Category Archives: Fishing Reports

Fishing Reports

Arkansas River – 04/10/2016

Time: 10:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Salt Lick river access area and then upstream.

Fish Landed: 15

Arkansas River 04/10/2016 Photo Album

On Friday Jane and I enjoyed a day of skiing at Vail Ski Resort, and one of our favorite runs was Cloud 9. Because of the surrounding trees, the snow did not get as soft and slushy as the runs in the bowls that were exposed to direct sunlight. The name of this run reminded me of Cloud Nine, a song by the Temptations that was popular in 1969. I checked the weather forecast for Canon City, CO for Sunday April 10, and my app indicated that the sky would be overcast and cloudy on the lower Arkansas River. Could all the references to clouds be a harbinger of cloudy conditions that would yield a productive baetis hatch on one of my favorite rivers?

I announced to Jane that I was making the drive to lower Big Horn Sheep Canyon on Sunday, and she elected to accompany me. We departed Denver a few minutes before 8AM and arrived at the Salt Lick river access area a bit after 10. The temperature was 63 degrees, and there was a slight breeze, but nothing compared to the gales that I endured in previous trips to the Arkansas River. I assembled my Sage One five weight and marched to the edge of the river next to the wide gravel beach that is used to slide rafts into the rushing water.

Up the River from Salt Lick

To begin I used a strike indicator with a split shot and an ultra zug bug and emerald caddis pupa. I worked my way up the left bank of the river during the first hour, and I was disappointed by a total lack of interest in my flies. I decided that a change was in order, and I exchanged the emerald caddis pupa for a bright green caddis pupa. This imitation displayed a shiny diamond braid body, and I hoped that it would be a fish attractor. I approached a huge vertical rock wall that would halt my upstream migration, but a nice run of moderate depth angled from the bank back toward the main river. I cast the flies above the riffle and allowed them to tumble through the run, and as they swept past a medium sized square submerged rock, the indicator dipped, and I quickly set the hook. I was attached to an eleven inch brown trout for a short time, and then it figured out how to slide free. I continued fishing for a bit until my path was obstructed by the rock wall, and when I reeled up my flies, I discovered that the bright green caddis was no longer attached. Apparently a bad knot enabled the thrashing fish to break off the tippet and fly.

First Fish Took Ultra Zug Bug

I decided to turn around and return to Jane and the car for lunch, as I was at a point where farther progress required a steep climb to the highway to circle around the rock barrier. It was 11:30, which is a bit early for lunch, but it was convenient to eat before continuing above the rocks. I replaced the green caddis with another one, and as I returned to the boat launch, I stopped at the location where I hooked the evasive fish. I ran the nymphs through the same run, and on the second drift, the indicator paused, and I landed my first trout of the day. It was an eleven inch brown, and I pondered whether this was the same fish that stole my fly earlier.

Streamside Lunch

After lunch I hiked along the shoulder of the highway until I was beyond the barrier, and then I scrambled down a boulder field to the edge of the river. Between noon and 2PM I worked my way along the left bank of the wide river and fished only the pockets and runs next to the steep rocks. I spent roughly half of my time rock climbing and the other half casting, but I managed to land three additional brown trout. Unfortunately I covered quite a bit of water to register this tally, so the fishing was not the heated affair I imagined. In addition the sky remained mostly blue with occasional puffy white clouds. This also was not the cloud cover that the weather app predicted.

Bright Green Caddis Fooled This Nice Brown Trout

I was beginning to resign myself to another moral victory, meaning great weather in a beautiful setting with a modest fish count, when some dark clouds appeared above the peaks to the southwest. The impact of this weather event on my fishing fortunes was almost immediate. Suddenly a few small gray mayflies made an appearance, and I spotted several fluttering up from the surface of the river. I responded to this sign from nature, and I tied a beadhead RS2 to my line and moved the bright green caddis to the top position. I executed both dead drift presentations and active movement, but I quickly discovered that the fish preferred action. Between 2 and 2:45 I experienced the hottest fishing action of the 2016 season.

Great Spot Pattern

The best results came near the tail of deep pockets and runs when I lifted the flies. In many cases this provoked a response. Less effective, but still productive, was a jigging action that I imparted to the flies when I cast directly upstream. My fish count advanced from four to twelve during this forty-five minute period, and I was quite pleased that I finally settled into a rhythm that produced hungry fish and positive results. After 2:45 the action slowed a bit, but my catch rate remained above average, as I landed another three fish. It was during this time that my indicator darted in a fairly fast run over some large submerged boulders. I quickly reacted and fought a feisty fourteen inch rainbow to my net. This was the only rainbow on the day, and it was likely my best fish of the 2016 season.

Only Rainbow Was Best Fish of 2016 So Far

Sunday evolved into the kind of fishing outing that I looked forward to in the spring of 2016. The key factors merged and produced some fast action. The heavy cloud cover and warming water temperatures activated the blue winged olives, and this food source in turn caused the fish to assume their feeding stations. I expected to catch most of my fish on the RS2, but interestingly the two-thirds of the fish that I landed chomped the bright green caddis. This probably indicates that drifting caddis larva and pupa are becoming more prevalent in the flows of the lower Arkansas River. With this successful excursion to the Arkansas under my belt, I am already anticipating another journey during the coming weeks. Cloud 9 skiing, Cloud Nine the song, and fishing under cloudy skies are all fun in the eyes of this fisherman.

Lots of Attractive Pockets and Runs Ahead

Big Thompson River – 04/07/2016

Time: 11:00AM – 3:00PM

Location: Began just above flooded RV park and fished upstream to private water.

Fish Landed: 5

Big Thompson River 04/07/2016 Photo Album

I did not fall in the river, and the weather was beautiful, and I only lost one fly. These were the positives for Thursday on the Big Thompson River. Actually the river was quite clear although low at 30 CFS, and I spotted many fish. Unfortunately I only landed five fish in four hours of fishing, so my catch rate was sub par for my personal expectations, but all things considered, it was a fine day.

Starting Point

Thursday was the first day in 2016 where I fished comfortably, and the wind was present but not a significant deterrent. I also scored another first, but more on that later. I arrived at the pullout five miles below the dam in Estes Park by 10:30, and I was on the water fishing a few minutes before 11AM. The water was very low and clear, so I concluded that I could use the dry/dropper approach and effectively fish most locations. An indicator with a split shot would disturb the water excessively, but a large foam dry fly would land with a natural plop.

I began with a size eight Chernobyl ant, and below that I attached an ultra zug bug on a long three foot dropper. In the first half hour I hooked but did not land two rainbow trout, and one felt like a fish in excess of twelve inches, which is decent for the Big Thompson River. Before breaking for lunch at noon I landed two small rainbows on the ultra zug bug, but I spotted many fish that did not respond to my offerings. In fact quite a few fish darted from cover next to the bank as I waded upstream. I decided to be much more cautious in my approach after lunch.

The first location that I encountered after lunch was a huge long smooth pool. I paused to observe before making any casts, and I could see at least seven fish in front of me. They were hovering a foot or so below the surface, and it seemed that they were feeding on something in the drift. In the morning I noticed a few refusals to the Chernobyl ant so I exchanged it for a Fat Albert, and I added a RS2 as a third fly. Unfortunately the visible trout in the pool treated these flies like unappetizing flotsam, so I was forced to reconsider my approach. I decided to try a dry fly, and I knotted a light gray size 16 caddis to my line after removing the other ineffective imitations. This created a refusal from a small trout, but then it was soundly ignored as well.

Gorgeous Pool

Could the fish be accustomed to blue winged olives, and should I try one of my minute CDC olive flies? I decided to throw a double dry and tied a CDC olive to an eighteen inch leader attached to the bend of the caddis. I began shooting casts to the riffle at the head of the pool and allowed the dainty dries to dance along the seam toward the tail out and the smooth water. On the fifth cast I watched in amazement as a fairly large trout moved a couple feet and sipped something on the surface. I guessed that my flies were in this vicinity, so I set the hook, and a thirteen inch rainbow trout began thrashing angrily on my line. I maintained tension, and within a minute I maneuvered the prize catch into my net. The pretty silvery rainbow trout was probably my best fish on the season to date, and I induced it to sip my size 22 CDC olive. Needless to say I grinned, and I was quite proud of this turn of events.

Ready to Be Released

I moved on, but I did not see any BWO’s in the air nor did I observe rising fish. Continuing to prospect with the small dries seemed like a difficult proposition, so I returned to the Fat Albert, emerald caddis pupa, and soft hackle emerger. A small caddis landed on my hand at one point thus the caddis pupa offering, and I continued to believe that blue winged olives would make a strong appearance at some point. I fished these three flies for the remainder of the afternoon, and I managed to land two additional trout, both browns. I covered a huge amount of stream for two fish, but both registered another first for me in 2016. They both appeared out of nowhere and smashed the Fat Albert!

First Fish on Fat Albert Tied in Winter

I feel that the lack of a significant hatch was a factor contributing to my low catch rate on Thursday; however, fisherman error probably accounted for more of the slow action. I continually fight my obsession with thoroughness by forcing myself to move rapidly and to limit the number of casts to an area. Thursday was the perfect day to adhere to this principle, since I only saw one other fisherman on the stream, and that was just before my departure. Instead of constantly moving, I tended to dwell in areas under the false belief that I could change flies and eventually dupe the visible trout before me. It rarely happened.

I was also guilty of clumsily approaching pools and likely fish holding locations. I mentioned that I saw numerous fish scatter as I waded along the bank in the morning, and although I improved my approach in the afternoon, I have to admit that fleeing fish remained a common observance. Hopefully I can learn from my outing on the Big Thompson River and improve my performance on future visits.

South Boulder Creek – 04/06/2016

Time: 11:00AM – 3:00PM

Location: Beyond the boulder field and then back upstream

Fish Landed: 4

South Boulder Creek 04/06/2016 Photo Album

Spring fishing in 2016 is proving to be unusually challenging. This story actually begins on Tuesday, April 5. Flows on South Boulder Creek were listed at 92 CFS, and this is nearly ideal and far more desirable than the low flows posted for the Big Thompson River and the South Platte River. At least that is what I thought. I got off to a late start, but this proved to be irrelevant. As I motored west on Interstate 70 the temperature on the dashboard was 66 degrees. By the time I turned right off of Coal Creek Canyon Road at Crescent Drive, the mercury plummeted to 38 degrees and snow was blowing sideways. I finally accepted that Tuesday was not going to be a fun day to fish, so I executed a U-turn and headed home.

As I drove south on route 93 toward Golden, I decided to scout Clear Creek Canyon since it was along my return route. The temperature returned to the upper fifties as I made a right turn onto route 6 and drove into the canyon, although a foreboding dark cloud was rapidly approaching from the west. I advanced into the canyon for a couple miles and slowly angled into a broad pullout. From my vantage point in the car, I could see that the water was stained, but there was some clarity along the edges, and I was certain that I could edge fish. The murkiness might actually be an advantage, as I would not be readily visible to the fish. Since it was lunch time, I planned to eat my lunch in the car, before climbing into my waders, but when I opened the car door, I was nearly swept off my feet by the powerful blast of wind rushing down the canyon. At this point I threw in the towel and returned to the comfort of my home in Stapleton. I left all my fishing gear in the car, however, as I remembered that the weather forecast for Wednesday was more favorable.

On Wednesday morning I packed a new lunch and repacked the few items that did not remain in the Santa Fe overnight. I departed from the house at 9:30 and arrived at the upper parking lot below Gross Dam at 10:30. By the time I suited up in my waders and hiked down the path along the stream and began fishing it was just after 11AM. The temperature was probably in the upper 40’s when I began, and the wind chill made if feel far worse. I wore my fleece plus my raincoat as a windbreaker layer, and in addition my head was fitted with my long billed hat with ear flaps.

There were no cars in the parking lot when I began my hike, but somehow I encountered three or four fishermen as I walked briskly along the stream on the fisherman path. I am mystified regarding where they parked, but they remained in the upper segment below the dam and did not impact my ability to cover a lot of stream.

Nice Deep Run

When I approached the stream after a thirty minute hike, I observed that the water was very clear and flowing at a higher than ideal level, yet low enough to allow crossing and relatively easy wading. I assessed my options, and decided that a dry/dropper approach could get my nymphs deep enough in the slack water locations where fish were likely to seek shelter from the faster current. I began with a Fat Albert supporting an ultra zug bug, and I began probing the likely fish holding spots. During the first hour I experienced several momentary hook ups, but then I hooked and landed two small rainbows on the ultra zug bug. I felt that I should be generating more interest, so I extended my dry/dropper configuration by adding a salad spinner.

Just before lunch at noon two trout snatched one of the nymphs but spit the flies before I could successfully set the hook. I never saw the top fly pause or dip, but I did notice the flash of the two fish, as they fled after realizing that their meal had a sharp pointy core. After lunch I continued my upstream progression. I approached a place where there was a deep midstream pocket and lofted the three fly offering to the center of the slow area. The Fat Albert drifted only a foot before it darted sideways, and this visual clue enabled me to set the hook and land a healthy twelve inch brown trout. This was one of the larger browns that I hooked on South Boulder Creek.

Best Fish of the Day

I did not realize it at the time, but this proved to be the peak moment for my day on South Boulder Creek. I resumed my upstream movement and thoroughly covered the many attractive runs and pockets, but the only reward for my focused efforts was one additional fish landed in the form of a seven inch rainbow trout. At one point I spotted a decent sized fish that refused the Fat Albert, so I swapped it for a size eight Chernobyl ant. The fish never responded to this change in menu. Also in the early afternoon I observed several small gray stoneflies, as they slowly took flight over the water. This reminded me of my day on the North Fork of the St. Vrain in March, so I copied my tactic from that outing. I switched the salad spinner for a gray size 20 soft hackle emerger. Alas none of my strategies reversed my fortunes.

Nice Brown by South Boulder Creek Standards

By 3PM my feet felt like stumps and shadows were covering the left side of the stream. I endured a long interval with no action, so I decided to call it quits. I hiked for twenty minutes including the steep climb out of the canyon and prepared for the drive back to Denver. For some reason I was unable to fall into a rhythm today. The fishing pressure was non-existent and the water was clear and close to ideal flows. Perhaps I should have tested a deep nymphing approach with weight given the higher flows and cold water temperatures. The wind was also an annoying factor for the entire time and this added to my discomfort. Hopefully warmer temperatures and increased insect activity cause the fish to become more active, and this combination will yield greater success for this blogging fisherman.

The View from the Path

Arkansas River – 04/03/2016

Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Spike Bike, up and down stream.

Fish Landed: 6

Arkansas River 04/03/2016 Photo Album

I probably should not read the early season fishing reports from the fly shops near the Arkansas River, as they nearly always raise my expectations beyond reasonableness, and that is what happened on Sunday, April 3, 2016.

My first fishing outing upon our return from the Arizona road trip was Monday on the South Platte River, but landing three small fish simply served to whet my appetite for more. Unfortunately a cold front moved through Colorado, and this deterred me from further fly fishing activity. Finally on Saturday the weather improved, and highs in Denver reached 65 degrees, and the forecasters projected that Sunday would be even nicer with temperatures reaching the upper 60’s or low 70’s. I could not restrain myself, and after reading glowing reports on the Arkansas River fly shop web sites about heavy blue winged olive hatches, the continuing presence of stoneflies, and drifting caddis larva; I convinced Jane to join me on a Sunday drive to lower Big Horn Sheep Canyon.

By the time we parked at Spike Buck access area it was 10:30, and I hustled to assemble my gear which enabled me to dip my wading boot in the river by 11AM. Jane accompanied me on my hike along the shoulder of US 50, as I moved briskly to my favored entry point .5 mile below the parking lot. Unfortunately as we strode along the highway, I spied a pair of anglers .2 miles above my targeted starting spot. I made a quick assessment and decided that enough time elapsed so that the water was adequately settled in the event that the fishermen covered the water below their current position.

I scrambled down the bank and rigged my line with a thingamabobber, split shot, beadhead hares ear, and ultra zug bug; and I began methodically covering the likely fish holding locations. After fifteen minutes of fruitless casting, I hooked up with a medium sized fish, but after a thirty second tussle, it slipped free of my hook. A bit later I hooked a small brown trout along the bank, but upon examination in my net, I found that it was foul hooked. Finally just prior to breaking for lunch I saw a pause in the pink bobber deep in the tail of a narrow slot, and I reacted with a swift hook set. This action yielded my first fish of the day, and I snapped a couple photos of the twelve inch brown trout that inhaled the ultra zug bug.

First Decent Arkansas River Brown on Sunday

Once I released the wild brown, I climbed the steep bank and returned to the access area, where I joined Jane for a quick lunch. The two fishermen ahead of me progressed to just below our lunch spot, so I decided to change tactics and move up the river, so that I was certain that I was covering new water. Another fisherman was on the opposite side of the river from the access area parking lot, so I skipped past him on the side next to the highway and found some nice water thirty yards up the river. For the next couple hours I methodically worked my way along the left bank and fished to some attractive runs and pockets.

Pocket Water Ahead

I observed a few sporadic blue winged olives, and this provoked me to reconfigure my offerings so that the beadhead hares ear was the top fly, and a RS2 was the bottom. This was somewhat successful, and the RS2 penetrated the lip of a brown to move me to a fish count of two. After this however I endured a long interval with no action, so I exchanged the RS2 for a soft hackle emerger in case the fish were more attuned to baetis in a more advanced stage of emergence. When I swapped the BWO imitations, I also removed the hares ear and replaced it with an ultra zug bug. By two o’clock I advanced my fish count to four, although number three and four snatched the ultra zug bug when I created rapid movement near the tail of the drift.

Another Fair Brown Trout

At this point I encountered the two fishermen that infringed on my plans earlier, and they appeared to be joined by a young person and another adult. I was forty yards below them, so I climbed the bank once again and retreated to the parking lot. By now I felt the stretch of river between the access area where Jane was stationed and my morning exit point was sufficiently rested, so I hiked to that point and resumed my upstream migration. I informed Jane that I would be back when I reached her or 4 o’clock, whichever came first.

I would like to announce that the competing fishermen were the reason for my modest catch rate in the first hour, and that the undisturbed fish went berserk and crushed my flies after resting the water, but that was not the case. I covered the .3 miles of water and landed two more brown trout in the 10-12 inch range. Both fish grabbed the ultra zug bug. I knew from prior experience that there were fish in this segment of the river, so I  was convinced that I was not presenting food to their liking. At one point I discovered a bright green-emerald caddis larva on the point of my fly, when I reeled it up to check for debris. I reacted by replacing the ultra zug bug with a caddis larva fly that matched the color quite well. Shortly after this move I had a momentary connection with a fish, but I could not determine which fly generated the interest.

The caddis larva and soft hackle emerger combination did not remain on my line very long, as the flies got wedged beneath a large boulder, and the depth and swift flow precluded me from rescuing the flies. I broke the pair off along with the split shot, and after I reconfigured my line with the same set up, I once again snagged a boulder and broke off the weight and flies a second time. I concluded that these flies were bad luck, and my final selection was a slumpbuster trailing an ultra zug bug. The slumpbuster certainly had an encouraging name, and the ultra zug bug was my best producer on the day so far.

Ultra Zug Bug in Lip

I worked these flies very actively. In some cases I cast upstream and dead drifted them, but more often I stripped the slumpbuster in streamer fashion. During one of these upstream strips, a twelve inch brown trout attacked the ultra zug bug, and that accounted for number six on Sunday. I also experienced one soft bump and observed a decent brown following the slumpbuster on another retrieve, but I never managed to land a fish on the streamer.

It was a gorgeous early spring day with a bright blue sky and temperatures in the low seventies. I enjoyed my time with my beautiful wife, and I landed six wild Arkansas River brown trout. I was able to fish for five hours just over two months after surgery. All in all it was a great day, so I simply need to ratchet down my expectations when I read optimistic reports on the internet.

South Platte River – 03/28/2016

Time: 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: South Platte River

Fish Landed: 3

South Platte River 03/28/2016 Photo Album

After a nine day road trip and four days in the heat of Arizona, I was anxious to get my waders wet in a Colorado trout stream. My young friend, Danny Ryan, sent me a text message to check on my availability for Monday March 28. Danny did not need to initiate even slight coaxing, as I was on board immediately. Weather was another positive factor boosting my urge to fish, as high temperatures were projected to reach the low sixties on Monday.

I picked Danny up at his apartment at 8:30, and we made a quick stop at the Discount Tackle shop on South Santa Fe to restock our supplies of tippet material. Before long we pulled in to the parking lot near the South Platte River and began our quest for our favorite cold water species. Danny logged several days of fishing at this location, so he stepped into the guide role. We expected to do mainly subsurface nymphing, so I set up my thingamabobber configuration with five feet of level line below the indicator. Next I tied on a salad spinner and an RS2 and began to dead drift nymphs through a nice run of moderate depth. I began fishing on the gravel beach side of the river, whereas Danny assumed a position on a high bank.

A Wide Fish

From Danny’s high vantage point he could more readily spot fish, but he also shouted out positions to me so I could take advantage of his observation. We fished for only fifteen minutes when Danny shouted that he had a fish on. I glanced in his direction, and sure enough a large football shaped rainbow was thrashing on the end of his line, and his five weight rod exhibited a massive bend. Danny followed the fish down the river until he found a spot where he could clumsily slide down the bank, and here he was finally able to wiggle the large thrashing fish into his net. I immediately dropped my rod and line and rushed to a position opposite Danny, and he then waded across the shallow tail of the run so I could snap some photos. It was a thrilling start to our day on the river. Danny’s trophy fish for the day snatched a salad spinner from the drift.

Vivid Speckles on This Cutbow

We each resumed our positions and continued drifting nymphs through the twenty yard section of the river. Danny could spot numerous decent fish, and the prospect of landing another large rainbow kept us very focused on our venture. After another twenty minutes of fruitless casting I heard Danny once again shout that he hooked a fish. Again he carefully maneuvered his way downstream along the high bank, until eventually the rebellious foe wrapped his line around a branch that was protruding from the bank. I was certain that the fish was gone, but Danny carefully moved into the river and found the fish just downstream of the branch. Once he marked the position of the trout, he was able to slide his net underneath while lifting the branch. The effort was worth it, as he held a gorgeous cutbow in front of his chest so I could once again snap a photo. The cutbow displayed a vast quantity of fine vivid speckles, and Danny grinned from from ear to ear.

Of course I was elated for Danny’s early success, but at the same time seeing the two nice trout in his net spurred me to focus even more on my effort to join the party. Danny traded positions with me, and I assumed the perch on top of the high bank. From where I was standing I could see four or five decent sized fish in addition to three or four active spawners that we avoided out of respect for ethical fishing practices. I executed drift after drift over the sighted fish and watched both my indicator and the movement of the fish, but none of my efforts yielded a hook up.

Two Large Spawners

There was a very nice deep run and pool thirty yards below our water, but another fisherman claimed first rights by arriving before us. Late in the morning, however, we looked downstream and noticed the area was devoid of fishermen, so we quickly moved. As we began drifting our nymphs, we noticed a pod of at least fifteen large fish hovering along the current seam where the river bottom transitioned from light sand to a dark color. Initially we were quite excited with the opportunity to fish to this significant quantity of large targets, but after a few minutes we realized that it was a school of spawning walleye that held in the deep run. Of course I was not opposed to catching large walleye on a fly, but our next discovery was that these fish had an acute case of lockjaw, and they were not showing interest in our flies.

After fifteen minutes of fruitless casting we abandoned the popular hole and walked upstream to a nice riffle and run area above our starting point. As we waded across the river, Danny spotted a rainbow in some riffles, so he paused to cast to his fish. I went farther downstream and worked my nymphs along the bank in some narrow slack water areas, but I was prospecting and quickly grew weary of blind casting. Danny circled around me and approached a deep section next to some downed timber, and once again he hooked up on a monster fish. This time however the potential trophy spit the hook, and Danny was in a state of disappointment. I began drifting my nymphs so that they tumbled over some gravel and then dropped off into the top of the deep hole above Danny’s position. Again I was thwarted in my efforts, so I made several half-hearted casts to a narrow deep run along some brush on the far bank. Much to my amazement, a fish darted from cover and snatched the RS2. The rainbow that splashed on the end of my line did not measure up to Danny’s earlier conquests, but I was nevertheless exuberant to land a thirteen inch fish and register my first fish of the day.

A nice deep slow moving pool was just upstream from the location that Danny and I were fishing, but another fisherman occupied it when we first arrived, and he appeared to be casting dry flies. While Danny continued to pursue the behemoth that he hooked momentarily, I noticed that the pool was now vacated, so I made my move to claim it. I waded into the tail of the pool, and I did indeed observe several rises. In addition I could see five or six fish cruising the pool. These fish however seemed to be more interested in a mating ritual than eating. Since I did see a couple rises, I decided to abandon the thingamabobber nymph rig, so I sat down on the gravel and made the laborious switch to a tapered leader. To the end of the tippet I knotted a size 22 CDC blue winged olive, and then I paused to observe. It was not long before I noticed a rise near the center of the pool so I began stripping line to lengthen my cast.

Have you ever had one of those days when adversity finds you at every turn? As I began stripping line from my reel, I made repetitive tugs, but after I had twenty-five feet of line out, I felt no more resistance. I looked down at my reel, and I could not believe what I was seeing. The fly line was coiled on the gravel, and the severed end of another end of line protruded from my reel. Somehow my fly line tore as I was stripping line. What should I do? The tear was 25-30 feet from the end, so I concluded that I could knot the line and fish with the length beyond the knot. If I hooked a large fish that stripped line, I was out of luck as the line knot would surely catch, but the only other option was to hike back to the car and retrieve my four weight rod.

I threaded the spooled line through my guides and tied a square knot to reconnect the green line. The square knot eventually unraveled, so I replaced it with a loop to loop connection, and that endured for the remainder of the day. Initially I was disturbed by this turn of events, as I could not get into my normal casting rhythm, but eventually I learned to deal with the shortened amount of running line. I resumed casting to the vicinity of the observed rises and moved up along the bank, so I could reach the midsection without making long casts. I wish I could say that I matched the hatch and landed a batch of large rainbows, but the best I could do was two splashy refusals across from me next to a large submerged boulder. Another fisherman arrived and prepared to fish above me, and Danny approached from below, and I was weary of exercising my arm with no results, so we looped around the new arrival and moved farther upstream.

At the next attractive spot I ceded the nice water to Danny, as I sat down on the bank and ate my lunch. When I resumed I converted to a Fat Albert foam attractor matched with a beadhead hares ear and soft hackle emerger. Unfortunately this approach and fly combination did not pay dividends, so I continued up the river. It was now around 1PM, and although the sky was mainly blue and devoid of cloud cover, I began to notice sporadic small mayflies taking flight. A sparse blue winged olive hatch commenced, and I began to notice occasional rises in the slow moving pools.

Dave Shows a Small Brown

I reached a long smooth section of water above a large deadfall, and here I paused and observed four rises from separate fish spaced out across the pool. I clipped off the three fly dry/dropper set up and tied a different CDC olive to my line and began drifting the tiny imitation over the scene of the previous rises. Nothing. Perhaps I needed to try a different fly? I tied on another CDC olive and this was similarly unmolested. Next I gazed in my fly box and noticed a size 22 parachute olive with a tiny white wing post. The body on this fly appeared to be narrower than the CDC versions, so I gave it a shot. I cast the parachute three quarters upstream and allowed it to drift along the bank, and thwack, a fish surged and slurped my offering.

The confident eater proved to be a nine inch brown, but I was nevertheless excited to have found a fly that a fish regarded as food. I continued casting to the places where other rises occurred, but the hatch waned, and the fish showed no interest. Danny was downstream working his nymph magic, and it was getting late in the afternoon, so I decided to once again move to new scenery.

I waded upstream a bit and noticed another twenty to thirty yard long pool. As I paused and observed, I saw a dimple along the right bank near the top where the current angled toward the bank. I crossed to the other side, so I would be opposite the high bank and worked my way to the top where I spotted the single rise. When I arrived I stood motionless for a few minutes, and my patience paid off when I saw another greedy rise in front of a long submerged rock a couple feet out from the bank. My heart beat ticked up a bit, and I began to toss casts five feet above the location of the rise. I made five or six such casts, and I was about to give up, when I saw a decent fish dart from cover. The yellow missile chomped on my tiny blue winged olive offering, and I set the hook and played a thirteen inch brown trout to my net. It was not fat and was evidently recovering from the winter, but I was thrilled to net this gold colored beauty.

13″ Brown Trout

I continued upstream and scouted another very tempting bend pool, but the hatch was now over, and I saw no rises to straggling mayflies. Continuing to fish the size 22 olive was a fools errand, and I did not relish changing back to the dry/dropper configuration, so I retreated downstream and found Danny. We both agreed that it was getting late, and I was tired and hungry, so I cajoled him into calling it a day. We progressed so far up the river that it took thirty minutes via a well marked path to return to the parking lot.

It was a gorgeous early spring day, and although I did not catch many fish, I did enjoy fishing dry flies to rising fish. This was my first surface fishing in 2016, and I was rewarded with three brightly colored jewels. A day of fishing is always a success in my book.

Arkansas River – 03/13/2016

Time: 12:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Five points and then up the river.

Fish Landed: 9

Arkansas River 03/13/2016 Photo Album

Double digit fish count is always my goal. I did not achieve this objective on Sunday, March 13; however, I came close and had my best outing of 2016. In addition I endured my longest amount of time casting for the new season, and I climbed over numerous large rocks, and these were notable achievements in my recovery from surgery.

Sunday’s forecast anticipated high temperatures around 67 degrees near Canon City, so Jane agreed to accompany me on the long drive to the lower end of Big Horn Sheep Canyon. We pulled into a river access parking space at Five Points at 11:45, so I immediately downed my sandwich and snacks and prepared to fish. Fortunately I placed the Colorado State Parks pass on my windshield before we left, so I did not need to worry about DOW agents citing me for illegal parking.

The Arkansas River Near Five Points

 

The one negative to Sunday was the periodic gusts of wind that howled down the canyon, but I have grown to expect this adversity. The wind made dry fly or dry/dropper fishing a poor option, so I assembled my thingamabobber nymphing rig. I connected my fly line to the thingamabobber with a six inch section of 0X leader and followed that step by knotting a five foot section of level 5X to the eye of the thingamabobber as well. Next I added an eighteen inch section of 5X with a surgeon’s knot and tied an Arkansas rubber legs to the tippet. The large nymph was weighted, and I expected it to serve in lieu of a split shot. Finally I added a beadhead hares ear to the terminal end of my leader, and I was set to begin my quest for Arkansas River trout.

I fished for forty-five minutes with this combination, and although I experienced two split second hook ups, I did not add to my fish count, and I began to lose confidence in my approach. I snipped off the Arkansas rubber leg, moved the hares ear to the top position, crimped a split shot to my line above the surgeon’s knot, and then knotted a RS2 to the end of the 5X. Finally with this arrangement in place, I landed a small six inch brown trout, and I celebrated despite its diminutive size.

As I moved above the Five Points access area, I encountered an island below a large bend, and I chose to explore the left braid which carried two thirds of the river volume. The most attractive portion of this segment of the river is the sharp bend where the current deflects off a large vertical rock and creates a nice deep run and shelf. I anticipated at least one fish from this juicy area, and I began to thoroughly cover the likely fish holding locations. First I probed the narrow slack water between the bank and the faster current, but this failed to yield a tug. Next I cast along the current seam next to the deep pool, but this was also futile. Finally I lobbed the nymphs to the center of the slow moving pool, and suddenly the thingamabobber took a dip. I quickly set the hook, but I was confused to discover my line flying back toward my position, while the thingamabobber drifted sideways toward the faster current. I looked on in amazement as the float and nymphs bobbed down the river while my line dangled before me. I sadly realized that the knot connecting the 0X leader to the thingamabobber unraveled, and I lost my entire system including strike indicator, split shot, five feet of tippet, and two flies. Needless to say I was a frustrated angry fisherman.

Lots of Pocket Water

I waded to the island and found a place to sit down on the soft slanted sand, and here I began the time consuming task of recreating the entire nymph configuration. Of course as I embarked on this task, I began to observe small blue winged olives as they took flight over the riffles in front of me. This always happens when I am struggling with a tangle or fly change and serves to increase the anxiety associated with not having ones fly on the water. Since I was starting over, I opted to try an emerald caddis pupa as the top fly, but I found another RS2 for my bottom offering.

Best Trout of the Year So Far

Now I was set to attack the river. The intensity of the wind increased, but I spotted more BWO’s in the air above the river, and I was certain that I had the proper set up and flies to achieve afternoon success. I waded up the river to a point above the island and prospected some nice pockets, and my confidence was affirmed when I landed a nice twelve inch brown trout that inhaled the beadhead hares ear. Perhaps I was on the right track. Next I worked my way across to the bank along the road, and here I began exploring some deep slots next to some large boulders. Unfortunately on one of the drifts, the flies wedged beneath a large exposed boulder. I attempted to wade into position to extract them, but the current was fast and dangerous, and I avoided reaching my arm into the icy water not wishing to get my shirt and Under Armour sleeve wet. Just as I broke off both flies, I heard a voice high above next to the road, and it was Jane admonishing me for wading into a fast deep segment of the river.

This Brown Trout Liked the Beadhead Hares Ear

I quickly added more tippet to my leader, and this time I reverted to a beadhead hares ear as my top fly with another RS2 occupying the bottom position. As Jane remained above me, I cast to a nice short riffle of moderate depth, and here the indicator paused. I reacted quickly and hooked and landed another 10-12 inch brown while my wife watched from the edge of the canyon above. It is always fun to catch a fish while a spectator is watching.

Decent

The remainder of the afternoon was a blast as I worked my way up the river along the left bank and landed six more brown trout. Two of the netted fish snatched the RS2, but the others grabbed the hares ear. I alternated between dead drifting the nymphs and imparting motion, but the most effective presentation was lifting or swinging the nymphs at the tail of the drift. The one constant through the last two hours of fishing was the relentless wind, and several times I stopped to brace myself by holding my flies and turning my back.

Nice Water Near End Point

At 3:50 I carefully climbed the steep rocky bank and hiked back along the shoulder of route 50 and found Jane reading at a picnic table. I requested ten minutes to try my flies in a nice deep slot that I covered close to the start of my day, and she graciously honored my request. I walked back to the river on a path and then waded the edge until I found the location that I was targeting. I covered the lower half and then the upper half of the slot quite thoroughly with lots of motion, but fish number ten eluded my best efforts. Finally I returned to the car and prepared for the drive home.

Sunday was my best day of 2016 in terms of fish count and size of fish. I fished for four hours and did not aggravate the healing parts of my body. In fact, from a physical perspective, it was the best I felt during my post-operative existence. The wind was a nuisance, but otherwise it was a sunny warm day with active fish. I remain a happy fisherman.

Fish Landed: 9

North Fork of St. Vrain Creek – 03/11/2016

Time: 11:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Below Buttonrock Reservoir from below where the dirt road Y’s to the right and then upstream .75 mile.

Fish Landed: 7

North Fork of St. Vrain Creek 03/11/2016 Photo Album

What is your favorite comeback story? Kurt Warner going from a grocery store clerk to a Super Bowl champion with the St. Louis Rams? The 1993 Buffalo Bills coming back from a 32 point deficit in a playoff game against the Houston Oilers? Ulysses S. Grant drank too much, suffered from depression and quit the army; only to return as the victorious general of the North and  a two term president of the United States. I could go on. When I read these stories, I realize that my fly fishing comeback from surgery is a minor occurrence on the world stage, but it means a lot to me, and I chose Friday March 11 to make another trip to a nearby Colorado stream.

Many fishermen are so focused on casting and fly selection that they fail to observe subtle clues that can lead to success. Friday was a day when I was proud of my ability to capitalize on a minor event that could have easily been overlooked.

Looking Downstream after a Half Hour of Fishing

Once again I reviewed the stream flows of the local front range streams, and very little change occurred since my last scrutiny of the DWR web site. I decided to make another short drive to the North Fork of the St. Vrain, since I landed a few fish on my previous outing, and the weather was forecast to be more favorable with high temperatures hitting seventy degrees in Denver. I left the house at 9:45 and arrived at the parking area below Longmont Reservoir at 11AM. By the time I assembled my gear and hiked the dirt road along the stream until I reached my exit point from the previous Friday, it was 11:30.

I scrambled down the rocks and tied a size eight Chernboyl ant to my line along with a beadhead hares ear nymph and salvation nymph. The two nymphs were the last flies on my line on March 4, and they produced all my fish, so I decided to continue with proven fish attractors. This seemed like a sound strategy, but unfortunately it resulted in only one small brown trout after an hour of intense casting and quite a bit of stream coverage. I was feeling quite hungry and preparing for lunch, when I approached a small eddy on the left braid of the stream across from the port-o-let where the road splits. As my Chernobyl drifted along the current seam, I noticed a decent fish, as it quickly finned to the surface, but it then backed off and returned to a holding spot in the slack water near the tail of the eddy.

Same Fish, Different Lighting

Since I was not setting the world on fire, and I planned to change flies shortly, I clipped off the Chernobyl and replaced it with Jake’s gulp beetle. I kept the hares ear but removed the salvation, and with these two flies in place, I resumed casting to the small eddy. On the third cast I spotted the fish, as it moved to the side a bit, and this suggested the possibility that it inhaled my trailing hares ear nymph. I executed a smooth hook set, and sure enough I connected with a slender eleven inch brown trout. I was quite pleased to record this fish after making a correction in my approach, and close observation played a key role in this success story.

The Eddy on the Far Side of the Current Yielded a Fish

After releasing the brown trout, I climbed on to a long narrow gravel bar that separated the two channels of the stream. I was anxious to cross to the bank next to the road, as I spotted several large boulders that could serve as nice resting places for lunch. But before I could take another step, a fish rose in a relatively shallow riffle in front of me. I paused and focused on the water in an attempt to spot a morsel of food on the water surface, but nothing was obvious. As I was ready to wade across the roadside braid below the riffle, the fish rose once again near the previous location. This show of early March surface feeding was enough to force a change in plans, and I began to toss my foam beetle with a trailing hares ear above the spot of the two rises. I had no idea what the fish was eating, but perhaps a large tasty terrestrial would create an opportunistic slurp. That would be a storybook ending, but unfortunately the fish stopped feeding, and I resumed my journey to the opposite bank where I ate lunch.

Nice Macro of the Stonefly

After lunch I observed the run where the fish caught my attention, but no sign of feeding reappeared. Something else however caught my attention. A small insect fluttered on the surface film in the slack water between shore and the main current. I stretched my seining material across my net and attempted to scoop the struggling insect, but I only succeeded in creating a wave that pushed the specimen away and out of sight. I was sorely disappointed with this lack of insect collection skill, but as I was reprimanding my clumsy approach, another buzzing surface bound sample appeared. This time I moved my net below the target and then softly lifted it until I scooped the prize on to the white mesh seining material. I quickly hunched over my net and discovered a tiny stonefly with the characteristic veined wings folded on top of each other over the abdomen. The color was light gray, and I estimated the size was roughly an eighteen.

Soft Hackle Emerger Yielded Four Brown Trout

Instantly I began to dredge my memory banks trying to recall whether I had a fly that might imitate this hard earned sample. I had a few size eighteen black stoneflies with charcoal colored wings and a dark olive brown body. These might work, but I was reluctant to prospect with such a tiny fly especially since I only noticed one or two in the air in addition to the two that were struggling in the surface film at my lunch spot. As I pondered what to do, I concluded that a soft hackle emerger possessed almost the exact same shade of gray as the stonefly that I observed in my net. In addition these were size 20, and I was certain that this wet fly could represent one of the light gray stoneflies if it were crippled or stillborn or damaged in some fashion.

Fat Albert Served as a Strike Indicator

I elected to switch the beetle for a fat Albert on top, retained the hares ear as the middle fly, and knotted a beadhead soft hackle emerger to my line as the bottom fly. I resumed my upstream progression and quickly covered all the likely fish holding locations. This strategy rewarded my keen observation with five additional brown trout brought to my net, and four snatched the soft hackle emerger, while one smacked the hares ear. The fish grabbed the soft hackle on the dead drift, not on the swing, so this suggested that they were taking it for some form of the small stonefly. When fish eat the soft hackle on the swing or during movement, it usually means that blue winged olive nymphs are active in the subsurface aquatic environment.

Deep Olive Color on This Brown Is Amazing

By 3:30 I approached some shallow riffle water, and I spied another fisherman above me. I was concerned that I was about to cover water that had just been waded through, so I reeled up my flies and secured them to the rod guide. I decided to hike back toward the car and perhaps pause and fish some of the deep pools in a steep canyon stretch above Longmont Reservoir and below the first large bend. When I arrived at this location, I carefully inched my way down a precipitous boulder field and thoroughly worked three or four promising pools, but either fish were not present, or I was not presenting them with a desirable meal. At any rate after fifteen minutes of fruitless exploration, I abandoned my efforts and returned to the car and made the return trip.

Fly in Upper Lip of This Feisty Brown

Pausing to observe the rising fish and then collecting a stream sample triggered me to tie a light gray soft hackle emerger to my line. I landed five fish after this modification in my approach. Would another fly have worked just as well? Perhaps, but I firmly believe that my soft hackle emerger was a close match in color and size, and this increased my catch rate over the last two hours of the day. My fly fishing comeback is well on its way.

Fish Landed: 7

 

North Fork St. Vrain Creek – 03/04/2016

North Fork St. Vrain Creek 03/04/2016 Photo Album

I launched my season with two and half hours of fishing on Monday February 29, and it was fun to enjoy the outdoors and prove that I could fish four weeks removed from my late January surgery. However catching zero fish continued to gnaw at my thoughts. Friday was forecast to be a day with high temperatures in the low 60’s, so I decided to take advantage of the mild early March weather to once again pursue my first trout of 2016.

I scanned the flows in the local front range streams, and I was surprised to discover that South Boulder Creek was trickling from Gross Reservoir at 12.5 CFS, and the Big Thompson was in a similar state at 13 CFS. Clear Creek was running higher, but I was not anxious to fish in the deep shadows, and previous experience taught me that a freestone like Clear Creek does not fish well when carrying ice cold low level run off. Bear Creek was flowing at 20 CFS, and that is actually fairly nice for the tiny creek that tumbles through the narrow canyon west of Morrison, CO. I checked one more stream, and that was the North Fork of the St. Vrain Creek below Buttonrock Reservoir. The DWR graph displayed 25 CFS, and for a streambed smaller than South Boulder Creek and the Big Thompson, this was encouraging.

During the flood of September 2013, the St. Vrain and its tributaries likely absorbed more damage than any of the other South Platte tributaries along the Colorado front range. In fact the section below Buttonrock Reservoir was closed entirely for the 2014 season and only reopened in July 2015. Significant amounts of bridge building and road construction were required to regain access to the stretch below the dam. Prior to the flood this fork of the St. Vrain was one of my favorite destinations, as I could make the drive in 1.25 hours. I also experienced some very successful days fishing the North Fork, so the idea of returning on Friday was intriguing. I searched for fishing reports and information about the impact of the flood on fish density, but I was not very successful in gleaning any information beyond confirmation that the area was reopened.

I decided to take the plunge and packed up my gear and made the short drive to the parking lot below the gate at the dirt road that leads to Buttonrock Reservoir. The temperature was in the mid-50’s as I assembled my Orvis four weight rod and prepared to fish. The negative factor was the occasional gusting wind, but I have become accustomed to this frequent accessory to early season fishing. Once I was ready to begin my hike, I checked my watch and noticed it was 11:45, so I decided to eat lunch in the comfort of the car rather than lugging it up the path in my backpack.

Looking Upstream from Start

After lunch I hiked for twenty minutes until I reached the section where the stream runs along the southwest side of the gravel road, and here I found a moderately sloping path down to the creek. The stream bed was devoid of any form of vegetation similar to the Big Thompson, as the flood apparently scoured all trees and bushes in its relentless rush to the Mississippi River. The flows were actually quite satisfactory, and the water above me suggested numerous nice pools, pockets and deep runs. I was cautiously optimistic that I could break through and add a fish or two to my fish counter.

2013 Flood Scoured Vegetation

I began fishing with a size 10 chernobyl ant, ultra zug bug and RS2. I chose the dry/dropper approach as I felt I could cover the depths with this arrangement with flows at  a relatively low 25 CFS. There was no need to dredge the bottom with a split shot or two, and the heavier approach would tend to scatter fish when the flies entered the water. Unfortunately I began to doubt my choice as I worked my way upstream for 45 minutes with only a four inch brown as a reward for my focused fishing. The brown was below my cut off for counting fish, so I remained frustrated in my efforts to register a landed trout in the new season.

After this initial period of unsuccessful angling, I resolved to change my approach. I replaced the chernobyl ant with a fat Albert tied with a yellow floss body. This was a new fly I recently produced to provide more options for a large buoyant top fly in the dry/dropper system. Below the fat Albert I tied a beadhead hares ear, but I doubled the length of the tippet so that I could get deeper drifts. Finally I tied the ultra zug bug to the end of my line as the third fly, and I began to toss these morsels to all the likely fish holding spots in front of me. The total length of line below the fat Albert was now in excess of three feet, and this quickly paid dividends.

First Fish of 2016

As the top fly slowly drifted toward the tail of a nice deep run, the fat Albert exhibited a subtle pause, and I reacted with a hook set. I was pleased to see a nine inch brown trout battling valiantly to free itself, but I maintained constant pressure and slipped my net beneath my first trout of 2016. Although on the small side, this fish was highly valued, and I marveled at its color and beauty, as I snapped a couple quick photos and removed the beadhead hares ear before releasing it back to its natural environment.

Numero Uno

For the next hour I continued my upstream migration and landed four additional brown trout. After the first fish, I swapped the ultra zug bug for a salvation nymph, and this workhorse fly yielded two of the small browns, and two others snatched the hares ear as it tumbled through deep runs and pockets. For one hour I felt like I was getting back in the groove, and this was especially gratifying in light of my recovery from surgery.

Pretty St. Vrain Brown

Between 2:30 and 3:00 the action slowed, and some gray clouds blocked the sun. My hands morphed into red stiff claws, and I ceased to have fun, so I reeled up my flies and made the return hike. Five fish in 2.5 hours of fishing is a reasonable day, and I recorded my first fish of the new season. I rediscovered one of my favorite stretches of local water, and although the fish were small, I saw enough to merit a return. I also proved to myself that I can resume fishing, and my physical status should only improve as time heals my body.

Fish Landed: 5

South Platte River – 02/29/2016

Time: 12:00PM – 3:00PM

Location: Downstream from Deckers

Fish Landed: 0

South Platte River 02/29/2016 Photo Album

Monday February 29 was more than the first fishing outing of the year, as I took my first step toward a comeback from surgery on January 27. How appropriate that this significant stride occurred  on leap day, although I must admit that I did not execute a leap, but instead completed a slow shuffle into the ice cold flows of the South Platte River near Deckers, CO.

Although some residual abdominal soreness remained along with some other expected hardships associated with my type of surgery, I felt reasonably strong, and I could no longer deny the strong urge I felt to enjoy the unseasonably warm February weather. Would my arm still remember how to make the familiar casting stroke, and more importantly would the upper abdominal soreness come into play as I picked up line and generated a backcast? There was only one way to find out.

The temperature in Denver was forecast to reach the low 60’s on leap day, and this translated to the mid-fifties for Deckers, so Jane and I decided to make the trip. We arrived at the large bend pullout below Deckers by 11:30, and by the time I climbed into my waders and new wading boots and assembled my rod it was 11:45. The wind was gusting in a fierce unrelenting manner, so I decided to consume my lunch before I faced this adversity.

After lunch I walked along the road until I was just above a bridge, and here I slowly slid below a large boulder that served as a temporary windbreak. I strung my rod and before I could carefully shuffle into the river, Jane appeared along the road at the start of her one hour walk. I quickly shouted to her, and she approached on a short path and snapped a few photos of the momentous occasion. It was my first day of fishing in 2016, my first outing since surgery, and surely the first time I ever fished on a leap day.

Back in the Water after Surgery

I began my quest for the first trout of the new season with a flesh San Juan worm and a RS2. I quickly discovered that my greatest risk was a slip or stumble, as this would clearly aggravate my still tender upper abdominal muscles. For this reason I moved slowly, and my progress was interspersed with several long rest periods. The caution due to abdominal soreness is true, but the rest periods were provoked by two ridiculous tangles that forced me to snip off both my flies in order to straighten the entire mess.

After twenty minutes of casting practice, the indicator zipped upstream, and I set the hook and felt my line connected to a fish. Unfortunately this only lasted for a second or two, and then my best shot at a fish on leap day evaporated. I moved on and enjoyed being outdoors while I focused on executing dead drifts. In case the fish were reacting to emerging blue winged olives I alternated by imparting movement to the flies, but none of these techniques provoked any action.

Fine Looking Segment

At one point I spotted a fish chasing the worm at the tail of a run, so I exchanged the flesh colored imitation for a slumpbuster and retained the RS2 as a trailer from the eye of the streamer. This combination was likewise ineffective, although I once again observed a trout following the slumpbuster, but I could not entice a take.

Slumpbuster on My Line

Onward I moved until I circled the large bend where the Santa Fe was parked, and then I approached an island across from the Deckers parking lot. I worked up the right side to no avail and encountered a pair of fishermen at the attractive deep run near the top of the island. This forced me to retreat to the downstream tip, and then I worked a marginal run along the left braid. None of this resulted in a fish or even the image of a spotted fish, so I climbed to the road and strode back along the shoulder to Jane’s sheltered retreat near a bench.

RS2 Was Tested

I decided to repeat covering the stretch where I observed two follows. Unfortunately early in this pursuit I snapped off both my flies (an ultra zug bug and RS2), and rather than recommit to nymphs and an indicator, I decided to toss one of my new chubby chernobyls. I clipped off the flies and removed the strike indicator and split shot and replaced everything with a beige chubby and size 20 soft hackle emerger, as I stuck with the blue winged olive theme. Alas none of these strategies caused the fish to show interest. I swapped the soft hackle emerger for a salvation nymph and beadhead hares ear, but these were likewise ignored, so I called it a day and joined Jane back at the car where she sought refuge from the relentless gusts of wind.

I avoided injury and took my first fly fishing step toward recovery, so despite getting skunked, I counted leap day as a success.

South Boulder Creek – 12/08/2015

South Boulder Creek 12/08/2015 Photo Album

After a four day severe cold snap over Thanksgiving weekend, the Colorado weather pattern gradually warmed until high temperatures were forecast to climb to sixty degrees today, Tuesday, December 8, 2015. I could not resist the temptation to initiate a late season fishing outing, but I probably should have.

I packed a lunch and tossed all my gear in the Santa Fe and set out for Clear Creek at 10:15. I considered South Boulder Creek and the Big Thompson River, but both those streams registered very low flows. South Boulder Creek was trickling from Gross Reservoir at 8.5 cfs, and the Big Thompson was slightly higher at 25 cfs. The elevation on the Big Thompson below Lake Estes is much higher than South Boulder Creek and Clear Creek, so I eliminated that from consideration. Denver Water continues to run minimal water into South Boulder Creek, and I was concerned about fishing in such low conditions.

When I crossed Colorado 93 west of Golden and entered Clear Creek Canyon, I quickly glanced at the stream on my left and discovered that a large amount of snow remained in the canyon, and several feet of shelf ice extended over the stream on both banks. Clear Creek is a high gradient stream, and I make most of my casts to slack slow moving water along the banks, so I quickly concluded that the icy conditions were not conducive to catching fish on Clear Creek.

Tough Conditions in Clear Creek Canyon

I carefully executed a U-turn on Route 6 and began driving east. Initially I decided to abandon my quest for fish, but as I reached Route 93, I reconsidered and made a left turn to travel north and west to South Boulder Creek. Because South Boulder Creek is a tailwater, I speculated that it would at least be free of shelf ice. I remained concerned about the low flows, but I knew from fishing at 17 cfs that quite a few deep slow moving pools remained where the fish could congregate. In a worst case scenario, I would enjoy a nice scenic drive in the front range foothills, and I could scout out South Boulder Creek. The other factor that I failed to note in the weather report was the high winds, and as I drove north on Colorado 93, I observed a high wind advisory sign. How crazy was it to attempt fly fishing when a high wind advisory was posted?

When I reached the bottom of the gravel road that descends from Coal Creek Canyon to South Boulder Creek, I paused and peered down at the stream. It was definitely low, but it appeared to be free of ice, so I continued around the bend below the dam and then pulled into the parking lot .2 miles up the hill. One other sedan was present as I prepared to fish. I slid into my Adidas pullover, and used it as a windbreaker over my hooded fleece. I chose my New Zealand billed hat with ear flaps to warm my head, and extracted my fingerless wool gloves from my tote bag. The temperature on the dashboard was 42 degrees as I prepared to fish South Boulder Creek.

I hiked down the steep trail to the edge of the creek and then continued downstream. Relatively early on my entry hike I passed another fisherman who was likely the owner of the other car in the parking lot. This meant I had the entire tailwater below the upper stretch to myself. I hiked along the north side of the river until I approached the first place where some large rocks met the stream, and here I waded out a bit, and I tossed some casts to a nice small pool of moderate depth. I began with a pink pool toy and a beadhead ultra zug bug, but nothing responded to my initial drifts.

After five or six casts I crossed to the south side of the stream and followed the path downstream. Since I knew that the only other fisherman was upstream, I targeted the attractive long pool that was one hundred yards above the pedestrian bridge. This pool is favored by nearly every angler that visits South Boulder Creek, so I decided to claim it before anyone else arrived. As I expected, when the pool came into view, it was vacant. I positioned myself at the head of the pool and began drifting my pair of flies along the entering current and next to a protruding rock.

The Long Deep Pool of South Boulder Creek

This tactic did not yield results, so I waded upstream a bit until I was five feet below the rock. Here I could see into the water with my polarized lenses, and three medium sized rainbow trout were spaced along the near side of the run. I could now observe their reaction to my flies, and it was clear that they were ignoring my offerings. After many casts I added a salvation nymph and presented two subsurface flies, but this strategy was equally ineffective. Next I exchanged the salvation nymph for a zebra midge, and again no response. As this was going on, I noticed two or three random rises in the water next to the rock and also along the current seam. What were these fish eating?

Finally after an excessive amount of time in one area, I decided to move to the next juicy spot just above the exposed rock. This location was also inviting with a nice deep hole and a shelf pool on the opposite side of the creek. By now I concluded that the pink pool toy might be scaring fish in the very low clear winter flows, so I downsized to a size 12 Jake’s gulp beetle with dubbed peacock body. The random rises seemed to occur after a gust of wind, so perhaps some beetles and ants remained in the streamside trees and shrubs. I flicked the beetle to the run and then along the far current seam, but my casts failed to elicit any interest.

Perhaps ants were the prevailing terrestrial late season snack? I tied a length of tippet to the bend of the beetle and added a parachute ant, and then I lobbed a cast to the slow shelf water at the top of the pool across from me. On the third cast I spotted a brief swirl to the ant just as it began to drag. Finally a glimpse of action gave me faint hope that I could catch a fish in December. Unfortunately I could not tempt another attack, but when the wind died back and the surface became clear, I could see into the pool and noticed three or four decent fish in front of me. Two of these fish were nice sized rainbows that were tucked right in front of a large subsurface rock just across from my position.

I Fished the Area at the Head of the Long Pool

Now that I could see my targets, I fell into the trap of switching flies with the hope of finding a winner. Whenever I dwell in an area and focus on a fish or several fish that are hugging the bottom and not rising, it never seems to end well, and this would be no different. I tested the zebra midge, a sunken trico, and soft hackle emerger as droppers from the beetle, and none of these small offerings resulted in a netted fish. I may have had a momentary hook up on the sunken trico, although it may just as well have been a snag on bottom.

Clearly the beetle/nymph strategy was failing on these jaded trout, so I tried the double dry gambit. I clipped off the soft hackle emerger and replaced it with a size 16 brown olive deer hair caddis. The light tan wing of this fly was quite easy to follow behind the beetle, and finally on the sixth drift along the current seam, I was surprised when a trout darted to the surface and nipped at the caddis. I quickly executed a hook set, and once again I briefly felt some throbbing weight, but then just as abruptly the fish escaped. This would be the highlight of my two hours of fishing on South Boulder Creek.

I worked the beetle/caddis combination for another fifteen minutes but only managed to increase my futility. In a last gasp effort to prevent a skunking, I switched the caddis for a beadhead emerald caddis pupa. Perhaps I was not getting the subsurface fly deep enough and in front of the noses of the pair of nice fish in front of the rock. Alas, this tactic also failed, and my feet and hands were feeling quite chilled, so I backed out of the creek and hooked my flies to the rod guide. I glanced at my watch and realized it was 2PM, and I promised myself to quit fishing by early afternoon. I resumed my hike along the south trail, and then crossed and ascended the steep trail to the parking lot.

I was disappointed to register zero fish, but I still enjoyed my two hours on South Boulder Creek. I discovered that the fish continue to dwell in the minimal flows, and my mind was totally focused on fooling the visible fish before me. I was outsmarted by a finned creature with a pea sized brain, but as usual the scenery was gorgeous and the cold clean air was invigorating. It was a typical winter fishing outing.