the hares ear as I lifted to recast, but this fish also managed to shake loose from the hook point. During this time some clouds moved in and blocked the sun and the wind began to gust to the point that I had to stop fishing and turn my back several times. The combination of the wind chill and the icy water temperature caused me to stop several times and attempt to warm my hands and feet by standing out of the water and thrusting my hands in my pockets. I had my sungloves on and when I landed a couple fish they got wet and the cooling effect of the evaporation during the wind gusts caused my fingers to curl and lose feeling.

First Brown Gobbled Chernobyl Ant

By 2:30 I’d reached a point where the stream narrowed between vertical rock walls and I wasn’t prepared for difficult rock climbing or challenging wading so I retraced my path and crossed back to the south bank at a wide shallow spot. I carefully climbed the steep bank on my numb feet and returned to the car where I exchanged my wide brimmed hat for a ski hat and pulled out my neoprene fishing gloves to replace my sungloves. Once my fingers regained feeling I swapped the reel with the tapered leader for my sink tip line and clipped the tapered leader back to a length of four feet. The leader at this point was probably 0X but supposedly fish are not leader shy when chasing a streamer so I knotted on an olive woolly bugger with a black tail to the thick leader and then crimped a split shot just above the eye of the fly.

I crossed the highway and walked downstream to a point where the stream narrowed to a white water chute and descended here to work my way back upstream with the woolly bugger.I experimented with different approaches including upstream dead drift, across stream while allowing the fly to sweep down and across, and finally I’d cast directly across and then begin sporadically stripping line. The woolly bugger exhibited great movement as it dipped up and down due to the split shot near the eye of the hook, and the soft marabou and hackle undulated in the current like a live source of food.

I covered quite a bit of water in this manner until I approached a spot where the main current angled against the far bank and the flow scoured out a nice deep pocket in front of me. I cast along the current seam and allowed the bugger to tumble downstream on the sinking line. Next I cast to the very top of the pocket and after allowing the streamer to sink, I began to strip it across the five foot midsection of the pool and as I lifted the fly to recast, I noticed a small brown following. This continued until on the fourth pass through the pool I felt a bump so the brown had apparently grabbed the tail of the bugger. Finally on drift number five I’d tormented the brown into attacking the woolly bugger and I set the hook and stripped in a nine inch brown trout.

This small success renewed my enthusiasm for stripping the streamer so I proceeded upstream working all the likely water that might hold cantankerous trout that might strike out at the invading woolly bugger. Unfortunately after another half hour of fishing I hadn’t aroused any additional action and I was once again suffering cold hands and feet so I reeled up the line, climbed the steep bank and called it a day. Although four fish does not seem like a successful outing, I regard it as a significant achievement due to the adverse conditions. I tested out my long dormant sinking line and managed to land a trout. In addition I landed two trout on a Chernobyl ant, a large dry fly, on October 31. Surface action late in October is something to appreciate. Had I worn my ski hat and neoprene gloves from the start, I feel that I could have weathered the wind and cold better and perhaps picked up a few more fish.

I glanced at the thermometer in the Santa Fe as I began my drive back to Denver and noted that the air temperature had risen to 49 degrees. Once within the city of Denver it topped out at 54. Jane had already come home from work when I arrived and we prepared for the onslaught of trick or treaters. The first costumed kid rang the doorbell at 5:30 and we distributed 140 goodies by 6:45. I was feeling quite hungry by this point, so I suggested to Jane that we leave at 7PM even if there was remaining candy in the bowl. There was no need for this contingency plan as the candy disappeared by 6:55 and we were on our way to Wahoo’s.

We are teaching our children greed at an early age. I’m not sure whether chocolate Easter egg hunts or begging for Halloween candy take the prize as the most despicable holiday acts of greed. At one point the doorbell rang and I answered and was faced with a small group of princesses, butterflies, Draculas and Spidermen. However I noticed an adult woman standing off to the left side of the group so after reaching out the candy bowl so the youngsters could claim their booty, I mentioned that the adult “appeared to be a bit old to be trick or treating”. She replied that she was representing her “little one” and nodded toward the crowd on the sidewalk. To this I responded, “Can your little one eat candy?” She nodded briefly and made a hasty retreat down the steps to join her group.

Like other holidays, Halloween has morphed into a money making event for the costume and candy industries. How much candy can one child or family consume?

Time: 12:00PM – 4:30PM

Location: Clear Creek Canyon just above MM261.5

Fish Landed: 24

Clear Creek 10/10/2013 Photo Album

Those of you reading this blog may accuse the author of fish count padding when you see Clear Creek and 24 fish landed, and yes the 24 fish landed were on the diminutive side. Admittedly landing 24 small fish in 4.5 hours of fishing gives the fish count table a boost, but I did not set out to do this, and besides it is my life and my day off so I can do whatever provides the most fun.

Since it was October 10 I was concerned that brown trout would begin their spawning ritual, and I’ve never had great success fishing in predominantly brown trout drainages during the spawning period. Before and after are generally spectacular, but during is another story. The weather was forecast to be transitional and I didn’t want to make another long trip after driving two hours to the Eagle River on Monday. In past Octobers I’ve fished the Big Thompson River and South Boulder Creek during this time period as both of these Front Range streams contain strong populations of rainbow trout, and they are spring spawners. Unfortunately the Big Thompson is out of consideration because of the huge September flood, and the Coal Creek Canyon road to South Boulder Creek below Gross Reservoir is also closed due to the flooding.

But wait a minute, there are alternative routes to South Boulder Creek. I went to Google maps and obtained driving directions and the web site sent me up the Boulder Turnpike to Boulder and then on Baseline Road to Flagstaff Drive, and that led over the mountain to Gross Reservoir. That sealed it. I packed all my fishing gear and made a lunch and departed on my way to South Boulder Creek. The high temperature for Thursday was expected to be low 60’s in Denver so that probably translated to a high in the 50’s at South Boulder Creek. That was certainly tolerable with the proper attire, but a front was expected to move in during the afternoon and that would likely yield showers starting at approximately 1PM.

I quickly reached Boulder and turned on to Baseline and reached the point where I needed to continue on Flagstaff, but there was a sign that said Flagstaff Drive was only open to residents. What should I do? My wife will tell anyone that listens that I am a chronic follower of rules, but for once in my life I ignored the sign and continued. After half a mile I reached a point where only one lane was open and there was a traffic signal alternating north and southbound vehicles through the single lane. This probably explains the sign about residents only. That was really the only dicey obstacle to my passage however and I continued on the winding twisty drive through the Flagstaff Mountain Park and then down the other side to Gross Reservoir. I had never been to Flagstaff Mountain Park, and it was a beautiful place with scenic views and numerous hiking trails, so it was a nice discovery for future exploration.

When I approached the reservoir I reached a point where I needed to turn left to continue on a dirt road to get to the parking lot below the dam that is the tralhead for the path that descends to South Boulder Creek. I made the turn and immediately I was stopped by a flag man. I was concerned that I would be reprimanded or fined for ignoring the sign that said residents only, so I began concocting a story to explain why I was on the road. I’d traveled ten miles beyond the residents only sign, so I was skeptical that this would be the case, but concerned nonetheless. Fortunately I waited for approximately 10 minutes and then I was allowed to proceed and after a mile or so I encountered the reason for the stoppage, a road grader working on smoothing out the dirt road.

I was relieved to discover that I was allowed to continue and after descending the steep dirt road with numerous switchbacks, I finally reached the destination parking lot and pulled in. There were no other cars and I looked down at the river far below and it looked ideal. The flows were 90 cfs on the department of water resources web site and this falls within the ideal range for the relatively small stream bed. I was ready to begin my preparation to fish when I looked at the entrance to the trail and spotted a yellow ribbon stretched across the south end of the parking lot so I walked over to inspect it more closely. The text on the opposite side of the ribbon said, “Do not cross sheriff’s line”. After the long drive through several obstacles I desperately wanted to duck under the ribbon and descend to the stream to fish, but I was in a disaster relief area and the obedient side of me prevailed and I decided not to ignore the sheriff’s line.

What now? I thought I remembered another road that connected with Colorado 119 that could get me to Nederland and then through Blackhawk  and down to Idaho Springs where Clear Creek was open and available for fishing. Unfortunately I was out of cell range and the Colorado state map in the glove box was not detailed enough to shed any light on roads in the remote area I now occupied. I decided to reverse my course and once again was forced to wait while the flagmen stopped traffic for the road grader, but eventually I reached the paved road, and there was only one choice and that was to return to Boulder the way I had come. Once I got back in cell range in Boulder I asked my phone for driving directions to Idaho Springs and fortunately there was a route that took me south through Golden so I avoided returning to Denver on the Boulder Turnpike.

Since I was now ad-libbing I decided to drive up Clear Creek Canyon and check out water that I’d never fished. Route six winds through the canyon and signs along the route actually indicated that the entire canyon stretch is designated as a Jefferson County park. There were numerous pullouts along the way, but I continued along until I’d nearly reached the western end and pulled over in a stetch that appeared to have a lower gradient than much of the canyon water. I was just west of mile marker 261.5 as I ate my lunch in the car at noon. The temperature by now had climbed to the upper 50’s, but I could see large gray clouds moving in from the west, and I remembered the forecast of showers by 1PM so I wore my fleece and raincoat in addition to my ski hat for warmth.

The Very Productive Hares Ear Nymph

After lunch I climbed into my waders and put together my rod and hiked down along the river a bit until I found a place where a rough path angled down the steep bank. I tied on a Chernobyl ant and added a beadhead hares ear nymph on a fairly long dropper and began to prospect the water. It didn’t take long before I hooked and landed two or three small brown trout on the hares ear, and this would be the norm for the remainder of the afternoon. The dark clouds moved in after a half hour or so and a light rain fell, but I was prepared with my raincoat so I continued fishing through the shower. Eventually the rain stopped and the sky brightened somewhat, but for the most part it was overcast and chilly during most of the afternoon.

Typical Water That Yielded Fish Along Right Bank

I continued fishing along the north bank of Clear Creek and hooked and landed fish at a nice pace. I fairly quickly learned that most of the fish were tight to the bank and eventually began to ignore all the water except the four to five feet along the edge. Several times I waded through small pockets tight to the bank where there was hardly any current and kicked out two or three nice fish by Clear Creek standards. Although the fish were mostly in the 7-9 inch range, I probably landed three or four in the 10-11 inch class, but also landed 10-15 fish that were below the 6 inch standard that I use to judge whether to count or not. In terms of flies, there was no strategy involved in this type of fishing. I stayed with the hares ear and Chernobyl over the entire afternoon and landed perhaps five or six on the Chernobyl with the remainder grabbing the hares ear as it drifted beneath the surface. There were also quite a few refusals to the Chernobyl ant and a number of fish chomped the foam attractor but came off when I set the hook aggressively causing the flies and fish to come hurtling back toward me through the air.

My Only Rainbow and the Largest Fish of the Day

The Key Peacock Chenille Underbody

I covered perhaps a mile of stream over the course of four and a half hours of fishing and continuously kept on the move. I adhered to my rule of three casts and move for average water, one or two casts for marginal water and five casts for attractive water. Even though the fish were on the small side, I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon on Clear Creek. I caught  a bunch of fish, covered a lot of water, and explored a new stretch within an hour of my home in Denver. Nine more miles of stream remain along Clear Creek Canyon to be explored in future trips to this accessible area.

Nice Fall Foliage Remains Along the Creek

Time: 10:00AM – 2:00PM

Location: Route 6 downstream from quarry or mine; section along bike trail midway from route 6 exit and Hidden Valley

Fish Landed: 18

Clear Creek 09/26/2012 Photo Album

Dan and I made plans to meet after work and fish in South Boulder Creek below Gross Reservoir since he had not yet experienced that beautiful area. For this reason I didn’t want to stray too far from Denver on my solo fishing venture so I decided to try new water on Clear Creek; the top part of the canyon between Golden and Idaho Springs.

I pulled into a large wide pullout a half mile or so downstream from the busy quarry near the I70 interchange. Two couples had just pulled in as well, but they appeared to simply be sightseers as they hiked down to the edge of the stream and paused there a bit and returned to the car. It was quite chilly in the canyon with temperatures in the high 40’s or low 50’s when I began fishing. Once I was in my waders and outfitted in all my gear I walked down the road a bit to the area where the canyon narrows and the creek accelerates through plunge pools and deep slots. I tied on a muggly caddis and began prospecting the deep holes and pools on my side of the stream, but this didn’t yield any looks or hook ups so I switched to a parachute gray hopper and a beadhead hares ear. Shortly after this change I landed a spunky eleven inch brown that rose up to the hopper.

Large Brown by Clear Creek Standards

As I worked my way upstream along the right edge I landed another small brown on the beadhead hares ear as I lifted to recast. When I encountered an area where the stream widened I crossed to the side away from the road and worked my way past the spot where the Santa Fe was parked. During this period I landed another six small browns in the seven to eleven inch range, and they all grabbed the trailing hares ear. As I approached a beautiful deep pool and a large vertical rock wall along the left side, another fisherman arrived and hiked up a path between route 6 and the creek. It was now noon so once I’d fished the large pool and landed my eighth trout of the morning I retreated to a point where I could cross and returned to the car for lunch. Normally I eat by the stream, but it was quite chilly with temperatures now in the mid-50’s and some dark clouds blowing in from the west so I elected to remain in the car for warmth.

Pretty Stretch Along Route 6 in Clear Creek Canyon

After lunch rather than circling above the other fisherman or driving further downstream, I decided to drive back up to the eastern end of the bike path and fish Clear Creek between there and the Hidden Valley exit from interstate 70. I was pretty confident I could pound up fish in the short deep pockets on the right bank next to I70. As I pulled into the small parking lot it began to rain lightly and an older gentleman rolled his truck window down and asked me how I was doing. I told him about my morning and he suggested trying the area near tunnel 6 downstream from where I fished on a future visit. I showed him the beadhead hares ear that was working for me, and he said he’d caught a couple on midge flies. He was apparently not prepared for rain and was enjoying the shelter of his truck.

I hiked up the bike path to the first island and crossed just above it to the right bank and then skipped past the wide shallow area to where the stream bed narrows and creates deep pockets along the rocky bank created by the construction of interstate 70. I stayed with the parachute hopper and beadhead hares ear and landed ten more browns over the remainder of my time fishing before quitting at 2PM. The light rain intensified as I moved along and it seemed that the fish grew hungrier as well as the raindrops splashed down at a rapid pace. Two of the ten smashed the hopper on the surface and the others grabbed the nymph. During the last half hour when the rain came down heavily I had great success lobbing the flies to the top of the short pockets and then lifting at the lip, and the fish were grabbing the nymph in nearly every nice pocket on the lift. By 2PM the water started becoming quite murky and the fish no longer responded to the lifting technique. The lack of visibility discouraged me, and although I was dry underneath my waders and raincoat, I could feel some rain trickling down my sleeves, so I decided to return to the car and warm up.

The storm was actually pretty much through the area, but the dirty water and the need to meet Dan at 4PM for our trip to South Boulder Creek caused me to remove my waders and stash my gear in the car and return to Denver.

Time: 10:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: East end of bike path; above kayak course; below Georgetown Lake

Fish Landed: 9

Clear Creek 09/07/2012 Photo Album

Now that Dan and I set our plan to hike into Wildcat Canyon on Saturday, I didn’t want to travel too far on Friday so I elected to drive to Clear Creek. I parked and began fishing at the eastern end of the bike path below Idaho Springs just before Floyd Hill. Two other fishermen were already there ahead of me and were already casting flies as I prepared. When I was ready I walked down the path to a point thirty yards above them, but as I tied on my flies they decided to migrate upstream and jumped in above me. They were already cramping me so when I found a spot where the stream spread out I crossed to the opposite bank.

I began fishing with a Chernobyl ant and a beadhead hares ear and prospected along the bank with only refusals to show for my efforts. According to Blue Quill Angler, catching fish in Clear Creek is easy using large attractor flies. I was not finding it to be easy. I switched the Chernobyl for a parachute hopper and kept the BHHE and only refusals ensued. Next I tried an olive body caddis and a light gray caddis and these were equally ineffective. Finally I returned to the parachute hopper and added a beadhead pheasant tail instead of a beadhead hares ear, and I landed a brown on the pheasant tail. Phew! I had at least one fish before I broke for lunch at noon.

Decent Size Brown for Clear Creek

During lunch some light rain fell and it was cloudy and overcast most of the day, although there were more periods of sunshine in the afternoon than the morning. After lunch I tried a Letort hopper and a beadhead pheasant tail and landed a small brown on the nymph. When I reached the point where Dan and Adam and I began fishing during an evening in August I decided to move to a different location. I jumped back on interstate 70 and drove west and then got off at Lawson and drove to a spot above the kayak course. Unfortunately I didn’t remember that the stretch of water between the kayak course and the bridge for the I70 east bound on ramp was relatively short.

I put on a red body attractor fly and this didn’t bring any luck. Next I tied on a royal stimulator and this enabled me to added two more small browns to my fish count. When I reached the I70 ramp bridge, the only ways to continue fishing were to wade the stream through a long tunnel under the highway or to climb up to the shoulder and walk across the east and west lanes of the highway. I didn’t like either of these options so I returned to the car and decided to take a drive west on the frontage road.

The first mile or two was private, but I then came to a place where there was a parking lot for a hiking tail and then a bridge over Clear Creek a short distance up the road. I parked at the trailhead and hiked up the road to the bridge and dropped down to fish on the west side of the bridge. Initially Clear Creek was very fast with a high gradient. In addition it split into two and sometimes three channels and the willows and vegetation were very tight to the bank making upstream progression quite difficult. But I stuck with it and ducked under branches and pushed aside willows and found a few nice small pockets and holes to fish.

Leaves Changing on Upper Clear Creek

After fighting my way upstream a bit I reached a spot where there was only one channel and there were a couple larger pockets. Here I began to see a decent BWO hatch so I tied the Chernobyl back on and added a RS2 dropper. This turned out to be a good move as I landed three additional rainbows, two on the RS2 and one the Chernobyl. I cast the Chernobyl into the middle of a small deep pocket and the rainbow ambushed the fly on the plunk. In addition to the three landed fish I experienced a couple long distance releases as the action really picked up at 3PM when the hatch commenced. This left me wondering if the hatch also took place downstream at my starting point, but we will never know the answer to that.

Rainbow from Clear Creek Near Georgetown

I ended the day in some very enticing water just below the Georgetown Lake dam and behind a county maintenance facility. The grass was packed down in this area so it was obvious it received heavier pressure from other fishermen.

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.