Category Archives: Fishing Reports

Fishing Reports

Arkansas River – 07/09/2014

Time: 1:00PM – 5:30PM

Location: Lunch rock upstream to my favorite island below Chafee – Fremont county line

Fish Landed: 16

Arkansas River 07/09/2014 Photo Album

The perfect wave. A powder day of skiing. Edge fishing a river in Colorado as runoff subsides. Participants in the related sports go to great lengths to experience these peak events. Well, perhaps edge fishing doesn’t rank with the others, but it is a lot of fun and on the few occasions when I’ve timed it perfectly, it leaves me thirsting for more. This describes my mindset after a three hour sampling of outstanding edge fishing on the Eagle River on Saturday, July 5. I immediately began formulating a plan to experience more excellent edge fishing even as the streamflows on the major freestone rivers began to trend downward.

My desire to return to a river while edge fishing remained in its prime spurred me to work efficiently, and I completed my closing responsibilities by the end of Tuesday and formulated a camping and fishing plan for the rest of the week. I decided to pack the car on Wednesday morning and drive to the Arkansas River to check on the fishing there. The reports from Royal Gorge Angler suggested that edge fishing was superb with flows still at 1600 cfs and five feet of visibility. I would fish the Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon and then stay overnight at one of the campgrounds along the river. If the fishing was excellent, I planned to remain and fish there again on Thursday, and then drive to Hornsilver Campground Thursday evening, and this would position me to fish the Eagle River on Friday. If the fishing was less than excellent on Wednesday, I would move to the Eagle River on Thursday morning and fish there for two days.

Everything went according to plan, and I departed Stapleton by 8:45AM on Wednesday morning. I elected to drive the route through Colorado Springs as I targeted the Vallie Bridge Campground as my camping destination for Wednesday evening, and I felt the drive on I25 south was a bit easier than heading southwest on US 285. Unfortunately when I descended the long hill from Royal Gorge to the river, I discovered that the water was quite turbid and there was at best one foot for visibility along the bank. Would I even be able to fish on the Arkansas River? I began to chastise myself for not going directly to the Eagle River.

I drove west on US 50, and the river remained quite murky. When I reached the turn for Vallie Bridge, I detoured briefly and examined the accommodations. There were quite a few tent pads, fire pits and picnic tables and only one appeared to be claimed. The bathroom was along the river and quite a distance from the campsites, and there were only a few cottonwood trees, thus providing minimal shade for two or three campsites. I decided I could make this work, but I also concluded that I would check out Rincon Campground seven or eight miles upriver.

As I neared Rincon I passed Badger Creek, a small tributary that enters the river from the north, and here I discovered the source of the discolored water. Badger Creek was dumping coffee colored water into the river, and the river above this point was much clearer with more than five feet of visibility. I was excited to make this discovery and continued on in a more upbeat frame of mind past the Rincon Campground. The campground appeared to be empty at 12:30PM, so I resolved to stop and explore the option of camping there once my day of fishing ended.

With my renewed positive attitude about fishing the Arkansas River, I decided to begin fishing at a large rock that juts into the river near a bend in the highway above the Wellsville Bridge. I refer to this as lunch rock, as I return to this spot to eat my lunch when I am fishing in this area. I’d purchased a sandwich in Canon City, so on this day, I began by eating at lunch rock before beginning my day of fishing.

It was a hot sunny day with little cloud cover as I pulled on my waders and rigged my Loomis five weight rod. The river was indeed high at 1600 cfs, and the only viable place to fish was along the rocky bank that separated the river from highway 50. I decided to tie on a Chernobyl ant for flotation and visibility and then added a copper john since I’d gotten away from this fly, and I wanted to experiment to see if it produced results similar to a salvation nymph; my early candidate for 2014 fly of the year. Like the salvation nymph, a copper john is a general attractor nymph and not a precise imitation of a single insect species.

Nice Rainbow from the Arkansas River

I began working my way upstream from lunch rock, but the copper john wasn’t producing in water that seemed to be excellent holding water for Arkansas River brown trout, so I snipped it off and replaced it with a beadhead hares ear nymph. The beadhead hares ear nymph has historically been one of my best producers on the Arkansas River. Unfortunately I remained without any fish, so I relented and tied on a salvation nymph below the hares ear. The nymph combination spurred more interest, and I landed two modest-sized brown trout to finally get on the scoreboard. The hares ear by itself did not yield any fish, but once I added the salvation nymph, it began to produce, and I landed three more fish as I moved on, and all the fish grabbed the hares ear.

15 Inch Brown

I heard what the fish were telling me and removed the salvation nymph and tied on a prince nymph as my top fly and moved the hares ear to the bottom. At the same time the Chernobyl ant wasn’t generating any interest, so I replaced it with a yellow Letort hopper since this fly produced for me on previous years during the edge fishing time period. Unfortunately the hopper did not attract interest and only grew saturated with water and sank forcing me to continually dry it to maintain buoyancy. I grew frustrated with this routine and exchanged the hopper for a chubby Chernobyl, and this fly stayed on my line for quite awhile along with the prince nymph and beadhead hares ear as I progressed up the river and landed more fish.

The chubby Chernobyl was performing its job well of floating and remaining visible and even resulted in a fish caught, but after I reached eleven fish landed, the wing absorbed water, and the fly began to sink. Once again I decided to make a change, and I replaced the chubby Chernobyl with a tan pool toy with yellow legs. The prince nymph had yielded one fish, so I replaced it with a black wet fly with a shiny body and kept the beadhead hares ear in place. This combination produced the last five fish in late afternoon, and all fell for the hares ear nymph.

A Nice Stretch of Edge Pockets

The catch rate slowed over the last couple hours, however, I did land some sizable brown trout, and that offset the reduced quantity of fish netted. On the day I landed sixteen fish and three were rainbows and the remainder brown trout. Two of the rainbows were around 15 inches and the longest brown measured 14 inches. On the surface this would seem to be a great afternoon of fishing, but numbers can be deceiving. I covered a huge amount of water, and many areas that looked like prime trout habitat did not produce. It was a fun afternoon, but it wasn’t quite the hot fishing that the web site described, or that I remembered from several past experiences.

Opened Wings Just for Me

At 5:30 I found a path to climb the steep bank to the road and hiked a mile back to the car. I decided to check out the campgrounds that I’d passed and stay along the Arkansas for the night, but I also resolved to move on to the Eagle River on Thursday morning. When I pulled into Rincon I discovered a mass of river rafters setting up camp in all the available sites, so I continued down US 50 through Howard to Vallie Bridge. Four or five sites were also occupied by whitewater enthusiasts here, but plenty remained, so I made my claim of site no. 1 and unloaded my gear.

My 2 Man Tent in Foreground

Sixteen fish is a decent day, so perhaps I was taking a risk to move to the Eagle River, but I couldn’t get Saturday’s three hours of success out of my mind, and I needed to know whether this could be repeated.

Brush Creek – 07/06/2014

Time: 11:00AM – 3:00PM

Location: Downstream boundary of the “private water” to the road near Bryse Gaboury’s lot

Fish Landed: 8

Brush Creek 07/06/2014 Photo Album

Before Jane and I arrived at Eagle Ranch, Dave G. called the owner of the “private water” and reserved Sunday, 7/6/14 for our personal enjoyment. Dave has cultivated a positive relationship with the owners of the private water by being respectful and providing occasional gifts as appreciation for allowing him access. The private water is roughly a .5 mile stretch within Eagle Ranch, and it contains numerous bends and pools as it winds its way through a large meadow. The combination of bends and limited access make this a very desirable piece of water to fish, and I’m always grateful that Dave G. invites me to join him.

Once again we asked Jane to drop us off near the beginning of the private water, and we began walking down a path at around 11AM. I elected to begin with a Chernobyl ant and a beadhead hares ear plus a salvation nymph, but I covered quite a bit of water without landing any fish. Because of the lack of action, I switched the salvation nymph for an emerald caddis pupa, and in an eddy, I landed my first fish. It was a brown trout that measured approximately twelve inches long.

A Brightly Colored Brush Creek Brown on Sunday

Next I found myself at the bottom of a huge deep pool where the stream makes a ninety degree bend. I tossed several casts to the lower end of the pool and landed two small browns that couldn’t resist the caddis pupa. Perhaps I stumbled on to a winning fly.

Dave G. and I found ourselves across from each other, and he informed me that a purple San Juan worm had produced nearly all of his fish. I didn’t have any purple worms in my possession, so I tried a brown and light pink version to no avail. Next I added a red rock worm such as the variety that produced well on the North Platte River, but this also failed to attract any fish. Eventually I gave up on my worm patterns since apparently the fish were selective to purple, and I tied on a bright green caddis pupa.

Several Small Browns Came from This Deep Bend Pool

The green caddis pupa produced a rainbow when I twitched my flies next to an undercut bank, and then I landed a small brown before the Brush Creek Road bridge. Above the bridge I landed another 12 inch brown on the hares ear nymph after a momentary hook up and refusal to the Chernobyl ant. The water above the bridge was quite fast and straight with minimal places to fish, but I did manage to hook and play a large brown in one of the few attractive spots. Unfortunately after quite a tussle, the fish managed to get in the fast current, and as I took my first step to follow it downstream, the fish made a sudden move and broke off three flies; a Chernobyl ant, hares ear nymph, and salvation nymph.

I continued on and managed one more small brown and then reached an angled pool near Bryse Gaboury’s lot. As Dave G. was quite a distance downstream, I took the time to switch my floating line for a sink tip and tied on a sculpzilla that I’d purchased for Argentina. The big ugly olive concoction produced three follows from small fish, but none chose to close the deal and bite on the big streamer.

Wildflowers Along Brush Creek

I somehow managed to land eight fish, but they were mostly small with only a couple extending to 12 inches. Overall it was a slow day, but it was still fly fishing in Colorado, and that is always fun.

Brush Creek – 07/05/2014

Time: 4:00PM – 6:00PM

Location: Confluence with Eagle River up to split in Brush Creek downstream from the Gaboury’s house

Fish Landed: 5

Brush Creek 07/05/2014 Photo Album

After a fun morning of edge fishing the Eagle River at 900 cfs, Dave G. and I returned to the Gaboury house where we ate leftover barbecue from the neighborhood Fourth of July party. We hadn’t had our fill of fishing after three hours on the Eagle River, so we decided to undertake a second outing on Brush Creek. Once again we enlisted Jane to be our taxi driver, and she drove down Violet Lane and dropped us off next to the open space path that leads to the confluence of the Eagle River and Brush Creek. Again a red pick up truck was parked beneath route 6, but this time we chose to ignore it, and made the assumption that a fishermen would have passed through this stretch of Brush Creek hours ago.

When we reached the mouth of Brush Creek, I fished a short stretch of the Eagle downstream but had no success. I then waded across a rather swift Brush Creek and fished along the Eagle for a short distance before turning my attention to the smaller tributary. As was the case on Friday, Brush Creek was still flowing at a high level with only a few spots that fish could find refuge in and fishermen could fish. I began walking along the left or north bank and came upon Dave G. fairly quickly. Through no planning, it worked out that we were on opposite sides of the stream as we progressed back toward Eagle Ranch.

In a long straight stretch below Violet Lane I encountered a three foot wide swath of slower moving water next to the bank and tossed my pool toy and salvation nymph within a foot of the bank. The pool toy drifted a short distance when it paused, and my reflexes took over with a solid hook set. The fish reacted with a dive and head thrashing and then a brief downstream attempt at escape, but I managed to maintain control and landed a beautiful 15 inch brown that consumed the salvation nymph. My good fortune from the morning seemed to be continuing.

Fine Chunky Brown from Brush Creek on Saturday

Once I’d released the husky brown, I ventured further upstream under route 6 and then contorted myself to scramble over a steep bank and through some difficult wooden thickets. Next came a long straight fast riffle stretch, and that did not offer any viable locations to cast a fly. Finally in a deep pocket next to the bank below a dead tree branch, I landed two chunky twelve inch brown trout. I was thrilled to experience some action after a long dry spell.

Once again I skipped around quite a bit of water that offered few holding spots, and then passed under the Sylvan Lake Road bridge. From the bridge to the point where Brush Creek divides into two roughly equal channels, I landed two small 6-8 inch browns from marginal areas. The split afforded me an opportunity to cross the brawling stream, so I took advantage and met Dave G, and we decided to return to the house so we could prepare for a dinner date at Pastatively with Jane and Beth. Brush Creek continued to be tough fishing with few viable spots that could yield fish, but I’d managed to pick up five fish in two hours including a 16 inch beauty.

Eagle River – 07/05/2014

Time: 11:00AM – 2:00PM

Location: Downstream end of Eagle River lease above Eagle, CO

Fish Landed: 13

Eagle River 07/05/2014 Photo Album

Each year as the streamflows decline in the Rocky Mountains I search for the sweet spot characterized by tolerable water levels, but stream conditions that are still high and clear. This confluence of factors pushes the fish up against the banks to conserve energy, but they continue feeding on tasty morsels that drift by. This gives the fly fisherman a solid advantage particularly on large rivers as casts can be confined to the five feet of water next to the edge. I’ve experienced success in these circumstances on the freestone rivers in Colorado, primarily the Arkansas River and Eagle River, but in 2012 and 2013 I largely missed out. Would I be able to experience hot edge fishing in 2014?

The flows on the Eagle River in Avon, CO on the Fourth of July in 2014 were 900 cfs. This is roughly double what I consider to be ideal, and the highest I’ve ever dealt with on the Eagle was 650 cfs. Dave G., however, suggested we give it a try on Saturday morning so I jumped on the idea. I tend to favor the water above Edwards as I believe it stays colder during the hot summer months and, therefore, holds nicer trout from season to season, but Dave G. wanted to try the lease that is several miles above Eagle, CO. I was skeptical that this water would yield a positive experience, but I was agreeable to giving it a try.

We drove along the river on route 6 until we saw a sign indicating that we were next to the leased water. We continued looking for a public entrance point, and approximately .5 mile from the upstream border with private land, we found a point where some stairs enable fishermen to climb over the fence. There were some cars parked at this access point, so we decided to execute a U-turn and return to the western boundary. We parked in a wide spot west of a large cattle gate and prepared to fish, and when ready, we quickly climbed over the gate. This was probably not a sanctioned entrance point, but it was clear from footprints that others had done it before us, and we weren’t damaging the fence in any way.

Dave G. selected this stretch because it carried a lower gradient and spread out in a wide riffle. It didn’t take long before we found ourselves at the edge of the river where there was a nice long and wide run with a decent amount of slack water between the bank and the current. Dave G. began with a nymphing rig and cast at the tail of the narrow pool and almost immediately hooked and landed a decent rainbow. I, meanwhile, tied on a tan pool toy and added a bright green caddis pupa as a dropper and began prospecting the narrower top 1/3 of the area. Dave G. hooked another fish, and I began to question whether I was employing the best technique for fishing this high cold river.

First Fish from the Eagle River on Saturday

After covering some very attractive water, I noticed a short pocket just above an exposed boulder at the very top of the run and decided to flick my hopper/dropper into this area. On the second or third cast as I lifted to make another, I felt some weight on my rod and realized I was connected to a feisty 15 inch rainbow. I was somewhat reassured that my choice of method might produce, but I looked back downstream at Dave G., and his rod was bent with yet another nice fish that consumed a prince nymph.

With High Flows This Edge Water Was Hot Fishing

I decided to press on upstream and called to tell Dave G. my intention. I worked up along the edge of the river with no additional success for fifteen minutes or so, and then added a beadhead hares ear as a second dropper below the pool toy. This action began to pay dividends, and I landed three small rainbows in some marginal shallow pockets next to the willows that lined the bank. It was at this point that I approached a more enticing stretch with a series of deeper cascading pockets that ran eight feet wide and at least four feet deep. My pulse began to race with the anticipation of fishing this water as my confidence in the dry/dropper offering had increased.

16″ Brown Trout Was a Surprise

On one of my drifts at the beginning of this section, I observed a decent trout that looked at my pool toy and then returned to the bottom of the river. Was this fish just teasing me, or could I entice it to take one of my nymphs? I made a few more casts and executed a lift near the spot where I guessed my target was holding, and sure enough a 16 inch brown trout snatched the beadhead hares ear. I managed to steer the strong fighting beauty downstream and netted it in some shallow water. Perhaps I had stumbled into the exciting runoff edge fishing that I was searching for? I wasn’t sure of this, but I was now confident that my dry/dropper combination could be effective in the high flows of the Eagle River on 7/5/14, and this was important because prior to this fish, I was still debating whether to convert to indicator nymphing.

17″ Rainbow Was a Fun Catch

Next I cast to the head of the narrow slot where some frothy water spread out into the slower moving pool, and the pool toy disappeared in a heartbeat. My arm reacted with a solid hook set, and I was once again engaged in a thrilling battle. This fish made some strong runs but did not utilize the faster current to its advantage as much as the previous brown, so I was able to net the 17 inch rainbow and snap a photograph. All my doubts about the relative effectiveness of dry/dropper compared to nymphing disappeared as did my reservations about fishing this “warmer” western section of the Eagle River.

As I was releasing the 17 inch rainbow, Dave G. arrived, and I informed him of my dry/dropper success so he began the time consuming process of converting from nymphing to dry/dropper. While he was doing this, I continued on my path along the left bank and landed a small brown and a rainbow in the 12-13 inch range. I was enjoying my time on the Eagle River immensely as I fell into a routine of casting the pool toy and nymphs directly upstream and carefully watching the big foam indicator fly for a pause or dip.

Another Fat Rainbow from the Eagle River

Finally Dave G. was ready, and he moved 30-40 yards above me to an area where the river spread out and braided around some clumps of willows that protruded from the surface. As he disappeared from my view, I landed another thirteen inch rainbow, and as I released the silvery fish, I heard him call, so I scrambled over some slick boulders to find out the reason for the shout. As I approached him, he was netting and releasing a 20 inch rainbow, so I snapped a series of photos to capture the exciting moment.

Nice Work

Next on our path was an area where the bank grew quite steep, and it was covered with thick brush and dead branches thus forcing Dave G. and I to wade in some fairly deep water with lots of obstacles jutting out over the water. Dave G. and I decided the only way for two of us to fish this water was to alternate. Dave G. took a turn at the bottom of a nice deep section and landed three small browns, and then turned the pool over to me. I flipped a cast to the relatively shallow oxygenated head of the pool, and the pool toy instantly disappeared. A battle with a feisty 16 inch rainbow ensued, and I successfully landed and photographed my foe, but in the process I looped my line over a bare but not dead branch. I didn’t want to damage my tip by putting too much tension on it, so I grabbed both lines on either side of the branch and tugged hard. Everything released but much to my dismay the flies broke off from the tapered leader at the uppermost knot.

Salvation Nymph in the Lip of another 15 Inch Rainbow

I was now forced to relinquish the water to Dave G. as I tied on a new pool toy, hares ear and salvation nymph. Eventually I returned to action and resumed alternating and landed several more decent rainbows that inhaled the salvation nymph. After quite a run of decent action, Dave G. and I encountered another fishermen who had come in above us, and the bank was not quite as steep and devoid of thick vegetation so we used this as an opportunity to make our exit. We climbed the bank and traversed a pasture and discovered that we were at the access point that featured a set of stairs to climb over the fence. We took advantage of this luxury and then hiked back along route 6 for close to a mile.

I was quite euphoric as we drove back to the Gaboury’s as I’d stumbled into the very situation I was seeking. The fish were concentrated along the edge of the river and hungry, and the water level was clear and low enough to enable us to fish successfully. Of the thirteen fish I landed, ten were rainbows, and I discovered that a stretch of the Eagle River that I’d grown to bypass contained lots of nice trout. I immediately began formulating a plan to return.

Brush Creek – 07/04/2014

Time: 3:30PM – 5:00PM

Location: Upstream boundary with private water to Sylvan Lake Road bridge

Fish Landed: 2

Brush Creek 07/04/2014 Photo Album

Dave and Beth Gaboury invited us to join them for the Fourth of July weekend at their house in Eagle Ranch, CO, and we quickly accepted. Eagle Ranch is a beautiful development south of Eagle, CO in the valley between the town and Sylvan Lake. We packed our bicycles, fishing gear, and suitcases; and made the drive on the morning of the Fourth of July. Unfortunately we encountered heavy traffic from the bottom of Floyd Hill through the small tunnels east of Idaho Springs, but we eventually arrived at the Gaboury’s house on Founders Avenue by 1:15. After a quick lunch, Dave was ready to fish, so we put on our waders and threw our rods in the 4 Runner, and Jane drove us to Violet Lane. Our plan was to walk down the trail along Brush Creek in the open space area and then fish back to the Gaboury house.

When we arrived, however, there was a red pick up truck parked under route 6, so we elected to fish a different stretch of Brush Creek. Jane drove us back around the circle on Sylvan Lake Road and eventually dropped us off in Eagle Ranch where we could cross a field and meet the creek just above the private water. The stream was clear, but the level was still quite high thus offering few attractive locations to fish. Fish could only hold in spots along the bank where obstacles slowed the rushing water, and these were the locations that two fishermen covered in alternating fashion.

I began with a chubby Chernobyl and added a salvation nymph and emerald caddis pupa, and in a short amount of time Dave G. and I encountered a huge deep pool at a 90 degree bend in the river. I was standing on the bank just downstream of where the main current deflected off the bank and made a turn and then flowed beneath my position. Before I could cast I saw a fish rise twice and much to my surprise on the third drift of my flies, the fish rose and attacked the chubby Chernobyl. I made a quick lift and hooked the eleven inch brown, but it quickly managed to wiggle free. I was pleased to experience some quick action early in my fishing outing.

Next I moved forward eight feet until I was standing directly above the point where the current was swirling against the bank, so I tossed my three flies upstream and allowed them to drift along the edge of the current seam. I looked away for a spit second and when I returned my gaze, the fly was no longer visible. I quickly reacted with a hook set and felt the weight of a decent fish, but once again this fish escaped, and I was more disappointed than after the previous lost encounter.

I moved on and navigated through some muck that bordered a beaver dam and next found a small slack water area just above a point where the current once again deflected off the opposite bank. There was some tall grass hanging over a small bank next to the slow moving pool, and I thought I noticed a slight flash on one of my drifts. I kept working my flies until they were within an inch of the overhanging grass, and the Chernobyl darted causing me to set the hook and land a chunky 12 inch brown. This fish was not large, but I was rather pleased that I’d observed the subtle signs of his presence and coaxed him out of a difficult lie.

Nice Brown Landed on Friday in Brush Creek

Again I moved upstream to a nice 5 foot by 5 foot swirling pocket at the top of a long run. Dave G. advised me that he was having success with a beadhead hares ear, so I swapped the bottom fly to that proven fly and after quite a few casts, the top fly dipped and I hooked a nice 12 inch brown trout. Again I walked upstream along the edge of the water and found another possible holding area not far from the road. Here I hooked what appeared to be a decent sized fish, but it swam downstream to some heavy current, and instead of following along with the fish, I attempted to apply side pressure. This was a lapse in judgement and the battling brown trout snapped off all three of my flies. Needless to say, I was quite upset with my fishing abilities after this turn of events.

Dave G. Approaching

I took some time to reconfigure my line and tied on a yellow pool toy and another beadhead hares ear on a three foot dropper. I caught up to Dave G. just above the bridge, and while he fished a deep riffle, I went above him. But the water was rushing downstream in this area with no current breaks, so I circled back to a spot between the bridge and Dave G. where there was a short five foot wide and eight foot long pocket behind some large rocks. I flicked the yellow pool toy to the edge of some white frothy water, and I was surprised to see a substantial brown trout emerge from the bubbling water and snatch my fly. I immediately set the hook and the fight was on. The brown thrashed about in the pocket and moved from side to side, but then it slid into the faster current toward the middle of the small stream. I allowed the fish to swim downstream and let the line slide through my fingers until the trout paused 15 feet below me. I started to stumble along the bank to get next to the fish, but before I could take more than a step or two, the fish veered back into the heavy current, and at this point, my line went limp, and I’d once again lost a fish and two more flies. I was even more exasperated than after losing the previous fish, so Dave G. and I decided to call it a day, and we hiked back to the house to prepare for the neighborhood Fourth of July party.

Colorado River – 06/30/2014

Time: 9:00AM – 7:00PM

Location: Lone Buck access at Hot Sulfur Springs State Wildlife Area

Fish Landed: 7

Colorado River 06/30/2014 Photo Album

David Luther called early during the week of June 23 to remind me that he and his family would be in Winter Park from June 28 – July 2, and he invited Jane and I to join them for a few days. He was particularly interested in collaborating on some fishing. Fortunately Jane and I planned to return from our camping trip to the Frying Pan River on Saturday, so a trip to Winter Park fit in our plans. I called David back and asked if we could drive to their condo on Sunday and do some activities and then make Monday a fishing day. David approved of the plan and sent us directions to the condo.

On Sunday morning Jane and I packed our suitcases, bicycles, and fishing gear; and we departed for the Indian Peaks Resort. The Luther’s vacation condo was actually near Fraser, CO, but the town of Winter Park was only four miles away. It was a gorgeous day in the mountains and actually on the cool side. Since it was not a fishing day for David, his wife Becky was in charge of choosing an activity. Jane and I suggested a bike ride from Fraser to Winter Park and back, and Becky quickly embraced this idea. We jumped in our cars and drove to a bicycle rental shop on the southern edge of Fraser, and the Luthers rented cruisers and helmets.

We were right next to the trail, so once their seats were adjusted, we began our leisurely ride to Winter Park. It turned out to be a fun afternoon as we stopped at a restaurant in Winter Park for lunch and then continued on to Winter Park ski area where we rode the Zephyr lift to the top of the mountain. Here we found a snow bank and posed for photos and watched some crazy mountain bikers cruise down upper Hughes at a high rate of speed. Apparently youth knows no fear.

For our return trip David and his daughter Sarah and I biked on the Fraser River Trail, and it twisted and turned around several lakes and along the Fraser River. David L. and I were both scouting the stream as a possibility for Monday’s fishing expedition. It was high but clear with numerous slack water areas that appeared to be fishable despite the runoff level. When we returned the bikes, we spoke to the gentleman manning the fly shop and asked for his suggestion on where to fish the next day. He was hesitant to suggest a spot, but he did mention the upper Colorado River at the downstream end of Byers Canyon as a solid choice. When we returned to the condo, David L. and I researched stream flows on the various options and also reviewed several fly shop reports. We concluded that the upper Colorado was probably our best bet from a stream flow perspective, so that became our destination.

We woke up fairly early on Monday, and Jane departed quickly so she could make a 9:30 tennis match. David L. and I ate a light breakfast and then prepared lunches for our day on the river. I drove the Santa Fe so Becky and Sarah could use the rental car, and we reached Hot Sulphur Springs and the bottom of Byers Canyon by 8:30. We stopped and looked into the canyon, but we decided to move on as the steep canyon walls would probably shade the water until noon, and we wanted more warmth and daylight. A short distance beyond the bridge over Byers Canyon we found a turn off to Lone Buck access, and we descended a steep rough dirt road to the river and then made a left turn and drove to a small turnaround.

David Luther Almost Ready to Fish on Monday Morning

I straddled a fire pit for my parking space in order to get off the turnaround, and then David L. and I prepared to fish. Almost instantly mosquitoes began to swarm around David L.’s head so we both doused ourselves in sunscreen and insect repellent. Once we were geared up, we hiked on the dirt road and then cut down to an irrigation canal that paralleled the river. A path along the canal provided us additional downstream access, but eventually after a 20 minute hike we encountered a fence and a no fishing sign, and this is where we began our fishing day.

The Colorado River Was High and Slightly Stained

David L. committed to streamers and added a weighted head to his line to improve the sink rate. In contrast, I elected to fish with a Chernobyl ant and a beadhead hares ear nymph and began to move upstream along the bank seeking slack areas where fish could escape the high and slightly stained water. The flows were actually around 750 cfs, and for a large stream bed like the Colorado that is not extreme, but the water was moving at a fairly rapid pace in the middle of the channel. The Chernobyl and hares ear did not produce as I covered a fair amount of water and began to despair that there were no fish in this wide stretch of river. I read several articles that said the Colorado above the confluence of the Williams Fork was suffering due to withdrawals for the Front Range and the warming impact of the shallow Windy Gap Lake.

A Pale Morning Dun

By eleven o’clock I began to notice a few mayflies emerging along the edge of the river and after ten minutes or so the intensity of the hatch increased. In fact between 11 and 12:30 I fished through an intense pale morning dun hatch. There were emergers and cripples and duns all over the surface, but the fish didn’t seem to be interested. Initially I tried adding a pheasant tail nymph as a dropper, but it had no impact. When greater numbers of duns appeared on the surface, I converted to a single light gray comparadun; the fly that has served me well on the Colorado River during PMD hatches later in the summer. I spotted two or three surface rises, but that was the extent of surface interest despite an intense hatch that lasted 1.5 hours. Toward the end of the hatch I spotted a cinnamon colored parachute dun in my front pack that I’d purchased for the PMD hatch on the Frying Pan River, so I clipped off the ineffective comparadun and replaced it with the purchased fly.

Never Emerged

Much to my surprise as I drifted the fly to my right in some slightly faster water, a fish rose and sucked it in. I played the fish for a brief period and then my line went limp, and when I reeled it up, I discovered that the fly was gone as apparently I’d tied a poor knot.

When the pale morning dun hatch ended, I tied on a yellow Letort hopper as I hoped it might imitate a golden stonefly, as I spotted these large insects during visits in previous years. I also exchanged the hares ear nymph for an iron sally since one report suggested that yellow sallies were beginning to appear. Finally after an hour or two of fishing, a small brown snatched the iron sally, and I had my first fish of the day. Shortly after this bit of action, I added a salvation nymph as my third fly, and this produced a chunky eleven inch rainbow.

Unfortunately these two fish would be my only catches during three and a half hours of intense morning fishing. Finally David L. appeared with a big grin on his face, and we decided to walk back to the car for our lunches. David L. informed me that he had a great morning and landed at least six fish including quite a few in the fifteen inch range. He showed me his streamer, and it was an ugly olive concoction with a wide pearl chenille body.

After lunch I decided to jump on the streamer bandwagon, so I stashed my four weight Sage in the Santa Fe and got out my Loomis five weight. I swapped my floating line for a sinking tip line and extended the short 0X leader with some additional 2X. David L. looked at my streamer box and pointed to a sculpzilla that I purchased for my Argentina trip, so I tied the big olive weighted monstrosity to my short heavy leader. I was now prepared to go deep and ugly.

David L. negotiated a crossing of the wide river so he could reach a deep drop off near the opposite bank. His ability to cross was proof that the river had recently descended to manageable levels for fishing. I meanwhile circled back to the area I’d fished in the morning with my ineffective dry/dropper combination. I now concluded that I was not getting deep enough, and the water remained too high and cold for fish to be looking for food on the surface.

I began working the sculpzilla in a variety of techniques including tossing upstream and allowing to dead drift, throwing three quarters upstream and allowing it to swing, and stripping as the streamer reached the end of its drift. I even executed a dangle and simply allowed the streamer to hang and pulse downstream. It wasn’t long before I felt a tug shortly after I dropped the big ugly in some frothy water behind an exposed boulder, and I set the hook and battled a nice hard fighting fish. The fish charged downstream and circled back up toward the hooking point, and then streaked downstream a second time. Once I stopped the run, the fish made a sharp stop and turn and the fly line fell limp. How could a trout escape such a large hook? I can’t answer my own question, but the fish did in fact fight for and achieve its freedom.

I continued working the streamer with renewed focus and felt another tap on the swing, and then also experienced multiple taps on the dangle. I lost confidence in the sculpzilla so I switched to a large dragonfly nymph. This had a wide body like the Luther streamer, but did not contain any flash. The dragonfly nymph was a bust so I next tied on a big black woolly bugger with a beadhead and flashabou strands in the tail. Again I found myself simply exercising my arm. I was observing a fair number of caddis on the shrubs along the river, and each time I pushed aside a branch so I could move upstream, several would flit over the river.

Black Woolly Bugger Spent Some Time on the Line

Perhaps the Nicest Fish of the Day

I decided to tie some tippet to the bend of the woolly bugger and add a second fly; an emerald caddis pupa. I’m guessing this was an unconventional approach, but it was a combination of streamer fishing and wet fly swinging. Much to my surprise this method yielded two decent brown trout and in both cases I cast to the very top of a long run, and the fish nabbed the caddis pupa as it began to drag downstream with the current.

A Small Cascade

I stuck with the bugger and caddis combination for much of the remainder of the afternoon until I reached a three foot waterfall just below a small midstream island. It was now late afternoon and the sky clouded up a bit and I didn’t feel like continuing further so I retreated to the car. I’d moved through some very attractive water next to the bank so I decided to revert back to my dry/dropper approach for the remainder of the evening. I secured my Loomis five weight back in the case, and extracted the Sage that remained in the back of the Santa Fe. At least I would not need to take time to rebuild my rod and line.

Another Nice Colorado River Brown Trout

For the next several hours I worked my way back upstream from the Santa Fe to beyond the waterfall with the Chernobyl ant and salvation nymph. I covered quite a bit of water, but I did have enough success to keep things interesting. Three nice browns were landed with each in the chunky 12-13 inch range. In addition I foul hooked two fish and had another nice fish that shed my fly.

By 7PM I’d gone 50 yards above the waterfalls, and the water above me did not appear to be very appealing so I began hiking back down to the car. Along the way I spotted David L. on the opposite bank working a girdle bug through likely holding spots. I motioned that I was returning to the car, and he signaled that he would cross and return as well.

It was a long day of fishing and I only landed seven fish in ten hours, but I experimented with some streamers and had some fun with the dry/dropper combination late in the day. David L. proved to me that streamers can be quite effective, and I was pleased to discover that the Colorado River above the Williams Fork confluence does hold a fair number of decent fish.

Frying Pan River – 06/27/2014

Time: 7:00AM – 9:00AM; 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Big Bend just below the dam and later between mile marker 3 and 4

Fish Landed: 10

Frying Pan River 06/27/2014 Photo Album

I’ve read significant amounts of literature about the Frying Pan River, and one of the most frequently mentioned places is the Toilet Bowl. The Toilet Bowl is located where water gushes from the bottom of Reudi Reservoir and forms a huge swirling bowl. One of the prevalent foods that flush through from the dam are mysis shrimp; a small translucent freshwater crustacean. According to written accounts, huge trout reside in the Toilet Bowl and gorge on the mysis shrimp that pour from the outlet of the dam.

A Better View of the Toilet Bowl

My new fishing friend, Danny Ryan, apparently also read these stories, and he was anxious to explore the iconic Frying Pan hole on Friday morning. We were camping at Reudi Reservoir within a couple miles of the bowl, and Danny only had the morning available to fish before he needed to return to Denver and pack for a two week work assignment in Alaska. Why not get up early and head to the Toilet Bowl and secure a spot before the hordes arrived later in the morning? This became our plan as we slid into our tents and sleeping bags on Thursday evening.

I woke up at 6:15, and as I climbed out of the tent, Danny stuck his head out of his tent and greeted me. Clearly this young man was not going to oversleep. For the first time in my life I went from my sleeping bag to my waders without any intermediate step. We jumped into Danny’s Camry and made the short trip to the parking lot, and we were disappointed to discover a white pickup truck occupying the first slot closest to the river. In spite of our best efforts, another fisherman had beaten us to the spot. Several milk crates were on the ground next to the truck, so I hypothesized that the fishermen were still sleeping, but before I could suggest anything else, Danny jumped from the car and ran to a point overlooking the Toilet Bowl.

In a bizarre coincidence, Danny recognized the pickup truck as belonging to another Instagram acquaintance named Justin who goes by the screen name of Screamingdrag. Danny has only lived in Colorado for a year and knows only three or four other fishermen and had somehow stumbled into one of those fishermen at the Toilet Bowl at 7AM on a Friday morning in June. After Danny and Justin hugged like long lost brothers, Justin invited us to join him at the Toilet Bowl, but we decided to opt for a bit more space and chose our second choice; the Big Bend pool just downstream. I think Danny and I both felt that Screamingdrag and his friend deserved to have the Toilet Bowl to themselves as they drove all night and slept in their pickup truck next to the river to obtain first rights.

Big Bend Pool Below the Toilet Bowl

Danny and I crossed the river in some shallow flats that separated the Toilet Bowl and Big Bend and configured our lines to fish a mysis shrimp and zebra midge larva. It was quite chilly early in the morning particularly in the shadows created by the steep canyon wall, and we were standing in cold water just released from the bottom of the dam that probably registered 45 degrees on a stream thermometer. I began to drift my nymphs at the top of the large pool, and Danny took a position near the tail. It was strangely silent as I flipped cast after cast to the head of the pool and allowed the tandem subsurface offerings to dead drift through the slow moving water.

As this was taking place I began to notice very sporadic bulges near the surface and occasional rises. An hour of dredging with the nymphs failed to interest any fish, so I removed the flies, split shot and strike indicator and tried a black parachute ant. Previous experience has taught me that trout love ants and often sip them opportunistically even if they do not represent the predominant food source. This was a great train of thought, but it didn’t produce a fish. I’d seen a fair number of small caddis flitting about on Thursday, so I removed the ant and tied on a size 16 gray deer hair caddis and covered the top one half of the pool with this imitation. Again my strategy was soundly rejected.

By 8:30AM Danny and I met up and compared notes and discovered that neither of us had landed a fish or even experienced a refusal. Two hours of fishing in Big Bend allowed me to improve my stack mending technique, but that was the most positive outcome. Both of us were feeling quite hungry after skipping the necessities of life to reach the Toilet Bowl early, so we agreed to return to the campground for some sustenance.

We finished removing our vests and packs and threw our rods in the car, when Danny remembered that he needed to say goodbye to Screamingdrag, so he darted off to the edge of the parking lot. Apparently Justin and Danny have some sort of sensory connection, because at that very moment Sceamingdrag appeared on the other side of the stream and called out Danny’s name. Justin had spotted some nice fish and was returning to the parking lot to recruit Danny to “catch the biggest fish of his life”. Danny asked if he could use Screamingdrag’s rod, and Justin agreed, so off they went to the channel on the far side of the Toilet Bowl where a small stream joins the Frying Pan and creates a wide slow-moving lagoon.

Justin and Danny Return from Landing 21″ Cutbow

I waited for twenty minutes or so and killed time by walking back to Big Bend and taking some photos. Eventually the two Instagram buddies appeared, and Danny announced that he had in fact caught the largest fish of his life, a 21″ cutbow that Screamingdrag guided him to. Justin invited me to return later in the weekend, and he would put me on a similar fish, and then we said our goodbyes and returned to the campground. Danny’s last hurrah before heading to Alaska proved to be quite rewarding.

Jane prepared a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, and then Danny packed up his tent and departed for Denver and beyond. I stayed in my waders as the plan was for Jane to drop me off along the river so she could keep the car and go on a hike to Savage Lake. I made a lunch and shoved it in my backpack along with my raincoat, and then we made the drive back downstream along the river. Because there weren’t any large hatches at the end of June, I was convinced that I could catch fish with buggy flies anywhere along the Frying Pan River, so I decided to explore some new water. I asked Jane to pull into a large pullout above mile marker 3, and I planned to hike downstream to the first available path and then fish upstream to whatever point I could reach by late afternoon. Jane agreed to return to the drop off point after her hike, and then I would loop back and meet her there.

I held to my plan and hiked downstream to a place where the river curved back toward the road and away from some spectacular vertical red cliffs. Here I found a faint path through the brush that led to the river. I began my second fishing venture of the day with the tried and true Chernobyl ant and hares ear nymph, but this combination did not produce, so I added a salvation nymph to the point. The salvation nymph is becoming the rock star of 2014, and Friday would prove to be no different than earlier outings, as I landed three medium size browns before lunch on the attractor nymph.

Big Pool Created by Large Red Rock

At 12:30 the sun was high and the air warm so I decided to take a break to eat my lunch. I found a nice perch on a huge red rock that jutted into the river below the pullout where Jane dropped me off. I observed the nice deep pool in front of the rock and the riffle at the head of the pool, but I didn’t see any insect activity or active fish. After lunch I slid down the side of the rock and carefully maneuvered to a position where I could cast to the seam created by the riffle at the drop off to the deep hole. On the third or fourth cast I spotted a swirl near the Chernobyl ant and set the hook only to discover that I foul hooked a pretty 14 inch rainbow trout. I was disappointed but pleased to see a fish attracted to the surface fly.

I continued fishing the left bank, but only landed one 12-13 inch brown between 12:30 and 3:00PM as the bright sun and warm temperatures made this an unusually slow period. By 3PM the periodic clouds became larger and the wind stronger, but I was never concerned about rain. The cloud cover did, however, provoke a very sparse blue winged olive hatch so I moved the salvation nymph to the top subsurface fly position and then knotted a size 20 soft hackle emerger as the point fly. This paid a small dividend as a twelve inch brown attacked the emerger in a shallow riffle below a small island.

Small Right Channel Around Island

The Rainbow Lifted from the Net

The bank along the left channel next to the island appeared to be nearly impassable due to dense vegetation, so I waded up the smaller south channel to get above the island. Over the next hour I moved fairly quickly between attractive locations and added five additional trout to my count. All these fish attacked the salvation nymph, and the net felt the weight of a fourteen inch brown and a thirteen inch rainbow. It’s not clear whether the increased catch rate resulted from the overcast skies or the difficult access to this stretch of river, but nevertheless I enjoyed the fast action immensely.

Brown Held Above Net Momentarily

By 4:10PM I reached a point where I could ascend the steep bank and reach the shoulder of the road, so I took advantage and made the climb. I quickly hiked back along the road to the large pullout where Jane dropped me off, and there I found her reading in her new camp rocking chair. I changed out of my waders and returned my rod to its tube, and we continued on to Basalt where we enjoyed beers and appetizers on the deck at the Riverside Cafe. It was an appropriate ending to a fun day on the Frying Pan River.

Jane and Dave Toast Basalt with Waters

Frying Pan River – 06/26/2014

Time: 1:30PM – 5:00PM

Location: Mile marker 10.5 below spring

Fish Landed: 9

Frying Pan River 06/26/2014 Photo Album

The rivers and streams in Colorado are gradually receding, but not fast enough for an avid fly fisherman like myself. Three weeks elapsed since my fun day in Wisconsin, and the brief foray in Eleven Mile Canyon only served to whet my appetite for more. I exchanged some emails with my new fishing friend, Danny Ryan, and he suggested doing a trip a bit further away from Denver such as the Frying Pan River.

I fired up my laptop and learned that the flows on the Frying Pan were 220 cfs, and that reading is nearly ideal for my favorite Colorado tailwater. I also noted that the Taylor River below Taylor Reservoir was at 401 cfs, and that is an attractive flow as well. I checked with Jane to see if she was interested in a camping trip to Reudi Reservoir, and she indicated that she approved. I wasn’t sure what campsite availability would be, so I logged into the web site to make reservations and discovered that twelve sites were unreserved so I staked my claim to number 7 in Little Maud. Jane and I were now committed to the trip, so I informed Danny of our plans in hopes that he and his girlfriend, Juls. would also make the camping trip to the Frying Pan River.

Early in the week I heard from Danny, and Juls was unable to accompany him, and he needed to prepare for a two week work assignment in Alaska beginning on the weekend, so he could only stay for one night. He asked if he could put his tent up on our site Thursday night, and of course we agreed. Danny’s plan involved getting up very early on Thursday morning, and then leaving on Friday after some early morning fishing right below the dam. I asked Danny to describe his car, so I could look for it along the river on our way from Basalt to Reudi Reservoir on Thursday.

Jane and I finished packing the Santa Fe with our excessive array of camping gear on Thursday morning and departed by 9AM. The drive was relatively uneventful and by noon we were driving up the twisting two lane road that follows the Frying Pan River. Sure enough at mile marker four we spotted Danny standing next to his green Toyota Camry with a Missouri license plate. He informed us that he’d had a good morning and was about to move further upstream to another location. I told him that I’d seek him out after we ate lunch and shed some of our cargo at the campground.

Jane on Her New Camp Rocking Chair

Much to our surprise, Danny appeared at our campsite as we were eating lunch. Apparently most of the pullouts that he targeted were full so he continued on so he could pick me up and allow Jane to have the Santa Fe for the afternoon.

After I finished lunch, I put on my waders and threw my gear in the trunk of the Camry, and we were off on our Thursday fishing adventure on the Frying Pan River. I suggested parking at the spring or below the spring if no one else was there, and Danny agreed as it was only his second visit to the fabled Frying Pan River. The spring pullout was open, but we continued downstream to the border with the next private water and parked there at mile marker 10. The river was wide enough that we decided we could fish both sides as long as we stayed across from each other.

First Fish Landed on Thursday Afternoon Was a Nice Brown

Danny began his afternoon with a nymph rig, but I elected to start with my traditional Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear nymph. This was the earliest in the season that I ever fished the Frying Pan River, and the reports I read suggested there was very little mayfly activity, so I felt that the fish would be more opportunistic compared to my normal visits in late July, August and September. Within the first 15 minutes I foul hooked a brown trout that refused the Chernobyl ant, and as I reacted, I set the trailing hook in the fish.

Unfortunately after this early encounter with a fish, I continued along the left bank with no action, so I decided to make a change and tied on a yellow Letort hopper and then added a salvation nymph as a third fly behind the hares ear. The deer hair wing of the Letort hopper is more visible than the low riding Chernboyl ant, and I was hoping that perhaps the slender body and profile of the hopper might imitate golden stoneflies should they be present.

18″ Rainbow Was Number Two

The stonefly theory never materialized but the addition of the salvation nymph paid big dividends. The hopper dipped as I was across from Danny, and I set the hook and played and landed a strong 14 inch brown trout. The salvation nymph was indeed living up to its name as I cast further upstream along the bank and again saw the hopper disappear. I set the hook and this time I battled an eighteen inch rainbow that eventually flopped into my net. This brought Danny across the river so that he could snap some photos while I attempted to pose with the scarlet beauty.

Danny Took an Underwater Photo with His New GoPro

Since I’d landed two very nice fish with the salvation nymph, I asked Danny to accept two of my flies so he could experiment with them over the remainder of the afternoon. A short distance above the spot where I landed the large rainbow, we encountered a small island, and I elected to fish the pockets on the side of the island that was away from the road. I also realized that the Letort hopper was not producing, and it was not very buoyant due to the dubbed body, so I swapped it for a pool toy. The large foam pool toy was much more effective at supporting the two trailing nymphs in the turbulent pocket water that I was now prospecting. Danny meanwhile found a stone to sit on and rest and observe, as he was feeling the effects of his early start to the day.

Over the remaining two hours of the afternoon I used the pool toy with the hares ear and salvation nymphs as droppers and picked up seven additional brown trout at a fairly regular pace. I was using my favored technique of popping casts to all the likely holding spots, but then quickly moved on if a fish did not emerge after three or four casts. I gradually angled across the middle of the river above the island and began working the south side, and I was pleased to see that Danny resumed fishing the bank closest to the road, and he began landing fish on the salvation nymph.

Looking Downstream at Danny

Eventually we were separated by 50 yards or more. Danny reached some juicy deep slots between the bank and the main current, and I later learned that he was slowed down my some nice catches. As I was now directly across from the spring, I checked my watch and discovered that it was 5PM. Some of the best water between mile marker 10 and 11 was ahead of me, but I did not wish to commit to crossing again to the south bank, so I carefully waded back to the left bank and climbed to the shoulder of the road.

Danny Displays His Nice Catch

I quickly hiked back downstream and found Danny with a sharp bend in his rod, and as I looked on, he landed his own 18 inch rainbow. It was his second of the day as it matched a pink striped beauty that he landed in the morning. I returned the favor and snapped some photos of Danny with the rainbow, and then we called it quits for the day. We both rode the short distance back to Little Maud campground in a euphoric state. Danny informed me that in addition to the rainbow, he landed several other fish in excess of 15 inches and also battled a large fish that escaped his fly. A chubby chernobyl was performing well for him along with a large black foam creature, and the salvation nymph also contributed greatly to his afternoon success.

As we backed into the parking space at site number 7, we discovered that Jane prepared appetizers, so we joined her and sipped some tasty beers while telling fish stories. It was a great start to a three day camping trip.

South Platte River – 06/14/2014

Time: 2:30PM – 5:00PM

Location: Upstream from the second of the twin tunnels in Eleven Mile Canyon

Fish Landed: 1

South Platte River 06/14/2014 Photo Album

For Fathers’ Day weekend 2014 Jane and I planned our first camping trip of the year. For the last three or four years we have gone camping; however, we discovered that this is a popular choice for many fathers in the state of Colorado. Now that Jane is retired, however, we felt we were safe to secure a national forest campsite if we departed early on Friday as we would arrive ahead of those who had to work on the last day of the work week.

After a brief discussion we settled on Spruce Grove, a nice campground along Tarryall Creek in Pike National Forest. We packed most of our gear on Friday morning and then headed to the supermarket for some last minute food. Upon our return we loaded the remaining items and began our drive to the southeast corner of Park County. We camped at Spruce Grove quite a few years ago, and it remains one of our favorite campgrounds. There are 20+ campsites in total but seven of them are walk-ins in one of the nicest settings in Colorado. From the parking lot one hikes down a short path and then crosses a footbridge and encounters five sites on the north side of Tarryall Creek. Huge boulders loom over these sites while sweet scented ponderosa pines are scattered among the area. The forest floor consists of coarse natural reddish gravel.

Indian Paintbrush

Jane and I both had our hearts set on revisiting one of the walk-in sites, but when we arrived, we discovered that they were all occupied or reserved. Next we cruised the drive-up sites along the road that circles through the campground, and these were all reserved or taken as well. We couldn’t believe our bad fortune, or was it really a lack of planning? We resolved to make reservations for future trips or at least check campground availability.

With Spruce Grove out of the picture, we moved into crisis mode. My backup option was Round Mountain just off of U.S. highway 24 five miles beyond Lake George and one-third of the way to the top of Wilkerson Pass. We used a shortcut to avoid returning to Lake George and found Round Mountain less than .5 mile down the pass toward Lake George. We held our breaths as we entered and circled the campground, but we were relieved to discover quite a few empty sites and eventually settled on site number 13.

After eating lunch and putting up our tent, we decided to enjoy a bike ride. I was familiar with Eleven Mile Canyon, so I suggested that we ride from the entrance hut to the dam and back since it is a very gradual grade. Jane agreed, and we had a great time carrying out this plan. We began a mile or two beyond the entrance gate and probably biked a total of 14 miles. Of course as we cycled along the beautiful stream as it cascaded through the narrow canyon, I noticed that the flows were high, but the water was quite clear and many spots beckoned as high water fish-holding locales.

Perspective

On Saturday Jane and I took a two hour hike into a different canyon location, although this experience was the opposite of Eleven Mile Canyon as we encountered only one other party of five during the entire round trip. In the afternoon Jane agreed to accompany me back to Eleven Mile Canyon so that I could test the waters for a few hours to see if my observations of Friday would deliver some fishing action on Saturday.

Cold Water Refreshes

By the time we drove to Lake George and purchased some propane to break a twenty dollar bill and secure some ones to pay our entry fee it was 2PM. We drove up the canyon to just beyond the twin tunnels amidst significant weekend traffic and many fishermen. I climbed into my waders and strung my fly rod and then descended the steep bank to the river, and I was finally in a position to begin casting by 2:30PM. I spotted a pair of fishermen below the car, so I hiked up the road a short distance before dropping down the embankment thus allowing a 50 yard buffer between me and the two fishermen below.

I was convinced that the higher flows (250 cfs) would cause the fish to recognize worms and scuds in the water column, so I tied on a chocolate San Juan worm and below that added a pink squirrel that I purchased at Driftless Angler. I fished this combination with a thingamabobber and split shot, but despite covering some very attractive water, I had no success. I began cycling through alternative offerings including a beadhead hares ear and a salvation nymph with equally disappointing results.

South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon

As I was covering the likely runs, riffles and seams with my nymphs I spotted a swirl above me in some relatively slow moving shallow water, so after 45 minutes of futile prospecting with nymphs I decided to switch to dry flies. Shortly after seeing the swirl I spotted a yellow sally that launched from a willow along the river and then dapped on the surface in front of me several times. Could this be what provoked the earlier rise above me? I switched to a double dry fly set up with a Chernobyl ant and a muggly yellow sally. This pairing was as unproductive as the nymphs had been, so I removed the yellow sally and resorted to my “go to” beadhead hares ear nymph. As the day advanced into late afternoon, some gray clouds appeared and blocked the sun. This created difficult lighting conditions, so I elected to switch the Chernobyl ant for a tan pool toy thus making it easier to follow my flies on the riffled surface of the river. A bit after this change I clipped off the disappointing hares ear nymph and substituted an emerald caddis as I spotted two or three caddis fluttering about along the bank.

I chose emerald thinking it might be more visible and attract some interest. Sure enough at 3:50 as I was considering an ascent of the neighboring steep bank, a ten inch rainbow grabbed the caddis pupa as it began to swing at the end of the drift. I was resigned to catching no fish, so this was quite a windfall late in my fishing day. After I released the rainbow, I reeled up my line and found a steep path to the dirt road where I found Jane still in the Santa Fe reading her book. I expected Jane to be riding her bike down the canyon, and she still wanted to explore that option, so we agreed to drive further up the road to a point within a mile of the dam.

My Only Catch on Saturday Afternoon

Jane encouraged me to fish for another hour while she planned to bike down the canyon to the pullout where we began our bike ride on Friday, and she would wait there for me to meet her. I walked down the road a bit to the same place that I’d fished in early April. During that visit I’d witnessed huge quantities of trout in the riffles of moderate depth feeding regularly on an intense blue winged olive hatch. This would not be the case on Saturday, and in fact I did not witness nor see evidence of fish during my final one hour of fishing.

I converted back to nymphs with a strike indicator and worked upstream with the emerald caddis and a salvation nymph, but you could not prove to me that any fish were present in this stretch of the South Platte River. Unlike the water I’d just departed from, this location was more similar to the South Platte River near Deckers with long riffles flowing over a granular sand bottom. It was more difficult to pinpoint likely fish holding locations, so I covered a lot of water and continually moved upstream in hopes of finding a pod of fish. This hope however was dashed as 5PM approached, and I had no success. In fact I was anxious to quit as the sky grew darker and a biting wind swept down the canyon on a regular basis.

I slowly drove back down the canyon as there was a decent amount of oncoming traffic, and by 5:20 I spotted Jane pedaling the opposite direction. I turned into a nice pullout, and we loaded Jane’s bike and returned to the campground where we made hot drinks and pulled on three layers to combat the chilling wind under overcast skies. It was definitely a slow 2.5 hours of fishing, but I managed to avoid a skunking and enjoyed the beauty of Eleven Mile Canyon. I reviewed the flows on my favorite Colorado streams on Monday, and the graphs definitely indicate a declining trend. Hopefully some edge fishing will be available within a week or two.

Camp Creek – 06/05/2014 PM

Time: 5:30PM – 7:30PM

Location: From where I ended in the morning to the fence behind Viola Park

Fish Landed: 6

Camp Creek 06/05/2014 Photo Album

I was still glowing from the excellent morning of fishing when I discovered Jane walking along the highway on her return from shopping in Viroqua. We were both anxious to undertake a canoe trip so we changed into our swimsuits and jumped in the Ford Fiesta and made the drive to Ontario, WI where several canoe outfitters were located.

We traveled north through Westby and then on to Cashton where we turned eastward and drove to Ontario, WI. We were both amazed at how similar this area of Wisconsin was to central Pennsylvania. The landscape was a patchwork quilt of neat farmland. We rolled from hills to valleys, crossed small streams and encountered three or four Amish driving their horse drawn carriages on the rural roads. We also passed a few farms with horse drawn plows in action.

Lunch Spot in Ontario, WI Where Our Canoe Trip Began

Since Ontario is a hub for canoeing we assumed there would be numerous eating establishments catering to the tourists who flocked to this area. This turned out to not be the case as there were four canoe outfitters but only one restaurant, the Milk Jug Cafe. On this gorgeous Thursday, Jane and I were essentially the only patrons of the Milk Jug Cafe, and we soon discovered that it was free milk month for all of June. Jane enjoyed a free cold glass of milk with her lunch while I passed on the offer due to my lactose intolerance.

Approaching Another Ledge Cliff Area

For some unknown reason we selected Mr. Drifty Canoes over Mr. Duck and Titanic. Titanic didn’t convey safety to us, and Mr. Duck seemed a bit juvenile. We paid for a two hour float, and then Mr. Drifty led us to the take out at bridge four where we left our rental car. We rode back to Ontario in the Mr. Drifty van, and then we jumped in the canoe and pushed off on our river adventure. Jane claimed a seat in the bow, and that left Dave steering from the stern. We actually completed the float in one hour and fifteen minutes as we apparently did too much paddling and not enough floating and relaxing. The whole experience was delightful as there was only one mild rapid, and the only danger was avoiding the overhanging branches as the river curved and snaked through the beautiful Driftess countryside. There were numerous high rocky walls on both sides of the river that added a Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn aura to the experience.

When we reached bridge 4, we dragged our canoe up the concrete ramp and left it in the grass at the top, and then we hopped in the car and returned to Viroqua. I was still riding a high from the morning fishing and enthusiastically anticipated a return to Camp Creek. Jane decided to accompany me, and I described the small Viola Park as a place where she could read for the two hours I planned to fish. I also warned her about the likelihood of persistent gnats, but she decided she could take refuge in the car if the bugs proved to be too great a menace.

All went as planned, and we pulled into the Viola Park turnaround, and I prepared to fish. I was ready between 5 and 5:30 and decided to walk down the road again, and then I skipped the water that I covered in the morning and began fishing at my ending point. I tied on the Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear that earned my confidence in the morning and began my stint of evening fishing with renewed confidence. It was a pleasant evening with some clouds in the sky, but I fished comfortably in just my fishing shirt with no additional layers. Once again I sprayed myself liberally with insect repellant, and although I did not suffer any bites, the Off did not seem to have much impact on the tiny gnats that emerge in dense clouds on Wisconsin evenings in June.

Chernobyl Ant Was the Top Fly

The stretch of water I fished in the evening was more akin to the water below the bridge where I began the morning session, as it consisted of many pools and short riffles with several deep bend holes. It appeared that a group had done stream improvements on the outside banks of many of the bends as a series of large boulders created a reinforced barrier to contain the stream. The boulders were constructed like a wall, and that is what leads me to believe that they resulted from a project.

Another Shot of the Hares Ear

However they came into being does not matter, but they proved to be great fish holding areas. I landed six brown trout during my two hours of fishing, and at least three of them grabbed the beadhead hares ear as it drifted tight along the rock wall. Once again the slow moving sections of the pool did not produce any signs of trout, and most of the fish that showed interest in my offerings emerged from the seams and edges of faster water.

I moved along quickly and jumped over the unproductive slow moving water to concentrate on the runs and riffles at the heads of the pools. Because of this rapid progress, I arrived at the barbed wire fence that runs perpendicular to the stream behind Viola Park by 7:30. I’d fished for two hours and landed six fish, and my head was surrounded by annoying gnats, so I decided to follow the fence line back to the park and call it a day.

And what a day it was! I went from ridiculously low expectations including writing off evening fishing to landing 18 trout over 4.5 hours. In truth the fish were on the small side, but the water was clear and rich with aquatic weeds and reminded me of small spring creeks in Pennsylvania. Best of all the fish were receptive to my dry/dropper approach, and other than fishing dry flies to a heavy hatch, this is my favorite method of fishing. I would certainly jump at a future opportunity to fish in the Driftless Area particularly if the streams were clear and flowing at normal levels. Jane and I celebrated our wonderful day in the Driftless Area with New Glarus lagers from Dave’s Pub in Viroqua. It was an appropriate wrap up to a fun day of adventures.

Dave Weller's Fly Fishing Blog

Fly Fishing Adventures in Colorado and Beyond

Category Archives: Fishing Reports

Arkansas River – 07/09/2014

Like this:

Brush Creek – 07/06/2014

Like this:

Brush Creek – 07/05/2014

Like this:

Eagle River – 07/05/2014

Like this:

Brush Creek – 07/04/2014

Like this:

Colorado River – 06/30/2014

Like this:

Frying Pan River – 06/27/2014

Like this:

Frying Pan River – 06/26/2014

Like this:

South Platte River – 06/14/2014

Like this:

Camp Creek – 06/05/2014 PM

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: