Time: 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Eagle River 07/12/2006 Photo Album

At the last minute I decided to use a vacation day in the midst of budget preparation at work to make a trip to the Eagle River. I committed to driving to Santa Fe over the weekend and was, therefore, locked out of fishing during that time frame. I read that flows dropped to 514 cfs. From historical experience I knew that when flows drop after snow melt, the Eagle can be a hot fishery.

From Rest Area Toward Bridge

I arrived at the Edwards rest area around 9:45AM, and by the time I put on my waders and strung my line, it was 10AM. I walked across the road and worked my way along the north shoreline for quite a distance, before I started. I tied on a light yellow Letort hopper with a beadhead pheasant tail dropper. I was not seeing much action, so I switched out the dropper for a bright green beadhead caddis pupa. Still no takes resulted, and I noticed quite few small caddis flitting about, so I changed to a smaller beadhead emerald caddis pupa. This worked, and I caught a nice brown on the emerald caddis and then two beautiful brown trout on the hopper. The flows were strong but clear, and the fish were hugging submerged rocks at the tails of pockets and slots. I caught one more brown before lunch on the caddis pupa. All the browns were in the 13-16 inch range, and this would prove to be the case for the remainder of the day except for four or five in the ten to twelve inch range.

Length of Net

After lunch I hiked back down to the bridge and began fishing upstream from there along the north bank. My fishing was confined to the ten feet of water next to the bank except for a stretch directly across from the rest area parking area, where the river widened, and the flow dispersed over a broader area. I picked up another four trout tight to the bank upstream from the bridge on the emerald caddis after lunch. When I reached an area above where a small side brook entered, I experienced a refusal at the tail of the run on the hopper. I moved farther out in the current to cover some mid-stream pockets; and when I was above the run where I witnessed the refusal, I saw the fish rise to a natural. There were small mayflies emerging at this point in time, so I tied on a parachute pale morning dun. The fish gave this fly a look but did not eat it, so I next tried a CDC olive. On about the fourth drift the fish rose and inhaled the olive, and this success was very rewarding.

Next I began spotting green drakes, as they took flight quite sporadically. A western green drake is a large lumbering mayfly on the water that does not typically go unnoticed by trout. I knotted a green drake cripple to my leader and worked the water thoroughly for an hour with this imitation. This change in approach yielded two smaller browns close to shore.

Inhaled a Hopper Imitation

I did no see many mayflies emerging after 3PM, so I tied on a large attractor fly that I made from the Scott Sanchez book (peacock and red floss body with white calftail wing) and a beadhead pheasant tail dropper. I was now above the long pool with a nice run entering upstream of the rest area. The area above the long pool is characterized by thirty yards of pocket water. The Sanchez convertible combined with the pheasant tail proved to be very effective. I landed four or five very nice browns, as most consumed the beadhead pheasant tail, but one or two crushed the large attractor. After landing the four or five fish, I connected with perhaps the largest brown of the day. I know this, because it jumped out of the water and broke off both flies. I did not have any more of the large attractors in my front pack, and did not want to pause to search my backpack, so I tied on a royal stimulator fly with a peacock and red body. I added the beadhead pheasant tail dropper and landed another four trout. Two chomped the nymph and two smacked the royal stimulator. All the fish caught in the pocket stretch after 3PM were beautiful specimens in the fourteen to seventeen inch range.

Fish Landed: 20

Productive Stretch

John Downstream

Time: 10:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Edward Rest Area

Eagle River 09/17/2005 Photo Album

John Broadbent and I headed to the Eagle River. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70’s. We started fishing at the BLM recreation area west of Wolcott, and we hiked across the railroad bridge and fished along the north side of the river. John had a parahopper with gray body trailing a copper john. I started with a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead pheasant tail, and then I switched to beadhead hares ear. We had no luck, so we quit around 11:30 and headed back to the car.

Brought to Net

In our pursuit of success we drove back east on I70 to the Edwards rest stop, where we ate our lunch. The river was exceptionally low with many boulders that were submerged earlier in the season, but they now extended halfway above the water. We went below the bridge to some pocket water and began working back up toward the bridge. John split off and went downstream. I worked back upstream and spotted some small BWO size mayflies emerging. I added a WD40 with glass bead to the end of the hares ear. I finally hooked up with a decent brown in the frothy water at the head of a pocket, but the brown trout quickly freed itself. I continued working the hopper with two nymphs and hooked and landed two browns on the beadhead WD40. That was the extent of the success. John waded back upstream to where I was, and we walked under the bridge. John had a fish flash at the hopper on the east side of the bridge, but it never touched the hook.

Late in the Day

We worked our way up the left bank, and then eventually went on the path to the long deep run that is popular. Unfortunately several fishermen beat us to the sought-after spot, so I guided John on some pockets upstream, but we had no success and called it a day.

Fish Landed: 2

Time: 9:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Edwards Rest Stop

Eagle River 07/23/2005 Photo Album

The river was running a bit high, but clear and looked to be in great shape for fishing. I prepared my equipment, and then I hiked across the bridge by the rest stop and waded downstream. Shortly I encountered another fisherman, so I decided to give him space and turned around and began fishing back upstream toward the bridge. I tied on a yellow Maddam X and then a Copper John dropper. I caught five nice browns, as I worked my way back up to the rest area. All the trout were caught along the left side in pockets or along the rocks on the bank. One rose to the Madam X, but most took the Copper John.

Eagle River Brown

Lunch Spot

I took off my gear and went back to the car for my lunch, and then I returned and ate by the river. It was getting very warm. High temperatures in Denver surpassed 100 for the sixth day in a row. After lunch I began fishing upstream from where I ended. I tied on a yellow Letort Hopper to get more flotation and a beadhead hares ear. Eventually I added a beadhead pheasant tail, when I saw what appeared to be pale morning duns emerging, but the hatch was not heavy enough to bring on surface feeding. I was unaware that some Hispanic guys were sitting on a large boulder next to the river, and as they watched, I hooked my largest brown of the day. One of the guys moved down the bank to watch me play the fish and land it, and I snapped a quick photo for memory’s sake.

Brown No. 3

I moved upriver and covered more water in the afternoon. I got very warm. I caught a couple brown trout in the pocket water above the nice pool, when I was forced to circle around, as a guide was directing two female clients. I did not catch anything from the pedestrian bridge all the way around the next bend, but I did manage one last brown in the small braid around the next bend. Most of the afternoon fish took the beadhead hares ear nymph.