Category Archives: Fishing Reports

Fishing Reports

South Boulder Creek – 08/02/2014

Time: 12:30PM – 4:30PM

Location: Half hour hike from parking lot. About as far as one can go before having to cross to the opposite side.

Fish Landed: 9

South Boulder Creek 08/02/2014 Photo Album

After spending five consecutive days fishing in Utah and Idaho, I returned to Denver and worked diligently on Wednesday through Friday, but I was definitely feeling the itch to fish again on the weekend. During our return trip across Wyoming we encountered heavy rain on Tuesday, and this rain extended through Colorado on Tuesday through Thursday morning. When I reviewed the DWS stream flows on Saturday morning, I discovered that many rivers returned to the levels recorded during the late stages of runoff.

Fortunately the Big Thompson River remained at 128 cfs, and South Boulder Creek below Gross Reservoir displayed a reading of 123 cfs. South Boulder Creek is closer to my home, and I prefer the remote canyon area over the Big Thompson which runs next to a highway, so the South Boulder Creek tailwater became my destination. I stopped for fuel and left the gas station by 10:50, and this enabled me to reach the parking lot near the dam by 11:50AM. I quickly assembled my rod, pulled on my waders and stuffed my lunch in my backpack and began the steep descent into the South Boulder Creek Canyon. I hiked downstream for 30 minutes until I reached a point where a stream crossing was necessary to continue, so I stopped at this point and began to fish.

The air temperature was in the low 70’s with clear skies as I began, and the flows were a bit high for the small South Boulder Creek stream bed, but still conducive to fishing and in fact allowed me to cross in numerous locations. During past visits to South Boulder Creek I discovered that the fish prefer dry flies as opposed to the nymphs that perform well in most Colorado streams. For this reason I tied on the same size 12 gray stimulator that served me well on small streams in Idaho.

Same Rainbow Displayed for the Camera

My first fish was a small rainbow that moved a foot to snare the drifting stimulator, so I was hopeful I made a good choice. Because there were quite a few other fishermen in the canyon, I decided to cross to the southern side and worked my way upstream on the less pressured bank. This strategy combined with the choice of a stimulator proved to be solid, and I landed six fish over the next couple hours.

The second fish of the day was the nicest. I tossed a short cast into a very deep hole in front of a large rock. I expected to make one or two casts and move on, as this location in my estimation was fairly marginal. I was shocked when a large nose emerged from in front of the rock and slurped in the stimulator revealing a very colorful rainbow or cutbow. I didn’t check for a slash, but the spot pattern struck me as more akin to a cutthroat trout than a rainbow.

Nicest Fish of the Day with Stimulator in Lip

After six fish I approached some very attractive water, but a young fisherman entered 30 yards above me from the opposite shore and essentially cut me off. I used this as an opportunity to eat my lunch and waited for him to move on, but unfortunately I noticed he had a momentary hook up, and that caused him to dwell in his position longer than I hoped. I gave up on waiting and waded upstream along the edge of the creek and skirted the other fishermen until I reached a spot forty yards above him, and I was beyond his line of sight. I passed up some very attractive pools and pockets, and now I found myself in marginal water along the left bank. In addition the position of the sun was casting long shadows that made it difficult to follow my earth-toned stimulator.

Nice Stretch, but Cut Off by Fisherman in Top Right

I found a place where I could wade back to the trail and walked up the path a bit until I was beyond three more fishermen above me. After I created a courteous amount of space, I scrambled down a steep boulder field to the stream and resumed prospecting with the stimulator. In this short stretch of water I landed two more fish, but then I encountered another fisherman, and I was forced to once again exit and climb the rocky bank.

Once again I hiked upstream using the trail and again found a spot to cut back to the stream, although this time I found a fisherman path that made access much easier. When I reached the water, I discovered a section that spread out a bit; and this offered easier wading, and I was able to move about much more. It was during this period late in the afternoon that I observed two green drake mayflies flutter up from the stream, so I clipped off my productive stimulator and substituted a size 14 comparadun green drake. It was worth the effort, as the green drake generated two refusals on downstream drifts, but no takes were forthcoming.

Created Two Refusals

Eventually I clipped off the green drake and tied on a size 16 gray deer hair caddis. This size of caddis more closely approximated those that I observed on the water in the late afternoon. This fly also produced some refusals, but eventually a small brown gulped it on a long downstream drift in front of a large submerged boulder. This fish was my ninth for the afternoon, and my watch revealed that it was 4:30PM, so I climbed the bank once again and hiked back to the parking lot and called it a day.

It was a fun day prospecting with dry flies, but it also made me realize how fortunate I was to fish small streams in Idaho away from hordes of fishermen from more densely populated urban centers. I’m already working on a strategy to seek out more remote water during August.

Bear Creek, ID – 07/28/2014

Time: 10:00AM – 1:30PM

Location: Beginning .25 mile up the trail just after crossing a small tributary stream and then going over a hill and continuing for a mile upstream.

Fish Landed: 24

Bear Creek, ID 07/28/2014 Photo Album

On Sunday on Rainey Creek after I determined that a stimulator was more effective than a Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear combination for cutthroat trout on a small stream in Idaho in late July, I enjoyed a fun hour and a half of fishing, but I was also feeling somewhat unfulfilled. I needed a second chance to apply my new found knowledge, and Monday would provide that opportunity.

Another small stream that Gary Duncan at the Rendezvous Fly Shop recommended was Bear Creek which apparently entered Palisades Lake from the southwest side. Both Gary and Tom, the owner of Hansen Guest Ranch, seemed to suggest that Bear Creek was a strong small stream option that received far less pressure than Rainey Creek and Palisades Creek. In fact Gary made this comment, “After you fish up Bear Creek from the mouth for a mile or two (pause)…er, you’ll have enough fish by then to be satisfied.” This certainly aroused my curiosity regarding the fish density on Bear Creek.

Bear Creek on Monday Morning

After the 8AM breakfast at the Hansen Ranch, I departed and headed to Bear Creek. I had some difficulty finding the bridge below Palisades Dam, and then I was concerned as the dirt road led away from the dam rather than toward it. However, there was no alternative on the south side of the river so I stayed the course and after three or four miles made a left turn and drove in the direction that I expected. I covered a 10 mile twisty gravel road that eventually led me to the Bear Creek Trailhead parking lot. There were a few campers along the road before the parking lot, but no other vehicles occupied the large lot at the trailhead. This was a beautiful sight to this fisherman from Colorado who was starved for some cutthroat action in wide open spaces.

Once I gathered my necessary fishing equipment for a day on the stream, I decided to hike away from the parking lot for a short distance. Fishermen are generally lazy, and the most pressured water is that which is easily accessible. I hiked .25 miles to a point where I went over a small hill and upon my descent discovered that the stream was running parallel to the path for a distance of twenty yards. I carefully scrambled down a short steep bank, and I was now positioned in Bear Creek to begin my fishing adventure.

The Stimulator Produced All My Fish

The weather was once again gorgeous with a clear blue sky overhead and temperatures in the upper 60’s to low 70’s as I began. The stream was a bit larger than Rainey Creek, but the main difference was the lack of tight bushes and shrubs. There was ample room for long backcasts, and in fact this would remain the case for the remainder of my time fishing. I tied a size 12 gray stimulator to the leader on my Orvis Access four weight and began to prospect the water. Initially the stream was fairly wide and shallow, and as proof that I learned my lesson on Sunday, I skipped over this water until I encountered a section with slow velocity and more depth.

A Very Nice Cutthroat Near the Start of My Day

It didn’t take long before a fine wild cutthroat slammed the stimulator, and I landed a chunky twelve inch fish. This pattern would repeat itself over the course of the 3.5 hours of fishing as I skipped shallow and fast moving water and focused on the deeper pools and slow moving water along the bank with structure. I stayed with a stimulator the entire time, and it produced as I expected it would. In short the fishing was just as I imagined it would be on a small remote cutthroat stream in Idaho. The sky remained bright blue. The sun provided warmth. The water was cold and clear; and the wild cutthroats were ready and willing to take a well placed large visible high floating dry fly. It was pretty much nirvana.

An Even Nicer Fish Landed in the Late Morning

Perfect Cutthroat Water

By the end of my time on the water I had landed 24 cutthroat trout. Quite a few were in the 6-9 inch range, but even these fish were pretty jewels and fun to catch. Also included in the fish count was a 16 inch beast, two fish around 14 inches, and a couple 12-13 inch gems. I covered over a mile of water, and then I easily cut across a meadow and intersected the trail and hiked 25 minutes until I was back at the car in the trailhead parking lot.

The Big Guy Slurped the Stimulator Along the Current Seam Above the Beaver House

The highlight of the day occurred at 12:30PM as I approached a beautiful clear deep pool that bordered a beaver house. As is my practice, I searched the tail of the pool with some long casts while staying back a good distance, and this yielded two smaller fish. I then moved closer to the deepest segment of the pool and began flicking shorter casts to the upper section where a narrow current seam flowed within a foot of the tangled mass of sticks that was apparently a beaver house. I placed a cast a foot off the seam and slightly above the shelter, and the fly paused in a tantalizing position for a moment when a huge mouth engulfed it. Clearly this fish was more substantial than the others, and it quickly proved this observation to be accurate by covering the entire pool several times in its effort to escape. Fortunately I held my ground and maintained tension and eventually slid my net beneath a shimmering 16 inch cutthroat. This was the beast that I referred to earlier.

My Trophy Catch on Monday, a Sixteen Inch Cutthroat

It was a fantastic day on Bear Creek, Idaho, and one I will remember for quite awhile. I’ve caught more fish in a day, and I’ve caught larger fish, but the setting and the presence of wild native fish are what set this day apart. Superb!

Cutthroat, Stimulator and Orange Slash

Rainey Creek – 07/27/2014

Time: 9:30AM – 12:30PM

Location: Trailhead to Rainey Creek Trail then upstream approximately a mile

Fish Landed: 7

Rainey Creek 07/27/2014 Photo Album

Rainey Creek is a small tributary of the South Fork of the Snake River within five miles of the Hansen Guest Ranch where Jane and I were staying in Swan Valley, Idaho. After I purchased my license on Saturday afternoon, we took a brief drive to check out the small stream before I ventured to the South Fork of the Snake River. I drove a long distance to fish the Snake, but now I was considering investing some of my valuable fishing time to explore a small tributary that probably contained small fish. Up until this point on our trip I’d fished three days for 2.5 to 3.5 hours per day and landed one fish on each outing. The fish that I landed were all in excess of 15 inches, and I appreciated this, but I tend to favor catching quantities of smaller fish versus one or two large fish.

The South Fork of the Snake was a huge body of water, and I was unfamiliar with where to fish and how to approach it and could not envision myself spending another four hours blindly prospecting a relatively small swath of water in hopes of landing a fish or two. A strong hatch that brought fish to the surface would be helpful, but the forecast for clear skies and warm temperatures made me reluctant to bank on that happenstance.

I made my decision and chose Rainey Creek as my destination to fish on Sunday morning. After a tasty breakfast at the ranch, we loaded Jane’s bike on the Santa Fe and drove to the Rainey Creek Trailhead that we scouted out on Saturday. Jane planned to hike up the trail a bit, and then turn around and return to the car and jump on her bike and continue on the national forest road back to the Hansen Guest Ranch. I meanwhile prepared to fish, and when I was ready I found a path that led me through some thick wild shrubs to the edge of the stream.

Rainey Creek Near My Starting Point on Sunday

Rainey Creek averaged around 8-10 feet in width and the water temperature was extremely cold. As predicted the air temperature rose quickly, and it did not take long before it moved from warm to hot. I was certain that a Chernobyl ant with a beadhead hares ear dropper would yield numerous wild cutthroat trout. These two dependable flies delivered many hours of enjoyment to me in Colorado, so why wouldn’t they produce in a small stream setting in Idaho? The foam Chernobyl is ideal for tight quarters as it does not require false casting for drying.

Early on in my quest for cutthroats a small fish rose and refused the Chenobyl ant. At least there were fish present, and they were looking toward the surface for food. After another fifteen minutes I approached a deep hole in front of an uprooted tree stump, and as my flies drifted toward the tangle of roots, I spotted a flash. I immediately set the hook and felt the weight of a more substantial fish, but the euphoria was momentary as the quarry quickly escaped. I continued on further from the trailhead and after 45 minutes I landed my first cutthroat, a nine inch wild and colorful fish. Where was the easy fishing that I dreamed of?

A Shot of the Slash

An hour into my morning I arrived at a broken beaver dam with a long sixty foot stretch of slow clear water and with numerous sticks that grabbed at my wading boots and formed a mat on the stream bed. This portion of the stream was extremely frustrating. Despite exercising significant caution and stealth, trout shot away in every direction on each of my casts. Sometimes it pays to stop and evaluate how one is approaching a situation, and I decided that the splat of the large Chernobyl ant and the plunk of the beadhead nymph were causing too much surface disturbance, and thus causing the fish to scatter. At the outset of my fishing venture, I made the mistake of assuming that a proven technique that produced well in Colorado could be applied to Idaho.

I clipped off the two fly combination and knotted a single size 12 gray stimulator to my leader. With this fly on my line, I could check my cast high and allow it to flutter down to the water delicately. The stimulator was not as buoyant as the foam Chernobyl thus requiring more frequent drying, but the ability to present it softly to spooky wild cutthroats in gin clear water more than offset this negative. I resumed fishing and worked my way upstream and landed six additional cutthroats over the remaining 1.5 hours of fishing. I had a great time executing the type of fishing that I imagined when I selected small Rainey Creek over the South Fork of the Snake River. The fish averaged between 9 and 12 inches, but they were beautiful creatures with delicate speckles and a light olive color and a bright orange slash on the jaw.

Stimulator in the Corner of This Pretty Cutthroat’s Mouth

Although I regretted taking 1.5 hours to figure out that my Chernobyl and hares ear were not going to produce, I learned three valuable lessons on Sunday morning. First, it was obvious that cutthroats love deep holes around structure such as stumps, logs and large rocks. Secondly, they are quite wary and success dictates a stealthy approach and a delicate presentation. Third, as is usually the case, the further one gets from a campground, the better the fishing becomes. These lessons would serve me well on Monday.

Cutthroats Love This Sort of Deep Hole

At 12:30 I decided to quit as I promised Jane I would return by 1PM to join her in a fun non-fishing activity. Unfortunately my upstream movement in pursuit of wild trout had taken me quite a distance from the trail. There were no obvious exit paths, and I was unfamiliar with the area, so I decided to bushwhack through the dense shrubs and willows that thrived between the stream and the hiking trail. This proved to be tough going, and several times I feared that my progression was blocked by thick shrubs that forced we to retreat and move sideways until I found a marginal opening. During this process I broke down my four piece rod and clutched it tightly in my left hand to avoid breaking it on a branch or dropping it in the dense undergrowth. Eventually, however, I climbed into an opening and found a beaver pond with swampy grass surrounding it, and the trail was on the other side of the small pond.

In a sweaty condition and covered with burrs I reached the path and quickly hiked the mile required to return to the trailhead parking lot where I stashed my gear and removed my waders and returned to the Hansen Guest Ranch. The morning on Rainey Creek was much more challenging than I expected, but I had fun nonetheless and learned valuable lessons that could be applied to future small stream fishing trips.

South Fork of the Snake River – 07/26/2014

Time: 7:00PM – 9:30PM

Location: A side channel on the south side of the river below the dam. The first water encountered after climbing a hill on Snake River Drive and then going around a large switchback.

Fish Landed: 1 (plus a whitefish not included in the count)

South Fork of the Snake River 07/26/2014 Photo Album

Could the fishing on the South Fork of the Snake River be as difficult as my experience on the Green River? I was really looking forward to fishing new water, but the flows were at 16,600 cfs, and that is a massive amount of water. My fear was that success required a guided float trip, and I did not have a partner to share the cost of such an undertaking. I was resigned to wade fishing, but where could I find access to some productive water at these high early season flows?

Jane and I had breakfast at our campsite and then packed up our tent and canopy and all our camping provisions. We were now headed to the Hansen Guest Ranch in Swan Valley, ID and the modern conveniences of running water and a bed. The volunteers at the Red Canyon Visitor Center in Flaming Gorge suggested that we try a different route from Flaming Gorge to Swan Valley, and we decided to follow their recommendation. We drove north to Rock Springs, west on interstate 80 to Green River, and then we took a secondary highway to route 189 just south of La Barge, WY. As we headed north on 189 we stopped at a nice Mexican restaurant in Big Piney and then continued north until we joined route 191. In the past we always took 191 from Rock Springs through Pinedale so the new route was a pleasant change.

We had no trouble finding the Hansen Guest Ranch, and owner and host, Tom, showed us our room. I asked about fishing, and he quickly directed me to the Rendezvous Fly Shop owned by Gary Duncan along route 26 in Irwin approximately four miles east of the ranch. After Jane and I got situated in our new surroundings, we made the short drive to the fly shop, and there we met Gary’s wife. I purchased a three day fishing license and began asking her questions about fishing the SF of the Snake River. She was doing a nice job of answering and provided directions to a spot that I could wade fish when Gary appeared. Apparently he had been in the back yard cutting the grass.

I asked Gary about a braided area I’d read about, but he felt that it would be difficult to reach this area with the flows at their current level. The article I read actually did suggest wade fishing the SF of the Snake in September when the flows are significantly reduced and conducive to wading. Gary pointed me toward the same area as his wife and suggested that I should fish there Saturday night as a scouting expedition. He then offered a key piece of information when he volunteered that a PMD hatch occurred at dusk, and I could expect a lot of fish to rise between 9 and 10PM.

In appreciation of this information I purchased three pale morning dun parachute flies and two pale morning dun nymph patterns, then we said goodbye and returned to the guest ranch. I wanted to explore Rainey Creek a bit, so Jane and I took another ride to the Rainey Creek Trailhead so I could scout this small tributary to the South Fork of the Snake River. Gary suggested that Rainey Creek might be productive as it did not have a national forest campground which brings many people and therefore more fishing pressure. He did offer Bear Creek as an alternative small stream to try and gave me directions on how to find it.

When we returned to the bed and breakfast, I decided to find the Snake River location that Gary described and adhere to his advice of fishing in the dark. I drove northwest on route 26, and in approximately four miles the highway crossed the river where I made an immediate left turn on Snake River Drive. I followed this dirt road for four or five miles until I climbed a short steep hill and then navigated a huge narrow switchback that took me away from the river and then right back to it. As I was going down the steep side of the loop, I encountered a herd of cattle, and it took pulling the Santa Fe amazingly close to the lead bull to force him to get out of my path.

These Fellows Blocked My Path on the Way to Fish the Snake River

Where the road came back to the river, there was a nice side channel, and I decided to stop and fish at this spot. The size of the side channel roughly approximated the Frying Pan River in Colorado, so this was not the normal small side trough. A pickup truck was parked a few feet up the road, so before committing to the area, I jumped out of the car and surveyed the stream for another fisherman. I elected to use my Loomis five weight as I was weary of casting the Scott six weight, and the section I was about to fish looked perfectly sized for the smaller rod.

As I began to walk downstream toward the confluence with the main Snake, I bumped into the owner of the pick up truck. He was a nice young man, and he had been fishing since 2PM and had landed five fish. He stated that it was a bit slow, but he seemed relatively pleased with his success. He was using mainly a dry/dropper with a chubby chernobyl as his top fly and a small fly that looked like a PMD nymph imitation as his subsurface offering. The young fisherman reassured me that I would find several places to cross the side channel, and this was probably the best information he gave me, as I was quite fearful of wading in unknown water at high flows in fading daylight. While we were talking, a huge halo of mosquitoes circled his head, so as he walked away, I pulled out my small spray bottle of Off and doused my neck, face and hands.

I was now ready to familiarize myself with the mighty South Fork of the Snake River, so I continued along the bank to the point where the side channel merged with the main body of the river. I tied on a size 12 gray stimulator since that worked on the Green River, and I spotted a few large caddis flitting about in the air around me. I prospected back up the braid with the large attractor with no signs of fish, and when I reached a point just below the large bend pool, I decided to edge my way across the tail to the bottom of a small island. I tossed some casts into the attractive deep pool and then worked the other side of the island and fished the inside of the channel.

When I reached the point across from where the pick up truck had been parked, I crossed again and moved upstream a bit toward the point where the side channel branched away from the river. All of these moves yielded no fish nor did I see any signs of fish as the water was absolutely dead. I was convinced that Gary was having a nice laugh as soon as Jane and I stepped out the door of his shop. I retraced my steps and found a muddy path back to the road and returned to the large bend pool. I paused to observe for five minutes or so, and much to my surprise, I noticed a few sporadic rises in the middle of the pool by 8:45PM. In addition a light creamy colored mayfly fluttered up slowly from the surface. Perhaps Gary was telling the truth after all.

The Pool That I Fished on Saturday Night

These observations fueled my energy levels, and I positioned myself on the high bank next to the pool just above a large deadfall and began to loft a few casts to the location of the two rises. I could not get a good drift from this position because of my elevated position and the angle of the current, so I decided to cross again to the small island. Before I stepped in the water I was careful to make a mental note of my entry point as I would likely be returning in the dark. I slowly waded across the shallow current and then worked my way up to the small island on the northeast side of the attractive pool.

By now the frequency of the rises had increased so I added the purchased parachute pale morning dun as a second fly and kept the stimulator in place. I made some nice drifts over the locations of the rises with no results, so I began to worry that the fish were taking spinners, and I did not have a good spinner imitation on my leader. The time of day is what raised the spinner concern, but I reassured myself that I’d seen a dun floating up from the stream. I also seined the river briefly with my net, and this yielded a smaller blue wing olive dun.

Perhaps the parachute imitation was too large? I decided to snip off the stimulator and make the parachute my top fly and then add a size 16 gray comparadun as my point. It was clear to me that the fish were not tuned into caddis, so it made more sense to offer two PMD imitations. Finally by 9PM the hatch was in full swing and four or five fish began to smack the surface. I cast my two flies upstream to some still water four feet to the left of the current, and I was gratified to see a fish rise and sip in my parachute. Unfortunately when I quickly brought it to my net, I discovered a 12 inch whitefish. I was anxiously anticipating a Snake River cutthroat, so i was disappointed to encounter a whitefish as my first catch.

But fish continued to rise so I resumed casting in the rapidly fading daylight. As I drifted my flies through the center of the pool, a splashy rise along the current seam near the head of the pool caught my eye. I pivoted and shot a long 35 foot cast to the vicinity of the rise and saw a quick swirl and set the hook. This fish immediately rocketed toward the sticks and logs in the deadfall across from me, but I managed to pressure the projectile away without breaking it off. Clearly this fish was behaving like a trout and not a whitefish.

The Snake River Pool Yielded This Handsome Cutthroat Saturday Night

When I moved the fish closer to my net, it made one more short burst that took line, but I regained control again and netted a gorgeous 16 inch Snake River cutthroat. What a thrill! By the time I released my prize catch it was 9:30 and getting quite dark, and the frequency of rising fish had slowed considerably so I called it quits and returned to the guest ranch. Saturday night was a solid introduction to fishing the South Fork of the Snake River.

Green River – 07/25/2014

Time: 10:00AM – 1:30PM

Location: One mile downstream from Flaming Gorge Dam

Fish Landed: 1

Green River 07/25/2014 Photo Album

As I mentioned on my 7/24/14 post, I decided to fish to sighted fish on Friday since blind prospecting delivered only one fish in 2.5 hours albeit a very nice rainbow trout. Friday was forecast to be another hot day with high temperatures in the 90’s, so we had a quick breakfast of oatmeal at the campsite, and then I took the Santa Fe and drove to the parking lot high above the boat launch just below the dam. Jane decided to stay behind as she made a concerted effort to avoid more snake encounters.

The Green River Below the Dam from High Up on the Trail

I used my senior pass to cover the day use fee, and pulled on my waders and rigged my rod and began my descent of the steep Little Hole Trail to the Green River. There were quite a few rafts and boats lined up at the launch ramp already at 9:30AM, but I decided to hike for twenty minutes or so to get away from the launch traffic. As I walked along on the trail a steady procession of rafts floated by, and many rafters were laughing and shrieking as heated water fights commenced. I was very curious to know whether these youthful rafters could maintain their feverish pace for the entire seven mile float to Little Hole.

Lots of Rafting Traffic on the River

After I hiked for 20 minutes I reached a nice area where a wide eddy of slow moving water presented three visible fish that were facing downstream. I picked out landmarks across from the positions of the observed fish and then waded upstream and began making casts to the areas where the fish held. Unfortunately each of the three fish scattered when I presented a fly in front of them.

After I spooked the three fish at the start of my fishing day, I noticed several rises just off the main current seam that fed the huge pool and eddy. Upon seeing this welcome surface activity, I moved upstream a bit and began shooting long 30-40 foot downstream casts to the area of the rises. Finally on the tenth long cast a fish bulged and engulfed the size 12 gray stimulator with a zebra midge dropper. I set the hook and a strong battle ensued, but I was finally able to land a sixteen inch brown trout. I attempted to photograph my prize catch, but as I was gripping the fish to hold for the camera, I slipped from the slimy square rock I was standing on, and this momentary diversion allowed the brown to squirm free.

I was hopeful that this experience was a harbinger of a morning of casting to rising fish, but that was not the case. I resumed sight fishing in the manner described earlier. I walked the path and looked for fish and then dropped down to the water and cast to visible targets. For the most part these fish were in slow moving deep pools above dense aquatic weeds, and they were quite wary. Generally these fish were not risers, but I attempted to target fish that were close to the surface and avoided fish that were hugging the bottom. Adding to the difficulty was the warm air temperature, the cloudless sky, and the constant commotion created by passing water enthusiasts.

After landing the gorgeous brown trout I moved upstream a bit and stumbled across two fish that were once again facing downstream in an eddy. I worked these fish for quite a while as the brown trout closest to shore rose occasionally and sipped something small from the surface. During this time there were some strong gusts of wind, so I hypothesized that the brown was sipping ants that were blasted into the river. I switched my stimulator for a parachute ant and made a nice presentation in front of the fish. I held my breath as the brown finned up to the surface in a leisurely manner and pressed its nose against the fly and then returned to its holding spot. Once again my parachute ant had been refused!

A second fish was further out in deeper water, and it circled in a small pool, but I was never able to generate even a refusal from this fish despite repeated casts. After spending half an hour on these obstinate targets, I turned around and scanned the water upstream, and I was surprised to see a splashy rise 25 feet above me and eight feet out from the bank. The parachute ant was too small to see, so I returned to the gray stimulator and zebra midge and dropped several casts in the vicinity of the rise. On the third drift I was surprised to see a swirl and instantly set the hook and felt the weight of a fish. The penetration of the hook point caused a nice rainbow to leap entirely out of the river, but before it splashed back down the fly came free, and I was once again frustrated in my attempt to land a nice Green River trout. I’ll never know for sure, but I’m convinced that this fish grabbed the tiny zebra midge because it didn’t feel like my fly had much penetration in the lip of the fish.

Once again I slowly walked upstream on the Little Hole Trail and gazed into the water with my polarized sunglasses, and again I approached an eddy with several fish facing downstream but into the reversing current. Initially I spotted two fish, but as I stared into the water I eventually saw at least five trout in the 13-17 inch range. History repeats itself, and I suppose this explains why these fish also ignored my offerings. During the early afternoon time period more frequent episodes of strong wind gusts hampered my ability to look beneath the surface of the water, so I once again decided to change tactics.

I was using my Scott six weight rod, and I’d placed the spool containing a sink tip line in my backpack, so I removed my floating line and loaded the sinking tip. For the last half hour on Friday I experimented with a damsel fly nymph and a conehead sculpzilla, but this tactic unfortunately also failed to excite any trout. I finally hooked the sculpzilla in my rod guide and walked back to the boat launch and then slowly hiked the steep trail back to the parking lot. Once again I landed one nice fish in 3.5 hours of fishing, and the Green River was proving to be a challenging river in late July. I vowed to never return to the Green unless I was drifting the river or wade fishing early in the season when the blue winged olives cause a feeding frenzy.

This Gap Is Part of the Hiking Trail Out of the Green River Canyon

Green River – 07/24/2014

Time: 12:00PM – 2:30PM

Location: One mile upstream from Big Hole

Fish Landed: 1

Green River 07/24/2014 Photo Album

Jane and I planned a combination fishing and camping trip for July, and the date finally arrived. Originally I hoped to visit Flaming Gorge and then Strawberry Reservoir and end at the South Fork of the Snake River, but we decided that was too much for six days, so we eliminated the Strawberry Reservoir stay from our itinerary. I used the online reservation system to reserve a campsite at Firefighters’ Memorial Campground in Flaming Gorge Recreation Area for three nights, and then Jane called the Hansen Guest Ranch in Swan Valley to reserve a room for three nights. Our trip would begin on July 23 and end on July 29.

For lodging near the South Fork of the Snake River we originally considered the South Fork Lodge or The Inn at Pallisades Creek, but these proved to be too rich for our tastes, so we downgraded a bit. After three nights of camping we felt it made sense to stay in a hotel and gain access to showers and a bed.

We packed the Santa Fe on Wednesday morning and made the seven hour drive to Flaming Gorge. We discovered that the heat wave that enveloped Colorado also rested over northeastern Utah when we arrived at our campsite on Wednesday afternoon. When we picked our campsite on the reservation system, it only offered sites on Loop C, and it was difficult to see what we were choosing. Upon our arrival we found site number 87 and discovered it was close to the highway, lacked shade and was quite near the neighboring site. We circled loop C and found site 80 was much more desirable and unreserved for our stay period, so we traded sites and left a note for the campground host.

The other complication to the camping portion of the trip was our tent. On a camping trip the week before, I experienced some severe winds ahead of a rainstorm, and the rain fly ended up sheared in five or six locations. We were unable to contact Eureka, the tent manufacturer, over the weekend, so we purchased a new tent from REI on Saturday. Before I departed for work on Monday morning I called Eureka and discovered that I could purchase a replacement rain fly for our Equinox 6 model tent. I placed an order for the rain fly and paid for overnight shipping, and sure enough the new covering arrived on Tuesday, and Jane returned the back up tent to the REI store in downtown Denver for credit.

Once we determined that site number 80 was our home for three nights, we put up the tent and covered it with our new purchase. Our original rain fly was a silver cover, but we soon discovered that the replacement was gold even though the salesperson called it tan. After a quick dinner and an evening exploratory hike on the Bootleg Trail across from the entrance to the campground, we decided to crawl into our tent and read and then go to sleep. It was quite warm, so we decided to sleep on top of our sleeping bags rather than curl up in a toasty down cocoon, but it didn’t take long for the new rain fly to be put to a difficult stress test. For some reason the wind began to blow relentlessly and continued through the night. At one point I woke up and exited the tent and discovered the tablecloth had blown off the table and came to rest fifteen feet away. A towel was on the ground and the tent actually shifted several feet from its original position. The poles supporting the awning over the entrance were on the ground and the rain fly flapped repetitively against the tent. Much to our amazement, we were able to fall asleep again, and when we woke up on Thursday we took inventory of our belongings and found nothing missing. The rain fly had managed to survive the night and high wind without tearing.

As the wind continued in the morning we repositioned the rain fly, and then I pounded stakes through the rings at the bottom of all the tent poles. When we shopped for a new tent, we discovered that all modern tents are equipped with stakes that hold the tent poles in place, so this became valuable information for our camping success.

Jane at the Little Hole Overlook of Green River

To start our day Jane and I took a three mile bike ride on the Bootleg Trail to the canyon rim and back, and then Jane prepared a tasty meal of eggs and cornbread muffins. We were now confident that the tent was secure, and my thoughts shifted to fishing. For my first day I decided to drive to Little Hole, seven miles below the dam, and hike up the river to fish. Jane decided to accompany me, but we hiked a short distance up the trail and encountered a long slender silver snake wrapped around the dead branches of a shrub next to the trail. Jane is deathly afraid of snakes, so that would be the furthest penetration of the Little Hole trail for her, as she returned to the parking lot and the comfort of her book.

A Snake Among the Branches

We said our goodbyes, and I agreed to meet Jane back in the parking lot no later than 3PM. I was now by myself so I increased the pace and hiked for another twenty minutes until I reached an area that I remembered from my visit in September 2013. This stretch reminded me of the Arkansas River as the current swept parallel to a rocky bank, and there were numerous pockets and deep slots in the space in between. I decided to approach the river in the same manner that I approach this type of water in Colorado, and I tied on a Chernobyl ant, a beadhead hares ear, and a salvation nymph and began prospecting all the likely fish holding spots. After some time elapsed, I saw a handful of caddis on the water, so I swapped the salvation nymph for a bright green caddis pupa, but again my efforts were stymied.

Unfortunately more time transpired with no success other than a rainbow that followed the Chernobyl ant as I lifted to recast. This all took place no more than four feet in front of me. My allotted time to fish was slipping away, and I wasn’t having any positive results, so I decided to change tactics and removed the dry/dropper configuration and replaced it with a size 12 gray stimulator. This took place just before my turnaround point.

The Green River on Thursday

I began prospecting the same type of water that I was casting the dry/dropper to and in some swirling water along a current seam, the large dry attractor disappeared. I reacted with a timely hook set, and my line began spinning off my reel at a rapid clip. I allowed the fish to make a furious run, and when it slowed down, I applied a bit of pressure. This produced several acrobatic leaps in which the entire fish cleared the water, and I was now able to see the wide crimson stripe of a silvery glistening rainbow trout. Eventually I was able to tire out my noble foe, and I slid the net beneath the bright and hefty rainbow and then migrated to the bank for a photo. Catching and landing this fish was a thrill and totally unexpected given my lack of action before and after this episode.

My Only Catch, but a Nice One

I glanced at my watch and realized I needed to start my return hike in order to meet Jane by 3PM, but as I walked briskly along the path, I observed closely to spot fish. I was quite successful in recognizing numerous fish in slow moving water hovering near the bank. In fact within .2 miles of the parking lot I noticed a pair of fish close to the bank, and I cast to them for a short while. Initially I drifted the stimulator, but that was ignored, so I clipped it off and tied on a small fur parachute ant. Surely with all the strong wind and with the fish positioned within several feet of the grassy bank,. the fish would jump on an ant! Unfortunately my strategy was a near miss, as the closest rainbow rose in the water column and put its nose against the ant only to drop back down to its holding spot near the river bottom.

With that rude refusal firmly planted in my memory banks, I retreated to the parking lot and met Jane at 3:10PM. One fish in 2.5 hours of fishing is not great, but at least it was a fat 17″ brightly colored rainbow. I decided to fish below the dam on Friday and to use my hard earned Thursday experience to my advantage and fish to spotted trout. Would this improve my catch rate? Stay tuned.

Eagle River – 07/18/2014

Time: 10:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Arrowhead community from Miller Ranch Road to second gate

Fish Landed: 15

Eagle River 07/18/2014 Photo Album

No rain fell on Thursday evening and for a change Friday morning was dry and beautiful. Of course I spent the night in the luxurious downstairs bedroom at the Grubin house in Arrowhead. It was quite a contrast from sleeping on the hard surface in the back of my Santa Fe on Wednesday night.

Todd needed to attend a meeting on Friday morning, and the fishing before 11AM was marginal on recent outings, so I decided to stay at the house, eat breakfast, prepare lunch, and update my stream notes from Thursday. This proved to be a great plan, and I was anxious to hit the water when Todd arrived at around 9:30AM. We discussed options, and fairly quickly settled on the public water that begins at Miller Ranch Road and continues upstream across from the Arrowhead water that we fished on Thursday.

We drove both cars to a parking lot at a school just across the Miller Branch Bridge where we assembled our rods and began hiking along the gravel path that follows the river. We didn’t go very far before I scrambled down the bank and prepared to fish. The size 16 gray caddis from the previous evening was still attached to my line, so I decided to shoot a few casts upstream close to the bank, but on my first backcast I hooked a branch that was behind me. What a way to start a new day of fishing! I was skeptical that I could retrieve the fly, but I found a tall rounded boulder and perched on top of it and managed to pull the limb down to a point where I could unwrap the line and save the caddis fly.

As I was doing this, Todd reappeared on the path above me and pointed out that another fisherman was fifty yards above us on the same side of the river. He was going to block our upstream movement, and there was a chance he had just covered the water that I was entering. We decided to change our plan and walked across the bridge to the south side of the Eagle River and began fishing upstream. Once again this was Arrowhead water, but Todd was an Arrowhead resident, so we were legally able to fish on the south side of the river.

The flows had dropped to 450 cfs, and this is still high for wading, but we discovered that we could move around more than was possible on the previous day. I decided to forego the size 16 caddis and reconfigured my line with the yellow Charlie Boy hopper, beadhead hares ear, and bright green caddis. Once again Todd and I worked our way upstream and alternated stretches of water.

I discovered that the fishing was much slower than Thursday as I landed only three fish between 10:30 and 1:30PM. I did suffer some missed opportunities with several momentary hook ups, but the fishing was clearly more challenging than my recent experience. One of my landed fish was another nice 15 inch brown, and a small rainbow and brown represented the rest of my catch, and all the fish fell for the bright green caddis.

Friday Morning Brown

Meanwhile Todd was doing quite well with the bright green caddis pupa that I gave him. It was surprisingly cloudy and cool during the morning despite a five day forecast of high temperatures. In fact, cloudy overcast conditions generally indicate excellent fishing, and I began to wonder why that wasn’t the case on this Friday.

At 1:30PM Todd needed to return to his house to walk Quincy, and he used this as an opportunity to move his car from Miller Ranch Road to the same spot where we parked on Thursday. The sun came out around noon and warmed the air considerably, but after Todd departed some large clouds floated overhead and blocked the sun for long periods. Whether it was the cloud cover or the warming water temperature, by 1:30 pale morning duns made an appearance. The number of visible adults remained fairly sparse over the next hour, but I did notice a few surface rises at around 2 o’clock for a ten minute period.

Eagle River Flows at 450 cfs

Despite the lack of surface activity, the fishing improved dramatically. I exchanged the Charlie Boy for a Chernobyl ant and kept the salvation nymph as my top subsurface pattern, but replaced the caddis pupa with a beadhead hares ear as the bottom fly. The Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear produced nicely on Thursday afternoon, and I hoped they would perform again on Friday.

As the sparse emergence commenced, I pressed on with the nymphs and all of a sudden they became a hot commodity. I prospected runs and riffles that passed over moderate depth, and fish seemingly emerged from nowhere to grab one of the nymphs. I also experienced the phenomenon of fish smacking the nymph as soon as it entered the water, and this reaction always surprises me. Particularly productive were the tails of runs in front of large rocks, as fish grabbed one of the nymphs as I lifted to make another cast. I was tempted to switch to a cinnamon comparadun when I spotted a few rises, but thought better of it and pressed on with the nymphs.

During this period I noticed that the salvation nymph was producing more than the hares ear, so I switched their positions, but this occurred near the end of the hatch. Between 1:30 and 2:30 I landed ten fish and five were in the 8-10 inch size range. Another four were around 12 inches in length, and one particularly memorable fish was fifteen inches or greater. I spotted this fish shifting back and forth grabbing food from the current above and to the right of a large submerged rock. I cast above its position, and my offering was ignored on the first drift. On the second drift, I thought the Chernobyl was beyond the trout’s position, but then I saw the fish make a quick move to the side, so I set the hook. Either the fish had changed locations, or it drifted back under the nymphs and took the salvation when it appeared to be escaping. At any rate it was a great visual snapshot, and I achieved closure by battling the fish to my net.

The hatch had almost ended when I lost the salvation nymph in the process of releasing a fish, so I replaced it with a beadhead pheasant tail to preserve my diminishing supply of salvations. I continued working my way upstream and covered a lot of territory as I prospected with the Chernobyl, hares ear and pheasant tail. It was amazing how attractive water that produced fish as expected a few minutes ago, suddenly seemed to be barren of fish. As it was later in the afternoon, I noticed that I was casting a long shadow upstream ahead of me, so perhaps this was affecting my success rate.

15 Inch Brown Came from Run Between Rock and Bank

I was beginning to despair of catching more fish when I reached a large protruding boulder with a small but fairly deep run between the boulder and the bank. The boulder offered me the opportunity to hide and thus prevent my shadow from overlapping the upstream area that I planned to fish. I shot a cast to the run on the other side of the boulder a couple times with no reaction, so I decided to cast further upstream beyond the boulder, and this did the trick. A fifteen inch brown emerged from nowhere and snatched the pheasant tail thus providing me with another highlight on the day.

Finally I reached the huge deep pool where we ended on Thursday, and Todd had returned to the river. I tried my flies in the head section where I hooked and landed the 15 inch rainbow the previous day, but only felt a momentary hook up with a 12 inch rainbow. I decided to explore the next sweet spot above the white water that spilled into the huge pool while Todd converted to an indicator and nymphs to get deeper.

As I approached a nice deep run I spotted a very large brown in a small depression in front of a cylindrical moss-colored rock at the very end of the pool.. Twice the fish reacted to the lift of my flies, but then it darted toward shore as it was apparently spooked by my shadow. Just as the large brown escaped, I saw a rise four feet above the depression in some riffly water so I shot a cast to that area. On the second drift I saw a small swirl, and reacted with a swift hook set. I felt the weight of a nice brown for an instant and actually saw the entire fish as it jumped from the water at the moment of the hook set. Unfortunately the hook came flying free as it appeared that the fish took the Chernobyl ant and spit it out while in midair.

With these two disappointments under my belt, I waded upstream along the bank a bit further until I saw a marginal run that split exposed rocks on both sides. The water was fairly shallow at this location, but did probably reach a depth of three feet in the center. I decided to allocate a few casts to the area, but I didn’t see any fish with my polarized lenses, so I was fairly certain that the casts would be fruitless. Again I was shocked when on the third drift a brown materialized out of nowhere and grabbed the pheasant tail as it tumbled by. I landed a 14 inch brown trout for my last fish of the day.

Another Fine Brown Deep in the Net

At 1:30 I was willing to accept a poor day of fishing, but rationalized it as an offset to my spectacular Thursday. By 4 o’clock I landed fifteen fish including four brown trout that were measured in the fifteen inch range. Friday was a late bloomer and eventually equaled most of my other days on the Eagle River. Todd drove me back to my car, and I removed my waders and stashed my fishing gear and returned to Denver. The weather difficulties of Wednesday evening were fading memories replaced by visions of hungry trout grabbing my flies as they drifted by. 2014 has restored my faith in the Eagle River and elevated it to a top destination for future trips.

Eagle River – 07/17/2014

Time: 9:30AM – 7:00PM

Location: Edwards rest area across from parking lot; upstream from pedestrian bridge; Arrowhead second gate

Fish Landed: 21

Eagle River 07/17/2014 Photo Album

My most recent fishing trip was all about overcoming adversity to enjoy some great fishing. My two days on the Eagle River on July 10 and 11 remained in my mind as I reached a point at work where I could break away for another fishing trip. I checked the flows on the DWR site, and the Eagle River had dropped from the 600 cfs range to the low 500’s. A series of storms enabled the river to remain relatively high, but I guessed that an upcoming five day period of high temperatures would bring the flows down to the 300 level, and past experience told me that Eagle River fishing would get difficult with sunny days, hot temperatures and low flows.

Jane wanted to join me, but she did not want to hang out by herself while I fished, so I planned to camp Wednesday and Thursday night at Hornsilver and fish on Thursday and Friday. Jane decided to drive to the mountains on Friday afternoon to join me at the campsite on Friday night, and then we would do some bicycling on Saturday and return to Denver to avoid the Sunday traffic. I packed the Santa Fe with everything required for two campers and departed Denver at around 2:30PM. Before I left, I called my friend, Todd Grubin, and asked if he was interested in joining me for some fishing on the Eagle River on Thursday and Friday. Todd replied that he’d be delighted to fish with me and offered his house as a place to sleep, but I told him about our plans to camp and declined his gracious invitation.

The first sign that I was in for a rough trip was an accident on interstate 70 that caused stop and go driving from where I entered the highway until just beyond Colorado Boulevard.

I arrived at Hornsilver at 5PM and immediately assembled the Eureka five-person tent and staked it out and threw my pad, sleeping bag, pillow and clothing duffel inside. I decided to pay for only Wednesday night in case the fishing was subpar, or I decided to move to another campsite even though Jane and I agreed on Hornsilver as our destination. As I began preparing my dinner I noticed some dark clouds to the north and some distant thunder, but it seemed apparent that the storm would pass by.

Unfortunately as I was finishing my soup, the wind began to kick up, and I realized that the storm was not going to skip Hornsilver. I turned on the burner and began heating water in hopes that I could wash the dishes and jump in the car before the rain commenced. Suddenly a strong gust of wind swept toward me and lifted the five-person tent that was weighed down with my belongings into the air. The tent was now upside down and ten feet away from its original position. I quickly ran to the billowing projectile and pushed it back to a nearly upright position, but another gust of wind forced the tent from my hands and back to a position on its side.

The next phase of the storm now kicked in and sheets of rain began to blow sideways. I was never going to get the tent upright with the strong wind and rain blowing from the north, so I decided to collapse it as fast as I could and then wait out the storm in the car. As the rain drenched my jeans and fleece sweater, I pulled the pins from the tent poles and allowed the entire mass to settle to the ground. The brown tarp that is usually under the tent had somehow been crumpled into a ball so I grabbed one end and pulled it over the tent for some rain protection, and I quickly repositioned the rain fly over the rest of the tent as best as I could in the driving rain.

I jumped in the car stunned by what had just happened and removed my wet fleece and pulled on my down parka for warmth, and then I decided to try and find a spot where I could call Jane and let her know my predicament. I drove through the small mountain town of Red Cliff, but I never had a phone signal, so I looped back to the upper road and then back to 24 and continued up the mountain pass. When I got to the top of the pass, I had four dots and found a pullout where I called Jane to tell her that she should not bother making the trip on Friday as we no longer had a viable tent to camp in.

By the time I returned to the campground the rain stopped, and I was able to wash the dishes and pack them away in the appropriate bin. I was now ready to assess the damage from the storm. Remember that my clothes, sleeping bag and pillow were inside the collapsed tent. The first thing I discovered was that the rain fly had five or six tears mostly along the seams so apparently this was the weakest link in the face of the initial gusts of wind from the north. Clearly the tent could not be used for the remainder of the trip especially given the forecast of more rain over the next few days.

Aftermath of Storm That Hit Hornsilver Campground

I pulled the brown tarp off the collapsed pile and draped it over a large boulder. Next I dragged the sheared rain fly on top of another wide rock nearby and spread it out. This left the tent itself along with the poles that were flat on the ground ten feet away from their original position. I gathered the poles and folded them up and lined them up next to the tent, and then I searched for the entry door and zipped it open and lifted the canvas to find my belongings. My pillow was still in a garbage bag, so it was dry and protected from the rain, and I quickly transferred it to the Santa Fe. Next I found my duffel bag and it was wet on one side, but when I pulled it out, I found my fleece pullover and fleece pants were dry. I carefully removed the dry items that I planned to wear that night and placed them on the front seat and stowed the bag and the rest of the contents in the rear of the Santa Fe.

A Gust of Wind Ripped the Rain Fly

Next I returned to the flattened tent and searched for my sleeping bag. In a strange stroke of luck the Thermarest pad doubled over when the tent flipped and provided a shelter for the sleeping bag. The pad was totally wet on one side, but the sleeping bag was as dry as when I tossed it in the tent an hour earlier. I now knew I would be able to sleep in the back of the Santa Fe on Wednesday evening, and I could deal with the aftermath of the tent disaster in the morning. I cleared enough space in the back of the Santa Fe to position my sleeping bag and pillow and fell asleep to the sound of more rain.

After a decent night of rest I woke up to a soggy mess. I ate a quick breakfast and rearranged the back of the Santa Fe so that the dry cargo was separated from the wet items. I balled up the wet tarp, tablecloth, rain fly and tent and placed them in the very rear of the SUV and then anchored them with the water container. I was scheduled to meet Todd at the Edwards Rest Area at 9AM, and I planned to accept his offer of sleeping accommodations, and therefore I would not need the camping gear for the remainder of the week.

As I drove toward Edwards, I anxiously looked down at the Eagle River and much to my relief, it was clear and unaffected by the rain from the previous evening. I pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 and called Jane and then prepared to fish. Todd rolled into a space near me at our agreed upon time of 9AM, and in short order we were ready to fish. I decided to use my Sage 4 piece 4 weight, and we agreed to try the water a bit downstream from the parking lot as other fishermen were ahead of us, and we assumed they would head directly to the long pool next to a sandy beach that was a popular spot upstream from the parking lot.

Todd and I both began our morning with dry/dropper configurations. I tied on a yellow Charlie Boy hopper and below that I added a copper john, and we began alternating pockets as the river was still rather high and wading to areas more distant from shore was a safety risk. After I covered a few juicy pockets with no results, I added a bright green caddis pupa below the copper john; and after this change, I landed a 15 inch brown trout. Eventually the copper john was exchanged for a beadhead hares ear, and this combination served me for most of the morning.

15 Inch Brown Landed Thursday Morning

When we approached lunch log, the large fallen log that parallels the river that attracts tourists and the lunch crowd, we encountered another fisherman, so we exited the river and circled around to a point forty yards upstream. We fished through a few more pockets in this area, and then again cut back to the fisherman path and advanced to a point where we could branch back to the river above the long beach pool. Neither Todd nor I caught any fish during this one hour period of fishing and movement.

Finally above the long beach pool we had the water to ourselves, and we continued the pattern of alternating the attractive pools. Despite some intense fishing, the fish continued to avoid our flies until I reached the last attractive pocket at the top of the fast water section. Here I cast to the middle and almost immediately the Charlie Boy darted sideways, and I set the hook and played a 15 inch brown trout to my net. Once I released the buttery brown, I lobbed a cast to the very top of the pool, and the foam hopper dipped, and I was attached to a streaking 13 inch rainbow. Both of these fish were fooled by the bright green caddis pupa, and suddenly my outlook on fishing the Eagle River improved considerably.

Next we approached a narrow stretch of slow moving water between the rocky bank and some very fast whitewater. Todd began prospecting the lower half of this area and then moved to the midsection. On one of his drifts we both spotted the tail of a substantial fish, and we could now see the holding position. As I looked on, Todd made a series of dead drifts over the fish with no reaction. I suggested that he try lifting the nymph and pupa in front of the fish’s position, and miraculously on perhaps the twentieth drift, the target trout grabbed the caddis pupa. It was a thrill to watch Todd work over this fish and get rewarded for his persistence.

It was now noon, and Todd needed to run some errands and return to his house to walk his dog, Quincy, so we returned to the parking lot. We decided that I would stay and eat lunch and then fish the right bank above the pedestrian bridge, and then I would return to the parking lot and meet Todd at 2PM.

Pedestrian Bridge at the Edwards Rest Area

The area above the pedestrian bridge is one of my favorites on the Eagle River, and I’ve experienced some memorable runs of hot fishing there. Todd did inform me that both sides of the river above the pedestrian bridge are private water, so that concerned me a bit, but we decided that I’d probably be OK since I was tucked beneath a steep bank and out of the vision of passing motorists on route 6. I quickly consumed my lunch and then hustled along the path from the rest area parking lot to the bike path and across the pedestrian bridge. On the southwest side of the river I circled under the bridge and faced an attractive wide pool, and here I began an hour and ten minutes of superb fishing.

I resumed fishing with the Charlie Boy hopper, beadhead hares ear, and bright green caddis pupa, and this was pocket water fishing at its finest. I fished from the bridge to a point half way to the large bend where the river begins paralleling the highway, and the water was characterized by long deep pockets behind large protruding boulders. For the most part these deep runs were 8-10 feet wide and bordered by the steep bank and dense bushes on one side and strong fast current on the other side. I worked the side of the slot tight to the bank first and then shifted my casts methodically to the left until I floated the flies along the current seam, and of course I covered the tail and then the midsection and then the top.

A Very Chunky 15 Inch Brown

In addition to covering water that was private and probably unmolested for two months due to the high flows, I enjoyed the added benefit of increased insect activity. I began to notice quite a few adult caddis dapping the surface and the occasional pale morning dun slowly gliding up from the surface. By the time I found a steep path to the top of the bank and began my hike back to the parking lot, I had landed six brown trout on the bright green caddis pupa including three smaller fish, one chunky twelve inch fighter, and two fat fifteen inch beauties. I had a blast.

My pace was quick as I strode back to the parking lot and arrived twenty minutes before 2PM, so I hopped on the path and headed to the river by lunch log. As I expected, the fisherman that occupied this space earlier was no longer there, so I prospected the deep runs across from the log for ten minutes, and I was pleased to land two rainbows including a fine thirteen inch fish on the caddis pupa before I returned to the car and met Todd.

Pretty Eagle River Rainbow

Todd and I discussed our next move and decided that there were too many fishermen to contend with at the rest area, so he suggested that we migrate to the Arrowhead community private water that was upstream a mile or two. Because Todd is a resident, he possesses access, and who was I to object to this proposal? We drove up route 6 and made a left turn at the second or middle gate, and Todd’s pass allowed the gate to swing open. I followed closely and slid through the gate behind him, and we drove a short distance to a cul-de-sac and parked. I jumped out of the car and gazed down at the water below us, and it was beautiful with lots of deep pockets and slots to explore.

From the cul-de-sac we hiked up a steep bank and found a bike path and walked downstream to a point where a path cut to the river. An appealing stretch of water appeared before us, and we began the chore of working our way upstream along the south bank. It really wasn’t a chore, and I began with the same dry/dropper that served me well at the rest area. Almost immediately I noticed the Charlie Boy dart sideways, but I experienced only a momentary hook up. I persisted and landed a nice brown on the caddis pupa shortly thereafter.

Todd Demonstrates a Backhand Cast

As Todd and I moved upstream, the sky clouded up, and we began to observe an increased quantity of caddis on the water. This provoked a series of surface rises, so I clipped off the three fly setup and tied on a size 12 gray stimulator. This move paid dividends as I landed two but then the sun reappeared, and that halted the caddis dapping and also ended the effectiveness of the stimulator.

I decided to revert to the dry/dropper method, however, I substituted a Chernobyl ant for the Charlie Boy, and in addition I added a beadhead hares ear nymph as one of my droppers. This combination worked wonders for the next hour or so as I continued to land fish on a fairly regular basis. Two were particularly memorable and emerged from shallow water along the bank.

In the first case, I tossed a cast just below some overhanging branches and a sizable brown refused the Chernobyl, so I now knew I had an interested fish in my range. I carefully made another cast with no success, but on the third effort, the fifteen inch brown flashed to the side and grabbed the trailing hares ear. I set the hook and battled the beautiful wild fish to my net. This was a great thrill and the type of fishing I love.

This Brown Was Caught in Shallow Water

I waded upstream a bit further and found a similar shallow lie just downstream from some branches, and here I observed another brown of similar dimensions as it rose and sipped something small from the surface. Once again I had my target, and I flipped the Chernobyl just above the fish. As the surface fly slowly drifted over the brown, it confidently rose and sucked in the Chernobyl, and then the fight was on. I carefully played my prized catch to the net and then released it and watched in awe as it swam back to its natural environment.

Early evening was now upon us as I circled around Todd and found myself at the tail of a huge deep pool that was 60 feet long and 20 feet wide for most of its length. I began fishing with the dry/dropper combination, but as I did this, caddis began dapping and a few fish rose. When I arrived at the juicy top of the pool, I clipped off the three flies and knotted a size 16 gray caddis to my line. On a drift along the right side of the pool near the top, a twelve inch brown responded and smashed the caddis.

Next there was a short six foot long pocket that was deep and right below the whitewater area above the pool. I spotted several fish working the surface, so I began floating my caddis in the area. On the fourth or fifth cast near the bubbling water at the very top of this section, a gorgeous fifteen inch rainbow emerged and gulped in my fly. This fish put up quite a battle with several sprints downstream, but I eventually subdued it and snapped a photo to remember it by. What a way to end a fantastic day of fishing on the Eagle River.

Impressive 15 Inch Rainbow from Eagle River

During our time in the Arrowhead piece of water, I landed ten fish with four taking a caddis dry fly, one falling for the Chernobyl and the remainder grabbing the beadhead hares ear. This action included four sizable brown trout and the final rainbow. I bought Todd dinner at the Gashouse Grill to show my appreciation for gaining me access to the Arrowhead section, and for being my fishing companion on a memorable day. Oh and also for allowing me to use his house as my place of rest on Thursday night. It was quite a contrast from the back of the Santa Fe surrounded by soggy clothes.

Eagle River – 07/11/2014

Time: 9:30AM – 2:30PM

Location: Edwards Rest Area

Fish Landed: 17

Eagle River 07/11/2014 Photo Album

As I walked back to my car on Thursday after my day of fishing, I heard the rumble of thunder and peered toward the southwest and noticed a huge black cloud. I hustled to get out of my waders and stow my fishing gear and successfully avoided the storm, but as I drove east on interstate 70 toward the Minturn exit, rain poured down on me in sheets and waves. Would this ruin my plans to fish the Eagle River again on Friday? As I exited the interstate and began driving toward Minturn, I got my first decent view of the stream, and sure enough it was chocolate brown. This water condition continued through Minturn until I began climbing the pass that moves away from the river. As I set up my tent and made dinner at Hornsilver, I decided that my backup plan was to fish Gore Creek if the Eagle River was too muddy, but I had no idea if Gore Creek was clear or murky.

On Friday morning I ate a quick breakfast and rolled up my wet tent and departed toward Minturn and the Eagle River with great trepidation. The lower Eagle River below Edwards muddies quickly from a tributary, so I didn’t even consider driving that far, and instead decided to examine the water by the Edwards rest area. Historically this section of the Eagle River has been great for me particularly during the high flows and edge fishing period. As I descended the winding pass I caught my first glimpse of the Eagle, and much to my relief it was nearly crystal clear. Unless Gore Creek was dumping sediments into the Eagle at the junction near I70, I was probably going to encounter clear fishable water at the Edwards rest area.

It wasn’t long before I reached interstate 70 and had my first look at the combined flow, and sure enough it was essentially clear. My anticipation of fishing in the Eagle River soared as I pulled into a parking spot at the rest area and prepared to fish with my Sage four weight four piece rod. I walked back to the bridge just below the rest area and then negotiated my way under the bridge and over some large round rocks and went downstream as far as I could go before encountering some fast whitewater. The whitewater stretch was going to be too difficult to fish, so I decided to begin my fishing day just above it. It was chilly and cool in the shadows of the big cottonwood trees when I began at 9:30AM.

I knotted a Charlie Boy hopper to my line as the top fly, and then beneath that I attached a copper john. Within the first fifteen minutes I hooked and landed a feisty twelve inch brown on the copper john and this increased my optimism. The flows remained at approximately 600 cfs, and this made for tough wading over slippery slime covered boulders. Also this section of the Eagle River has a narrower stream bed than the Eagle lease stretch, and this translated to high fast current tight up against the bank in many places.

After my quick success, I worked my way upstream and landed a second small brown just below the Edwards bridge. The copper john didn’t seem to be producing in some fairly attractive locations, so I added a bright green caddis pupa as my third fly. Above the bridge I cast to some nice short pools where a huge vertical cut bank looms over the river, and in this series of pockets I landed a few more browns on the caddis pupa. Given the success of the caddis, I moved it up to replace the copper john and then added a salvation nymph as my bottom fly.

These Runs Produced Two Nice Browns

At the end of the cut bank some large spruce trees extended over the river to the edge of some very swift current. I somehow managed to slide around the trees and resumed my upstream progression along the bank until I reached a point where the river widened a bit. There were a huge number of pockets in this area, and I was able to wade a bit and fish the short deep pools that were 15 yards from the bank. By wading carefully and moving from pocket to pocket, I added a few more browns to my count, and then I approached the place where a long log lies parallel to the river. This log is popular with tourists and workers who use it as a perch while they eat their lunches by the river.

16 Inch Brown from Eagle River

Several nice long deep slots ran parallel to the log, and I began to drift the Charlie Boy from the the top of the closest one to the tail. After five drifts, I coaxed a nice fish to snatch the salvation nymph, and this led to a brief battle with a 15 inch brown trout before it rested in my net for a photo. Once I released this nice catch, I began to cast to the next deep area that paralleled the one that yielded the 15 inch brown. This slot bordered some faster water, and as I ran the Charlie Boy along the current seam along the fast current, I saw a flash and set the hook and once again found myself attached to a hard fighting trout. After thwarting several short runs downstream, I applied side pressure and managed to scoop the 17 inch fish into my net and discovered it was a very hefty brown. I was flying high after landing two nice fish in such close proximity.

Fat Sixteen Inch Brown Put Up a Battle

It was now 11:30, and I was directly across from where the car was parked, so I decided to eat my lunch by the water. As I munched away, I began to notice some pale morning duns in the air, and the swallows were actively swooping across the river. This is always an indication of an insect hatch.

After lunch I swapped the Charlie Boy hopper for a Chernobyl ant as I hoped that I could generate some interest in the surface fly. I skipped the next section where evergreen branches once again obstructed my forward progress, and once I was beyond the group of trees I found a narrow path back to the river and resumed fishing along the bank. I executed this some workaround maneuver several times as I moved up the river, and in the process I landed five more trout including several rainbows.

Rainbow Materialized from Current Seam

By 1:30 I came upon a long extremely juicy pool that is usually occupied by other fishermen. There was a young gentleman at the very tail of the pool, and I asked if he was fishing. He responded no, as he appeared to be supervising his two dogs in a game of retrieve the stick. Another young man was sitting on a log overlooking the pool, so I asked if he was fishing, and he replied that he was not. With this good fortune I approached the pool and relished the fact that I had it all to myself.

16 Inch Rainbow from Long Pool on Eagle River

I began prospecting the eight feet of water along the left side of the fast deep run that flowed down the center of the pool. I fanned out three casts twenty feet upstream, and then made three or four steps and repeated the process. Much to my surprise I didn’t even receive a refusal, but I continued until I was near the top of the run. Here I made a nice cast that landed right along the current seam and as the Chernobyl drifted back toward me it took a dip. I set the hook and felt the weight of a substantial fish. This fish fought differently than the earlier browns, and eventually I slid my net beneath a seventeen inch rainbow. What a thrill to catch a rainbow of this size in the Eagle River near the rest area.

Beadhead Pheasant Tail Produced

The rainbow was fish number fourteen, and I continued working the left bank above the long pool. There were several nice pockets in this stretch, and I managed to land three more fish with one being a decent thirteen inch brown and the other two fish under 10 inches. Once again some foreboding dark clouds appeared in the southeastern sky accompanied by distant rumbling. I did not have my raincoat in my backpack, so I decided to hike back to the car to retrieve it so I could resume fishing without worrying about the weather. When I reached the car, however, I could see that the storm was going to hit the rest area, and it was not worth the effort to hike back to the river.

I hustled to remove my waders and stash my gear, and just as I jumped in the drivers’ seat, large raindrops began splatting on the windshield. The intensity of the rain increased as I began my return trip to Denver, and wet roads became the norm for most of the drive.

I experienced another fun day on the Eagle River on Friday with seventeen fish landed and three in excess of fifteen inches. Once again I began planning a return to the Eagle River while the water remains cold, and the fish continue to be active.

Eagle River – 07/10/2014

Time: 12:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Third set of steps over the fence in Eagle Lease when traveling west on route 6 upstream to the second set of steps

Fish Landed: 14

Eagle River 07/10/2014 Photo Album

Despite landing 16 fish in 5.5 hours of fishing on Wednesday afternoon on the Arkansas River, I rolled the dice and drove three hours to the Eagle River. Would this be a colossal blunder or a stroke of genius? I traded a relative known for the notoriously temperamental Eagle River.

I underestimated the time it would take to make the trip, as I encountered a variety of obstacles along my way. First there was the unexpected wait for road construction west of Salida. I should have factored in all the small towns along the way and the associated slow speed limits, and it should have been obvious that I would follow countless out of state recreational vehicles slowly negotiating every minor curve between Salida and Eagle. I also stopped for fuel and ice, and as I reached Hornsilver Campground, I took extra time to pick a campsite and pay my fee for Thursday night.

I planned to begin fishing in the middle of the Eagle lease just east of Eagle, CO where Dave G. and I ended on Saturday afternoon, and when I arrived there, two cars occupied the wide pullout in front of the fisherman steps that arched over the fence. This caused me some concern regarding competing fishermen, but I went beyond them, and executed a U-turn, and parked twenty yards west of the access point. My paranoia caused me to speculate that too many fishermen were reading my blog and flocking to my favorite spots.

It was another hot sunny day and the flows had dropped from 900 cfs to 600 cfs in the five days since I’d enjoyed success, so I was a bit concerned that the warm temperatures might impact the fishing. By the time I prepared to fish and climbed the stairs and walked to the edge of the river, it was noon. I began with the traditional Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear, but I didn’t enjoy any action for 15 minutes or so. Fortunately as doubts about my decision began to creep into my head, I began to observe some pale morning duns riding the surface of the river. The hatch was relatively sparse at first and consequently no fish were rising, so I elected to stick with the hares ear nymph, but I added a salvation nymph hoping that it would imitate the nymph stage of a pale morning dun mayfly.

Fished This Nice Wide Riffle During PMD Hatch

The intensity of the hatch increased, and I began to observe bulges from the backs of the fish breaking the water surface. This is typically a sign that the fish are taking subsurface emergers, so I began giving my nymphs more movement, but this tactic failed to generate any action. My frustration was beginning to build as the hatch moved into full bloom, and I was on the outside looking in. At this point, however, a few surface rises developed so I decided to abandon the subsurface approach and try a single dry fly. I removed the three fly dry/dropper configuration and tied on a size 16 gray comparadun, and it took quite a bit of persistent casting, but I eventually landed two medium rainbows.

Held for a Side View

I was pleased with this hard earned success, but again a lull occurred and the gray comparadun was ignored even though I placed some nice casts over fish that continued feeding. In fact, with the aid of my polarized sunglasses, I could see that several of the risers were nice sized trout. I decided to switch to a cinnamon comparadun that I tied over the winter to imitate the PMD’s that hatch on the Frying Pan River. This turned out to be a solid move, as I landed three more rainbows from the wide riffle, and one was a very nice 15 inch bow that I spotted subsurface. I cast to this fish repeatedly before finally enticing a take. The strong pale morning dun hatch lasted for an hour, and I managed to land five nice rainbows, so I was starting to feel better about my decision to abandon the Arkansas River.

Cinnamon Comparadun Did the Job

Once the hatch ended at around 1PM, I reverted to the dry/dropper approach but used a Charlie Boy hopper as my top fly with a beadhead hares ear and salvation nymph as my two droppers. The surface fly wasn’t attracting interest, and I have a lot of Charlie Boy hoppers that I tied two winters ago, so I decided to put them at risk rather than the pool toys of which of have fewer to lose, and they take longer to make. During the post-hatch time period I landed a gorgeous brown trout that measured 17 inches, and this fish carried a lot of weight. As you might expect, this fish put up quite a fight, and in order to land it, I followed it downstream a bit and then angled it to shore.

I increased my catch total from five to nine after the hatch, as I picked up fish at a fairly regular rate, and next I approached another beautiful wide riffle that ran over a rocky bottom with three to four feet of depth. I paused to observe and quickly noticed several rises and upon closer examination with my polarized sunglasses spotted some nice fish holding along the river bottom. One particular fish appeared to be quite large, so I decided to focus on it and began to cycle through a series of flies. On an early drift over the target fish, it appeared to show interest in the hopper, but backed away, and the nymphs seemed to be useless. I removed the three fly dry/dropper arrangement and tried a gray size 12 stimulator next, but this didn’t even generate a look or tail twitch. A green trude was introduced to the big guy next, and the trout rose a bit and inspected but returned to its holding position. Perhaps a small caddis similar to the ones I saw over the water would do the trick? I tried a size 16 gray caddis next, but that was scorned by Mr. Trout. What about a PMD? Some stragglers continued to emerge and drift on the water, but nowhere near the number that were present during the prime time of 12-1PM. It was worth a try, so I tied on a brand new cinnamon comparadun since the one I used earlier no longer had tails and was unraveling a bit.

I cast above the fish and as it drifted by slightly to the right, the big boy casually swam over a foot or so and sipped in my fly! It is moments like this that keep me coming back to this sport. I fought the fish for a bit, but it didn’t put up as much fight as the 17 inch brown. I carefully waded to the bank and kept the big rainbow in the water until I had my camera ready, and then positioned my net and the fish on a flat area. Unfortunately the rainbow made a last ditch effort to escape and rolled in some sand, so that when I repositioned for a photo, it was marred by a clump of sand and dirt. Still it was perhaps my biggest fish of the year and extended beyond my 15 inch net opening by at least 3-4 inches.

18-19″ Rainbow Was a Thrill

With my heart still racing I continued on along the north bank prospecting with the dry/dropper and landed four more fish. The last fish near my quitting point was a rainbow that took a pheasant tail nymph that I substituted for the salvation nymph in hopes of preserving my dwindling supply.

In summary it was a fun day on the Eagle River in the Eagle lease section. The fish were more spread out than on July 5, but this gave me a chance to fish to a decent hatch and do some enjoyable sight fishing. My catch ratio was roughly 60% rainbows and 40% brown trout, and I enjoy having the opportunity to catch rainbows in a predominantly brown trout state. Fourteen fish landed is quite respectable, and the average size of the fish was superior to what I was catching on the Arkansas River on Wednesday. I concluded that my move to the Eagle River on Thursday was well worth the drive..

Close Up of State Flower

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