Category Archives: Fishing Reports

Fishing Reports

Upper Taylor River – 8/7/2011

Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: Upstream and downstream from campground

Fish Landed: 1

Upper Taylor River 08/07/2011 Photo Album

The water near the campground looked just as attractive as the water I’d driven to on Saturday, so I decided to fish from camp. Jane and I had tasty oatmeal for breakfast, and after cleaning up, I headed upstream beyond the edge of the campground. I began fishing with a Chernobyl ant, but received numerous refusals. Next I elected to tie on a size 12 lime green trude. This brought a look or two, but no fish. The third fly was a royal stimulator, but again no interest. The last fly I tried before reverting to the tried and true Letort hopper was a size 16 olive body deer hair caddis which brought no action.

Typical Taylor Park Scene

I finally buckled to common sense and tied on the yellow Letort hopper. I added a BHPT and began catching some fish, but I was covering a lot more water between catches than had been the case on Saturday. By noon I’d landed three browns, two were around 12 inches and that seemed to be the upper end for this water. One nice brown grabbed the BHPT, and the other two hammered the hopper. Just before exiting for lunch I noticed another fisherman had driven back a rough dirt lane from the main road and was fishing above me. This cut me off from further progress, so I elected to return for lunch and then walk downstream for my afternoon fishing.

When I returned to camp, Jane had taken down the tent and was reading. I made a quick lunch while the food was still out, and then walked down the lane to fish downstream. I ran into the campground host who told me the folks that reserved 13 were early and waiting in site 10 for us to leave. When I said my wife was still there and planned to be out by 1PM, he said that is fine as check out time is 1PM. I later learned that Jane drove to another unoccupied shady campsite to read and wait for me to finish fishing.

I walked down the dirt ATV lane and crossed a pedestrian bridge to the other side and then continued downstream another 100 yards are so. I entered the water and fished hard for the next 2.5 hours back upstream until I ended at 3PM and saw Jane waiting by the car. There was a flurry of action from 1-2 when I caught five fish, a couple of which were in the twelve inch range. But after 2PM things slowed considerably as it was quite warm with sunny blue skies and I covered quite a bit of river and netted three more browns to bring my total to 11. I observed a fair number of caddis, but only one or two rises over the course of the day. I added a beadhead RS2 in the last hour and caught one or two on the small gray fly. I noticed a handful of small BWO –like mayflies, and that is what prompted me to try the RS2.

Near Beginning of Sunday Fishing

Upper Taylor River – 8/6/2011

Time: 12:30PM – 3:00PM

Location: Downstream from Dinner Station Campground

Fish Landed: 12

Upper Taylor River 08/06/2011 Photo Album

With most of the stream flows closer to Denver still running high in early August, I had my eye on the Taylor River. We made plans to go to a Rapids soccer match on Friday night so we decided to gamble we could find a campsite on Saturday, always an iffy proposition.

Marmot Strikes Nice Pose

We got up nice and early and packed everything in the Santa Fe in record time and departed at 8:05AM. The drive to Taylor Park was 3.5 hours and we arrived at the campground near the bottom of Cottonwood Pass at 11:30. On the western side of Cottonwood Pass we spotted a marmot and two moose. When we arrived at Dinner Station campground we immediately noticed the campground host and asked him if there were any open sites. He told us 13 was open for one night, so we found it along the river with a few decent shade trees and laid claim. It was great to find a nice campsite at 11:30 on Saturday morning on the first weekend in August.

Our Campsite at Dinner Station

Moose Crossing

We unpacked the food bins and had some lunch, and I wanted to get some fishing in before it got too hot, so Jane accompanied me as we drove back down the dirt road a mile or so and parked in a makeshift lot. There was a tractor with a camper trailer already there, but they never bothered us. Jane took her chair and Kindle and set up along the river while I commenced fishing. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and fished it without a dropper initially. I covered some attractive water and didn’t have any action, so I added a beadhead pheasant tail dropper. The combination began to produce and I landed 12 fish before 3PM when I quit for the day. Roughly half the fish took the BHPT and the other half rose to the hopper.

One of the Nicer Browns on Upper Taylor River

Jane on Her Chair Overlooking the Taylor River

I actually landed over 20 fish but many were too small to count. At three I walked back to the car as Jane was carrying her chair back. We returned to the campsite and set up the tent and had some beverages and hors d’oevres and eventually ate a Mediterranean dinner of pita bread, falafels, chopped onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a yogurt based sauce. Before dinner Jane got the idea that if I caught a couple trout, we could grill them and add them to the pita. I put on my waders and fished in the river near our campsite for an hour or so and had two hookups, but didn’t land any fish. There were quite a few caddis bouncing around, but my caddis imitations drew no interest. Eventually I went to a pair of caddis pupa with a strike indicator, and I managed one hookup on this combination, but did not land a fish. When I needed fish the most, I couldn’t deliver.

Eagle River – 7/30/2011

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.

Arkansas River – 7/27/2011

Time: 1:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Lunch Rock upstream

Fish Landed: 3

Arkansas River 07/27/2011 Photo Album

I convinced Dan that since the fishing slowed on Chalk Creek we should move to the big river, the Arkansas, and give that a try. We returned all our gear to the Santa Fe, and I drove the half hour or so to the Arkansas River below Salida. I parked at the big rock I refer to as Lunch Rock. We made sure we had our water and sunscreen as there was less cover and we were at lower elevation.

The river was still running fairly high at 1320 cfs when ideal is typically 500 – 700 cfs. The edges were clear and there was usually around five feet of water to fish. Dan and I took turns casting to the likely runs and pockets. Dan continued with the Chernobyl ant, but in spite of some expert casting wasn’t creating any interest. I switched to a yellow Letort hopper because the fly shop reports usually recommend something large and yellow. I landed three 11-12 inch browns over the first hour or two, so I switched Dan to the same fly with a hares ear dropper. I had a beadhead pheasant tail dropper, but most of my action was on the hopper.

The wind did gust from time to time and we were punching casts directly into the wind most of the afternoon. The conditions seemed to support good hopper fishing. We arrived at a large rock that protruded out into the river ten feet or so, so we walked out on the rock and observed the eddy created behind it. We were probably ten feet above the river and we initially spotted a nice rainbow hovering a foot or so below the surface where a myriad of currents met. As we continued to observe, we spotted two more fish further out in the eddy right along the seam of the downstream current where the backflow met. Dan cast for the near rainbow first and in short order the fish darted up and grabbed his fly. Dan set the hook and for a split second felt the weight of a decent fish but it managed to free itself before being introduced to the net.

Next he cast a bit further out and in a flash a fish crashed the hopper. Dan played the fish expertly while I clumsily scrambled around and down the rock to net it. The brown was a nice fat fish, and Dan loved the visual experience of seeing it all develop. We tried to find additional spots to sight fish in this manner, but they didn’t exist at this stage of flows in the area where we were fishing.

Dan's Catch of the Day

We were re-energized and moved up along the bank continuing to cast our hopper/droppers until five PM. I had a couple refusals and missed a decent fish, but our fish catching pretty much ended mid-afternoon, and we suffered through a long dry spell at the end of the day.

Casting Along Arkansas River

Chalk Creek – 7/27/2011

Time: 10:00AM – 12:30PM

Location: Upstream from Cascade and first bridge

Fish Landed: 5

Chalk Creek 07/27/2011 Photo Album

Dan took a vacation day on Wednesday so he and I could go fishing and break in his new waders and boots. In addition, Dan purchased a fishing license and net and I made him a wading staff. There was an assortment of stocking stuffer fishing gadgets to try out as well.

I picked Dan up at 7AM, and we departed for US 285. It was shaping up as a bright sunny day and we arrived at our Chalk Creek fishing destination at 9:45AM. Chalk Creek was flowing at around 73 cfs and clear. 73 cfs is higher than ideal but still fishable; however, there are fewer holding lies for the fish. We took our time getting into our waders and rigging our rods. Dan had to remove his waders from the bag, that’s how new his things were!

When we started, I tied a Chernobyl ant to Dan’s line and let him cast into the first decent water as the stream was rushing pretty rapidly on my north side. It didn’t take long before Dan landed a couple 6-8 inch browns. I decided to try something different initially and fished a large size 12 caddis with a palmered body, and this netted me a small brown. Dan started off on fire and continued to pick up fish as he waded up along the left side of the creek. In addition to landed fish, he was also getting a fair number of long distance releases and refusals.

Dan Works to Release Catch

Meanwhile I switched out the large caddis for a royal stimulator, but that didn’t produce and sank quickly. Next I experimented with a yellow Letort hopper and added a beadhead prince dropper. After a bit I exchanged the beadhead prince for a beadhead hares ear. I was catching my fish mostly on the beadhead dropper, but it seemed like I wasn’t getting action in places that should have yielded fish.

Dan on Chalk Creek

As we approached noon, the sun got higher in the sky and the air warmed up considerably and the fishing action slowed measurably. I finally switched to a Chernobyl ant and slowly caught up to Dan. When we decided to break for lunch, Dan had landed 6 and I was at 5. We pulled out our lunches and ate in the shade of some trees by the car.

Natural Ground Cover Along Chalk Creek

Conejos River – 7/22/2011

Time: 9:30AM – 6:00PM

Location: Downstream from 105 bridge and then the Meadows area

Fish Landed: 17

Conejos River 07/22/2011 Photo Album

I’d read articles about the great fishing in Elk Creek, a tributary of the Conejos so I gave some thought to exploring that water, but with the level of success experienced on Thursday, why not return? That’s what I decided to do, but I didn’t need to drive to the store and thus got a nice early start. I was at the bridge by 9AM with my Camelback full and my lunch packed. I tied my raincoat around my waist under my waders to leave room in the backpack for a sandwich and other goodies and set out on my hike. I planned to hike further and stay up high above the trees and vegetation above the stream and hike for 30 minutes. This worked out rather well and put me downstream even further than where I’d begun on Thursday. Unfortunately when I filled my Camelback the small rubber gasket in the cap had come out, and apparently I didn’t seat it properly, and 75% of my water supply leaked from the bladder. This was not a good start to a hot sunny day.

For some reason I decided to start with a tan Charlie Boy hopper on Friday morning. To the hopper I added a purple PT, and began fishing. Two things had changed from the previous day; there were far fewer clouds in the sky thus creating warmer air temperatures and the water level had dropped. I later checked and flows dropped from 170 to 150 between Thursday and Friday. This allowed easier wading, but the fishing became more difficult.

Things started off reasonably well as I landed two browns on the Charlie Boy hopper, but all the deer hair wing fell out upon landing the second fish. I switched to a yellow Letort hopper and added a copper john and landed a very nice brown on the copper john and then a smaller brown on the Letort hopper. But the hopper wasn’t producing consistently and I experienced quite a few momentary hookups where the fish got off. Even though I got an early start, I didn’t seem to be able to get in the same kind of rhythm as I’d enjoyed on Thursday, so I decided to break for lunch on a nice grassy bank and observe the water.

As I munched my lunch I noticed some PMD’s and the occasional huge fluttering green drake and a few golden stoneflies as well as yellow sallies. After lunch I decided to try the bushy green drakes I’d bought at the fly shop. This proved to be a great decision and for the next 1.5 hours I experienced hot action and landed 11 trout including one brightly colored rainbow. The trout loved the bushy green drake and took it with confidence in the deeper runs and pockets.

One of Two Pretty Rainbows Took Green Drake

Head Shot with Green Drake

I was stuck on 15 when the trout seemed to turn off on the green drake as the sun beat down and the temperature soared. I still hadn’t reached my starting point from the previous day when I encountered a place where a large dead fallen tree stretched on an angle from the bank out into the river and then right above the tree there was a high vertical rock wall. The current rushed down my side of the river and then swept along the vertical rock wall before creating a small pool above the fallen tree. I clung to the rock wall and tossed a Chernobyl into the point where the currents formed a small V where the downstream current and the one along the rock wall merged. Suddenly a huge mouth appeared and gulped the Chernobyl and made the sound of a loud burp. I’d never heard anything like this before. I set the hook and the brown charged downstream by me in the heavier current and then leaped from the water. I could see it was a nice-sized brown. Once it splashed back down in the water it shot directly toward the fallen tree and its many protruding branches. If it got among those branches it was game over. I applied steady pressure but couldn’t turn it, and in fact the trout accelerated and it was game over. My line flew back toward me, and I screamed some not so nice words in exasperation.

Large Brown Lost Here as It Headed for Deadfall

Fairly soon after this exciting encounter, I reached the water I’d covered the previous day. I fished my way up to the nice pool where I’d been for the hatch and tried deep nymphing it again. Once again I foul hooked a nice brown. Judging from its size and location, it may have been the same fish I foul hooked yesterday.

Typical Character of Upper Conejos

I decided to skip the rest of the water I’d covered before and hiked back to the parking lot with the intent of sampling the river above the bridge. As I was walking down the road from the parking lot to the bridge another fisherman was driving up the road and rolled his window down to greet me and ask how I’d done. I ended up chatting with Steve from Albuquerque, and he suggested I take a look at the meadows section that he said was three miles further up the road.

By now it was 4PM and I found a nice run of moderate depth north of the bridge and cast my Chernobyl ant and suddenly a fish rose and slurped it in. I fought the hot fish and brought a nice 14 inch rainbow to net. Unfortunately as I was positioning for a photo, it made a spurt from the net and broke off my purple PT dropper and that was my last one of the smaller size.

I continued moving upstream and jumping in to fish nice water. I replaced the purple PT with a beadhead PT, a beadhead hares ear, a beadhead bright green caddis pupa, and a beadhead emerald caddis pupa. Along the way I landed a small brown on the Chernobyl ant. Eventually I came upon a nice pocket water stretch across from the Lake Fork Campground. I had a few refusals from what appeared to be a decent brown in a deep slot across from the campground, so I replaced the two flies with a single size 16 caddis with a light gray body and brown hackle. The targeted fish grabbed the caddis when it got sucked under water by the swirling currents and I experienced a momentary hookup.

It was now 5PM and I had a decent hike back to the car in the heat so I decided to turn around even though some nice water beckoned ahead. When I got back to the car I debated whether to try the meadow stretch or call it a day. Since I’d come a long way and survived the dirt road, I owed it to myself to check out the meadows. It turned out to be more like four miles, but sure enough it was obvious when I reached the meadows. The stream here was quite wide and consistently 3 to 4 feet deep with occasional protruding boulders to interrupt the monotony of the constant flow. How does one fish water like this when nothing is showing on the surface?

Wildflower Meadow Next to Conejos

I spotted another fisherman so angled upstream of him around 100 yards. I still had the Chernobyl ant with the beadhead emerald caddis pupa dropper, so I started fishing the way I’d learned in Alaska. I shot casts out over the river and made a big first mend to get the fly line above the flies and then fed out line while making quick constant stack mends to maintain a nice drag free drift. In addition I walked along the bank at roughly the same speed as the current. Much to my surprise, after walking perhaps 20 yards of bank doing this and just as my flies were five feet above a protruding rock, the Chernobyl disappeared and I set the hook and played a fish that felt decent for a minute or two before it made a sudden turn and freed itself. Again a few choice words were uttered. I continued moving downstream in this fashion with no further success until I approached the other fisherman and exited and quit for the day. Friday was a good day, but not as good as Thursday, but still far superior than waiting for the flows to subside in northern Colorado.

Purchased Green Drake Took Ten Fish

Conejos River – 7/21/2011

Time: 10:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Upper Conejos at 105 bridge crossing then downstream by a 20 minute hike

Fish Landed: 30

Conejos River 07/21/2011 Photo Album

When I awoke on Thursday morning and walked to the picnic table to start the stove and heat up water for tea, I noticed some large brown muddy spots on the tablecloth. The marks were around four inches wide and three inches tall. These were definitely larger than a squirrel or raccoon. What was going on here? I scanned the picnic table, and the water container and stove and dishwashing bin were all there. But something was missing. I remembered that I left the utensil bin on the table as well as it didn’t contain any food. I looked around and discovered a mass of crushed plastic twenty feet away from the table under some tall evergreens. I went over and inspected and found the container had been crushed into many pieces, and my utensils were scattered on the pine needles. I found a garbage bag and gathered up the plastic pieces, and took the utensils back to the table for washing. I decided to dispose of the garbage bag and walked over to the other loop to find the dumpster had been turned upside down. I later learned that the bear had been in camp at around 11:30PM. Apparently the bear had been on my picnic table and smashed my utensil container, and I slept through the entire episode! This is scary stuff.

Aftermath of Bear Visit on Wednesday Night

I planned to drive back to the fly shop to buy some supplies and get information. Now I also needed to buy a new container for my utensils. After I prepared breakfast I washed all my utensils and put them in a plastic bag. The closest store was probably in Antonito, so I drove the 22 miles to a small supermarket and bought a new Ziploc container and ice and inquired on the whereabouts of the Cottonwood Meadows Fly Shop I’d read about in my Colorado fly fishing book. The store personnel gave me a brochure and apparently I’d driven by the fly shop and it was now called Conejos River Anglers. I stopped at the fly shop in Mogote and asked the proprietor a bunch of questions. I bought a tapered leader, a spool of tippet, split shot and three thingamabobbers. The gentleman in the shop informed me I had to go high and showed me where to go on the map. It required a 16 mile drive on a dirt road. He then pointed to flies that were known producers, and I bought 10 or so. I bought two bushy green drakes and two parachute green drakes with white wings. I also bought a bunch of nymphs with black beadheads, iridescent purple bodies and fine rubber legs. I bought around six of these in various sizes. I’ll refer to these in future reports as purple rubber leg pheasant tails. I asked when the hatches occurred and the storekeeper told me in the morning. I glanced at my watch and knowing I had a long rough drive on a dirt road, I quickly paid my bill and hustled on.

I stopped briefly at the campground to pick up my waders and wading boots and decided to forego preparing lunch and do that when I reached my destination. Sure enough after traveling up route 17 for six miles, I make a right turn on to CO 250 and it was dirt and quite rough with washboard sections from time to time. I couldn’t average more than about 25 MPH. I drove past some beautiful stretches of river and gorgeous countryside. This was remote Colorado at its best. After passing a two mile stretch called the Pinnacles, which I’d read about in the book, I continued another couple miles until I saw route 105 cutting off to the left. I descended this very rough dirt road a short distance and crossed the bridge and parked in a rough rocky sagebrush parking lot. While I was rigging up, two Texans came and asked me which direction I was fishing. I responded that I planned to go downstream, and they asked if I minded if they went upstream. I replied that they should go for it.

One of the Nicer Pools on Upper Conejos

I stuffed a yogurt, trail mix bar, and some carrots in my backpack along with my Camelback, and I was off down the trail. I wanted to hike a bit and not fish too close to the parking lot, although in retrospect, I don’t think it mattered much. I hiked high above the river on some grassy ridges and then after twenty minutes cut down to the river at a point where the bank was gentler. No sooner had I arrived by the stream and started tying on the parachute green drake with one of the purple PT’s than I spotted another fisherman at the bottom of the pool. I would discover that there were only a handful of fishermen on this river, and I managed to find one of them. As I tied on my flies the other fisherman pressed upstream, so it became clear he wanted the pool, so I backed away from the river and hiked further downstream. I ended up jumping back in just below a second small tributary that entered on my side of the river.

This One Almost Length of Net

The river was running quite strong from bank to bank, and it was quite difficult to wade upstream against the current. I was forced to fish within three feet or so of the bank as I had done on the Arkansas River on Sunday; however, this was less intimidating since it was a smaller stream. I picked up a fish on the parachute green drake and one on the purple PT, but the top fly began to sink, so I swapped it out for a yellow Letort hopper. I continued working my way upstream tight against the bank and landed three more trout on the trailing purple PT. I began fishing at around 10:30AM and it was partly cloudy. Dark clouds would roll by periodically and it looked like rain, but it never did more than sprinkle for a short time. At 11:30 a fairly large dark cloud rolled in and this triggered some sparse hatching. I spotted PMD’s and a few green drakes. At about this same time I reached the sweet pool I had originally chanced upon, and my nemesis had moved on.

Caught Nice Brown Here on PMD

I watched the water from the tail and could see at least four fish rising. I tried my hopper and dropper, but they were focused on something else. Since I saw PMD’s I switched the purple PT out for a normal beadhead pheasant tail, and that didn’t produce either. I moved up to the mid-point of the run so I could observe better and thought I noticed a fish taking a PMD from the surface. I clipped off the two flies and tied on a light gray comparadun aka the money fly. I made quite a few casts with no success but eventually on a drift over the tail of the pool a fish rose and sipped in my fly. I set the hook and eventually landed a nice brown that extended almost the length of my net. As quickly as the hatch had begun, it now ended after an hour or so of intense action.

I moved to the top of the run and decided to try the thingamabobber with a pair of nymphs and run them down through the pool and along the current seam. On one of these drifts, the bobber dipped and I set the hook and found myself attached to a fine brown. Unfortunately when I brought it to my net it was foul hooked.

Tall Aspens

Near this spot I sat down on the bank and ate my lunch, but the hatch had pretty much wound down. After lunch I tied on a Chernobyl ant with the purple PT as a dropper. The sky continued to cloud up and then the sun would break through. I believe that this combination of overcast conditions and the higher flows really helped the fishing. As I moved up along the left bank facing upstream I continued picking up fish with decent regularity. The Chernobyl and PT were probably working at equal 50-50 levels of success. The current was so strong that in many places I had to exit the stream and jump around trees and willows that were tight to the current. But whenever I found some slack water, it seemed to produce a fish.

Chernobyl Visible on This Brown

On the day I landed 30 brown trout and several were quite nice fish for a relatively small stream, although it was probably the size of the Frying Pan, so not quite as small as many streams at this elevation. Toward the end I switched the purple PT for a prince and caught a fish on that, and then removed the prince and replaced with a bright green caddis pupa, and that produced a couple. I needed one more fish to reach 30 when I reached the bridge where the car was parked. I went above the bridge and looked through my fly pocket and spotted a Madam X with a gray body. For some reason I decided to give it a try and it produced number 30.

More Rock Occupants

I now had to drive the 16 mile dirt road back to camp, and took my time as I was not in a rush to catch the morning hatch action like the morning drive. On Thursday night I took a hike along the lower level of the campground and snapped some sunset photos. Of course after dinner, I packed everything in the car including the new utensil container. At around 11:15 Thursday night I heard quite a bit of activity and assumed a new camper had arrived. I awoke again at 3AM to the sound of a thud, and I was certain that the bear returned and knocked my camp stove off the table. But when I awoke in the morning and looked out of the tent, the stove and water container where still in the position I’d left them in.

Cool Reflection Off River

Conejos River – 7/20/2011

Time: 4:00PM – 8:00PM

Location: Special regulation water three miles upstream from Aspen Glade Campground

Fish Landed: 1

Conejos River 07/20/2011 Photo Album

I was all caught up at work and waiting for the office manager to finish job costing for June, so I had the rest of the week available to fish. I checked all the likely rivers within a day’s drive of Denver, and all were still running high from the 2011 protracted snow melt. The only day trip option was edge fishing the Arkansas. I checked some of the southern drainages and discovered that the Rio Grande and Conejos Rivers in south central Colorado were flowing at ideal levels, so I decided to do a three day camping and fishing trip to the Conejos. Jane and I and the kids had been to this area perhaps 15 years ago when we took a trip on the Combre and Toltec Railroad and camped at Elk Creek, but I hadn’t fished very much.

I packed everything up on Wednesday morning and made the 4.5 hour drive to the Aspen Glade Campground along the Conejos River. I arrived at around 3PM and cruised the campground. Quite a few sites were reserved for Friday night, and I wanted to stay Friday and drive back to Denver on Saturday morning. The campground was on two levels and the premium sites were among tall cottonwood trees along the river, and all those sites were either taken or reserved for Friday night, so I defaulted to a nice site among some tall trees on one of the upper level loops. I set up the tent and while doing so the campground hosts stopped by to say hello and warn me that a bear had been in camp the previous two nights. They suggested keeping my key fob in the tent, and should a bear appear, hit the panic button to scare off the bear.

Aspen Glade Campground, Site No. 2

I was anxious to hit the river, and it looked clear and ideal so I drove approximately three miles upriver to a pullout with wooden stairs over the fence. The sign said this was private land but special regulation water and fishing by flies and lures allowed. I walked a short distance to a cattle bridge and crossed to the southern side and began fishing with nymphs and a large indicator. I worked my way up a beautiful long deep run with the nymphs, and was amazed that I didn’t have any success. When I got to the top, I tried the stack mend technique and once again was not rewarded. This would continue for essentially the next four hours.

The next beautiful spot was a huge deep pool and the grass was beaten down along the edge so obviously fishermen had been there recently. After thoroughly working the seam and run with nymphs, I switched to a large olive-brown articulated streamer and swept that through the pool from top to bottom in the manner I’d learned in Alaska. Again there were no takers.

I moved up some more to a spot where the river ran along a dead tree. I switched to a Chernobyl ant and this brought a couple refusals from obviously small fish. I switched to a bushy size 12 caddis and again saw a refusal. Meanwhile I paused to remove my backpack and make my second application of heavy duty DEET. The mosquitoes here were voracious.

It was now getting toward dusk, and I had lost confidence and was growing weary so I retreated back toward the cattle bridge while swatting the persistent winged attackers. When I got near the bridge I found a rod tube, the type with a place to store your rod with the reel attached. It didn’t have a name on it, so I took it along with me. I crossed the bridge and walked up along the north bank to a spot where the river split around an island and cast my caddis in some small pockets around protruding rocks. Here I finally landed a small 8 inch brown trout on the caddis.

Special Regulation Water of Conejos River

My last attempt was the north side of the long run above the bridge. I converted back to nymphs and thoroughly covered some very sweet fishy water with the nymphs, but once again I was foiled. I quit fishing at 8PM and returned to camp and made dinner using the light from my propane lantern with only a small brown trout and an empty rod tube to show for my efforts. I was now regretting paying for three nights at the campground.

Arkansas River – 7/17/2011

Time: 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Lunch Rock upstream

Fish Landed: 9

Arkansas River 07/17/2011 Photo Album

On the way to camping at Alvarado Campground near Westcliffe with Jane I stopped at Royal Gorge Anglers to chat with Taylor Edrington. I asked him where I could fish, and he told me that flows at Grape Creek were 6 cfs, extremely low, and areas were closed due to forest fires. He informed me that the area south of the Arkansas River was actually in a state of drought and was vastly different from northern Colorado which is floating on snow melt. His suggestion was to try edge fishing the Arkansas below Salida. Per Taylor, “don’t even wear your waders and cast within six inches of the bank.”

Jane Enjoying the Ride on Rainbow Trail

Salida was too far to drive from the Alvarado Campground, so I spent Friday setting up camp, mountain biking and hiking the area. On Saturday Jane arrived and we did another mountain bike ride and then a two hour hike and cooked dinner and enjoyed the beauty of the area. On Sunday after packing up camp, we strolled around Westcliffe and explored the shops and had a tasty lunch on the patio at one of the restaurants. After lunch Jane headed back to Denver and I headed to the Salida area to try edge fishing as recommended by Taylor.

I parked at lunch rock just above the Wellsville bridge. It was extremely hot, probably in the mid-90’s so I initially took Taylor’s advice and just wore my shorts and my front pack. I assembled my Sage 4 weight and bounced down the rocks and tied on a yellow Charlie Boy hopper. I worked up the stream for a bit but didn’t have any luck with the Charlie Boy so I switched to the old standby, yellow Letort hopper. I was just hopping from rock to rock and popping the hopper within three feet of the bank, and in short order I picked up two brown trout and photographed them. After landing the first two I failed to hook one, and then I broke off the hopper on a hook set.

First Trout from Arkansas on Sunday

The hopper was producing reasonably well, but I decided to try a Chernobyl ant for more buoyancy as my next fly. This produced a third brown, and then from a position six feet above the water on some rocks I hooked and landed a nice rainbow on the Chernobyl. I had to hoist the fish up to my level and then toss it back down.

This One Was Pretty Long

Next I reached an area where the water fanned out and was fairly slow and shallow, but there were a bunch of willows along the edge. Normally I could have walked out on a rocky gravel bar, but I couldn’t get in good position without my waders so I skipped this area. But the going was getting rough because the vegetation was tight to rapid current, and I found myself scrambling up and down the bank to get around these tough access spots. I decided to go back to the car and put on my waders. I moved the car a bit upstream to where I ended my fishing and put on my waders in the 90 degree heat and returned to the river.

Next some black clouds rolled in, and I heard some thunder so once again I returned to the car and dug out my raincoat and wrapped it around my waist under the waders. Finally I returned to the river ready to fish and started getting into a rhythm. I wasn’t catching fish in every likely sheltered lie along the bank, but frequently enough to keep me enthusiastic and moving along.

At another point I spotted a very nice brown that appeared to be in excess of 15 inches within a foot of a large rock sticking above the surface. I was careful in my approach, but he didn’t respond to the Chernobyl ant. I added a copper john dropper in hopes the big guy might grab something subsurface, but that didn’t work and the brown disappeared.

There Was a Large Trout Off the Point of This Rock I Couldn't Catch

I left the copper john on as a dropper and kept working up along the bank picking up nice browns along the way. My last fish was a beautiful rainbow that grabbed the copper john. The rainbow charged out into the fast water, and I had to work him up and allow him to run several times before landing. After releasing the rainbow I looked at my watch and it was approaching 5PM, and I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me and unpacking all the camping gear, so I quit for the day.

Mitchell/Brainard Lakes – 7/10/2011

Time: 1:00PM – 3:00PM

Location: Inlet of Mitchell and north side of Brainard Lake

Fish Landed: 0

Mitchel/Brainard Lakes 07/10/2011 Photo Album

Having returned from Alaska on Monday, Jane and I were anxious to make a trip to the Colorado mountains, so we decided to hike to Mitchell Lake. We packed our lunches and hiking gear and drove to the Brainard Lake parking lot. We hiked the .5 mile or so to the Mitchell Lake trailhead and then proceeded. Much to our surprise 75% of the trail was covered in snow. We hiked over numerous snowdrifts and lost the trail many times. We finally reached the lake, and it was ice free.

Jane Sits on Our Lunch Rock Near Mitchell Lake

We grabbed one of the few large rocks that wasn’t covered in snow and ate our lunches. Jane made a snow angel and inscribed the date made with sticks in the snow drift next to our lunch rock. After lunch I climbed into my waders and strung my Scott 6 weight and waded into the frigid lake. The low end was quite shallow so I waded along the rocky edge to a point where the small stream enters. I caught several cutthroats and brook trout at this point two years ago. I made 5-10 casts into the run and swung a woolly bugger with no response when it began to rain. The sky was quite dark and I could hear thunder, so I climbed up on the bank and walked up and down many drifts until I got back to Jane. She was anxious to return to the car, so I left my waders on, and we managed to find the trail in the snow and return to the car.

Once I was at the car I decided to try fishing Brainard Lake. I began where the lake was fairly close to the road and began casting the streamer twenty yards out into the lake and stripping it back. I moved westward along the shoreline until I reached the point where a small stream entered the lake. Here I decided to switch to the stack mending technique I learned in Alaska and made numerous nice drifts out into the lake along either side of the current seam. I switched to a beadhead hares ear and beadhead caddis pupa for this approach.

I crossed the small stream and moved to the entry point of a slightly larger stream and tried the stack mend technique once again and again it didn’t produce. I didn’t feel like working around the larger stream because it was too swift to cross so I returned to my starting point where Jane was waiting and called it a day.