Time: 5:45PM – 7:00PM

Location: .2 miles below the footbridge

Fish Landed: Dave -0; Dan – 2

South Boulder Creek 09/26/2012 Photo Album

I picked Dan up at his apartment at 4PM as he just arrived home from work. Dan quickly changed into his fishing clothes and grabbed all his necessary equipment including the new fishing bag he received from Jane and I on his birthday. We made the relatively quick drive out route 6 to Golden and then up Coal Creek Canyon to the turn off for Gross Reservoir and South Boulder Creek. In spite of the rain earlier in the day, Wednesday evening developed into very pleasant although cool conditions.

When we exited the Santa Fe and I went to the tailgate I realized that I removed my waders and wading boots to dry and hadn’t returned them to the car! I took my rod and reel, but told Dan I would pretty much be his guide as I realized it would be difficult to get in good position to cast in the reduced flows. My rock hopping skills would be frequently tested and I would be lucky not to return with cold wet feet.

We hiked down the steep path and then followed the trail along the stream to the footbridge and then continued another .2 mile or so below that before cutting down to the stream. I added a new section of tippet to Dan’s line as he was reduced to cutting back the tapered leader, and then I tied on a size 16 light gray deer hair caddis. He moved to a good position at the tail of a long smooth pool and began casting initially to the tail and then working his way to the top with 20-25 foot long casts. The water was extremely smooth and Dan’s fly was dragging rather quickly so I explained to him how to check his cast high and allow it to flutter down with slack.

When Dan was standing at the tail of the pool he shot a cast to the small riffle at the head and executed a nice pile cast. In an instant he tightened the line and I saw a huge boil as a lunker rainbow by South Boulder Creek standards thrashed and dove and tried to get free from Dan’s fly. Eventually Dan subdued the fifteen inch bow and slid his net beneath. I tried to take a movie but only captured the final netting. I snapped a still photo as well and Dan dried his fly and moved upstream.

Dan Lands Beautiful Rainbow on South Boulder Creek

Shortly after the initial excitement Dan landed a small brown and then hooked what appeared to be a 12 inch or greater brown, but this fish managed to free itself before Dan could get it in his net. Unfortunately after this flurry of action in the first half hour or so, things slowed down and neither he nor I could entice any additional rises to our caddis imitations. Dusk began descending early in the canyon, and Dan didn’t have a headlamp to change flies, so we stuck with what was no longer working. From my position balanced on slick slimy rocks on the right side I was able to make a few inconsequential casts, and actually induced a pair of refusals.

Largest Rainbow I’ve Seen Out of S. Boulder Creek

At seven o’clock there was minimal light remaining so we quickly began hiking out of the canyon by the light of my headlamp. Fortunately I replaced the batteries recently, as we needed all the light we could muster to get two of us back up the rocky trail and then up the steep section to the parking lot.

Time: 2:30PM – 5:30PM

Location: 20 minute walk downstream from parking lot

Fish Landed: 16

South Boulder Creek 09/20/2012 Photo Album

After living in Colorado for 22 years I discovered South Boulder Creek after a train ride to Fraser with my aunt and uncle in early August. I fished there twice and the first time the flows were 167 cfs making it difficult to cross the stream. The second time the flows were 105 cfs, and I felt this was pretty close to being ideal. What would 10 cfs be like? Read on to find out.

I finished the financial package for the month of August at work by 11:45 on Thursday and drove home for lunch. I contemplated fishing in the afternoon and decided to give South Boulder Creek a try as it is only an hour drive, and I felt I could get in two to three hours of fishing in the late afternoon. During my last trip the fishing actually picked up in the later afternoon as a pale morning dun hatch evolved. I didn’t bother checking the stream flows out of Gross Reservoir before I left.

As I slowly negotiated the twisting dirt road and caught my first glimpse of the creek, I was surprised to see extremely low flows. It took me an hour to arrive at the parking lot below the dam and by the time I put on my waders and rigged my rod it was 2PM. Another fisherman was in the parking lot removing his waders and finishing up his fishing outing, so I asked him about the low water conditions and how the fishing had been. He told me the flows were 20 cfs (I later checked the DWS web site and discovered they were actually 10 cfs), but the fishing was actually quite good in the morning but slowed considerably in the afternoon sun. He was using a small midge fly and caught most of his fish on that.

When I started descending the steep trail to the stream I passed a couple returning from fishing, and they indicated the fishing was good as well and suggested using a tungsten tongue. I was only dedicating a couple hours to this venture, so I decided to continue on and find out what it was like. How bad could it be? When I got to the bottom of the trail and caught my first full extended view of the stream I was shocked. It looked like a series of linked puddles with 65% of the stream bed exposed and displaying a steady boulder field covered by an olive brown slime. I decided to hike for 20 minutes and try to get below my point of entry on my last trip so that I would explore new water.

This worked out and I entered the stream perhaps .25 minutes below my previous entry point on my last visit to South Boulder Creek. During my last trip the light gray comparadun began producing late in the day so I opted to begin my approach with this fly. I began at a nice long narrow smooth pool slowly moving down the center of the creek bed and began making long prospecting casts with my fly. I estimate that on average I was casting 25 – 30 feet in the wide open areas, and I was making shorter casts when I was close to the trees and willows or I was casting to faster moving water.

10 CFS Is Low

Initially I observed several refusals to my fly, but when I got to the top of the run with faster moving current I began to pick up some decent sized browns. Catching browns was unusual as I landed almost 100% rainbows on my previous two trips. The pattern I just described pretty much continued for the remainder of the afternoon until perhaps 5PM. I covered a lot of water, experienced some rejections, but also landed some decent fish on the money fly. I probably landed rainbows and browns in a 50/50 ratio and the rainbows were on average larger. My best fish were rainbows in the 12 to 13 inch range, and they were spunky and brightly colored.

Nice Brown Landed Early on S. Boulder Creek

Perhaps Largest Rainbow on S. Boulder Creek So Far

By 5PM I’d racked up 13 fish landed and began getting refusals even at the top of the pools where faster moving water was entering. These locations previously had been the best producers with nice fish taking the money fly with confidence. Shadows began to extend across the entire stream area, and I noticed more caddis bouncing around on the surface, so I swapped the gray comparadun for a deer hair caddis constructed with the same color body. This seemed to work as I landed three more fish including a very nice rainbow before calling it quits at 5:30. It was still quite pleasant temperature wise, but I needed to return to meet Jane for dinner; however, I could have continued fishing South Boulder Creek in 10 cfs flows until dark. I’m glad I followed through and wasn’t scared off by the low water.

Another Bright Rainbow

Time: 10:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Tailwater below Gross Reservoir; 25 minute hike down path

Fish Landed: 13

South Boulder Creek 09/06/2012 Photo Album

With my work totally caught up Thursday and Friday were available for fishing. Originally I considered biking up Waterton Canyon to fish in the South Platte River southwest of Denver, but I checked the flows and they were only in the 60’s out of Strontia Springs Reservoir. This seemed to be quite low so I looked at other options. I wanted a tailwater that wasn’t too long of a drive so this left South Boulder Creek and the South Platte River below Cheesman Canyon. I also considered setting up camp at Spruce Grove Campground along Tarryall Creek and this would position me to hike into Wildcat Canyon again or fish the South Platte in Elevenmile Canyon. The possibility of Dan and I backpacking in Wildcat Canyon was discussed so I didn’t want to do this solo if the two of us would undertake the trip over the weekend.

The flows at South Boulder Creek were just over 100. I am not as familiar with what is ideal on South Boulder Creek, but on my previous trip there the flows were 150+, and I felt that level was a bit challenging so 100 seemed about right. I chose South Boulder Creek as my destination. I packed my gear and left the house by 8:30 and arrived at the trailhead by 9:40 or so. After I put on my waders and gathered up my gear, I hiked down the trail for 25 minutes. On my previous visit I stayed above the first bridge, so I wanted to explore further downstream. My starting point was a bit beyond a picnic table situated next to the stream.

I began the day with a parachute hopper and beadhead hares ear, and in the very first small pool a trout rose and rejected the hopper at the tail and this trend unfortunately continued as I moved out in the middle and tried several more attractive spots. I clipped off the hopper and replaced it with a Chernobyl ant and the same result followed. Next I moved to a yellow Letort hopper as my indicator fly and that didn’t even create refusals. The fish were looking up and paying no attention to the nymph, so I elected to remove both flies and try a size 16 light gray caddis. This finally got me on the scoreboard as I landed two small rainbows on the caddis.

An Ant Produced Rainbow

However, after the initial success, the gray caddis also started producing refusals and I was contemplating another change as I approached a nice pool and noticed two sporadic rises. There weren’t any insects on the water so I surmised that perhaps the rises were for wind blown terrestrials in the water. I tied on a parachute black ant and miraculously a fine 13″ rainbow rose and sipped in the ant. Perhaps I had solved the riddle. I used the ant as a searching fly for quite a time after catching the rainbow, but it didn’t produce anymore. I abandoned the ant and cycled through a trial and error period with 100% error using an elk hair caddis, yellow sally, and lime green trude. I noticed a few midges buzzing about so I added a midge larva dropper and eventually gave up on the tiny midge larva and tried a beadhead pheasant tail. The pheasant tail finally worked and I added a small rainbow to my count by the time I ate lunch at noon. I packed my lunch in my fishing backpack, so I sat on a rock by the side of the stream and ate while I observed the water.

Pretty Speckled Rainbow from S. Boulder Creek Duped by Ant

After lunch I began to see some green drakes and perhaps 8-10 were observed over the course of the early afternoon. The South Boulder Creek green drakes were quite small compared to those I’ve observed in other drainages. One landed on my hand and I attempted to photograph it, but a gust of wind came along and it flew off before I could get my camera in place. Based on the hand held green drake I’d estimate they are a size 14 2XL. I tried two of my comparadun green drakes, and they generated a couple refusals, and then in a nice long wide slot I experienced a momentary hook up while executing a long downstream drift. After this excitement my hopes soared that I’d unlocked the secret of South Boulder Creek, but those thoughts were quickly dashed as I couldn’t create any more action on the green drakes. My green drakes also don’t float very well, and I may tie parachute green drakes this winter with perhaps some white calf body hair for the wing.

With the green drake failing to produce, I returned to the Chernobyl ant and beadhead pheasant tail and in a nice long riffle over moderate depth a rainbow grabbed the pheasant tail. I thought this was perhaps the precursor to fast action on the pheasant tail prior to a pale morning dun hatch, but once again my hopes were premature.

Looking Upstream

As I worked my up the stream I spotted some rises so I reverted to the light gray caddis as that produced my first two fish and once again it produced as I landed a small rainbow and my first and only brown trout of the day. I approached a nice stretch with three quality runs of moderate depth, and I was disappointed to experience three consecutive refusals from selective fish that appeared to be decent size for South Boulder Creek. What should I do now? At about this time I began to see some pale morning duns and a few more rises. The light gray caddis has the same body color as the money fly that I use as a pale morning dun imitation, so perhaps I had the right color but the wrong wing configuration. I tied on a light gray comparadun money fly and it turned out to be a stroke of genius. Between 3:30 and 5:00 PM I landed six more fish and two were nice feisty brilliantly colored rainbows in the twelve inch range. The rainbows were taking the money fly with confidence, and I was regretting not trying it sooner.

Richly Colored Rainbow Took Light Gray Comparadun

During this late afternoon time period I experienced the best situation of the day along with the ant working its magic. I was above the foot bridge and there was a short deep pocket in front of a boulder that was sticking above the water near the bank. Two small tree branches were trapped in front of the boulder and angled out into the current. I flicked the comparadun from the bank while above the boulder and let it drift downstream. Just as the fly was about to get sucked under the leading branch a fine rainbow emerged from below and inhaled the pale morning dun imitation.

Brilliant Stripe on This One

In a nice long run and pool above the bridge I picked up three or four rainbows that also sipped the comparadun with confidence. I fished this area on my previous visit, and discovered that these fish are quite choosy, so this was additional proof that the light gray comparadun was the fly to have.

At five o’clock I clipped my fly to the rod guide and hiked up the path and then climbed the steep trail to the parking lot and the car. I had my best day so far on the newly discovered South Boulder Creek. It was pretty exciting to find the right fly and also to witness green drakes hatching in early September in a location so close to home.

Time: 9:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Downstream from Pinecliffe

Fish Landed: 12

South Boulder Creek 08/16/2012 Photo Album

Wednesday was a day to celebrate at Saddleback Design as I finally caught up the monthly closings for 2012. I completed everything possible for July, and now I’m in wait mode as the office manager finishes the job costing. Why am I mentioning this in a fishing blog? This means that I will be able to resume my desired frequent fishing schedule for the remainder of the season. I began by fishing on back to back days on August 16 and 17.

Recall that my Aunt Judy and Uncle Lee visited us during the first week of August and during their stay we took a day trip to Fraser, CO on Amtrak. During this trip while sitting in the observatory car, I noticed a beautiful stretch of water from Gross Reservoir to the Moffat Tunnel that was South Boulder Creek. Upon my return I did some research and discovered that two popular stretches for fishermen were the tailwater below Gross Reservoir and the water below Pinecliffe that is accessed via the train tracks. On August 5, Jane and I visited the tailwater on a very hot day. I now decided to see what the Pinecliffe water was like. I was also scouting this water for possible after work fishing trips with Dan as I estimated it could be reached in one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes.

The drive time estimate proved to be accurate as I left the house at 7:50 and arrived at a small parking lot in Pinecliffe by 9:00, and I was taking my time as I wasn’t familiar with the road or the location. It was quite chilly as a front had moved through the front range on Wednesday evening, and I wore my fleece for my hike down the railroad tracks. It was a good move as the temperature never rose above the 60’s and at certain times I was actually chilled when the wind would pick up in the deep canyon. I had no idea how far I could hike down the tracks, so I decided to hike for 20 minutes or until 9:30 and see where that landed me.

Railroad Tunnel No. 1

The first stretch paralleled a dirt road, and I was reprimanding myself for not driving down the road and parking closer, but on the return I discovered that the lane was gated. At the end of the lane I crossed a railroad bridge and shortly after that went through a very short tunnel. Next I covered a ten minute hike along the railroad bed, and I could see South Boulder Creek tumbling through the canyon way below me. I began to be concerned about how I was going to get down the steep bank from the railroad bed. Eventually I arrived at the entrance to a second tunnel. This one was more intimidating as I could not see light at the other end. It also wasn’t clear that the railroad tracks continued to parallel the stream on the other side as South Boulder Creek made a turn to the left and there was a rocky hill beyond the tracks.

I noticed a steep rocky trail that cut down in front of the tunnel so I decided to cast my fate and make the descent. I carefully maneuvered down the steep rocky path with loose train bed gravel until I reached a boulder strewn stretch of the creek. I had no idea what to expect from this water, so I tied on a parachute hopper with a beadhead hares ear, my latest go to combination. At the beginning the creek consisted of fast chutes and large plunge pools, and I probed the edges of these pools and in short order landed a tiny rainbow that was too small to count. At least I knew there were fish in this newly discovered water.

Steep Path I Descended from RR Tracks

It was a beautiful setting and I continued to wonder why I’d never sampled this stream. There were steep canyon walls on both sides of me with dense trees and vegetation in the riparian zone. I fished on and landed a pair of rainbows on the hopper and photographed the second one as it had beautiful coloration. It would end up matching my largest catch of the day at around eleven inches. As I proceeded I found myself getting mostly refusals to the parahopper, so I swapped out the top fly for a Chernobyl ant. This didn’t really change things, and I continued observing mostly refusals, although I managed to land two more small rainbows, one on the Chernobyl and one on the hares ear. This pattern would largely continue over the remainder of the day. For every ten attractive pockets or pools I fished, nine would yield refusals, and in one pool I’d catch a fish.

Pretty Rainbow

After fishing the Chernobyl for an hour or so I went through a bunch of fly changes. I tried one of the new muggly caddis flies I tied using snowshoe rabbit hair, and that produced the second rainbow of matching size to the second one I’d photographed. After the muggly got saturated and stopped floating well, I tried a size 14 2XL trude with an emerald body, but that didn’t even bring refusals. I clipped that off and tied on a lime green trude, and landed a fish. A royal stimulator joined the menu and I added a beadhead pheasant tail as a dropper. Everything I tried resulted in pretty much the same pattern of 90% rejections and 10% catch.

South Boulder Creek Below Pinecliffe

I paused and looked through my attractor box while debating whether to go deep with some nymphs and avoid the surface rejection problem entirely. I discovered that I only had one yellow Letort hopper, and tried that for awhile with no success. I also noticed a smaller Letort hopper with a light gray body and used that for a longer period with a bit of success. I landed a pair of small rainbows on the beadhead pheasant tail while fishing the gray hopper on top. My fish count had climbed to eight when some darker clouds moved in and a light rain began to fall. I hadn’t packed my raincoat, but I lucked out and the rain never intensified to the point that my fleece got soaked. I began to notice a few sporadic mayflies emerge, probably PMD’s, but this didn’t seem to increase the trout’s interest in my beadhead pheasant tail. Somewhere along the line I added a RS2, but again no response.

I finally decided that since nothing was working as the top fly, I’d return to the Chernobyl since it at least floated well and minimized the need for false casting and wear and tear on my shoulder and elbow. I tied on the Chernobyl and went back to the beadhead hares ear and picked up a pair of rainbows that grabbed the nymph as it began to lift or swing at the end of drifts when I cast across and let it drift downstream.

The canyon was starting to widen and that put my mind at ease regarding how I was going to exit, and the stream was spread out a bit more causing its nature to shift from plunge pools to pockets, runs and pools. I was considering calling it a day when I approached a beautiful deep pool where the main current ran against a large flat rock on the opposite bank. I spotted numerous subtle rises in the pool so after running the Chernobyl/hares ear through the run and pool with no results, I decided to try a single dry. I wasn’t seeing anything on the water, so I decided to go with a small size 16 sparse deer hair caddis with a light gray body. This brought refusals, but I also managed to land two rainbows from the pool. Maybe I should have been using the small caddis all along?

After I’d disturbed the pool with numerous casts and two fish landings, I spotted a path on the left bank. It was around 3:30, so I decided to take advantage of an obvious exit path and climbed the steep but well worn trail to the railroad bed. This brought me to the east end of the tiny first tunnel. I hiked a short distance to the railroad bridge and spotted a rise or two in the nice pool before the creek flowed under the bridge. I circled back across the bridge and went down to the tail of the bridge pool and began tossing casts with the caddis. The fish were having none of it, but the rises continued throughout the pool. I waded across the tail and climbed up on the rocks on the upstream side of the bridge and attempted some downstream drifts to the areas of rising trout. As I was doing this, I observed five or six PMD’s slowly rising up from the stream, so I switched the caddis for a money fly, a light gray comparadun. Finally on a downstream drift a fish rose to my comparadun, and I set the hook and felt the momentary weight of a fish.

As I watched the sun came back out and the hatch temporarily paused so I decided to continue on my way to the car. I walked up the lane and discovered the locked gate at the end, and that vindicated my parking place and extended hike along the railroad bed.

It was a beautiful location, and I managed twelve small rainbows, and I saw enough promise to return and give South Boulder Creek another chance. I’d like to learn if I could hike further east along the tracks beyond the second tunnel.

Time: 10:45AM – 3:30PM

Location: Downstream from last parking lot before Gross Dam

Fish Landed: 6

South Boulder Creek 08/05/2012 Photo Album

On Wednesday August 1, my Aunt Judy and Uncle Lee, who were visiting from Pittsburgh, Pa. took me on a train ride on Amtrak from Denver to Fraser, CO. Along the way the train tracks followed South Boulder Creek from Gross Reservoir to the Moffat Tunnel. From my vantage point in the observation car, South Boulder Creek appeared to be an interesting fishing location that I had never explored. In fact there were quite a few fishermen in the stream above Gross Reservoir.

When I returned to Denver, I pulled out the DeLorme atlas and found South Boulder Creek and discovered it was not that far away. Next I Googled South Boulder Creek and fishing and read about a great fishery right under my nose that I ignored. This peaked my interest and so when I decided to go fishing on Sunday, August 5 I chose South Boulder Creek below the dam. Jane agreed to accompany and we got off to a decent start by around 9AM. We threw Jane’s mountain bike on the rack, but we weren’t sure there would be a place that she could ride.

It took us longer than would otherwise be required as we stopped for gas and several times to tighten and adjust the mountain bike as it came loose from the rubber straps on the rack. Also we missed the turn off on Coal Creek Canyon Road for Gross Reservoir as I thought there was a closer road. Now that I know the route, I could probably be in the parking lot getting ready to fish within an hour from my home in Denver.

It was a very warm day in Denver with temperatures in the upper 90’s, so it probably wasn’t fair to evaluate the fishery based on my experience under adverse weather conditions. Jane and I hiked down the steep path from the parking lot and immediately intersected with the stream at the bottom. We hiked down the path along the north side of the creek a ways, and I entered while Jane continued hiking further along the path. We agreed to meet around 12:30 for lunch, and I gave Jane my watch.

I tied on a parachute gray hopper and trailed a beadhead hares ear and waded across the creek at one of the few places where this could be done. As I worked my way up along the left bank just above a small island, I landed a small seven inch rainbow. I noticed a worn path on the left bank, so decided to climb up on the south bank and explore. I discovered a nice path and hiked down the path quite a ways until I found some nice slack water pockets on my side of the stream. I worked my way back up along the bank with the parachute hopper and BHHE and picked up two more rainbows. One was in the twelve inch range and quite colorful, so I photographed it before releasing. I was getting quite a few refusals in addition to the three landed fish, and this was frustrating me. In one decent deep narrow slot below a large rock I spotted a decent sized rainbow move from the bottom and inspect my fly, but it turned away as I held my breath.

First Nice Rainbow Trout in South Boulder Creek

When I reached the location of my initial crossing, I crossed again so I’d be visible to Jane and worked my way up along the right bank a bit. Once again I experienced three or four refusals, and just as I was switching out the parachute hopper for a Chernobyl ant, Jane arrived. I immediately met her on the north bank and we hiked back up the steep trail to the parking lot. We grabbed our lunches and found a nice shady area among some evergreen trees and downed our lunches.

After lunch Jane decided to take her folding chair to the waters edge. She told me she had hiked down the path and not too far below where I was fishing encountered a bridge so I decided to cross the stream again and hike to the bridge and fish back up stream. Unfortunately when I arrived near the bridge, several fishermen were occupying a beautiful pool so I went back upstream above them. I found a nice pool twenty yards above them and I could see three or four decent fish swimming about, but I could only extract a few cursory looks from these fish.

A Nice Pool

After fishing upstream some more with no results, I switched the Chernobyl ant for a yellow Letort hopper. I’d seen a golden stonefly fluttering up from the stream right after lunch and as I watched a bird swooped by and snatched the stonefly right out of the air. Perhaps the yellow Letort hopper would be taken for a golden stonefly. Unfortunately this theory didn’t materialize and after a bit, I clipped off both flies and tied on a bushy deer hair caddis. This fly actually produced three more trout, two rainbows and one brown. One of the rainbows was comparable to the one I photographed in the morning, so I snapped another photo while in the net.

A Second Speckled Rainbow

It turned out that I didn’t start fishing much below where I began in the morning, so I was overlapping my morning wade, and with an hour or so left to fish, I decided to hike back down the stream below the bridge and see what that water looked like. I found myself hiking up a trail a bit and then cutting back high above the river. A huge vertical boulder blocked further progress along the south bank so I dropped down to the river above it and fished my way back up along the bank to the bridge, a distance of approximately twenty yards. Along the edge of one of these shallow pockets an eight inch brown rose to my caddis and became the sixth fish landed on the day.

Pretty South Boulder Creek Below Bridge

When I reached the bridge, I retreated back the way I’d come and climbed a steep bank and hiked back upstream along the south bank trail. I crossed at the same place as I’d waded after lunch and found Jane in her shady retreat in her chair. I waded out in the stream next to her refuge and attempted some downstream drifts, but only succeeded in provoking a couple refusals. It was 3:30 by now and we were both hot and tired, so we again climbed the steep trail and quit for the day.

South Boulder Creek is a beautiful location not far from Denver, and I will certainly return when the weather conditions are more favorable. The water is very cold as it comes from the bottom of a deep dam, and it represents only an hour drive. There is also fishing upstream and downstream worth exploring.