Category Archives: Fishing Reports

Fishing Reports

Arkansas River – 4/28/10

Time: 10:00AM – 4:30PM

Location: Texas Creek and braided area above Pinnacle Rock

Fish Landed: 13

Arkansas River 04/28/2010 Photo Album

Reports on the Arkansas River looked promising as the low level snow melt was over and water clarity improved. Wednesday’s high was supposed to be mid-70’s, and then four days of cool and possibly damp weather after Wednesday convinced me to make the trip.

I arrived at the Arkansas River above Pinnacle Rock and began fishing at around 10AM. The sun was out and the sky was blue but wind was an issue. I hiked up the road and spotted two fishermen in a spot where the braids merged. I went further up the highway and then dropped to the river and crossed two channels and cut through the willows to a spot on the north braid. I was only 20 yards or so above the other fishermen, but they couldn’t see me.

Barn Near Texas Creek

I tied on a Chernobyl ant and dangled a bright green caddis pupa, but this wasn’t drawing any interest. I switched out the Chernobyl for a yellow Letort hopper on top, and still no interest. There were thousands of caddis on the willows along the stream, and they occasionally fluttered and dipped on the water. It was obvious that the caddis had already emerged in this stretch.

Caddis Pupa

I decided to go deep with a split shot and strike indicator so I could generate more movement on the flies subsurface. I tied on a beadhead prince nymph as the top fly and added a beadhead bright green caddis pupa on the point. This proved to be the ticket and five browns grabbed the prince as I prospected up the north braid. After covering a small amount of water, the two fishermen rounded the corner and asked if I planned to fish upstream. I nodded emphatically, and then they asked where I’d begun. I informed them, and they jumped in below my starting point.

Fine Brown Took Bright Green Caddis Pupa

I continued quite a bit upstream and near the point where I stopped for lunch, had a sharp strike on the first cast into a nice little pocket above a split in the current. I set the hook and the line flew back to a bush. When I retrieved the line, I realized I’d snapped off the fly in the fish’s mouth.

Glass Bead Caddis Larva

I hiked back to the car and decided to drive upstream to Texas Creek to hopefully get to a point where the caddis were about to emerge. I parked in the lot across the bridge and immediately scrambled to the river and shook some willows. Very few caddis flitted from the branches.

I ate my lunch then hiked down the bank along the river further than I’d ever gone before to some nice water where the river widened out. I stayed with the nymphing set up but went back to the bright green caddis and a gray wet fly. I was assuming I was fishing water where the trout would be focused on emerging caddis. I got snagged several times and ripped off quite a few flies before finally catching a decent brown on the bright green caddis pupa. During this time, the wind began to gust so strong that I turned my back and held my hat in place. The sky clouded up for periods and the caddis on the willows began to swarm and dap the surface. Apparently I was wrong, and the caddis had already emerged in this stretch as well. I decided to go back to the prince nymph, and this proved to be a great decision. During the afternoon I picked up another eight brown trout, several quite nice in the 13-14 inch range.

Another Nice Brown Taken in Afternoon

The fish were in the deeper pockets and runs just off faster currents. When I reached the island near the confluence with Texas Creek, I fished along the south side of the island to the top of the island. There was another fisherman at the top so I circled back to the bottom and fished up the right channel. The same fisherman was at the top of the run waving at me as I approached. I finally figured out that he was telling me in sign language that his hat had blown off and was floating down the river toward me. I scanned the water but didn’t see anything.

It was now around 4:30, so I decided to call it a day and head home.

Big Thompson River – 4/18/10

Time: 12:30PM – 3:30PM

Location: Downstream end of catch and release stretch below Lake Estes

Fish Landed: 8

Big Thompson River 04/18/2010 Photo Album

Jane agreed to accompany me back to the Big Thompson so we could shop in Estes Park for a wedding gift for our nephew. We arrived in Estes Park around 10:30 and did some shopping then stopped at Subway and picked up sandwiches for lunch. We drove down along the Big Thompson and stopped where I’d quit on Thursday. I ate my lunch and prepared to fish.

Jane Reads While Dave Gets Ready to Fish

The weather was cool with temperatures in the low 60’s or upper 50’s and partly cloudy and breezy. The flows were up a bit from Thursday at 52 cfs and the water had a bit more color. I walked down along the highway and descended the bank to where I’d exited on Thursday. Jane accompanied me and took the camera while I hooked a rainbow in short order on a beadhead pheasant tail. Jane took several photos and then headed back up to the minivan to read while shielded from the wind.

Dave Begins Fishing Downstream from Van
Dave Shows Off First Fish

I was fishing a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a BHPT. Even more so than Thursday, my success was limited to slack water with three feet of depth or more. Most of this water was along the bank. I rock hopped the roadside bank and picked up five total trout on the BHPT. All were rainbows except for one brown.

Nice Rainbow Caught on Beadhead Hares Ear

I wasn’t getting any action on the hopper so I switched that out to a Chernobyl ant for better flotation. After a slow spell of roughly half an hour with no fish, I removed the BHPT and tied on a beadhead hares ear as the dropper. This worked quite well, and I landed an additional three rainbows in the last hour. Two of these were quite nice fish in the 13-14 inch range, and I caught them in the tails of some deep pools in the center of the stream.

Saving the Best for Last

Jane and I decided to call it a day around 3:30 and headed back to Denver.

Big Thompson River – 4/15/10

Time: 12:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Downstream end of catch and release stretch below Lake Estes

Fish Landed: 11

Big Thompson River 04/15/2010 Photo Album

With work light and forecast of temperatures in the 60’s, I decided to try another day of fishing. I read the various reports, and the Big Thompson sounded like the least affected by the low elevation snowmelt continuing from the late March early April snowstorms.

Deep Run Along Bank Yielded Trout

I purposely started late since I knew it would be late morning/early afternoon before the air temperature and water temperature would allow the trout to become active. I drove to the downstream border of the catch and release area below Lake Estes and arrived around 11:30 AM. I ate my lunch and then began fishing above the bridge that marks the catch and release border.

Second Trout of the Day

I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a beadhead pheasant tail nymph and then a light olive beadhead midge larva. I fished for a half hour or so before catching my first fish, a small rainbow. My losing streak of three outings without a fish was over! I attempted to photograph the rainbow, but it got off the hook while in the net as I tried to position for a photo. I continued prospecting the water picking up fish on a fairly regular basis, although numerous casts were required to attractive water to get hookups. The fish were definitely somewhat lethargic.

A Bit Larger

Around 1PM I switched the midge larva out for a beadhead RS2. The reports I read said there were BWO hatches in mid to late afternoon in the lower to middle canyon on overcast calm days. I was covering my bases. The third fly continued to cause tangles if I didn’t pause long enough on my backcast to allow the flies to straighten, so I removed and fished the hopper/BHPT combination.

Pretty Rainbow

This proved to be a smart move as it eliminated wasted time spent untangling flies and didn’t impact my catch rate. I discovered that most of my catches were along the bank opposite the road and in slack water with depth of 3-4 feet. Of the eleven trout I landed, approximately four took the hopper and the remainder sucked in the pheasant tail. I hooked up temporarily on an additional 4-5 fish and had several refusals on the hopper, so the fish were definitely looking up. The best action occurred between 1-3, and it was quite slow in the last hour. A BWO hatch never materialized, although the sky was largely bright blue and cloudless. I’m guessing I caught 4 browns and 7 rainbows.

South Platte River – 4/11/10

Time: 11:00AM – 2:30PM

Location: Cheesman Canyon above Second Bend after Cow Crossing

Fish Landed: 0

South Platte River 04/11/2010 Photo Album

The forecast called for temperatures in the 70’s, so I decided to give the South Platte another chance. As I drove up Jarre Canyon towards the South Platte I noticed a significant amount of remaining snow on the hillsides and feared the river would be muddied by low elevation snow melt. When I reached the river below Nighthawk, my fears were realized. The river was flowing green-brown with minimal visibility.

I decided to drive to Deckers and check out the water above Horse Creek. Sure enough, Horse Creek was feeding turbid water into the main river, and the South Platte was crystal clear above the tributary. There were quite a few fishermen in the stretch above the bridge, so I decided to hike into Cheesman Canyon. I parked at the Wigwam parking area and put on my waders and hiked to the canyon holding my rod and lunch box.

Trailhead to Cheesman Canyon

I hiked in quite a ways to get above the many fishermen on the lower water. I finally stopped at a nice spot above the second 90 degree bend after Cow Crossing. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a beadhead RS2 and then a brown bead midge larva. I noticed occasional midges fluttering over the water. I fished up the river in some nice juicy runs, but had no success and didn’t spot any fish. I got to some nice deep runs, so switched to a nymph set up with strike indicator and beadhead hares ear and beadhead RS2. This also didn’t bring any action, so I returned to a long rock next to the river and had my lunch.

Crystal Clear Flows in Cheesman Canyon
Lunch Rock

While eating lunch at around 12:30 I observed a sparse emergence of BWO’s. I also hiked up the bank a bit for a high vantage point and thought I spotted a trout holding in a pool close to the opposite bank. After lunch I waded ¾ of the way across the pool to the far side where I’d seen the fish and ran my nymphs through the area, but no take. I continued working my way up the river for quite a distance switching between deep nymphs and hopper/dropper. Finally between 2 and 2:30 I spotted 5 to 6 fish holding in a nice pool near the left bank. I tied on a CDC olive and trailed a non-beadhead BWO nymph, but could not attract any of the observed fish.

A Nice Riffle Stretch
Remaining Snow Patches Along the River

Eventually I hooked a branch along the edge and disturbed the pool after dislodging the fly. I decided to call it quits since I had a long hike back out of the canyon and a drive back to Denver.

Arkansas River – 3/31/10

Time: 10:00AM – 2:00PM

Location: Braided area above Pinnacle Rock

Fish Landed: 0

Arkansas River 03/31/2010 Photo Album

I caught up on all my work at Saddleback and another nice spring day was forecast with high’s in the low 70’s. I was able to get an early start on Wednesday, so I read the report on the Arkansas River. It sounded encouraging with the potential of a BWO hatch, so I decided to make the trip. I stopped at the Royal Gorge Angler and purchased four golden stonefly nymphs recommended by Bill Edrington, the owner. Bill said the golden stoneflies were molting and fish were taking them at the top of pools. He advised to switch to bright green caddis pupa and BWO nymphs in the afternoon. He also cautioned that the river had quite a bit of discoloration. This should have been a red flag.

I drove to the area above Pinnacle Rock where the river splits into four channels. Quite a bit of discoloration was an understatement. The river was the color of dark olive split pea soup. Visibility was 6 inches at best in the riffles and along the edges. I rigged up and tied on the chenille rubber leg stonefly nymph I purchased and trailed a beadhead hares ear and began working the top of runs with a strike indicator. I did this for an hour and a half in some nice juicy deep runs to no avail.

Murky Arkansas River on Wednesday, Mar 31

I walked back to the car to eat my lunch, but decided to drive to Texas Creek and check out the water on the smaller tributary. Texas Creek was raging and murky, so I returned back to the braided stretch and ate my lunch. After lunch I waded across two channels to get to the nice northern most run which historically is one of my favorites. The water was discolored, but not high, so I switched to a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear and beadhead RS2. This produced nothing in some nice riffle stretches that normally hold fish.

Willows in Foreground of North Channel
Willows in Foreground of North Channel

When I got to a third nice stretch of water, I replaced the flies with a glass bead caddis nymph followed by an emerald caddis larva fly. I finally managed to hookup with a small brown, but as I set the hook and lifted, the fish turned its head and got off the hook. I worked my way upstream some more hoping to see a BWO hatch. When I reached a point where the streambead narrowed and the water wasn’t as enticing, I decided to walk back to the bottom of the north braid and rest on a log and observe the water in hopes of a BWO emergence. I lied down on the ground with my head propped up on a log and dozed off. I woke up and discovered I’d taken a 45 minute nap and it was 2:45. I decided I’d had enough fun and returned to Denver.

Bear Creek – 3/30/10

Time: 12:00PM – 2:00PM

Location: O’Fallon Park

Fish Landed: 0

Bear Creek 03/30/2010 Photo Album

I read in the local Orvis newsletter that Bear Creek was a good early season place to fish in the Denver metro area. Temperatures were forecast to be in the upper 70’s on Tuesday, but I had a dentist appointment at 8AM, so I decided to try Bear Creek due to its close proximity. I’d fished Bear Creek once before on Labor Day several years ago and caught some small trout, but this was much closer to Morrison.

Bear Creek Starting Point in O’Fallon Park

By the time I returned from the dentist and packed a lunch and reorganized the flies in my fly pouch and drove to the stream it was 11:30. As I drove west on route 74 from Morrison, I noticed that the amount of snow along the highway was increasing rapidly with each 100 feet of elevation gain. I found O’Fallon Park easily and turned in the dirt road which led to a small cul de sac. The turnaround was so muddy that I decided to park along the right side of the road and not risk getting stuck in the deep mud.

Quagmire

I ate my lunch and climbed into my waders and then hiked down the mud lane that branched off from the turnaround. The lane was a big oxbow that followed the stream around a hill and then came back to route 74. I stopped where the stream paralleled the road again and entered the water at a wide open area. I tied on a Chernobyl ant and trailed a San Juan worm and beadhead hares ear. The water was flowing somewhat high and mostly clear but had discoloration from the rapidly melting snow.

Nymphing Water Just Ahead

I worked my way through all kinds of water…riffles, runs, pockets and pools but experienced no success. I didn’t even spook any fish. When I got to a stretch where the stream narrowed and formed several nice deep pools with deep runs entering the pools, I switched to a deep nymphing setup. This didn’t make any difference.

My Reorganized Fly Pouch

By 2PM I approached the top of the oxbow, and I’d lost all confidence. There was a man playing with four dogs in the snow and stream just ahead, so I decided to call it a day.

South Platte River – 3/28/10

Time: 11:15AM – 2:30PM

Location: Whale Rock

Fish Landed: 3

South Platte River 03/28/2010 Photo Album

With temperatures finally forecast to reach 60 degrees, I decided to visit the South Platte River downstream from Deckers on Sunday. Jane agreed to accompany so we packed a lunch and left the house around 10AM. As we drove from Sedalia there was a lot more snow on the hills, and we were concerned about the condition of the steep Nighthawk Hill. When we turned on to the dirt road at Sprucewood, we could see it was packed dirt and mud, so we made the descent and turned right and parked at the Whale Rock parking lot.

South Platte Below Parking Lot
Jane’s Set Up Before Lunch

It was still chilly when I began, so I had on a fleece top over my fishing shirt. I walked down the road beyond the parking lot then cut some footprints through the snow on the relatively steep bank and approached the river. The river was running at a nice flow, probably 200, and mostly clear with a tinge of color from the nearby snowmelt.

Capturing Some Riverside Snow

I rigged up with a strike indicator, split shot, San Juan worm and beadhead hares ear to start. I covered a fair amount of water with no action. I was constantly clearing moss from both the flies. But after 45 minutes of fishing, I caught two small browns in some 3 foot deep riffle sections. The first brown grabbed the San Juan worm and the second took the BHHE.

I continued working my way up along the roadside bank, but to no avail. I quit fishing at around 12:30 and climbed the bank and walked back to the car where I found Jane reading in her chair with her hood pulled up due to the wind. I ate my lunch and then decided to hike up the road beyond the next parking lot, and fish the rocky stretch that borders the road where I’ve had much success over the last several years. I knew there were fish in this area from past experience. Jane decided to drive the van to the next parking lot and read there.

I cut down the short steep bank to the river above a large boulder and fished the first deep run with the nymphs with no success. I moved up to the next pool/run and switched my flies to a Chernobyl ant trailing a BHHE. The next series of pools were shallower so I felt the dry/dropper could fish deep enough. I didn’t have any success in the next pool, but in the third pool, I caught a 9 inch brown on the BHHE. I continued working the remaining attractive water in this manner along the road and then around the bend and through a riffle stretch until the river came up close to the road again. I had no success in this area, although another fishermen and his young son came down this stretch with spinning rods, and this may have spooked the fish.

Jane Gets Closer Near End of Fishing Day
Dave With New Hat Above Favorite Rocky Stretch of River

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so the likelihood of a hatch was remote. I spotted only occasional midges in the air. I was growing weary of the lack of action, so we called it quits at around 2:30 and returned to Denver.

Arkansas River – 04/14/2009

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Braids above Pinnacle Rock

Arkansas River 04/14/2009 Photo Album

I took advantage of forecast nice weather and shifted my non-working day from Friday to Tuesday and drove to the Arkansas River. Temperatures were forecast to be in the 60’s and sunny. This proved to be 50% correct.

I pulled into the pullout above Pinnacle Rock and below the braids. There was a pickup truck there already, but the fisherman was next to the pullout, and I wanted to fish up the river. I put on my new waders and wading boots. I discovered the neck strap that enables me to wear just my front pack without the backpack was missing from my bag, so I had to wear the frontpack and backpack. I also discovered that my new waders were so tight around my chest that I couldn’t stash my camera and case behind them as I did previously with my old waders. But I persisted.

[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LnkhIINX4qg/VGGPNZGnRRI/AAAAAAABCR4/mBkwTIQonPQ4Vjpn-r3f9qH91poBYVv3ACHM/s144-o/P4140001.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/04152009ArkansasRiver?locked=true#6080298432166577426″ caption=”Starting Point on Arkansas” type=”image” alt=”P4140001.JPG” image_size=”2048×1536″ ]

I began fishing up the left channel right next to the highway and prospected with a yellow Letort hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear. Fairly quickly, a 10 inch brown rose and inhaled the hopper, and I photographed the first trout of 2009. I continued working up the left bank and caught three browns on the hares ear and another on the hopper. One came from the very narrow 8-10 foot wide channel section along the highway. When I got to the deep pool above the lower braids, I switched to nymphing as I spotted some BWO’s flying around. I kept the beadhead hares ear on top and tied a small silver bead RS2 on the point. I swung this through the deep riffles and run at the head of the pool and picked up a rainbow on the hares ear nymph. I had a few other hookups that got off fairly quickly.

[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GZqDY0AVVCk/VGGPWRY8_4I/AAAAAAABCR4/1Aa0ylCr7FgU_R37aLlcf1J4EMEhQ0FYQCHM/s144-o/P4140003.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/04152009ArkansasRiver?locked=true#6080298584714837890″ caption=”First Fish of 2009″ type=”image” alt=”P4140003.JPG” image_size=”2048×1536″ ]

Around noon I hiked back to the car for lunch. The truck and other fishermen departed, and the sun emerged so I shed three layers. I removed my waders and adjusted the straps to loosen up the upper section. This worked nicely and gave me enough room to stash the camera. I was concerned about a fingerprint on my camera lens, so I cleaned that.

[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i0CYTG3eqzo/VGGPYtaaROI/AAAAAAABCR4/Kw-MTx1UVqEO6qOJDTcY5LAguM4_qtFCwCHM/s144-o/P4140008.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/04152009ArkansasRiver?locked=true#6080298626596881634″ caption=”Here’s the CDC BWO” type=”image” alt=”P4140008.JPG” image_size=”2048×1536″ ]

After lunch I hiked back up the highway and crossed two braids, so I could fish the right-most stretch, which is my favorite. I had the river to myself. I went back to the hopper and beadhead hares ear, but fairly quickly some clouds moved in, and BWO’s started to emerge. I nipped off the hopper and hares ear and tied on a size 22 CDC BWO. The cloud cover remained most of the rest of the afternoon, and the BWO’s emerged off and on as well. I gradually worked up the north (right) channel spotting rises and catching fish. The rises were fairly sporadic and difficult to spot in the riffles. My greatest difficulty was following the small gray fly in the sun glare and riffle, and I had to position myself for the best light many times. At one point, I thought the hatch had ended and went back to the hopper/dropper and caught a brown, but then BWO’s re-emerged, and I switched back to the CDC BWO. During the afternoon I caught 8 browns on the CDC BWO.

Fish Landed: 15

[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ERyBfHb5xL0/VGGPYcJY21I/AAAAAAABCR4/tQWNYupoaHUvGyJufCsS2Klgr2TC3hFRQCHM/s144-o/P4140007.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/04152009ArkansasRiver?locked=true#6080298621962083154″ caption=”Nice Brown Inhaled CDC BWO” type=”image” alt=”P4140007.JPG” image_size=”2048×1536″ ]

[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cqlMVOy301s/VGGPZCyn8wI/AAAAAAABCR4/z1KuPDeu_2kdJcIey0jZIRqO3S-pv3dDwCHM/s144-o/P4140009.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/04152009ArkansasRiver?locked=true#6080298632335586050″ caption=”Channel Covered in Afternoon” type=”image” alt=”P4140009.JPG” image_size=”2048×1536″ ]

 

 

 

Colorado River – 08/05/2008

Time: 10:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Breeze Unit at Parshall

Colorado River 08/05/2008 Photo Album

After a great day of fishing on Saturday and a great hatch, I was aching to return to the Colorado River, so I planned a return trip for Tuesday, August 5. I reached a good point at work to break away for a day. I left the house at 7:30 and arrived at the Kemp-Breeze parking lot at around 10AM. There were more cars in the lot than I expected for a mid-week day. I applied my insect repellent and dug some additional light olive-gray comparaduns and black ants out of my large fly storage box and placed them in my front pack.

Two gentlemen were preparing to fish while I was in the lot, and they headed out before me. I crossed my fingers that they would go downstream and leave the area I love open. When I reached the river, I was disappointed to see a group of fishermen one hundred yards upstream as well as two fishermen just above the stretch that I target. But there was space at the tail of the run that I favor, and I entered.

Competition for Space

Rising fish were absent, so I tied on the yellow Letort hopper and a beadhead pheasant tail and began prospecting the runs and the areas behind rocks. In short order I caught a 12 inch brown on the beadhead pheasant tail. The guy above me left his position and returned to shore to pee, and then he walked back to the group 100 yards upstream. Around 11AM I started seeing more rises, but I was not noticing any mayflies, rather lots of dapping caddis. I tied on a size 16 deer hair caddis and experienced a few refusals, so I asked why not go to the olive-gray comparadun and see if that was what the fish were looking for. I tied on one of the new ones I placed in my front pack, but it was a size larger than what I used Saturday. The fly was not working, so I switched it out for the bedraggled fly that yielded a bunch of fish on Saturday. This produced two nice browns, but the deer hair wing was sparse, and the fly continually fell on its side, and this made it difficult to see. I clipped it off and tied on a new size 16 comparadun, and this proved to be the ticket.

Meanwhile another fisherman split off from the upstream group, and he was methodically working downstream along the left bank, as I faced upstream. He was making downstream presentations and picking up a few fish. My path was now clear to cross to the far bank and fish upstream between the bank and the deeper run in the center of the river. I crossed over and fished my comparadun to rises, and I caught ten browns by 1PM, when the hatch subsided.

Fat One

When I reached the top of the run where there is a shallow riffle area, I returned back to near my starting point and noticed some sporadic rises. I tried the light olive-gray comparadun over these fish, but I experienced several refusals. I noticed some small BWO mayflies, so I tied on a CDC olive and caught a 13” brown on that fly. I also connected with two other trout for a bit, but they escaped before I could play and land them. One was particularly sweet. I spotted a fish rising in some fairly shallow water near the bank behind a small rock. On the third drift the trout, which appeared to be decent size, sipped my CDC olive, but I played it for only a few seconds before it turned and got off the hook.

It was now 1PM, and I decided to head back to the car and eat my lunch. I lathered up with more insect repellent after lunch, and then I returned to the same starting point. Some wind kicked up, and again I noticed fish dimpling the riffles after a gust. I tied on my black ant with a tuft of orange poly for visibility, and I caught two nice ant sippers.

Rare Rainbow

At this point the wind subsided, and not much was happening on the surface, although I continued to spot occasional small BWO’s in the air. I tied on a Chernobyl ant assuming that this would do double duty as an indicator and perhaps draw some rises given the wind and terrestrials in the water. I attached a light yellow beadhead caddis pupa to the bend of the Chernobyl, and then I tied a small beadhead RS2 below that. I began prospecting the water and catching fish on the small beadhead RS2. Apparently the fish were taking the RS2 for the BWO nymphs that were active all afternoon. At some point I switched the caddis out for a beadhead hares ear. During the remainder of the afternoon I caught five trout on the beadhead RS2 and one on the beadhead hares ear. The action was not as fast as during the hatch, but enough to keep me interested in anxious anticipation.

I waded to the small island below the point where the group of fishermen were present during the hatch. By now only a few anglers remained, and they were not in that area. The weather changed, and the wind began to gust, so I decided to call it a day and waded back down to my entry point. I stopped and observed a young fisherman fishing the far bank that produced for me during the hatch, and he landed a couple fish. I looked above him, and I spotted a few sporadic rises among the whitecaps created by the wind, so I decided to wade in and share in the fun of fishing ants. I removed the beadhead hares ear and RS2 and tied a black ant behind the Chernobyl. I made ten casts and eventually witnessed the subtle take of a nice brown and hooked up and landed my 21st trout. As I waded out of the river past the young fisherman, I asked if he was catching fish on black ants, and he said no, PMD emergers.

I caught 21 trout on an assortment of flies and only one of the fish was a rainbow.

Fish Landed: 21

Jemez Creek, East Fork – 06/29/2008

Time: 10:00AM – 1:00PM

Location: Third Crossing

Jemez Creek, East Fork 06/29/2016 Photo Album

Jemez (HAY-mas) Creek

Jemez (HAY-mas) Creek

Jane, Dan and I drove to Santa Fe and visited with Amy for the weekend. I stopped by the fly shop in Santa Fe on Saturday and bought a one-day license and obtained directions from the shop on where to fish the East Fork of Jemez Creek. On Sunday morning, I drove north from Santa Fe, and then took route 502 toward Los Alamos, and then I turned left on to NM route 4 to the Jemez Mountains and subsequently to the third crossing of Jemez Creek. The creek was quite small, low and clear. I hiked for .3 mile or so to get away from the presumably pressured water near the road. I began fishing in a nice deep pool next to a large rock wall with a caddis, but I was not creating any action, even though I could see numerous small brown trout. Eventually, I added a small glass bead WD40 on a dropper 18 inches below the caddis and began to catch a few small browns. On the day roughly half the landed fish took the caddis and half grabbed the small trailing nymph. I caught two in the pool that I started fishing in.

Sweet Pool Yielded a Couple Small Brown Trout

Sweet Pool Yielded a Couple Small Brown Trout

I worked my way upstream and caught additional small browns in more obscure lies along the bank or near rocks. Towards the end of my time on the water, I encountered some long narrow smooth pools. The water looked much the same over the entire length of the pool, but I prospected with some long casts and caught the two largest browns of the day in this manner. Large was defined as 10 inches. A lot of teenage hikers began to appear, and they hiked along the path right next to the small clear creek. This assuredly was not good for the fishing. I quit around 12:45 and hiked back to the car, so I could drive back to Santa Fe to meet Jane and Dan for the return trip to Denver around 2:30PM.

Fish Landed: 7

A Brown Trout from Jemez

A Brown Trout from Jemez