Time: 11:00AM – 3:00PM

Location: Beyond the boulder field and then back upstream

Fish Landed: 4

South Boulder Creek 04/06/2016 Photo Album

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

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

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

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

Nice Deep Run

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

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

Best Fish of the Day

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

Nice Brown by South Boulder Creek Standards

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

The View from the Path

South Boulder Creek 12/08/2015 Photo Album

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

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

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

Tough Conditions in Clear Creek Canyon

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

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

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

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

The Long Deep Pool of South Boulder Creek

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

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

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

I Fished the Area at the Head of the Long Pool

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

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

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

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

Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: The stream above the inlet to Gross Reservoir

Fish Landed: 10

South Boulder Creek 10/16/2015 Photo Album

With increasing frequency I find myself envisioning this scenario while I’m fishing. I wake up and do my exercises and then enjoy an invigorating run followed by a relaxing hot shower. I then see myself sitting at the kitchen counter sipping a hot cup of chai and reading the Wall Street Journal. Each day I can feel the warmth draining from the earth in Colorado, and although 2015 has been an unseasonably warm October, the pace with which the season shifts to autumn and winter seems to be accelerating. As this takes place it seems my ability to catch fish fades, and my physical body also seems to be wearing down. It seems that each morning I feel new twinges in my shoulder, neck, back and legs.

I was frustrated by my lack of action on Thursday on the Colorado River, so I convinced myself to ignore all the nonsense described in the first paragraph and made plans to undertake yet another fishing adventure to new water. Earlier in the summer Jane and I completed a hike to the South Boulder Creek inlet to Gross Reservoir, and I was intrigued by the idea of exploring the stream farther into the western mountains. I suspected that this was more work than most fishermen were willing to commit to, and thus the fish were not heavily pressured.

In addition I guessed that South Boulder Creek above the reservoir was populated predominantly by rainbow trout as is the case in the tailwater, and this fact was relevant since I attributed some of my lack of success on the Arkansas and Colorado to the brown trout population entering spawning mode. Their focus shifted from eating to procreating, and this was bad news for fishermen offering imitations of tasty snacks.

Pretty Little Fish

I got off to a reasonably early start and arrived at the parking area by Gross Reservoir that accesses the Inlet Trail. There was one other car ahead of me, but it did not strike me as a fishing vehicle, so I was fairly certain I had the area to myself. A brisk thirty-five minute hike over several ridges delivered me to the inlet. The level of the lake was much lower than when Jane and I visited earlier, and this caused the stream bed to be visible for an additional one hundred yards. I wondered if the lake contained brown trout, and if so had they begun their spawning migration up South Boulder Creek? I discounted this thought and continued with my original plan to fish up the stream.

The air temperature was fifty degrees when I began hiking, and I could now see that the shadows from the ridge to the southeast were nearly covering the stream. The flow was quite nice as it allowed me to cross at numerous places, yet it was not so low that the fish were ultra skittish. I tied a Jake’s gulp beetle to my line at the car, and I began plopping it in likely pools and pockets, but I was not seeing any response, and it was very difficult to follow in the shade and glare. I was frustrated by the lighting, so I removed the beetle and converted to a dry/dropper configuration. The three flies on my line included a tan pool toy, beadhead ultra zug bug, and a salvation nymph.

Very Nice Pool

These flies remained on my line until noon when I paused for lunch, and I managed to land three or four small trout that nabbed the ultra zug bug. Most of the takes occurred as I lifted the flies to recast. The first fish was a very small brown trout that barely passed my six inch cut off for counting, and the others were gorgeous but small rainbow trout. These fish were between six and eight inches and possessed delicate markings on their sides. All the fish that I landed over the course of the day were small, and I experienced far more frustrating refusals than takes despite my efforts to downsize and try different dry flies. Unfortunately the poor lighting forced me to resort to large visible surface flies, and these were rejected by the small residents of South Boulder Creek.

In addition to shadows and poor lighting, I discovered an additional hindrance to my enjoyment of this new water. Wading was a significant challenge. The stream was in a high gradient area, and this created numerous rapids and cascades around huge boulders. All the rocks were covered in green moss, and I needed to be cautious with each footstep. In many cases I needed to climb over huge boulders and dead tree limbs, and the difficulty of these maneuvers was compounded by the presence of slippery rocks that served as a base for my footing.

Partial Sunshine on the Creek

Shimmering Colors

While eating my lunch I could see a segment of the stream that appeared to be covered by sunlight as the mountain ridge to the south tapered down. I returned to the gulp beetle for a short while, but even my fall of 2015 super fly was inadequate, and the small resident trout inspected and turned away from my foam fraud. I gave up on the beetle tactic and returned to the pool toy, but during the early afternoon I attached only the ultra zug bug in order to avoid tangles. I slowly slipped my way up the tumbling stream, and with persistence I was able to increase my fish count to seven by landing one fish on the ultra zug bug for every five refusals to the pool toy. Between the difficult wading, challenging light, and tiny fish refusals; I was unable to establish any sort of rhythm.

Parachute Hopper Worked

Finally I reached the area of sunlight, and the number of refusals to the pool toy became overwhelming. I gave the situation further consideration and decided to test a more realistic grasshopper pattern. I pulled a parachute hares ear hopper from my cylindrical container and knotted it to my line. This fly generated a hefty quantity of rejections, but it also enabled me to connect with three fish. One of these takes was a perfect dry fly scene, where the seven inch rainbow appeared from the depths of a deep slow moving pool and calmly slurped the parahopper. Despite its small size, these are moments that I wish I could capture on video to view over and over.

By three o’clock the stream was nearly entirely covered in shadows, and I was feeling quite weary and chilled. I was now wearing my fleece plus raincoat for a windbreaker, and yet I was on the edge of being chilled. My thoughts turned to scenes of comfort such as described in the first paragraph, so I decided to call it quits. I found a decent path along the north side of the stream, and used this to hike back to the inlet where I found a wide shallow section to cross. If I return to this portion of South Boulder Creek, I plan to remember this trail and use it to push farther into the backcountry to water that is even less pressured than what I experienced on Friday.

Gorgeous Colors on This Rainbow

Friday was an interesting day. I explored new water, and I discovered a beautiful natural setting not very distant from Denver. As with some of my other favorite haunts, it requires a bit of effort to reach, and this probably minimizes the number of fishermen willing to endure. The fish are quite small, wading is tough, and the tight canyon walls make lighting a challenge. The ten fish landed on Friday took my cumulative fish counter for 2015 to 837, and this represents the second highest tally of my fly fishing life. The season is waning, and I suspect that I will be enjoying the scenario described in the first paragraph much more frequently in the near future.

Time: 11:00AM – 5:30PM

Location: A half hour hike from the parking lot downstream. Open area beyond where the trail forces one to wade the edge due to high vertical rock wall.

Fish Landed: 21

South Boulder Creek 08/26/2015 Photo Album

Other than one hour and fifteen minutes on Baker Creek, I did not fish from August 14 through August 25, and I was aching to get on a local stream to satisfy my addiction. I did not want to make a long drive, so I checked the flows on Clear Creek, the Big Thompson, Boulder Creek, and South Boulder Creek. The Big Thompson was relatively low at 50 cfs, and Boulder Creek was running at expected late August levels. I felt that both these options would offer fairly difficult conditions with high temperatures approaching ninety degrees in Denver. Clear Creek was nearly ideal at 80 cfs, but I get frustrated with catching fish in the 6-9 inch range. South Boulder Creek was rushing along at 152 cfs, and that is actually high for the small stream bed in a canyon setting. Denver Water actually dropped the flows to this level three days ago, and before that the stream was surging at 200 cfs. I fished South Boulder Creek in the past at 200 cfs, so I knew 150 was manageable, and I suspected that the fish would be less skittish at levels more typical of early July.

Flows Were Just Over 150 CFS

I left the house at 8:50AM and made the short drive to the parking lot on a hill .3 mile past the outlet of Gross Dam. There were three other vehicles in the lot, and another solo fisherman arrived as I was putting on my waders and rigging my Loomis five weight. It was relatively warm as I began my descent to the canyon, so I decided to hike for thirty minutes and then begin fishing. I turned off the Walker Loop trail and followed the fisherman path beyond the talus slope until I reached an open area where I could easily access the water. I read my post from an outing last August 31 on South Boulder Creek, so I used the same flies that performed well a year ago; a Chernobyl ant, a beadhead hares ear, and a salvation nymph.

First Landed Fish Was This Brown Trout

Between 11AM and 1PM I covered quite a bit of attractive water on South Boulder Creek and landed four trout; one nice brown and three rainbows. Two of the fish smashed the Chernobyl and the others nabbed the salvation as it drifted through some nice runs near rocks. I stopped to eat lunch at 1PM, and then resumed fishing the dry/dropper trio for a half hour in the early afternoon. I added two fish to my total, but it seemed like I was covering some very fishy locations with no action, so I decided to make a change. I noticed one or two green drakes during my hour and a half on the water, so I removed three flies and replaced them with a solitary parachute green drake size 14. This proved to be a huge positive move, and I landed ten additional trout between 1:30 and 3:30.

This Rainbow Could Not Resist the Chernobyl Ant

Parachute Green Drake Duped This Beauty

Some very nice rainbows literally leaped at the green drake, as their momentum carried them above the water when I set the hook. A couple decent browns were in the mix, and I knew that I had a convincing fly on my line, because I observed very few refusals. Unfortunately my most productive parachute drake unraveled after eight fish, so I was forced to replace it with another close copy that was in my front pack. This fly actually had an unraveling thread, but I clipped it back and hoped it would last for a few fish, and that is exactly what transpired. After landing two fish, the hackle unraveled on the second parachute, and the green thread formed a small burr behind the eye of the hook.

Saturated but Effective Green Drake

Several Fish Hammered the Green Drake from Beneath the Limbs

I reviewed my front pack and realized that I had only one remaining parachute green drake, and it was a large size 12. Rather than risk refusals on the behemoth, I found a nice size 14 comparadun green drake and attached it to my tippet. This fly produced a fine rainbow on a downstream drift, and then I exited the creek and hiked back down to my starting point. I was searching for an item that I thought I dropped at the start of my day, but it did not appear, so I decided to call it quits.

As I hiked the return trail, I was forced to wade the edge of the creek at the spot where a large vertical wall blocked my land progress. I was about to wade back to the path, but as I gazed upstream at a very nice deep pool, I noticed several rises. Closer inspection revealed some size 18 mayflies fluttering up from the surface, and they reflected a gray hue. I found a gray comparadun in my front pack and knotted it to my line, and this fooled a couple fish in the prime water before me. Unfortunately it was not a perfect match, as I endured quite a few refusals in addition to the landed fish. I suspect that the natural pale morning duns were closer to a size 18, and my imitations were size 16.

Nice Brown by South Boulder Creek Standards

Eventually I could not interest the rising fish in my fly, so I hiked back to the pedestrian bridge crossing and then walked up the left side of the creek to the huge long pool that typically attracts hordes of fishermen. There was a gentleman positioned at the tail, so I moved in next to several large boulders at the head of the run. I could see three or four fish in this area, so I began drifting my comparadun over the sighted trout. It took a lot of casting, but I managed to land three more trout from this area to bring my count to 21.

Deep Rich Colors on This PMD Eater

In typical unpredictable South Boulder Creek fashion, I thought I was in for a below average day, but mayflies made a late appearance and converted a mediocre outing to an above average day. Yes, many of the fish were small, but I also managed to landed five or six fish in the twelve to thirteen inch range, and possibly my best fish managed to shed the hook before being introduced to my net. My deep thirst for fly fishing was momentarily quenched, but I’m already planning another adventure.

Time: 9:30AM – 2:00PM

Location: Just below rock slide area and then up to above the picnic area.

Fish Landed: 8

South Boulder Creek 04/25/2015 Photo Album

I was admittedly a bit disappointed after a slow day on the Arkansas River on Friday, so when my fishing pal Danny Ryan texted me with the idea of fishing on Saturday, I jumped on the opportunity. I did not wish to make back to back long drives, so we agreed to make a short trip to South Boulder Creek below Gross Reservoir. I picked Danny up at 8AM on Saturday morning, and we were on our way and arrived at the parking lot below the dam by 9AM. There were three cars in the parking lot and two young fishermen were suiting up next to us.

We quickly got our things organized and then descended the steep winding path to the creek below us. I suggested that we hike for 30 minutes to get to the lower section which I believe is less pressured than the water close to the parking lot; however, Danny spotted a nice deep pool and asked if he could sample it on our way to the more distant destination. I acquiesced, and while he fished the deep pool behind a large boulder, I walked farther downstream and found some small pockets to prospect. The flows were at 114 cfs, and this level is decent for fishing, but a bit higher than ideal which does limit fish holding locations to mostly pockets and pools behind current breaks.

I found a nice spot with a run behind some exposed boulders and decided to make this my testing ground. I elected to tie on a Charlie Boy hopper as my top fly for buoyancy and to support two beadhead nymphs; an emerald caddis pupa and an ultra zug bug. I lobbed the three flies into the nice run and almost immediately the hopper dipped, and I hooked a fish. The streaking object on the end of my line went immediately downstream into some heavy current and shed my fly. I was excited to experience action early in my fishing venture, but disappointed that I was unable to land my first hook up.

Perhaps the Largest Brown I’ve Landed from South Boulder Creek

I moved upstream a bit over some logs and positioned myself to toss the flies to a deeper area behind a large boulder. The Charlie Boy drifted slowly back toward me, and as I looked on, a large nose appeared and slurped in the hopper! It was simply supposed to be an indicator, and surprisingly the Charlie Boy produced my first fish. In addition it was a brown trout and perhaps the largest brown that I ever harvested from South Boulder Creek.

Emerald Caddis Pupa in the Mouth of This Nice Rainbow

As I photographed and release my prize, Danny reappeared, and we resumed our hike down the path along the north side of the creek. As we encountered the long attractive pool forty yards above the foot bridge, Danny suggested we give it a try, but then we realized a fisherman occupied the lower end of the pool, so we politely moved on. Eventually we split off from the Walker Loop and arrived at a point just downstream from the rock slide area. I decided to cross to the far side of the creek, so I could advance in parallel to Danny who was on the north side next to the path. Danny converted to a nymphing set up while I stayed with the dry/dropper arrangement.

The weather was also worth mentioning. It was quite chilly with overcast skies and periodic wind. Occasionally the sun broke through the thick clouds, but cool and overcast was the norm for most of the day until early afternoon when some light rain materialized.

Flows at 114 CFS

For most of the day the fishing followed the pattern of Danny working nymphs up along the north side of the stream while I advanced with the Charlie Boy hopper, emerald caddis pupa, and a variety of third flies. For much of the day I used a RS2, but I also allocated some time to the ultra zug bug and beadhead hares ear. By the time we rested for lunch, I had landed five fish including the surprising brown trout. The other four fish consumed the emerald caddis, and Danny and I did spot a few caddis fluttering above the stream.

After lunch we resumed our progress, but we encountered a pair of fishermen and leap -frogged them once which took us to the picnic area where we resumed. The afternoon fishing was slower than the morning despite the overcast skies. The weather seemed ideal for a blue winged olive hatch, but I never observed any mayflies on the water. In fact the fishing was only marginally better than my Friday experience on the Arkansas River in terms of catch rate.

Danny Works on His Line

The two hours of fishing in the afternoon yielded three additional trout with two snatching the hares ear and one rising to the Charlie Boy. By 2PM some dark clouds rolled in, and a light rain began to fall. Neither Danny nor I enjoyed any action for quite some time, so we decided to call it a day and hiked back along the path. Danny paused to fish some attractive water at the base of the steep path while I made the climb and reached the car.

South Boulder Creek

The fishing was a bit slow on Saturday, but I did manage to land eight including two on the hopper and averaged two fish per hour which tends to be my norm over long periods. It was another fun spring day of fishing, and I caught up on the latest news from Danny.

Time: 11:00AM – 2:30PM

Location: Near the end of the trail then back up stream to the rock slide area

Fish Landed: 6

South Boulder Creek 04/01/2015 Photo Album

Retirement. When I was in my 30’s and 40’s this seemed like a goal that could never be attained. I worked long hours to earn promotions to support my wife and two children, and I could only dream of one day being retired. What would it be like to wake up each day and set one’s priorities while detached from work commitments? For the past seven years I enjoyed the flexibility of a part-time position, but since Jane’s retirement in June 2014 I yearned for even more freedom.

Retirement Gift from Saddleback Design

Today it began. Today was my first full day of unfettered life. What would I do? It was April 1, and the weather forecast projected highs in Denver in the low 70’s. Thursday and Friday conversely called for rain and cooler temperatures and even a rain and snow mix. Certainly I should take advantage of the last gasp of abnormally warm spring temperatures before old man winter paid a return visit to Colorado. Finishing taxes and catching up on mail and generating a post-retirement budget could wait until the bad weather rolled into Denver.

A gentleman at work told me that the stream conditions in South Boulder Creek were ideal, so I made this my choice to fish on Wednesday, April 1. Flows were 34cfs which is a bit low, but I did not check until I arrived back home at the end of the day. I arrived at the upper parking lot just after 10AM, and by the time I put on my waders and gathered all my necessary equipment for a day in the canyon and then hiked for a half hour, I began fishing at eleven o’clock. It was quite overcast and a chilly breeze blew down the canyon, and I wished I’d brought more layers than just the thin Marmot raincoat that was a Christmas gift from Jane. There were only a few other fishermen, so I had the freedom to wade and roam without any interference.

First Brown Landed on South Boulder Creek

I began my quest for South Boulder Creek trout by tying a dark olive caddis to my tippet, but after covering several attractive areas without so much as a refusal, I switched to a gray stimulator size 14. This did not change my fortunes so I converted to a Chernobyl ant trailing a salvation nymph and a RS2. Eventually this combination yielded a ten inch brown trout, and I was pleased to be on the scoreboard. Unfortunately this combination of flies did not live up to my heightened expectations, but I did manage another brown on the RS2 in a pool teaming with visible fish. It took a large quantity of casts to finally convince this fish to grab the trailing size 20 nymph. I observed small midges in the air, so I switched the RS2 for a beadhead zebra midge, but this did not seem to be what the fish were seeking. I could see them shifting their mouths from time to time to eat something in the drift, and they were hovering a couple feet below the surface.

A Very Inviting Pool

At 1PM I was feeling quite chilled as my feet turned to stumps, and I yearned for my New Zealand brimmed hat with earflaps and an extra fleece layer. I decided to pause and eat my lunch along the creek while warming my feet. During this lull the sun peeked out, and this warmed my body considerably. After lunch I abandoned the morning flies and returned to a beadhead hares ear with a non-beadhead soft hackle emerger, and these flies were topped by a Charlie Boy hopper. The period after lunch when the sun was bright was the highlight of my day, as I landed three more small fish, as two chomped the beadhead hares ear, and one snatched the soft hackle emerger. I never really saw any blue winged olives, but I used subsurface BWO imitations with the hope that they were in the drift.

A Nice Rainbow by South Boulder Creek Standards

By 2:30 some dark clouds rolled in from the west and blocked the sun, and I once again developed a chill. I had not landed a fish in the last 30 minutes, so I reeled up my line and hooked the soft hackle emerger to the rod guide. I had changed the Charlie Boy for a tan pool toy, and a RS2 replaced the hares ear, and then below that a beadhead soft hackle emerger replaced the one with no bead.

The Rainbow Out of the Net

I began hiking the Walker Loop Trail while anticipating the warmth of the Santa Fe, but when I arrived at the bridge, I stopped and observed the water downstream for a few minutes. I spotted a trout in a deep trough behind a large submerged boulder, so I decided to attempt to catch this sighted fish. I flicked the hopper and trailing flies ten feet above the visible trout and allowed them to drift downstream to the trough. In a flash the pool toy dipped, and I set the hook and landed a nice rainbow trout. This gave me a boost of confidence, so I continued fishing upstream above the bridge for a bit, but my luck expired, and I once again committed to hiking back to the car.

The weather was not what I anticipated, and six small trout over three hours is not the definition of hot fishing, but it still beat working. It was a great start to my retirement years, and hopefully I can continue to remain healthy and active so that I create more blog post experiences.

Time: 2:00PM – 4:30PM

Location: Just downstream of rock moraine area

Fish Landed: 13

South Boulder Creek 10/24/2014 Photo Album

The meteorologists forecast unseasonably warm weather for Denver, Colorado for Friday October 24 through Sunday October 26, so Jane and I made plans for an outdoor day on Friday. I hiked the Walker Ranch Loop in July 2013 with my friend Don Batchelor, but Jane had only completed pieces of this trail. I had the ulterior motive of wanting to scout the point where the trail intersects with South Boulder Creek, so I suggested that we hike out and back on the Crescent Meadows section, and then I would spend the rest of the afternoon fishing in South Boulder Creek. From the Crescent Meadows parking lot to the bridge over South Boulder Creek was 2.3 miles, so we were undertaking a 4.6 mile hike, and we both felt this was about right.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sjQyr7MNpIc/VE2_TpVLDlI/AAAAAAAAoII/fWJ3KL76klw/s144-c-o/PA240041.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10242014SouthBoulderCreek#6074721816625745490″ caption=”Dave on the Steep Descent to South Boulder Creek” type=”image” alt=”PA240041.JPG” ]

Jane and I completed the 4.6 mile hike on Friday morning in approximately two hours. It was great fun as we snaked through a sparse forest of pine trees and junipers before eventually dropping down some steep steps to the edge of South Boulder Creek. From that point we climbed over a short rocky hill and then found ourselves at the bridge that spans the stream. We passed one biker and four female runners, so we essentially had the area to ourselves. When I checked the stream flows on area streams on Thursday, South Boulder Creek below Gross Reservoir was listed at 91 cfs. As I gazed at the stream as it passed under the bridge, I suspected that the current flow was much less.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-CCP7ZzFuxvo/VE2_VZ2DN1I/AAAAAAAAoG4/BaGP3KLz9gI/s144-c-o/PA240044.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10242014SouthBoulderCreek#6074721846828414802″ caption=”The Upstream View” type=”image” alt=”PA240044.JPG” ]

Our return hike was a 900 foot vertical climb over 2.3 miles so we were constantly fighting a gradual grade. We began the day with added layers, but by the time we reached the car, we were clad in just T-shirts. It was 1PM when we reached the parking lot, and then we drove to a second lot just beyond the first bend on the north side of the stream. I pulled on my waders and assembled my Loomis 5 weight rod, and Jane and I then descended the steep path to the small tailwater. Jane wanted to set up her chair to read at the base of the path, so we stopped next to the stream and ate our lunches. After lunch I said goodbye and hiked downstream for twenty minutes to a point just beyond a large jumble of boulders that form the base for the trail and then continue down to the edge of South Boulder Creek.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Trc6RLKUH14/VE2_YC65nzI/AAAAAAAAoHY/cuwsqm-9ivk/s144-c-o/PA240048.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10242014SouthBoulderCreek#6074721892214349618″ caption=”Flows Were at 17 CFS” type=”image” alt=”PA240048.JPG” ]

I could not believe the number of exposed boulders in the stream bed, and I was certain that the flows were drastically reduced from the DWR web site reading on Thursday. When I checked the flows on Saturday, I was surprised to see that the water managers dropped the flows on South Boulder Creek from 91 to 17 in one day! What a dramatic change. By 2PM I was finally ready to fish, and I tied on a size 16 olive deer hair caddis. I pulled my fly line out of the tip, and to test the flotation of the fly, I flicked it into a shallow riffle below me and fed out some slack. It was bobbing along nicely when a small brown trout attacked it, and I had my first fish in a matter of minutes.

My curiosity was aroused, so I floated the caddis through the riffle a second time but allowed it to dance farther downstream until it was just beyond a protruding boulder, and at this point a second small brown inhaled the small dry fly. I released this fish and waded toward the center of the stream, and then I dropped a cast into the short pocket behind the exposed boulder, and trout number three smashed the caddis. What a way to start my day!

I was now rather euphoric as I began working my way upstream, and it did not take long before I landed a fourth brown trout on the caddis in a run that was only two feet deep. However, as I’ve learned through many years of fly fishing, the only constant is change, and now the confident takes changed into frustrating refusals. Obviously my imitation was close enough to attract the attention of the trout, but it differed in some critical way causing the fish to turn away at the last instant. As this thought was bouncing around in my head, I began to observe quite a few tiny black stoneflies flying erratically above the stream, and simultaneously a few sporadic rises caught my attention.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2k_sfTKmjHg/VE2_Z0JpoXI/AAAAAAAAoHw/VOX2Ejgawnw/s144-c-o/PA240052.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10242014SouthBoulderCreek#6074721922609422706″ caption=”A Beautiful Deep Pool” type=”image” alt=”PA240052.JPG” ]

I read my two blog posts from October 21 and 23, 2012 before making the Friday trip, and in these reports I described encountering small size 18 black stoneflies between 2 and 3PM. Being a smart fisherman, I stashed five or six size 18 black stonefly imitations in my fly box in anticipation of this event, and now I replaced the size 16 caddis with one of these. The move was magical, and I landed four trout over the next thrity minutes. The fish were gulping the little fake bug with utter confidence, and one of the fish that I landed during this time period was a colorful rainbow that would become my best catch of the day.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-e3ctz-O83Ys/VE2_ZQwfr0I/AAAAAAAAoHo/JDABKayXwFY/s144-c-o/PA240050.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10242014SouthBoulderCreek#6074721913108672322″ caption=”A Colorful Rainbow” type=”image” alt=”PA240050.JPG” ]

After this fast action I continued moving upstream, but the number of visible stoneflies diminished, and the fish began to ignore my previously red hot offering. The small stonefly with a charcoal colored wing was very difficult to follow in the glare and riffles and thus made a poor searching pattern, so I clipped it off and returned to the size 16 olive brown deer hair caddis. The caddis generated some success as I landed four more trout by prospecting likely lies. The pace of catching was slower, so I moved rather quickly from place to place, but there were enough interested fish to keep me focused.

At 3:30 I looked up and was startled to discover two fishermen in my path next to a nice deep pool. I quickly concluded that they were a father and son team, so I exited and allowed the father to continue fishing with his son while I circled around and above. I allowed fifty yards of space before I cut back to the stream and resumed my progress. Shortly after reentering the creek I approached a spot where the current flowed between an exposed rock and the bank via a three foot wide gap. Below the gap the current formed a nice long deep run that ran for eight feet and was never wider than five feet. I paused to observe and saw two decent fish in the run. One was just below the rock, and the second fish was five feet farther downstream in front of a smaller underwater boulder.

Because of the low clear water I elected to hold my distance and began tossing longer than normal casts to the visible fish. My stealth could not overcome the fact that they ignored my caddis, so I tied on a size 14 light olive stimulator and then dropped a soft hackle emerger off the bend of the dry fly. After several casts a brown trout snatched the soft hackle emerger as it went along the bank. This fish was not one of the two I spotted, and those two, which appeared to be rainbows, ignored my offerings so I moved on.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-s_YXpD4jlmg/VE2_afBD1tI/AAAAAAAAoH0/jLV8aQcZqPY/s144-c-o/PA240053.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/108128655430094950653/10242014SouthBoulderCreek#6074721934116116178″ caption=”A Nice Brown Trout from South Boulder Creek” type=”image” alt=”PA240053.JPG” ]

My last fish of the day was a brown trout that grabbed the soft hackle emerger as it began to swing away from the bank as I executed a downstream drift on the south side of the creek. By 4PM the shadows covered nearly the entire stream, and the air was beginning to feel cooler. I had quite a distance to hike, and I guessed that Jane was getting anxious to leave. I climbed the bank and made the 15 minute hike along the trail to Jane’s retreat, and I found her folding her chair to head back to the car. My timing was perfect as we gathered everything and climbed the steep path to the parking lot.

It was a fun day on South Boulder Creek with a high temperature in the middle 70’s. I had the stream almost entirely to myself, and the abnormally low flows seemed to concentrate the fish in the deep pools, and the fish were still looking toward the surface for food. This translated into dry fly success. Best of all, I did my homework, and it paid dividends as four of the better fish gulped my little black stonefly imitation.

Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: End of path back to the boulder area along the fisherman path

Fish Landed: 15

South Boulder Creek 08/30/2014 Photo Album

South Boulder Creek is rapidly becoming my home water. I can drive from my house to the parking lot below the dam in one hour so it meets the proximity criteria that is associated with home water. Intimacy with the stream is the other factor cited in descriptions of home waters, and with each visit this summer, I am gaining more knowledge of the nuances of fishing South Boulder Creek. Having said that, the only constant in fly fishing is change.

After returning from whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River and fishing in the South Platte River, I needed to spend a full week at work in order to catch up. A few unexpected glitches forced me to work on Thursday and Friday, so I was in dire need of some river therapy, and I scheduled a rare weekend fishing day on Saturday. It was Labor Day weekend, so I was concerned that the local streams would be unusually crowded. The flows on the Big Thompson River and South Boulder Creek were attractive, and I selected the latter since it was a shorter drive, and the Big Thompson attracts more out of state tourists due to its proximity to Rocky Mountain National Park.

I got off to a reasonably early start in an attempt to beat the crowds, but the parking lot was already approaching capacity with five or six pickup trucks and cars present as I pulled in at 9:30AM. Perhaps I did not get an early enough start. It was a very nice late August day with the temperature reading at 71 degrees as I stood in the parking lot and prepared to fish, and the high temperature probably reached 81 in the middle of the afternoon before some large clouds rolled in. The flows were at 125 cfs, and this level is a bit high resulting in slightly more challenging wading than ideal levels between 80 and 100 cfs, but I have fished at higher flows, and 125 is certainly enjoyable.

South Boulder Creek Near Start on Saturday

I hiked down the path on the north side of the stream as far as I could until it faded into dense bushes and vegetation, and then I found a faint spur that allowed me to reach the creek further downstream than any previous visit in 2014. I’m very intrigued with the idea of crossing and bushwhacking even further downstream, but I need to get an even earlier start to satisfy this curiosity. As I hiked along the path, I passed quite a few fishermen on the upper .5 miles, but miraculously the entire lower stretch appeared to be void of competing anglers.

I tied on a parachute hopper as my first fly simply because it was readily available in the small fly box that is attached to the strap of my frontpack, and also because I had a hunch it might produce. I began my day by working downstream to some short but deep pockets on the edge of the creek below me, but this strategy did not produce. Perhaps I spooked the fish because of my presence upstream? This may have been the reason for the lack of production from the parachute hopper, so I left it on my line and reversed direction and worked upstream popping the large dry fly into some juicy pockets and deep runs. Alas the hopper just wasn’t attracting fish even after giving it the benefit of the doubt, so I clipped it off and attached a size 12 stimulator with a medium green body. A stimulator with a gray body had been a top producer for me on two previous trips to South Boulder Creek earlier in the season.

Pretty Rainbow

The stimulator finally generated a rise, and I hooked and landed an eight inch brown trout, but I continued to be disappointed with my ability to attract fish in some very attractive locations, so I replaced it with a green drake comparadun. It was still early in the day for green drakes, but a similar fly was on fire in my previous visit, and large juicy green drakes sometimes draw fish to the surface at all times of the day. Once again these thoughts were sound in theory, but proved to be flawed in reality. I did manage to hook one decent rainbow that rose in a deep run along a current seam, but then refusals became the ongoing pattern. At least fish were seeing the green drake as a food source and checking it out.

Pretty Speckled Rainbow

After an hour of focused fishing, I landed two fish, and I was dissatisfied with dry fly fishing so I elected to make a more dramatic change and converted to the dry/dropper method of fishing. I defaulted to my standard Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear with the addition of a salvation nymph, and I began to prospect all the likely spots. This move turned the tide, and I landed eight more fish before breaking for lunch at 12:30. I had a blast moving along quickly and popping casts into likely holding spots, and I picked up fish with rapid regularity. Much of my success came from less obvious pockets particularly when I lifted the flies at the tail before they spilled over a faster chute.

Nice Water Along the North Bank

At 12:30 I approached a beautiful long run and pool and fished up to the midpoint until I saw a nice spot on the bank to sit and eat lunch. As I munched my sandwich, I observed quite a few yellow sallies slowly fluttering above the water and landing in the bushes. I thought about returning to a single dry yellow Sally or lime green trude after lunch, but I was having solid success with the dry/dropper approach, so I stuck with the method that was producing.

Afternoon Brown

After lunch I resumed fishing the long pool, but amazingly the top half did not yield any fish. Between 1PM and 2:30PM I landed five more fish and hooked but did not land at least another three. My catch rate fell off, but the size of the fish improved as evidenced by the fact that most of the afternoon trout that rested in my net were in the 10-12 inch range. For one memorable stretch in three successive small pockets along the left bank, I spotted rainbows holding in front of a large submerged boulder. In each case there was a deep depression in front of the rock, and the fish was a foot or two out from the bank. Because I could see these fish, I allocated more than the usual three casts, and when I lacked success with a dead drift, I began to deploy a lift in front of the nose of the fish. In all three cases persistence and the lifting technique resulted in a hook up on the salvation nymph. It was very gratifying to spot the fish and devise a tactic to entice a take.

Nicest Fish of the Day

It was a fun day although the fishing action slowed measurably from 2:30 until 3:00, and this window coincided with the warmest portion of the day. As I walked back to the parking lot, I stopped at a few places and made some casts, and as I was doing this, some large clouds moved in from the west and blocked the sun. This change in light intensity provoked a sparse BWO hatch, so I swapped the salvation nymph for a size 20 soft hackle emerger. I paused to fish a small pocket as I made my final crossing of the stream and managed a momentary hook up with a brown. I’m guessing this fish slammed the soft hackle emerger on the swing, and perhaps I could have enjoyed additional success by imparting movement to the soft hackle, but I was tired and satisfied with my day, so I climbed up the bank and made the final steep ascent to the parking lot.

Great Water Ahead

Time: 10:00AM – 3:30PM

Location: Began at the end of the trail and ended where the Walker Loop Trail moves away from the fisherman path.

Fish Landed: 23

South Boulder Creek 08/06/2014 Photo Album

I managed to get caught up at work, and that left me with a three day window for fishing prior to our scheduled trip to Olympic National Park. I hoped that my new fishing friend, Danny Ryan, could accompany me on a three day trip; however, I discovered that he had plans for Wednesday evening and was unable to join me until Thursday morning. A successful fly fisherman needs to be flexible, so I pondered my options and decided to return to South Boulder Creek on Wednesday for a day trip. I had a fair amount of success on my previous trip on August 2, and the flows remained at a nice level of 115 cfs. This is higher than ideal, but still allows decent movement. Most of the other rivers within a day of Denver continued to run high from the slug of rain received during the week of July 28.

I gathered my fishing gear and departed the house by 8AM, and that enabled me to begin fishing at 10AM after negotiating fairly heavy traffic. I hiked to the end of the trail on the north side of the stream, and considered crossing to explore virgin territory, but thought better of it when I realized it was already 10AM. I tucked my spare reel containing my five weight sink tip line in my wader pocket just in case, but I began fishing with the Loomis five weight strung with a floating line. The weather was cool and cloudy initially but quickly warmed up as the sun burned through the thin haze.

I elected to begin fishing with the size 12 gray stimulator that produced for me on Saturday, and this served me well in the first hour or two as I landed six fish including a brown trout on my second cast with a downstream drift through a long run of medium depth. I was gloating a bit as I approached a very nice place where there was a deep riffle and run directly above me along the south side of the creek, and a nice wide pool on the other side of the main center current. The pool fanned out where another secondary current moved from the bank back to the deep run in the center of the stream.

First Rainbow Landed on South Boulder Creek

Unfortunately just as I was certain I would increase my fish count in this juicy stretch of water, I experienced refusals to the stimulator as I cast above and across from my position. Remember my comment about being flexible and no constants in fly fishing? I shifted to the pool area, and here with the aid of my polarized glasses, I could see two decent rainbow trout rise and inspect the fly, but they refused to take it. I decided to focus on the fish in this area longer, so I swapped the stimulator for a size 16 gray deer hair caddis, and this did not even provoke a refusal. I noticed one mayfly in the air, so I removed the caddis and knotted on a cinnamon comparadun, but this was ignored as well. Maybe the color was off. I exchanged the cinnamon comparadun for a light gray version, and this got refused once or twice.

Before forsaking the attractive water I decided to make a last ditch effort with a green drake comparadun. I rested the pool area and returned to the riffle and run above me and suddenly a gorgeous rainbow appeared from the seam along the main current and inhaled my offering. With this boost in confidence I turned my attention once again to the two rainbows in the pool, but they were too cautious, and I eventually moved on and congratulated them.

I moved upstream and continued fishing the green drake and added three more fish to my count before I encountered another fisherman at around 12:15PM. I thought I’d waded far enough from the parking lot to avoid fishing competition, but apparently others had the same idea. In fact, after I waded across the stream and climbed the bank to the path, I bumped into another fisherman accompanied by a small dog. He asked where I was fishing, and I told him from the end of the path to below the other fisherman in the stream.

I walked through an open area with a sparse growth of trees, and found a nice spot on a log next to the stream where I ate my lunch. Upon completing my lunch I waded into the stream, but I quickly discovered the same fisherman that I’d encountered in the stream had now moved rather quickly to just below my re-entry point. Once again I returned to the path and hiked a decent distance and then crossed to the opposite side and resumed fishing. Shortly, however, I discovered the fisherman with a dog had apparently done a U-turn after learning that I’d already covered the lower water.

Fortunately the fisherman with the dog moved on before I approached too closely, so I continued wading along the left bank and fished through much of the water that I covered on Saturday, but on this day I did much better. The green drake continued to perform in outstanding fashion. Trout numbers 11-13 came from a nice wide riffle that fanned into a pool along the north bank, and all three slurped the green drake confidently as I executed nice downstream drifts over the length of the pool.

Green Drake Was Productive

It was during this time frame that I made a high backcast and hooked a bare pine tree limb that forced me to break off my initial green drake comparadun. I found a refurbished fly in my fly box that was made with a body of gray sparkle yarn, and it did not have the maroon ribbing that I was fond of using on flies I tied more recently. I was reluctant to use this fly, but decided to give it a test, and I was pleased with the results. It performed beautifully as I landed 14-20 before it broke off on a rainbow that may have been my best fish of the day. I drifted the mutant comparadun downstream tight to the north bank, and as I lifted to recast just before it approached some overhanging limbs, the fish grabbed the fly. I was rather disappointed to lose both the fish and the productive fly.

My Kind of Water Ahead

Numbers 14, 15, and 16 were all very nice fish by South Boulder Creek standards with each falling in the 12-13 inch range. One was a brown and the nicest brown of the day so I photographed it. When I lost the comparadun to the bank dwelling rainbow, I replaced it with a similar sized comparadun, but with a lighter green body. This fly produced three small fish, but I did not have the same confidence in this fly as I did in the previous two because of the lighter body color.

Nice South Boulder Creek Brown Trout

By 3:30 the shadows were extending across a third of the stream and the comparadun was not producing to the extent that it did earlier. In addition the approaching water was not as attractive, so I quit and hiked back to the parking lot.

Largest Fish of the Day Took Green Drake

Wednesday August 6 was a fun day on Boulder Creek and probably my best day ever on this local stream both in terms of size and quantity of fish. Best of all, I discovered that my green drake comparaduns were productive, but there are no constants in fly fishing, so I won’t bank on that level of success again during 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.