Time: 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: Preserve open space near Edwards and then by the Eagle-Vail trestle

Fish Landed: 8

Eagle River 09/28/2013 Photo Album

If you read my previous blog, you may be wondering about the outcome of the realtor appointments on Saturday morning. Both houses were similar but the one next to the Gaboury’s was furnished and had quite a few additions causing the price to be $35,000 greater. Jane and I actually love both houses and now are trying to decide whether to commit to owning a second home. There are many advantages ranging from a jumping off point for fishing and skiing, but it also represents a significant financial commitment at a fairly late stage in our lives. Stay tuned.

Eagle Ranch Website

Back to fishing. Dave G. arranged with his friend Todd to meet at the preserve open space area near Edwards on Saturday morning at 10AM. Todd is originally from California and spent a long career working for Chevron, and now he and his wife Karen own a home in Arrowhead. Three years ago Todd got interested in fly fishing, and he has progressed rapidly to the point of being a very competent fisherman. According to Dave G. Todd fishes nearly every day except for cold winter days when he puts on the skis and in the process of spending significant time on the water has gained much insight into fishing locations on the Eagle River. Suffice it to say, the preserve water was new to me, and I’m anxious to return and explore it thoroughly.

After introductions and gearing up Todd, Dave G. and I hiked down the path by the parking lot to the river, but a guide and fisherman were fishing the opposite shore from where Todd wanted to fish, and since we needed space for three fishermen, we decided to move further downstream. Todd had actually never explored the water this far downstream behind a gravel quarry so we were all undertaking a new experience. I offered to cross the river to the north side at a wide shallow riffle while Dave G. walked down the south shore and Todd found a home in a deep riffle upstream. I targeted a point where there was a jumble of rocks from stream improvement projects and at this point there was a slight bend in the river.

Dave G. Lands Rainbow on Eagle River

The water in this stretch of the river was characterized by long sweeping runs with shallow riffles in between so I decided to fish deep and tied on a 20 incher for weight and then a salvation nymph as my point fly. By this time Dave G. was directly across from me and fishing the other side of the deep run and current seam, and he began catching rainbows on a hares ear and RS2 almost immediately. Based on his positive results I eventually switched to the same flies and had a hook up with a nice fish, but it got into heavy current and broke off the RS2.

I shook off my disappointment and worked my way upstream to the wide riffle opposite Todd who was also experiencing exceptionally fine fishing with five or so landed and just as I arrived he landed a 16-17″ brown. Todd was fishing at beadhead hares ear and a beadhead pheasant tail, and he informed me that most of the fish were taking the pheasant tail. Of course I took his advice and swapped the RS2 for a beadhead pheasant tail and progressed up the left side. Finally I landed a small rainbow for my first fish, and it was nice to be on the scoreboard, but my fish didn’t measure up to the beauties that Todd and Dave G. were landing.

Todd Displays Brown from Across the River

As I moved along I did begin to enjoy more action and had a few foul hooked fish, but then I finally connected with a nice fat fifteen inch brown that consumed the hares ear in a four foot wide swath of slow water between the bank and the swift main current. Unfortunately I couldn’t even fully enjoy this catch as the flies somehow worked through a gap in the fish’s lip, and I struggled to release it, and eventually snipped off both flies. This forced me to retie both nymphs before moving on.

Again I progressed along the north bank and landed a small brown and then in an obscure short pocket I dropped the nymphs for a short drift. This is one of the places where I debate whether to even cast, but because the pocket was so short I made one cast and as I raised my rod to recast further up, another 15 inch brown latched on to the rising pheasant tail. I battled this active fish to my net and photographed it before carefully releasing it back to its environment.

Another Buttery Brown

At this point I arrived at some nice pocket water and landed another small fish, but I also felt the weight of two decent fish for brief hook ups that resulted in long distance releases. It was just that kind of day.

Dave G. and Todd at Lunch

At around 1:30PM Dave G. signaled across the roaring whitewater that it was lunchtime, so I carefully waded across the river and joined my fishing companions for lunch in the parking lot. After lunch we moved to some water further upstream at the eastern border of the preserve. Once again I elected to cross and fish a deep run with the nymphs which remained on my line from before lunch. The run didn’t produce any fish so I completed my crossing and worked my way downstream and changed to a gray parachute hopper and beadhead hares ear. I saw a mass of hoppers along the path on the way to the river, so I was convinced that my gray hopper would produce.

It took awhile to remove the nymphs and tie on the hopper and hares ear, but finally I began to prospect the pockets along the bank and landed two small browns. The hopper looked amazingly realistic as it bobbed along on the current next to rocky structure, but apparently the fish were no longer tuned into these tasty terrestrials. The other guys weren’t doing anything with their nymphs so they motioned me that they wanted to move on and once again I made the river crossing to join them.

Autumn Splendor Along Eagle River at the Preserve

It was now late afternoon and Todd gave some thought to where we could go and experience some different water and came up with the trestle area in Eagle-Vail. We jumped in our cars and made the short trip up interstate 70 and exited at Eagle-Vail and then made a left turn into an apartment complex and eventually parked at the eastern end of the parking lot. Once we descended the steep bank to the river we discovered a huge deep run that ran down the center of the river and fed into a long beautiful pool. By this time the river was almost entirely covered in shadows and Todd and Dave G. moved to the top and midsection of the long run and pool.

I elected to wade in toward the end of the run but above the smooth shallow tail and almost immediately I noticed some sporadic rises across and downstream from my position. I stared at the water for a bit and noticed a tiny BWO dancing and fluttering up from the surface so I tied a CDC BWO below my parachute hopper. I began casting across the main current and attempted to make downstream drifts to the rising fish, but the wind was blowing upstream and on every cast the wind pushed the flies back upstream of the line. This situation produced almost immediate drag on every cast and I couldn’t get the BWO to land ahead of the other fly and line so that it would drift over the fish first. In addition the sun was very low in the western sky and created a difficult glare on the water.

I wasted much of the best hatch time trying to battle these variables before I finally moved to the tail where it was shallow and waded across to within eight feet of the far bank. Now I had better light and the wind was behind me so I clipped off the hopper and tied on the CDC BWO by itself and began casting to a pair of risers to my right and upstream around twenty feet. On perhaps the sixth cast to the target area a fish rose and sipped my tiny imitation prompting me to set the hook and fight a beautiful 13 inch cutbow to my net! It was well worth all the effort and adjustments to be rewarded with this fish.

My confidence soared so I worked my way to the far bank and moved up a bit to where I’d spotted rises earlier when the hatch was denser, but by now the BWO’s were gone and the water was calm with no more signs of rising fish. We decided to call it a day and hustled back to Dave G.’s house to prepare for dinner. For some reason I felt jinxed on Saturday, but had fun nonetheless and discovered some new Eagle River public locations to visit in the future. I also met Todd and exchanged contacts as he will most likely be a solid fishing companion on future trips.

Time: 9:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: Rest Area

Fish Landed: 6

Eagle River 07/10/2013 Photo Album

After experiencing an hour and a half of intense pocket fishing on Tuesday and then a nice hatch in the early afternoon, I was convinced that another interesting day of fishing on the Eagle River was in store on Wednesday so I returned to Hornsilver and snagged campsite number one for a second consecutive night. Aside from some rock climbing revelers that were partying at 1:30AM, the night was relatively uneventful, and I awoke to a moderately warmer morning. There was quite a bit of dew on my two person tent and I didn’t want to wait for it to dry, so I rolled up the tent and rain fly and stashed them in the back of the Santa Fe. Once again I ate my breakfast, prepared a sandwich for lunch and packed everything in the Santa Fe and drove for half an hour to the Edwards rest area.

Close Up of Individual Blossom

My plan for Wednesday was to return to the water above the pedestrian bridge and cover sections that Dave G. and I visited on Friday. I wanted to save the pockets along the right bank above the pedestrian bridge that Dave G. covered on Friday for the prime time, 10:30AM until 2:00PM. With this strategy in mind I walked along the left bank above the bridge and around the 90 degree bend to the spot where the currents merge below the island. I tied on a Chernobyl ant, beadhead hares ear, and beadhead bright green caddis pupa with the hope of repeating my morning success of the previous day.

The angled riffles and run below the island did not produce any fish and as I moved into the smaller left channel it was obvious that the river flows had dropped significantly since the previous Friday. Deep runs had become shallow riffles and there were only three or four small deeper pools that might contain fish. I did manage to hook and land a small ten inch brown half way up the left channel.

At the top of the island the same lower stream level manifested itself, but this actually made wading easier and in the main channel of the river offered more obvious holding lies for fish. I was optimistic that I could take advantage of this and pop my three fly combination to the juicy pockets and deeper runs and land some nice fish. Unfortunately it didn’t develop that way. I covered the entire left bank above the island until I reached the point where a tiny branch of the river split off and ran back toward the top of the island with nothing to show for my enthusiasm and effort. I was astounded at my lack of action and also concerned about my prospects for the remainder of the day. In addition by 10:30AM it was already quite warm with very few clouds in the sky.

Pockets Along Bank of Eagle River Covered on Wednesday

I used the small branch of the river as my escape route and waded back down to the island and then retreated back around the bend to the pedestrian bridge and crossed to the opposite side. It was now close to 11AM and I was positioned to fish the right bank pocket water during prime time just as I had planned. Between 11AM and 2PM I covered all the juicy pockets with initially the Chernobyl, hares ear, and caddis pupa. After not scoring any fish in the first couple of historically productive runs and pockets, I swapped the Chernobyl for a yellow Letort hopper since that worked in the past and I hoped it would mimic a golden stonefly.

Over the three hour period I managed to land four browns and several were in the 14-15 inch range, but it was very slow compared to my experience in previous years and also relative to the morning session in the pockets further down river above the highway bridge. When the hatch began at around noon, I exchanged the caddis for a beadhead pheasant tail and salvation nymph, but this didn’t seem to make a big difference. I did experience quite a few refusals to the hopper and had at least three foul hooked trout. This resulted from me seeing a swirl and setting the hook only to embed one of the trailing nymphs into the body of the interested fish. At least twice the victim trout shot into the fast white water and I let it run until it was below me and then in an effort to skip it back across the surface, the flies broke off.

Fat Brown Gobbled Beadhead Hares Ear

By the time I reached the 90 degree bend at the top of the pocket water, small cream colored mayflies continued to emerge and caddis of varying sizes dapped the stream surface. In a wide riffle just above the bend I spotted a few rises even though the mayfly hatch was waning so I switched to a light gray deer hair caddis and shot a cast above the spot where a rise had been seen. Much to my surprise a fish gulped my fly and I set the hook and the brown instantly leaped and cleared its entire body above the water. It appeared to be in the 13-15 inch range but my hook released as the fish crashed back into the river. This renewed my enthusiasm so I continued prospecting the caddis to the head of the riffles with no additional success as the mayfly hatch disappeared and the caddis continued their surface dance.

At the head of the riffles I climbed up the bank to route 6 and hiked back through the condos and returned to the parking lot at the rest area. I decided to return to the spot near the parking lot where I’d spotted two browns on Tuesday afternoon after lunch, and sure enough after I arrived and observed for a bit, I spotted the upper fish doing its thing a foot below the surface and occasionally sliding from side to side to pick off something subsurface. I was unable to spot the lower brown so I focused on the upper fish. It was quite warm and the PMD hatch had ended so I decided to work this fish for awhile to see if I could find something to its liking.

I began with the caddis and on the fourth or fifth drift it rose and sipped my fly! I made a quick firm hook set and made contact for a split second, but then the brown slipped off. This was cruel luck for the fisherman. Would the big guy feed again? I rested the water and after a short time the brown began to exhibit its feeding actions by resuming its side to side movement. Over the next half hour I went through a host of flies; a yellow sally (because I noticed a few), a Chernobyl ant (the fish moved slightly to it the previous day), a lime green trude (small golden stonefly imitation), a yellow Letort hopper (larger golden stonefly imitation), and none were to the liking of the visible brown.

Finally I spotted a parachute ant in my patch so I decided to give it a try. This particular ant had fairly large bumps and an orange wing post. Much to my surprise the brown rose and put its nose against the ant, but it did not close the deal. My heart stopped and then I dropped into a state of frustration. I opened my foam patch and noticed I had a second parachute ant with a narrower body and a yellow poly wing post and it was the only other parachute ant in my patch. In a last ditch effort to entice the brown, I tied it on my line and flicked it above the brown. On the third drift the brown slowly swam to the surface and sipped it in! My opponent fought valiantly but eventually I slid the net underneath and had a 15 inch brown. I congratulated my adversary for being a noble foe, snapped a photo and revived him or her in the shallow slow moving water along the bank until it slowly swam back to its holding position. It was a great ending to a somewhat disappointing day on the Eagle River.

16 Inch Brown Duped by Black Ant After At Least Five Fly Changes

Time: 9:30AM – 3:00PM, 3:30PM – 5:00PM

Location: Edwards rest area; I70 bridge to first bridge on way to Minturn

Fish Landed: 13 at rest area, 5 in Minturn

Eagle River 07/09/2013 Photo Album

It was quite chilly when I woke up at 6:30AM on Tuesday despite afternoon highs approaching 90 degrees. The Rocky Mountains are a variable place with wide temperature ranges between day and night. I ate my breakfast and packed a lunch and packed everything back in the Santa Fe as I wasn’t sure I would stay another night. My success or lack thereof on the Eagle River would dictate whether I returned or not.

A View of Campsite with Background

A 30 minute drive down Battle Mountain and through Minturn and then west on I70 delivered me to the Edwards rest area parking lot and by the time I lathered up with sunscreen and put on my waders and rigged my rod it was 9:30. Contrary to the previous Friday, I decided to hike down the river past the Edwards bridge for 30 yards or so and begin my fishing where the river split around a tiny island. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and copper john and began prospecting likely holding spots. It didn’t take long before I hooked a nine inch brown below a rock at the base of the small narrow island near the north bank.

There was a nice deep slot to the right of the island so I repositioned myself to get so nice drag free drifts through this area, and as I was doing this I noticed a nice brown move toward the surface and sip something. There were swarms of small midges on the water so I added a zebra midge below the copper john, and much to my amazement, the indicator dipped and I set the hook and battled a nice brown. Unfortunately after playing the fish for a bit the small zebra midge hook worked itself out of the fish’s mouth.

After this disappointment I moved on and fished some nice water between the tip of the tiny island and the bridge and hooked another nice brown on the midge. I know this because I played the fish for a decent amount of time to get a good look at it, but it also shed the small zebra midge larva hook before I could net. At the bridge the flows were too high to wade underneath so I exited and came back down on the upstream side where I made some casts to a small packet right above the cement bridge support. Here I spotted a nice fish, but I couldn’t induce a take. It was about this time that I grew frustrated with the poor flotation of the hopper so I converted my top fly to a Chernobyl ant and also added a beadhead hares ear and jettisoned the copper john and midge.

Between the bridge and a fallen tree across from the rest area that is favored by workers as a lunch spot I landed an additional six fish, and this represented the hottest fishing on the Eagle during 2013. It was pocket fishing at its best as I moved back and forth in the wide area of wadeable pocket water between the bank and the fast main current popping casts into the deep pockets and standing ready to set the hook on short drifts with my rod held high to prevent drag. Shortly after moving above the Edwards bridge I added a bright green caddis pupa in addition to the beadhead hares ear and this combination produced the best fish on the day.

Only one of the six fish took the bright green caddis but it was a beauty, a 17 inch fish that grabbed the pupa as I began to lift to recast at the tail of a very narrow band of slack water. I was shocked that a fish this large inhabited such a nondescript piece of water on the Eagle River. Several additional fat hot fourteen inch browns were also among the six landed during this one and half hours of enjoyable action which recalled some of my great outings in 2002.

17″ Eagle River Brown

After lunch back at the car I resumed the same plan of attack but the game changed as I witnessed an emergence of small PMD’s. In a spot 25 feet above the place where people gather on their lunch break I spotted two very nice brown trout in a four foot deep lane just five feet away from me. Meanwhile some workers arrived below me in the lunch spot, but I didn’t think they were paying much attention to me. I drifted a Chernobyl over the lower and upper brown trout and both twitched their tails and made a slight move indicating they saw my fly but rejected it. I stopped casting and observed closely and I could determine that both fish were drifting side to side and eating something subsurface. With this insight I changed the bright green caddis for a Craven emerger and then tried lifting to imitate emergence, but this had no impact on the two visible fish. Next I removed the three flies and went with a light gray comparadun hoping this imitated the PMD’s, but again I failed to experience any success.

Clearly the two target fish were feeding in the foot or so below the surface, so I went back to the Chernobyl as an indicator and attached a hares ear and pheasant tail on the theory that the pheasant tail mimicked the nymph stage of a PMD. While I was focused on the two difficult browns I spotted another fish rise in another deep lane 15 feet out from me and five feet below. I fired out some longer casts and on the third drift a fish grabbed the pheasant tail and I fought and landed a 14 inch rainbow. Upon releasing the fish I glanced downstream to the group of lunch time workers and one of the men gave me a thumbs up so perhaps they were spectators after all.

Nice Action in Pockets Along Bank from Bridge Upstream

Once again I turned my attention to the large feeding browns knowing that the pheasant tail had fooled at least one fish. After quite a few casts I actually managed to prick the lower fish as I lifted my flies, so this further added to my frustration, but at least I now learned to go to a pheasant tail nymph earlier in the hatch should I return tomorrow. Having nicked the lower brown I decided to concede to the fish, and I progressed further up the left side of the river all the way to the pedestrian bridge by 3PM and landed another five browns to reach 13 on the day. These fish generally ran smaller than those caught in the morning session although the last one was a feisty 13 incher that consumed the hare’s ear in a nondescript location along the bank just before the bridge.

By 3PM the action had slowed considerably as it was quite warm, perhaps high 80’s with a bright overhead sun. I considered returning to the campground and taking a nap, but then remembered that I was curious about the Eagle River between Minturn and interstate 70. This water is above the confluence with Gore Creek and therefore somewhat smaller and it appeared to have excellent public access along the railroad tracks. Since it was further upstream perhaps it was colder and fished better in the afternoon heat. I decided to give it a try.

As I exited I70 and headed toward Minturn, I turned left at the first bridge and parked on the east side of the river. I gathered my rod and hiked down along the railroad tracks to a point just before the I70 bridge and returned to the Chernobyl plus a beadhead hares ear plus a beadhead green caddis pupa. Initially the water was wide with shallow riffles and no holding place for trout so I skipped by until I reached some small pockets tight against the rocks where the main current swept to the east side of the river. Here much to my surprise I landed a twelve inch rainbow and two small browns. Clouds began to build in the west and moved overhead and it began to rain fairly heavily even though the sun was out. Initially I discounted this storm, but quickly realized I was going to get soaked so I went through the annoying process of digging out my raincoat and pulling it on under my backpack and frontpack.

Nice Rainbow from Below Minturn

Just as the rain began I spotted a rise and quickly clipped off my dry/dropper set up and tied on a dark olive deer hair caddis. This attracted the riser and I landed another small brown. After I zipped on my raincoat I sent a prospecting cast above where I caught the brown and what appeared to be a decent fish rose and sucked in my caddis. I set the hook and felt some weight for a split second, but then the fish escaped.

Once the skies cleared I reverted to the Chernobyl and hares ear and was able to add another small brown that consumed the beadhead hares ear to the count. I ended just below the bridge that I parked by in a huge pool and when I departed at 5PM in a tired and weary state there were caddis everywhere but no fish rising. Perhaps there was some great evening dry fly fishing ahead, but I’ll never know.

Time: 10:00AM – 1:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Fish Landed: 10

Eagle River 07/05/2013 Photo Album

Beth and Dave Gaboury invited us to join them at their house in Eagle, CO for the Fourth of July weekend so I anxiously tracked the flows on the Eagle River in the week and days leading up to the Fourth. Everything appeared to be indicating ideal timing as the flows dropped from 600 cfs to 400 cfs in the days just prior to our visit. Historically I have found that there is a window of time on the Eagle when fishing can be absolutely fabulous with chunky browns gobbling dropper nymphs in the deep pockets or even smashing hoppers or green drakes or caddis or pale morning duns on the surface. The trick is timing as the flows can drop rapidly through the prime zone, and when the water level gets into the 200’s the water temperature rises quickly and the fish stop feeding, or perhaps convert to night time feeders.

Jane and I packed up the Santa Fe on Thursday morning and departed by 9:30AM. I forgot about the construction at the small tunnel just before Idaho Springs, or I probably would have added more urgency to my packing. Fortunately the back up wasn’t too bad and we arrived in Eagle just past noon. Dave G. greeted us as we jumped out of the car still attired in his fishing waders. Apparently he had a fun morning on Brush Creek before our arrival. Since I was planning to fish Friday and Saturday and had just spent Tuesday and Wednesday on the water, I elected to chat and socialize on the Fourth of July. We had a great cookout for dinner and then moved our folding chairs to the alley behind the house and watched an entertaining fireworks display put on by the town of Eagle.

Dave and I made our fishing plans for the next two days to include a session on the Eagle River from 10AM until 2PM and then early evening action on lower Brush Creek above the confluence with the Eagle River on Friday. Dave G. planned to call the owners of the private water and reserve some time to fish Brush Creek there on Saturday. We also discussed making the drive to Sylvan Lake State Park and fishing the East Fork of Brush Creek while Jane and Beth hiked around Sylvan Lake.

When I awoke on Friday morning I discovered that it was overcast and raining. We prepared a quick breakfast and loaded Dave’s 4 Runner with our fishing gear and set off for Edwards and the Eagle River. The girls agreed to meet us at 2:30PM at a deli in Edwards where we would buy lunch and then move on to the Crazy Mountain brew pub. As we drove east on interstate 70 gray clouds continued to obscure the sun, yet the air temperature was quite comfortable. I was getting quite excited about the prospects for some good fishing. Dave G. parked the 4 Runner along route 6 just east of the Edwards rest area, and then we hiked back through the condominiums to the pedestrian bridge. I suggested that Dave G. fish the right bank above the pedestrian bridge as I experienced great success there in previous years. I warned that it is difficult fishing and required backhand casts and climbing over and around a lot of rocks and logs since there is a steep bank right next to the river. Dave G. and I agreed to rendezvous at 11:30AM to check our satisfaction with the fishing and compare notes on successful flies.

Meanwhile I continued across the foot bridge and then turned and advanced up along the left side of the river opposite Dave G. I tied on a Chernobyl ant and salvation nymph and began prospecting the more attractive pockets, but no action was occuring so I switched the salvation for a beadhead hares ear. The sky continued to be quite overcast as I worked over only the prime spots very quickly and rounded the bend and proceeded to the nice run below the small island. In the run where the currents of the river merged downstream from the island I picked up a small brown on the hares ear. Roughly 30 minutes had now passed and I began to notice some very small cream colored mayflies, so I added a RS2 as a third fly beneath the hares ear. I was now poised to fish up the smaller left channel next to the island where historically I’ve landed some very nice trout.

One of My Favorite Spots on the Eagle River

The first sweet spot didn’t produce and in the next nice deeper section I could spot a fish that wiggled its fin and looked at the Chernobyl, but no take was forthcoming. I made quite a few casts and added some lift in an effort to provoke a take, but it was all to no avail. I decided to concede and shot a cast to the very top of this section where some faster water curled into the deeper run and the Chernobyl paused and I set the hook and eventually landed a fine 14 inch brown. When I released the fish I discovered that it had the diminutive RS2 in its lip.

Fine Eagle River Brown Landed on Friday Morning

I continued fishing up the left channel through a couple more nice spots that historically produced fish, but Friday was not going to be one of those days. At the top of the island I moved along the left bank and continued prospecting with the Chernobyl, BHHE, and RS2. After covering 10-15 yards I came to a nice spot where two parallel four foot deep runs were ahead of me. I cast to the run that was closer to the middle of the river and toward the tail the Chernobyl dipped and I set the hook and played a fat feisty 15 inch brown trout to my net. This fish had also fallen for the RS2 so I was feeling pretty good about the effectiveness of the small gray fly in the midst of the mayfly hatch. I glanced at my watch and noticed it was 11:22 so I hustled back down past the island to the bend and discovered Dave G. across from me. He raised one finger, and I could see some building frustration in his demeanor. I asked if he’d seen the small mayflies and suggested he give an RS2 a try. He mentioned caddis, and in fact as I looked around me, there were quite a few caddis buzzing around and dapping the water. We agreed to once again meet in another hour to recheck status.

Very Nice Brown Landed Above Island

As I returned toward the island I decided to try the nice deep run on the left side just around the large 90 degree bend since I’d now discovered that the RS2 was being recognized as food. It was quite overcast and there were caddis everywhere and small cream colored mayflies rode the surface film and popped into the air in dense numbers. The river level and the cloud cover and the insect activity were all converging into prime fishing conditions. The deep run did not produce so I exited the river and circled back to the merged currents just below the island. I decided to give this section another try but from a different angle, so I waded across the current much further down and then cast to the top of the angled riffles and let my flies drift across and then down the larger current seam. In short order this produced two small rainbows and a surprising nine inch brook trout on the RS2.

With the density of emerging mayflies and no surface activity I decided to try a Craven soft hackle emerger instead of the RS2 which is more of a nymph that is active prior to emergence. Emergence was clearly already in progress. I moved to the right side of the island, a stretch of water I rarely explore and began prospecting near the bottom. In a short amount of time I hooked a fish at the bottom of the island near the bank, but it escaped before I could net it. I was still seeing a large quantity of caddis so I replaced the hares ear with an emerald caddis pupa, but kept the Craven soft hackle emerger. In a very small nondescript pocket at the very tip of the island the Chernobyl suddenly stopped and I set the hook and entered a battle with a 15 inch brown. After a brief fight I worked the fish upstream and applied side pressure and netted the fine specimen. It was very gratifying to be rewarded for prospecting a marginal spot and for switching to an emerald caddis.

Eagle Brown Deep in the Net

Once I reached the top of the island I returned to the left bank of the river and landed another twelve inch brown on the emerger. By now it was approaching 12:30 so I once again hustled back to meet Dave G. We conversed across the river and Dave G. indicated there was no improvement in his success, so I made the long horseshoe shaped walk back to the pedestrian bridge and then back through the condos and up along route 6 to the point where Dave G. was now fishing. Dave G. indicated he was demoralized and I tried to talk him out of his funk, but he was beyond recovering any optimism for fishing the Eagle River so he returned to the car. I dropped down to the water and fished for another 30 minutes up along the right bank paralleling the highway. By now there were also some larger mayflies emerging and I guessed these were pale morning duns, so I exchanged the emerald caddis pupa for a beadhead pheasant tail. In a nice large run and pocket next to the bank I landed a twelve inch brown on the emerger and then began working a nice slot right next to the bank. On a fourth or fifth drift within inches of the grassy bank a fish darted out and grabbed one of the nymphs. Judging from the momentary weight on my rod, I’m guessing it was a decent fish, but it quickly released itself and I moved up the river a bit.

Some difficult wading over slippery rocks and through some strong current delivered me to another nice stretch of water, and it was the last accessible location before a spot where a strong current ran along the bank with thick overhanging branches and vegetation that would force an exit to continue. In this area I experienced a nice swirl and another split second hook up, but that was it, and I waded back down the river along the bank and returned to the car where Dave G. was embarking on a brief nap. We quickly called the girls and changed our plans to meet in Eagle at the Grand Avenue Grill for lunch. Dave G. needed some time to get over his frustration, and a nice lunch and a later date with Brush Creek was just what the doctor ordered.

Time: 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Across from confluence of Eagle River and Brush Creek and upstream

Fish Landed: 5

Eagle River 10/29/2011 Photo Album

After lunch Dave G. and I threw our rods and gear in his rental car and decided to drive to the Eagle River and give it a try. Dave G. felt we needed more volume in order to use nymphs as the fish were hugging the bottom of runs and riffles in depths of three to four feet. Dave G. suggested trying the water below the Eagle County Fairgrounds across from the confluence with Brush Creek, and I agreed as it would be fun to try water that I’d never fished before. We parked in a large dirt oval parking lot beyond the fairground parking and hiked down to the river. Some high slate clouds moved in from the west and the wind kicked up, and I was wishing I’d worn another layer.

When we arrived at the river, we noticed another fisherman on the opposite bank positioned to fish the sweet riffle below where Brush Creek entered. Dave G. called out to ask how he was doing, and he replied that he was having great action drifting nymphs slowly along the bottom. He recommended a Prince nymph and jujubaetis and invited us to fish the riffles on our side of the river across from him. Dave G. seemed interested in doing that as he was already set up with a strike indicator and nymphs, so I told Dave I’d work my way upstream along the bank.

Brown Caught Along Left Bank Here

I began casting the parachute hopper and trailing BHHE upstream along the bank and to attractive slots and pockets behind boulders within ten to fifteen feet of the left bank. I approached a nice run that tumbled between some boulders that left a nice slack area along the bank that was approximately ten feet wide and flicked a twenty foot cast to the lower end of the side pool and within a couple feet of the bank. All of a sudden the hopper dipped and I set the hook and played and landed a nice brown that extended beyond the length of my net. This was quite a surprise after the lackluster experience on Brush Creek.

Long Brown from Eagle River

Now feeling re-energized by the recent action, I moved up along the left bank with increased focus and intensity and sure enough landed four more browns, all on the trailing beadhead hares ear. All the fish were taken in long pockets and riffles with three to four feet of water depth. I was feeling quite chilled by the wind, but as long as I was having success, I could ignore the discomfort. I now reached a spot where the river divided around a small island, and landed my fifth Eagle River fish from a nice slot where two currents merged below the island. As I played and released the fish, Dave G. approached and inquired about my success and what was working. After filling him in, he retreated downstream below me forty yards or so and I waded to the point of the lower end of the island and began fishing a nice deep run on the larger south channel.

Another Late Season Chunky Brown

I didn’t have any success but there was a sweet deeper run on the opposite side of the strong mid current and after I’d covered it with some long casts using the hopper/dropper I decided to prospect with a streamer. I tied on the orange and black woolly bugger and on one of the sweeps along the far bank a fish bumped the fly and I set the hook and felt the throbbing of a fish. I played the relatively small fish for a bit and it got free. Next I decided to try going deep with a strike indicator and tied on a prince nymph and a split shot. Before I could add a second fly and indicator, Dave G. began calling to me and was walking up along the bank. I couldn’t hear him over the rushing water next to me, so I retreated toward the shore where he stood. He was pointing down toward his feet, and I soon discovered he was pointing to his wet fleece vest, and he had stumbled and went in the river over his waders.

Given the cold overcast sky and the wind, we quickly hiked up to the car and turned the heater on and returned to the house for hot tea and a hot shower.

Time: 9:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Fish Landed: 17

Eagle River 07/30/2011 Photo Album

The flows on the Eagle River declined to the 680 cfs range, and based on previous experience the Eagle gets pretty tough below 500 cfs. Not knowing when I’d have another opportunity, I decided to make the 2 hour trip even though 680 is still pretty much volume. It was forecast to be a bright sunny hot day, so that would make things difficult as well. I got off to a nice early start around 7AM and was on the river fishing by 9:30AM.

Another fisherman arrived while I was getting my stuff together, but I beat him out of the lot. I planned to hit the juicy spots based on prior experience and not dwell on less productive water. This would prove to be a winning strategy over the course of the day. I made a beeline for the nice long deep run first, but unfortunately as I arrived at the water and pulled my line through the rod guides I saw another fisherman waving his line above me in the middle of the run. I traced back over my path and went further up the river to the pocket water above the long run. The river was indeed running along at a fast clip and I could only work the pockets along the edge, some of which were among the willows that are normally on dry land.

I tied on a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear and managed to land a small brown and then a pretty decent specimen around 13 inches long and fat. Both took the Letort hopper on the surface. Once I’d fished the edge of the pocket water, I skirted the large bend pool and crossed the pedestrian bridge and then came down from the other side to the pool. I cast my dry/dropper in the shallower edge water and tail out, but had no success. I spotted a fish angled into the faster current, so I decided to switch to a strike indicator and split shot. I covered the water where I spotted the fish, but had no luck. Next I decided to try the stack mending technique so I walked to the top of the run and cast to the faster water, did a big mend, and then stack mended and fed out line. I got some great drifts through the heart of the hole, but still no takes. Perhaps I wasn’t getting deep enough. I added another split shot and tried again, but on the second or third drift the indicator dipped and I set the hook, but I was hung up on the bottom. All I could do was apply direct pressure, and I ended up tearing off one of the split shot and both flies.

Right Bank Above Bridge Was Productive

Frustrated with the lack of action in the nice pool, I walked back under the footbridge and then out to the river underneath it. There was a nice area here where I could fish ten feet or so out from the bank. I landed one nice brown here that grabbed the beadhead emerald caddis in a fairly shallow spot along the bank under some overhanging branches. I also foul hooked another fish that took me down the river a bit before I could control it and release. I also had a momentary hookup.

It was close to 11:30 so I decided to hike back to the car for lunch before going further up the river along the right side facing upstream as it is difficult to exit if one gets too far above the bridge. I returned to the car and grabbed my lunch and walked down the path to the river near where my car was parked at the rest area. I sat on a fallen log and ate my lunch and noticed a sparse hatch of small mayflies and many swallows were snatching them from the air above the river. The area before me was pretty nice with numerous pockets so I decided to fish out this area after lunch before returning to the right bank above the bridge.

When I returned with my rod and wading stick, as I was walking down the muddy path to the river at the bottom of the pocket water stretch, my feet slid out from under me on some slick moss and I fell backward with my back landing on the pointy gnawed off stump of a narrow tree. It felt like I got stabbed and I checked for a wound or blood, but feeling none I moved out in the river and began fishing. At the bottom of the stretch and out toward the middle I hooked two fish on the hopper at the very tail of some pockets. I landed one nice fish comparable to two of the morning fish, but lost the other one in the ensuing fight in the swift pocket water below.

Check the Spots on This Beauty

I continued fishing upstream hitting all the nice slots and pockets, but didn’t have any additional action so I exited and hiked back on the road and then across the bridge and then down to the river under the bridge again. Over the next two and a half hours I fought the current and the willows and made left handed and backhanded casts into the narrow pockets along the right bank and landed eight fish. I also had numerous hook ups that didn’t result in landed fish and broke off two sets of flies when the fish ran downstream in the heavy current and wrapped me around sticks. The action was not as hot as other times I’d been there, but considering the blue sky and high air temperatures still rather acceptable.

Small Side Pockets Were the Ticket

Tough Fishing Right Along the Edge

When I reached the bend where the river curves to the east and runs along route 6, I debated what to do. I like the small braid that runs on the north side of the island just ahead, but it was higher than normal and a woman was sitting on the bank enjoying the serenity so I didn’t want to infringe on her moment. In addition I would have to walk all the way around to the bridge and then up the other side. I climbed up the bank to the highway and walked east a bit until I saw a path down to the river just below where it forked around the island. I went down to this area and ran a few casts through the slack water. Then I noticed some more slack water below me so I cast to the current seam and did some stack mends, and I was startled to see a fish rise to the hopper. I set the hook and had a momentary hook up, but it got off rather quickly. I tried the stack mend thing again and as the flies drifted beyond the previous rise, the hopper slowly dipped and I belatedly set the hook and felt momentary weight. Apparently a fish had taken the pheasant tail, and I was late again.

I couldn’t move up the river due to the heavy current and brush, so I once again retreated to the highway and walked up the shoulder to a point above the island adjacent to some churning pocket water. I found a path to the river and covered some nice pockets along the bank for the next 1.5 hours and landed another five brown trout. Several were similar in size to the morning browns. I spotted one fish when it moved toward my hopper but didn’t take it. The fish appeared to be of decent size and it did a couple more refusals, but on a later drift it spotted the trailing pheasant tail and grabbed it. That was a gratifying catch.

There were limited spots where I could get through the dense vegetation and climb the bank to the road, so when I saw one at around 5PM, I took my exit route and hiked down the road, through the condos to the pedestrian bridge, across the bridge, and then the bike path back to the rest area. It was a taxing day, but successful nonetheless.

Time: 12:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Edwards Bridge to long run/pool then from island upstream quite a ways

Fish Landed: 3

Eagle River 07/14/2010 Photo Album

I was itching to return to the Eagle River after some decent action the previous Friday near the rest area above the pedestrian bridge. Denver was in a heat wave and escaping to the mountains was an additional appeal. I decided to pack the van with camping gear and fish the Eagle Wednesday and Thursday and camp at Hornsilver high above Minturn. I got off to a reasonably early start and arrived at Hornsilver around noon. The campground was empty, so I grabbed site 4 and paid my fee, ate lunch and then headed to the Eagle. I arrived and was on the stream at around noon. I hiked downstream to the auto bridge next to the entrance to the rest area and began working the pockets tight to the left bank facing upstream. I picked up a small brown near the start, but that was all I’d catch over the entire stretch from the bridge to the long run/pool above the rest area.

It was a very hot day with temperatures in the 80’s and clear, blue skies. I skipped past the stretch of water I’d fished the previous Friday and hiked behind the condos on the left around the bend with the pedestrian bridge and then beyond the next 90 degree bend near route 6. I began fishing again below the island and up the left smaller channel. I had been using a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear, the combination that produced so well on Friday, but it wasn’t working on this day. I decided to experiment with some alternatives. Part way up the left channel I tied on a lime green trude and two-thirds of the way up the channel a nice 15 inch brown sipped it in. I battled the brown and landed it and photographed. I moved on to the top of the island and fished the nice pockets along the left bank and caught one more small brown on the lime green trude.

That would be my count for the day, two small browns and one very nice fifteen inch fish. I was very disappointed. I had changed out my tapered leader at the start of the day, so decided to stop at the Alpine River fly show in Riverwalk and purchase a new one. I asked the gentleman behind the counter what happened to the fishing, and he said that fishing in the middle of the day when it is hot, is generally not productive. He suggested morning or evening and going deep with nymphs if I wanted to fish in the afternoon.

Time: 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Lease water between red rocks canyon and Eagle, CO

Fish Landed: 2

Eagle River 07/10/2010 Photo Album

Jane, Beth, Dave G, and I did a walking tour of Eagle, CO and had lunch at the Grand Avenue Grill on Saturday morning. After lunch we returned to the house and prepared to fish. Dave G and I decided to check out the clarity of the water on the lower Eagle River above Eagle, CO. It looked good as we drove along the east side of the river in Eagle, so we decided to give it a chance. We parked at a narrow pullout at one of the access points roughly midway through the state lease.

Near where we began there was a small side channel around 5-8 feet wide on our side of the river. I headed up the small channel while Dave G stayed along the main river. I spotted a deep spot in the channel with an area covered with foam around five feet long and four feet wide. As I watched the foam I could see some movement and then a fin poking above the foam. Next I spotted occasional dimples in the foam, but the foam was so thick that I couldn’t really see what kind of fish it was or what it was eating. The foam looked like half inch thick shaving cream. I was able to see that the fish was facing downstream, but apparently the foam was blocking its vision of me.

I had a yellow Letort hopper and a beadhead hares ear, and began casting into the foam. I could barely see the hopper in the foam. On perhaps the tenth cast I spotted a dimple in the vicinity of where I thought my fly was, and set the hook. Immediately the fish shot upstream a short distance then turned and raced past me, down the channel and into some fast water in the Eagle River main stem. I allowed the fly line to rip off the reel as there was no turning this fish in its current state of rage. I decided I needed to follow this fish to have any chance at it, but as I pivoted to face downstream, my foot slipped and in the instant when I raised my arms to catch my balance, the line popped and the foam fish disappeared.

I was almost shaking after this encounter, and was feeling rather optimistic about the afternoon. I returned to the main river and walked upstream a bit to an area of nice pockets and long slots. Dave was above me at this point. As I fished a particularly nice long slot behind a rock that was four feet deep or so, I began to notice small mayflies emerging. They were small size 16 pale morning duns and as the minutes passed the intensity increased. A decent imitation of PMD nymphs is the pheasant tail nymph, so I tied one on below the hopper. After numerous casts, the hopper went sideways and I set the hook and was attached to a decent rainbow for a split second. I could see the bow turn sideways and slip the hook. Would this fish fall for a fly again? The section looked so attractive that I felt there had to be more fish there so I continued working to the left and above where I’d seen the fish. As I did so, I once again saw the rainbow occasionally move out from its lie to snatch insects. Several times it grabbed a fly near the surface.

Could I tempt the rainbow with a dry? I clipped off both my flies and went to the trouble of tying on a light gray size 16 comparadun that worked well for me on the Colorado River PMD hatch. Sure enough, on around the third drift, the rainbow finned up and sipped the comparadun. The fish shot downstream and below me toward the heavy current, but I applied side pressure and coaxed it back to the soft water below. After several shorter runs, I overcame the rainbow’s resistance and netted a beautiful fat 16 inch fish.

I released the beauty and continued fishing upstream with the comparadun, but when I reached a beautiful deep junction pool at a bend in the river, there didn’t appear to be any more mayflies hatching and casting the size 16 fly in the big water seemed futile. I tied the hopper back on and attached a beadhead pheasant tail. It was now getting late in the afternoon, and Dave G and I wanted to fish some nice pocket water that had yielded many nice fish to us many years ago so we moved quickly to that area.

Dave G took the tail of the pockets where the river fanned out over rocks with water perhaps three feet deep and landed several fish. I worked up along the left side fishing the attractive pockets, slots and seams for a 50 yard stretch. I managed one nice 12 inch rainbow on the beadhead pheasant tail in this area. As I neared the top of the targeted stretch, Dave approached from below, and we found our way out of the lease and walked back down route 6 to the car.

Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Fish Landed: 11

Eagle River 07/09/2010 Photo Album

After lunch we hopped in Dave G’s rental car and drove to the rest area in Edwards, CO. We hiked along the fisherman path upstream from the parking lot to a point where a long pool is fed by an attractive deep run. Here Dave hooked and landed a decent brown to start his afternoon. I moved beyond Dave and fished the attractive pockets between the long pool and the pedestrian bridge. In one of the lower pockets a decent brown smashed and inhaled my yellow hopper. The area around the rest area represents my favorite stretch of the Eagle River, and I was very optimistic at this point.

Dave G. moved past me and fished the pockets along the left bank. He finished covering the pocket water and moved beyond the pedestrian bridge and out of sight, while I continued prospecting the pockets, but trying to cover water a bit beyond what he had just covered. I didn’t have any luck, and perhaps the fish became wary due to Dave G’s presence along the bank.

After finishing the pockets, I moved quickly up to the pedestrian bridge and crossed to the south side of the river. A fisherman (wearing shorts but a fishing vest) stopped and asked me why I went around the nice deep pool at the bend just below the bridge. I showed him how I was set up for dry/dropper fishing which requires fishing shallower water and not very effective in the deep pools. He nodded and I moved on. I dropped down just below the bridge, waded under it, and then began fishing the pockets along the right bank. I knew from previous trips that this stretch contains many nice fish, and I feel it doesn’t get the degree of pressure as the left bank because it is difficult to get to, tough to wade, and requires backhand casts.

Sure enough, I started hooking fish. The sky clouded up some, but I didn’t see much hatching or surface feeding, so I stuck with a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear. I landed eleven additional trout in the 100 yards or so of water along the west/south side of the river. Many were fat spunky browns in the 13-15 inch range. I was catching half on the hopper and the other half on the beadhead hares ear. I used the same hopper throughout the afternoon, and it held up quite well until losing a bunch of deer hair near the end. There was one sweet area where the river curled against the bank then flowed back out between some rocks and fanned into a wider pool/pocket. I landed at least four beauties from this spot and had some additional hookups that I didn’t land. In fact, in addition to the eleven landed fish, I probably had another 5-6 refusals and momentary hookups.

At around 4PM I reached the top of the pocket water area where the river makes a 90 degree turn and parallels route 6. Dave G appeared on the opposite bank and I could see he was fishing half heartedly, so knew it was time to go.

Time: 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Eagle River 07/22/2006 Photo Album

Having recovered somewhat from a nasty cold and with a weekend free to fish, I decided to return to the Eagle River, where I had great success on July 12.

Above Pedestrian Bridge

I parked at the rest area and hiked the bike path on the north side of the river to the pedestrian bridge, and then I crossed to the south side and began fishing along the right bank. Most of my fishing during the entire day was within ten feet of the bank. The flows were around 300 cfs, 200 less than July 12 but still fairly stiff, and the fish continued holding tight to the bank. I decided to use a gray body parahopper on top with beadhead pheasant tail nymph trailing. The beadhead peasant tail produced exceptionally well in the afternoon during my earlier visit. In short order I landed a fat thirteen inch brown on the trailing pheasant tail. I noticed another fisherman above me on the right side, but he was close to the bend along route 6 and probably 100 yards or so upstream. I estimated  that I could work along the bank until lunch and not reach him, and this assumption proved correct. I cast the parahopper/beadhead pheasant tail combination in all the likely runs and pockets. I landed six additional brown trout, before I retreated to the car for lunch. Four of the seven fish that I caught in the AM were quite nice, as three of the seven inhaled the parahopper, and the rest preferred the nymph. 

Beadhead Pheasant Tail Worked

After lunch I decided to circle around the other fisherman, so I crossed the main bridge and then followed the bike trail up to the pedestrian bridge, where I made a right and skirted the apartments and turned left on route six. I ended upstream from the other fisherman and crossed the river to position myself to fish the smaller left channel around a small island, but when I turned to survey the channel, I saw two other fishermen already there! As a fallback I decided to fish along the south side of the small island in the right channel. At the point of the island in some very shallow water where the river deflected to the right, I landed a beautiful brown, that took the beadhead pheasant tail almost immediately after it hit the water.

Royal Stimulator

I was now above the two fishermen I saw previously, so I covered the north bank for the remainder of the afternoon and caught another ten trout. Quite a few were very nice 14-15 inch fish, and many were feisty and in the 12-13 inch range. At one point in mid-afternoon I endured a refusal on the parahopper, so I clipped the combo off and tied on a tan body deer hair caddis. On the first cast with the caddis the same fish that refused the hopper slurped down the new offering. On another occasion the same thing happened, and I once again switched to the caddis, and I landed two fine trout in short order. In late afternoon the parahopper stopped producing, so I tied on a royal stimulator that produced on my first trip to the Eagle River. I landed two trout on this fly, and in the last 1.5 hour I hooked up on some very nice fish, but failed to land (long distance release) them. One wrapped my flies around a rock, and the others slipped free of the hook. 

All in all it was a great day. 

Fish Landed: 18