Time: 10:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Wildcat Canyon

Fish Landed: 35

South Platte River 08/17/2012 Photo Album

On my second day of back to back fishing I decided to make the trek to Wildcat Canyon on the South Platte River. I did this last year at the end of August with the Costantini’s, and I wanted to see what it was like a bit earlier. The stream flows were at 167 cfs compared to 150 at the time of the Constantini vacation. Would this make fishing too difficult? One expects conditions to be good when committing to a three mile hike to access the river. Realizing that a two hour drive and one hour hike were in my future, I departed the house at 6:30AM. I encountered some minor traffic slow downs, but on the whole the trip was as expected and I arrived at the trailhead at around 9:15. I applied sunscreen and filled my backpack with the essentials for a day of fishing three miles from the car; lunch, raincoat and fishing essentials were included

Base Camp

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I set off at a strong pace, but it took me an hour to negotiate the gravel trail through the sparse vegetation and ponderosa pines. I established a base camp at the large log bench, the same spot selected on the Constantini trip and on previous trips with Dan and Jane. I put on my waders and prepared to fish and stashed my backpack, lunch and spare rod under a tree by the river. I headed down the path to a spot just above the narrow cascade where the river shoots through some rock canyon walls. The river was higher than any previous visit, but quite clear and there were numerous good holding spots. I didn’t want to risk crossing the swift current in the center of the river, but there was plenty of water to cover.

Flows Were Up at 167 CFS

Unlike the previous day, Friday would prove to be a day of minimal fly changes. I began with a yellow Letort hopper and knotted a beadhead hares ear to the bend with a long tippet extension of approximately 2.5 to 3 feet to account for the extra water depth. I began tossing casts at the tail of a nice long pool and stood below where the current spilled over a large rock. On the fifth or sixth cast the hopper dipped as the fly began to drag at the lip and I lifted my rod to make sure I wasn’t snagged. Instantly I felt some weight and the throbbing of a nice thirteen inch brown and brought it to my net and photographed my first fish of the day. After releasing this surprising catch, I landed a second twelve inch brown in virtually the same spot and then a third four or five feet further up in the pool.

First Fish of the Day

The next hour would continue in roughly the same manner as I hooked and landed nine fish before 11:30. All the fish except one were brown trout and all hammered the beadhead hares ear and all were taken from the pockets and runs in the fifteen feet of water out from the right bank. I did prospect some of the attractive mid-river holding areas, but these casts were not productive. I added a tenth fish to my total in the next half hour as things slowed down a bit and decided to exit the river at the tail of a long smooth pool and return to my base camp.

When I arrived back at the long log, I ran some drifts through the delicious large pool next to the campsite, but this didn’t produce any action. I returned to the log and pulled out my lunch and found a spot next to the large pool and observed while eating. There was little insect activity evident as I watched.

Pool Next to Lunch Spot

After lunch I grabbed my rod and gear and hiked back down the path to the point where I exited the lower end of the long smooth pool where I began working my way upstream. The slow deep water proved to be unproductive, however, when I resumed fishing the faster water above the pool with more rocks and short pockets and runs, I picked up another pair of browns. It was around this point that I decided to forego the Letort hopper which required frequent attention to maintain buoyancy, and substitute a Chernobyl ant. The fish were locked on the beadhead hares ear and ignoring the hopper, so why not use a foam fly as an indicator.

At around 1PM some clouds moved in and blocked the sun for longer periods, and during these intervals I noticed some tiny mayflies rising from the stream like miniature hot air balloons. This prompted me to add a third fly below the hares ear, a RS2 imitating a BWO nymph. This combination would serve me well between 1 and 3 PM as I experienced some of the most ridiculous insane fishing of the season.

I flicked the Chernobyl and trailing nymphs to all the likely pockets and spots within 10-15 feet of the right bank and the fish were all over the nymphs. In addition an occasional brown would slurp the Chernobyl, but the most popular fly to the chunky browns was the hares ear nymph. It was one of those rare occasions where the fish weren’t that selective, and I didn’t have to go through a series of fly changes to figure it out. Most of the time I made casts directly upstream and the Chernobyl would stop or pause and I’d lift the rod and find myself attached to a fish. A few times a fish jumped on the nymph as soon as it hit the water. I’m always amazed by this circumstance as it is almost like the fish was looking for a nymph to fall in the water, a totally unnatural occurrence.

Pretty Typical Chunky Brown

I landed a couple of fish on the RS2, but I concluded it was largely a nuisance and unnecessary as the beadhead hares ear was the main fish attractor. Two or three times I landed a fish with the Chernobyl in its mouth and in the fish’s efforts to escape, it wound the two trailing nymphs in a ridiculous tangle around the top fly. I’d have landed even more fish without these interruptions to untangle a massive monofilament mess. After the third such episode I clipped off the RS2 and the hot fishing continued unabated.

For two to two and half hours I rolled up fish after fish and finally finished with 35 landed. The catch rate did slow a bit over the last half hour, but I’m sure I could have continued landing fish until dark if I didn’t have the prospect of a one hour return hike and two hour drive back to Denver before me. The mystery of Friday is why were the trout so aggressively feeding on my beadhead hares ear nymphs? Why did I catch all browns except for one rainbow when previous trips yielded a majority of rainbows probably in a 60/40 ratio? Why did I catch fish along the edge and not in the middle?

Nice Buttery Color on This 13″ Brown

My theory revolves around the change in stream flows. The chart showed a slow reduction in flows from 200 to 167 so perhaps the fish were forced to the banks by the higher water and found it to their liking. Browns like the rocky margins of a stream so that is why I caught primarily browns. Perhaps the higher flows prevented them from feeding, and my hares ear nymphs were a welcome relatively large treat tumbling along in their feeding lane. The other surprising thing to me was the size of the brown trout. Nearly all the fish were chunky fish in the 12 to 14 inch range. They were brightly colored healthy fat fish that put up strong battles for their size. These fish were clearly larger on average than the rainbow/brown mix I experienced in previous trips.

It was a great day of fishing in a remote environment with no one else present. I passed three backpackers coming in along the trail on my hike back to the car. I’ll certainly figure out a way to return as soon as I recover from the physical exertion.

Time: 5:00PM – 8:00PM

Location: From Deckers upstream to parking lot around the bend

Fish Landed: 0

South Platte River 06/12/2012 Photo Album

The days were approaching their longest length, and I had a new fly rod begging to be tested so I packed all my fishing gear in the Santa Fe on Tuesday morning and planned to drive directly from work to the South Platte River in the Deckers area. The plan worked reasonably well and I arrived at the first parking lot on the dirt road that heads straight from Deckers and was ready to fish by 5PM. Some large dark clouds appeared in the western sky and it seemed much later in the evening than it actually was.

Stretch Above Deckers

I walked down the dirt road a good distance until I was just above the large pool by the bridge at Deckers. Another fisherman was on the opposite shore at the top of the pool, so I decided to drop down to the river fifty yards above him, even though I was on the opposite bank. I began fishing with an orange scud and bright green caddis pupa on a nymph set up with an indicator and split shot and began covering all the deeper slots and runs for 20 yards or so. Nothing was doing. I switched out the orange scud for a San Juan worm and continued but still no action. I also tried a beadhead hares ear and beadhead pheasant tail on the nymphing tandem.

After covering quite a bit of nice water with no results, I elected to go with a dry/dropper setup as the water wasn’t excessively deep. I began with a yellow Letort hopper and dangled a bright green caddis pupa as well as a beadhead hares ear, but these combinations were equally ineffective.

Toward the latter part of the evening, I clipped off the hopper and nymph and went with a muggly caddis and then a light gray deer hair caddis and finally an olive brown deer hair caddis. Frustrated with the lack of success with these dries, I resorted to fishing classic wet fly style. I just read an article in Fly Tyer about situations when wet flies work when nothing else produces. I was in that very situation. I tied on a beadhead bright green caddis as the top fly and an old hares ear wet fly at the point and began cast across and letting the tandem sweep down and across below me. I did this without the aid of a strike indicator, but alas this also proved to be fruitless. I removed the hares ear wet fly and replaced with an olive and black woolly bugger and imparted action, but this also was not effective.

My last tactic was to stop and watch the water for any signs of rising fish. This actually worked as I was on a large rock overlooking the river and there were some beautiful slower moving areas opposite me and the main current. I saw two separate rises toward the tail so I tied the caddis back on and placed numerous casts in the area, again to no avail. I decided to flick some casts to a small current that fed the pool and on one of these drifts a fish rose in the small current area. I set the hook thinking it was on my fly, but that was not the case. Either the fish took a real natural next to my fly or I witnessed a refusal.

New Rod in Action

After attempting a few more casts to the area with sporadic rises, I decided to reel in and call it an evening. My feet felt like stumps from standing in the icy tailwater flows. The Orvis Access is light yet stiff and casts quite well, but I still don’t know how it feels to have the weight of fish on the new rod.

Time: 2:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Cheesman Canyon, Cows Crossing to Rainbow Bend

Fish Landed: 3

South Platte River 05/28/2012 Photo Album

After hosting a Memorial Day party on Sunday, Jane and I decided to take a break and visit one of our favorite places in Colorado, Cheesman Canyon. Cheesman Canyon can only be accessed by hiking on the Gill Trail for two to three miles, and it is a beautiful setting as the clear cold South Platte River cuts through a deep canyon with massive boulders and tall ponderosa pines. We packed our lunches, water and fishing and hiking gear and got off to a late start. As we descended to the South Platte drainage at Nighthawk and began driving along the river it was evident than a lot of folks were taking advantage of the 75 degree sunny day and the Memorial Day holiday.

We couldn’t find a parking space at the Wigwam parking lot so circled back to the dirt road that crosses the Gill Trail and parked along the shoulder. I stashed all my fishing gear in my backpack as it was too warm to hike fully attired in chest waders. After a forty minute hike we found a small shaded spot on a large slanted rock next to the river just above Cows Crossing and munched our lunches. Leftover teriyaki chicken from the Sunday cookout was a tasty highlight.

Jane at Our Lunch Spot in Cheesman Canyon

After lunch I rigged my Scott six weight, clipped on a split shot and knotted a green caddis larva and RS2 to my line. Jane found a thingamabobber in a small eddy next to our lunch rock, so I attached that as my strike indicator. I walked up the right bank twenty yards and began working the deep runs. Having failed to receive any response to my offerings I skipped around a huge boulder and found a nice deep spot where the current funneled around another large boulder and fanned against the boulder I circled. Here on the tenth drift along the edge of the faster current a nice fourteen inch rainbow grabbed the RS2 and I battled it to the gravel beach where I snapped a quick photo.

First Nice Rainbow Landed Near Start After Lunch

I continued upstream to a very nice spot where the river widened and tumbled over some rocks creating a nice wide fan shaped riffle. On an early upstream cast something caused the strike indicator to dart and I set the hook and momentarily felt the weight of a fish. But just as quickly the fish was off, so I continued casting and after quite a few drifts fanned out over the top of the riffles I managed to hook and land a 12 inch rainbow that was also deceived by the small beadhead RS2.

The next stretch featured some fisherman gymnastics as the steep canyon wall met the river and left only a single way to progress which involved contorting my body to squeeze through some small openings between the rocks. The area actually felt like a grotto with the large rocks and small openings and water running beneath me. On the other side of the boulder garden the river wasn’t as attractive and as I fished fairly quickly Jane appeared high on the trail above. She negotiated her way down the steep trail and met me at Rainbow Bend where we took some photos.

White Water Run Framed by Huge Boulders

The other side of rainbow bend featured a long pool and I covered this water with my nymph combo to no avail. I could see quite a few fish, but I suspect the splash of my indicator, line and split shot in the slower moving water was spooking them or at least alerting them to my presence. The green caddis larva had yet to produce any fish, so I decided to exchange it for an orange scud. Orange scuds had been very effective on the South Platte in May when I used to fish it prior to the Heyman fire.

At the top of the long pool there was a nice deep area where the riffles consolidated into a long deep run with deep water on both sides of the run. I fished this area thoroughly and as I was about to continue, I slung a long cast to the very top of the riffle where it dropped off into the deeper water along the main current. Wham! The indicator darted and I set the hook and I was attached to a large torpedo. Fairly quickly I received a glimpse of the large rainbow as it turned broadside in the current and shot downstream beyond my position a bit. I held tight and let it run, but when it paused I used the power of the six weight rod to turn it and maneuver it to the side. The rainbow then began a tactic of rolling on the line, but the orange scud held and I was able to scoop the big guy into my net. I let out a couple whoops of glee and as I carried my net to the gravel beach for a photo, Jane reappeared high on the trail above. She was amazed at the size of the fish as I held it with two hands for her to see. The fish extended beyond the opening of the net by two inches and carried impressive girth.

Monster Rainbow Took Orange Scud

I fished a bit longer but couldn’t create any success, so as the shadows began to extend I climbed up to the path and hiked back to meet Jane at our lunch base camp. We packed up all our belongings and made the long hike back out of the canyon to the car and returned to Denver.

Monster Rainbow Took Orange Scud

Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: Whale Rock area and then just past town of Trumbull

Fish Landed: 10

South Platte River 03/13/2012 Photo Album

Would all you readers agree that a ten fish day on March 13, the first outing of the season, is a great day? Somehow the accomplishment felt cheap, but you’ll have to read on to understand.

High temperatures were forecast to be 75 degrees in Denver so I made a spur of the moment decision to take the day off and head to the South Platte River downstream from Deckers. I checked the flows and they were in the low 200’s, and that is pretty nearly ideal for the South Platte in that area. I checked a report, and it said the water was clear and unaffected by snow melting at the lower elevations. I took my time getting ready in the morning as I knew the air temperatures would be rather chilly until late morning so there was no need to be there early. I created a fishing packing list on my iPhone in hopes that it saves me from forgetting a critical item on future trips.

The Santa Fe was out of the garage by 8:45 and I was on the water fishing by 10:30AM. As I suspected the air temperature was in the low 40’s when I began so I wore my Adidas pullover and a fleece layer on top of that. I parked the car in the Whale Rock area and hiked down the road a bit and then down the steep bank to my traditional first day starting point just above a steep cascade among the many large boulders. I decided to go back to my historical South Platte workhorse combination of a pink San Juan worm and beadhead pheasant tail. I worked the nice deep eddy in front of me, but despite some great drifts didn’t connect with any fish. I clipped off the pheasant tail and replaced it with an orange scud and moved upstream.

It didn’t take long before I snagged on the bottom and in my efforts to extract the flies, I snapped them both off. I only had one more pink worm with me, and it wasn’t producing so I plucked a beadhead hares ear from my patch and below that I tied on a teal baetis nymph. Again I began to work the water upstream to the large bend and eddy just below the parking lot. The river at this point deflects off the far bank and then slowly rolls through a fairly deep hole with a small slow moving eddy and surface foam between the hole and the bank. I spotted a sporadic rise in the foam, but decided to stick with the nymphs before going to a dry. I didn’t see any blue wing olives on the water, but did spot the occasional midge, so I assumed the fish were sipping midges in the surface foam. I clipped off the teal baetis nymph and replaced it with a tiny dark olive midge larva. This fly is about as basic as it gets with dark olive thread for the body and a fine silver rib and a silver bead.

Ten Fish Landed from This Run and Eddy

I drifted the nymphs along the seam and on the fifth drift the indicator made a subtle pause. I thought I was hung up so I lifted the rod and was surprised to feel a tug. I played the fish for a bit before it released itself downstream. I cast again and sure enough saw another pause and set the hook harder this time and landed a small brown. This was the first fish of the season so I snapped a couple photos even though I was too far from the bank to position it on my net as I normally do.

Same Fish Held Out of the Net

The next hour proved to be a great introduction to 2012. I kept running the two fly nymph combination through the deep run and along the seam and landed another nine fish. They were all browns in the 9-11 inch range, and they were mainly taking the tiny midge larva fly.  Perhaps two fell for the beadhead hares ear. One of the last of the ten probably extended to around a foot and I photographed this one on my net on the bank below the parking lot. Meanwhile the cruisers continued to sip something very small in the eddy across from the subsurface action.

Largest Fish of the Day

At noon the action slowed and by now my feet were numb from the ice cold water. I decided to head back to the car and eat lunch and warm up my feet. After lunch I eagerly anticipated testing the two flies on different stretches of the river, so I wandered upstream a bit to an area with huge boulders and numerous large deep pockets and runs. This water was slightly faster than the bend pool. I managed one temporary hookup, and saw another decent fish follow my flies as they did a swing at the end of the drift, but failed to take. I moved on above the last large boulder and attempted a few casts where the water cut deep in front of the boulder, but again no action.

I've Named This Area Whale Rock

I returned to the car and drove to the next U-shaped parking lot above the large boulder area. From here I hiked up the road to the rock garden area that has always produced for me in past trips. Unfortunately Tuesday was not going to be one of those days. I cast to all the likely areas with no success and didn’t even spot a fish. When I reached the end of this stretch of water, I returned to the car and decided to drive to the upper special regulation water just below Deckers. I parked in a lot just beyond the town of Trumbull and hiked down the path and then fished upstream to the large bend where I encountered another fisherman. I spent an hour in this water and spotted one fish. I worked my nymphs deep through some juicy holes and runs to no avail. When I spotted a small fish and it didn’t respond to my nymphs, I decided to try a dry dropper and tied on a yellow Charlie Boy hopper trailing a beadhead RS2. This didn’t work either and I continued fishing this combination upstream through some nice water for the next 15 minutes.

When I encountered the other fisherman blocking my path upstream I decided to move one more time. I returned to the car and drove up the road around the bend to the next pullout. But it was now 3PM and my heart was no longer in it, so I removed my waders and drove back to Denver.

Ten fish on my opening day is a great story, but I’m disturbed by the fact that I caught them all in the same place over a one hour period and couldn’t land a fish anywhere else. Perhaps the fish are still schooled in ideal winter holding locations, and I didn’t manage to find any more of these spots? The fishless afternoon certainly destroyed the confidence I built up from 11-12.

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Wildcat Canyon

Fish Landed: 23

South Platte River 10/15/2011 Photo Album

When I spent a weekend at Gregg Sutherland’s cabin, we hiked in to Wildcat Canyon with his golden retriever Angie and along the way Gregg caught a couple grasshoppers, clipped their wings, and tossed them in the river. In both cases we watched as the hopper drifted downstream 8-10 feet and a fish confidently rose and inhaled the hapless creatures. I inspected the body of the hoppers and they were a segmented cream color. I decided I needed to tie some cream body parachute hoppers for my fly collection.

On my last trip to the Big Thompson I had great success with a size 16 light gray deer hair caddis and broke my wading stick. I inspected my light gray caddis supply and was surprised to learn I only had a few remaining. Clearly I needed to get busy and tie some more light gray caddis for late season fishing.

The weather forecast was predicting a four or five day stretch of beautiful Indian summer weather for Denver culminating in projected highs in the low 80’s for Saturday. I called Dan early in the week and asked if he’d be interested in a hike into Wildcat Canyon on Saturday. He agreed to join the adventure, and Jane signed up for the hiking aspect as well.

Jane's Spot While Dave and Dan Fish

On Thursday evening I sat down at the vice and cranked out four cream body parachute hoppers and on Friday afternoon I wrapped things up early at work and returned home to craft a new wading staff made from a street hockey stick. Next I returned to my fly tying desk and quickly made eight size 16 light gray deer hair caddis. I divided the hoppers and caddis flies between my fly patch and a small fly box for Dan.

Everything was set and Dan arrived on Saturday morning at 7AM, and we packed the car with our fishing gear and lunches and began our drive. When we arrived at the turn off on the dirt road that reaches the Platte River trailhead the temperature was 33 degrees, and it improved to only 35 when we parked and began stuffing our backpacks for the two mile hike to our fishing destination.

We arrived at the river by 10:30AM and set up a base camp at the same location we used last October and when I did the same trip with the Costantini’s in late August. Jane put down her blanket and prepared to read her Kindle while Dan and I pulled on our waders and then hiked down the path a short distance. The air temperature was warming as the sun moved higher in the blue sky and I fished with only a fleece over my fishing shirt. The river was running higher than normal, but still quite clear. Dan waded to the far side and I took the bank along the path.

Dan Prepares to Release Brown Trout

I tied a cream parachute hopper on Dan’s tippet and I decided to prospect with the light gray caddis. On Dan’s second cast he hooked an 11 inch brown, but it broke off the hopper as he was attempting to net it. He replaced the hopper with his second cream hopper. Nearly simultaneously I hooked a brown on the caddis as it began to drag at the end of a drift. It was a great start to our day, but would it continue? In my case I continued working my way up along the right side of the river with the caddis, but nothing was responding. I wasn’t even observing flashes or refusals to the fly that had been so popular on the Big Thompson.

Some Yellow Remains Along the River

I decided that I needed something more visible and tied on one of the two cream parahoppers I’d allocated to my fly patch. Again I began prospecting the attractive side pockets, small pools and runs of moderate depth, but once again no trout showed interest in my offering. Meanwhile Dan wasn’t having any success either. When I reached a wide juicy run with moderate current and water depth of three to four feet, and I didn’t get any response from the hopper, I stripped in my line and added a beadhead hares ear. This turned out to be a plus, and I quickly landed two browns on the beadhead hares ear. I called out to Dan and moved on up the river and landed two more browns before lunch. We decided to quit for lunch at around 12:15 and walked back to the base camp and met Jane as she was walking down the path to meet us. Dan told me he experienced refusals to his hopper and then tied on a caddis and had refusals to that as well. When I called out that the BHHE dropper was working, he attempted to add a dropper but wasn’t tying the connecting knot to the bend of the hook properly and spent quite a bit of time trying to solve the bend knot riddle.

After lunch I coached Dan on tying the simple loop knot I use to connect the tippet to the bend of the top fly and then added a beadhead hares ear to a cream body Letort hopper that I pulled out of his fly box. We returned to the place where we’d exited the river for lunch, and Dan actually went back to the hole where he’d experienced the successive refusals and landed a brown on the beadhead hares ear.

Pulling Fly Free from Net

Meanwhile I spotted a few BWO’s emerging so I decided to try deep nymphing given the higher flows and sparse emergence. There was a lot of aquatic vegetation floating in the river that had apparently been dislodged by the higher flows. Perhaps this meant that there were scuds available to the fish, so I tied an orange scud as my top fly and added a size 22 RS2 as the trailer and began working the deeper runs with a strike indicator, split shot and this two fly combination. This didn’t produce anything, and I was constantly plucking vegetation and slime from my flies while Dan was catching fish at a fairly frequent pace, so I abandoned the deep strategy and went back to the hopper/dropper technique. It was worth an experiment, but wasn’t the right strategy for October 15.

Instead of using one of my valuable cream body hoppers I settled on a gray body parachute hopper that was pretty badly mangled from previous usage. The hackle was climbing up the wing post causing the wing to tilt forward in the water, but I was more interested in using the top fly as an indicator and liked the visibility of the white wing. I added a beadhead hares ear and then a RS2 and began prospecting. Dan had pretty much caught up to me, and he worked his way upstream along the left bank slightly behind me.

A Decent Brown Landed by Dave

I began to catch fish with increasing frequency, and they were smashing the beadhead hares ear. My first goal was to land eleven trout to reach 500 for the 2011 season, and this milestone fell by the wayside pretty quickly. In fact number 500 came out of the sweet pool next to our base camp. I let out a whoop, but before I could celebrate further a man with his dog appeared, and I didn’t want to brag about my accomplishment so I calmed down my demeanor to greet the stranger. Once they moved on I resumed a small celebration with Jane. I continued upstream and by the end of the day had accumulated 23 trout landed. All except two were brown trout and all except three took the beadhead hares ear. The first fish attacked the caddis and I landed one on the RS2 in the deep pool and one nice brown slurped in the bedraggled gray parachute hopper.

Dan From High Perch

Meanwhile Dan was on fire with his beadhead hares ear. When he reached the high rocks next to the juicy pool next to our base camp he climbed up to a high vantage point and could see five trout swimming in the deep pool in front of him. He cast his hopper/dropper in their midst and watched as a fourteen inch rainbow slowly rose up and slurped the Letort hopper. He was now challenged to lift the behemoth rainbow seven feet above the water to his perch, but he realized this wasn’t a recommended move and somehow scrambled back down the rock to a lower position and landed the biggest fish of the day. Shortly after this catch, he landed a second slightly smaller rainbow from the same pool.

Holding Up for Fans

After this success he continued working up along the left bank making nice upstream casts and landing a series of browns that grabbed the trailing hares ear. At the end of the day Dan estimated he’d landed around 12 fish. It was quite a day in Wildcat Canyon. For the first time, I was ready to quit for the day and Dan suggested we each catch one more fish. Usually Dan is ready to quit way before Dad.

Time: 11:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: Wildcat Canyon

Fish Landed: 2

South Platte River 08/30/2011 Photo Album

Several months ago Rob Costantini, and friend and former co-worker at Air Products, informed me that he and his family were vacationing at a dude ranch in Colorado and then doing some sightseeing. He asked for suggestions and I described a loop that started in Estes Park and ended in Colorado Springs as their departure flight was from the Springs. Rob asked if I’d mind guiding them for a day of fishing, and I agreed to join them on Tuesday, August 30 after I returned from Oregon and the last day before they returned to Pennsylvania.

I gave Rob a few options and despite the caveat of a three mile hike in and out, he selected the South Platte River in Wildcat Canyon. I agreed to meet the four Costantini’s at the Embassy Suites in Colorado Springs where they were staying at 7:30AM on Tuesday. Vanessa, Rob’s wife, was accompanying but not fishing and Tim (15) and Rachel (13) would fish along with Rob. Unfortunately when I spoke with Rob on Monday, he revealed that he fractured a shoulder bone on the first day of their vacation at a dude ranch. This meant Rob would be able to hike with us, but he would not be able to fish.

Injured Dad

Rob and Vanessa purchased sandwiches and we took off in my Santa Fe. I provided rods and waders and wading boots for Rachel, as Rob told me that Rachel wore a size 7 women’s shoe. We stopped in Woodland Park at a fly shop and rented waders and boots for Tim. Tim and Rachel were fortunately under the age where a fishing license is required. We continued on route 24 to Lake George and crossed the river and made a right and drove to the Platte River trailhead. After applying sunscreen and stuffing all our gear in backpacks we were off on the trail. It was a pretty warm day but we hiked to the river without stopping.

When Tim and Rachel put on their waders and boots we discovered that Rachel wore size 9 women’s shoes and her feet plus waders would not fit inside the boots. I had a spare pair of socks, so we improvised and Rachel wore socks and wading boots and waded wet in her shorts. Once we were set with our gear, Tim and Rachel and I hiked down the path along the river to an attractive starting point. The flow was 131 cfs and actually quite ideal for late August.

Before we began fishing I provided some casting instruction to Tim and Rachel. Tim looked quite competent for a novice caster, and Rachel improved as I stressed waiting on the backcast, not moving the rod too far, and keeping the wrist straight. Once we waded into the river, I worked with Tim first to get him going. I started him with a yellow Letort hopper, but that wasn’t attracting interest so I added a beadhead hares ear nymph as a dropper. It wasn’t long before Tim hooked and landed a small brown trout on the BHHE.

Tim with Early Trout as Rachel Watches

Once I felt Tim could fish upstream by himself, I worked with Rachel. I tied on a Chernobyl ant and dropped a beadhead pheasant tail below. Rather than using the dry fly false casting technique I’d taught her, I showed her how to do a roll cast as it was simpler and the foam fly did not require drying. The transition was difficult as I’d taught Rachel too well to stop her cast high, and now I wanted her to follow through and almost touch the water with her rod tip. In spite of the change up, Rachel began putting some nice casts upstream and in a nice riffle of moderate depth the Chernobyl dipped. Rachel also didn’t quite understand the concept of hook set, but it didn’t matter as the small brown inhaled the pheasant tail, and Rachel eventually stripped the little guy in for a photo.

Rachel Smiles with First Fish Ever

We continued moving up the left bank, and in somewhat deeper water another somewhat larger brown hooked itself and Rachel was on the scoreboard for a second time. I left Rachel below a sweet pocket where we could observe some fish and returned to help Tim. I swapped out Tim’s hopper for a Chernobyl ant as well and helped him cover some water, but it was now close to 12:30PM, and I was feeling pretty hungry so we climbed the bank and hiked back to the home base where we feasted on our sandwiches.

Number Two for Rachel

While we ate our lunches some gray clouds appeared to the west, so I stuffed my raincoat in my backpack before we hiked back down the path to a point approximately where we’d ended before lunch. After lunch Rachel worked the left bank and Tim the right. At one point I was with Rachel and she cast into the juicy pool across from our home base. A nice 12 inch brown gobbled her fly and took off when Rachel realized she had a fish attached to her line. But alas she failed to maintain tension on the line, and this in combination with a lack of hook set enabled the fish to free itself. I left Rachel in a great position and returned to help Tim fish the right side of the large pool.

Tim Tilts Net to Show His Trout

We picked up a couple fish on the beadhead dropper and then we reached the attractive pool next to our base of operations. Rob was on the shore taking copious amounts of photos and spotting fish for Tim. We worked part way up the pool with the dry/dropper, and I began to see small blue wing olive mayflies slowly rising from the pool. I decided to set Tim up with a pair of nymphs including a small beadhead RS2. Rachel was getting a bit weary of the fishing, so she returned to the log and rested and that left me one on one with Tim.

I tied on a bright green caddis pupa and beadhead RS2 with a split shot and strike indicator and instructed Tim on how to work the top of the pool. In the next hour or so Tim landed four nice brown trout each progressively larger with the last one being around 11 inches in length. The trout were hitting the small RS2 rather aggressively and Tim was doing a great job of setting the hook and landing fish. Tim told me that seven was the most fish he’d ever caught in one outing, and in fact more fish than he’d caught cumulatively in his life. Rachel had never fished before let alone caught anything.

The Last and Largest Catch

In the course of demonstrating line control and casting to Tim, I landed two small browns earlier in the afternoon.

The Entire Wildcat Canyon Team

Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM

Location: Between Osprey Campground and Willow Picnic Area

Trout Landed: 0

South Platte River 05/22/2011 Photo Album

Chalk this outing up to rod testing. Jane and I drove to Royal Gorge Anglers so I could purchase a new fly rod and reel for my Alaska trip on Saturday, and I was dying to give the new rod a try. The only stream with reasonable flows after the heavy rains during the week was the South Platte River below Cheesman Reservoir, so off I went. I got off to a late start as the reports indicated caddis were beginning to emerge late afternoon into the evening.

I planned to stop at the Jarre Market in Sedalia and purchase a tapered leader, but forgot, so I was banking on having a spare in my front pack for my new fly line. I arrived at the stream at around 1PM and parked at a pullout below Willow Picnic area. I searched through my bag and backpack and then finally found a new leader tucked in my front pack. I made a loop to loop connection with the tip of the new line and attached the Orvis reel to my new rod and prepared to fish.

New Reel and Rod for Alaska

I wore my raincoat as a windbreaker. It was a cool day with partly cloudy skies and a fair amount of wind. I strung my new rod and walked down the road and cut over to the river approximately where I’d stopped fishing on my last trip to the South Platte. I propped the rod on a large stump and took some photos of the reel, the rod and the model and line size on the rod. I began fishing with a yellow Letort hopper and trailed a beadhead hares ear and began prospecting the likely spots. The flows were up since my last trip, and I noticed a considerable amount of aquatic moss floating in the river. In fact it was so dense that I had to remove moss from my flies nearly every third or fourth cast.

New Rod Leans on Tree Stump

After I’d covered a considerable amount of water, I reached a small island below Willow. Some geese went up the right channel so I retreated back to the bottom of the island to fish up the large and faster left side. Here I spotted a rise and switched to a caddis and experienced a split second hook up with the small fish that had risen. This would prove to be the extent of my action on the new rod.

Typical South Platte Landscape on Trail to Oxbow

I switched over to a strike indicator and nymphs and fished the nice deep run below the island to no avail. The larger but light stiff Scott rod handled the heavier nymphing rig easily. I decided to drive further up the river to the catch and release area as I wasn’t seeing much evidence of fish where I was fishing. I drove 5-10 miles to the oxbow area before Trumbull and hiked back the trail to the tip of the oxbow. I continued working the nymphs including a RS2 as the bottom fly. The sky clouded up and a brief shower occurred but much to my chagrin this did not provoke any BWO or caddis activity. I worked my way around the oxbow fishing the likely runs and seams but I wasn’t rewarded for my persistence. After the brief shower passed and the sun came out I decided I’d had enough and returned to Denver. The rod was a success from a casting standpoint, but remains unproven for fish catching ability.

Time: 10:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Around Osprey Campground

Fish Landed: 5

South Platte River 05/17/2011 Photo Album

I went into work on Monday and busied myself with a bunch of clean up tasks, but ran out of work by 2:30PM. I was waiting for the office manager to finish job costing before I could move into the normal closing duties, but she didn’t appear to be close, so I informed John that I’d probably be fishing on Tuesday. Now I needed to pick a destination.

On Tuesday morning after I’d packed everything in the car, I began looking at the stream flows for streams closer to Denver. Originally I considered the North Fork of the St. Vrain below Buttonrock Reservoir, but the gauge in Lyons was reading 150 cfs and had increased pretty dramatically over the last three days. There is no gauge on the North Fork below the dam, so it was a gamble to make the 1.5 hour drive only to discover that they were releasing more water. The Big Thompson was up to 130, and that’s pretty heavy flows for that small streambed. Next I checked Clear Creek and the flows there had jumped significantly over the last few days. Bear Creek was looking good at 22 cfs, but this is a small stream with relatively small fish. Finally the South Platte River near Deckers was running at 118. This is actually quite low, but I figured that was a better problem to face than high flows.

I arrived at the bottom of Nighthawk Hill and turned left to head up the river toward Deckers. I elected to turn into the pullout just before the Osprey Campground. It was around 10:30AM when I began fishing with a yellow Letort hopper and beadhead hares ear. It was overcast and chilly even though the forecast called for highs in the low 70’s. There were a few short periods when the sun broke through the clouds, but it was quite chilly for most of the day and the wind picked up in the afternoon. I actually wore a fleece and raincoat most of the time.

I began fishing a wide riffled area but had no action. I did spot a couple nice sized fish that I kicked out of their lairs as I waded upstream through a rocky area. I reached a spot where the river splits around a small island and prepared to work up the smaller right channel. But there was a thin seam where the currents rejoined below the island, and I made several casts into this area. On perhaps the fourth drift, the hopper paused, and I set the hook and landed a 10-12 inch brown. Good, there were fish in the river, and I got one to take my fly.

First Brown on South Platte

Next I waded up the shallow tail of the right channel to a spot where historically I landed many nice fish next to a beaver house. The beaver house was no longer there, but there was still a small riffle feeding a small pool. Once again toward the tail of the pool the hopper paused and I set the hook and had a one second hook up with a fish that I saw dart upstream upon release.

I retreated back to the main left channel and worked my way upstream prospecting all the three and four foot slots behind exposed rocks. When I’d gotten to the top of the rocky riffle stretch before the long pool by the campground, the hopper paused again, and I set the hook. A nice brown shot down past me and I regained line and gradually worked it to my net. The brown was a nice 13 inch fish that put up a nice fight in the riffled area. I continued fishing the slow moving water at the tail of the long pool, but when I got across from a bare area where fishermen entered and exited the pool, I decided to go back to the car and eat lunch before continuing. It was 11:30AM when I broke for lunch.

End of Pool Looking Downstream

I decided to drive above the campground (it costs money to park in the campground parking lot), and look for another pullout since I planned to fish upstream. But there weren’t any parking spaces for quite a distance, so I returned to my original parking space and ate lunch there. After lunch I hiked back up the road to the campground and waded into the tail of the pool. Fortunately I’d added another layer because it was quite cloudy and windy. This bit of nasty weather was apparently to the liking of the BWO’s and I spotted a smattering of small mayflies on the water. As this happened, I also spotted some sporadic rises along the far bank.

I tied on a size 22 CDC BWO and began casting to the spots where I’d seen the rises. I experienced one refusal, and then the rises ceased so I moved up the pool a bit where there was a small riffle and then some nervous water between the riffle and the bank. I observed closely and spotted some very subtle dimple rises occurring very regularly. I rested the water a bit, and shot a cast to the area of dimple rises. I checked the cast high so the fly fluttered down gently in a pile. I couldn’t see the fly very well, but spotted a rise near where I estimated the fly to be, and set the hook. I was attached to a leaping brown trout. It must have jumped out of the water five times before I brought it in and released. This fish was another 13 incher, but chunkier than the previous one.

Landed Nice Brown on BWO from Below Log

Long Pool by Osprey Campground

I moved further up the pool looking for additional rises, and spotted only one more. I couldn’t generate a rise to my fly until I moved above it and drifted downstream. On one of these casts I had a split second hookup. Next I reached the top of the pool and the water changed to faster runs and riffles, so I went back to the hopper/dropper but added a RS2 below the beadhead hares ear. I covered quite a distance over the next couple hours prospecting with the hopper/dropper combination. By 3PM I was getting pretty bored with the fishing. It was very cloudy and chilly, but I wasn’t seeing any additional flies, so I decided to go back to the car and drive back down the river to the Whale Rock area with the rock garden stretch that I enjoy.

Rock Garden Stretch Near Whale Rock

I parked at Latino Landing and walked up the road a bit to the area I targeted. Another fisherman with his dog appeared just above the area that I wanted to fish, but he fished the upper area a bit and then did a U turn. I stood and observed the water for five or ten minutes, but saw no activity. I didn’t want to disturb the nice water with my hopper/dropper so I tied on the CDC BWO and climbed up on a large boulder with a slanted top and lay on my side. Apparently I dozed off for a few minutes, but when I awoke I spotted a rise tight next to a protruding rock 15 feet above me. I dismounted from my perch and got in position to cast. The wind was blowing a bit making it difficult to place the cast where I wanted it, but on the fifth attempt I wrapped a cast to the left. The brown jumped on it instantly and I landed an eleven inch feisty fish.

Seeing no more rises in the sweet area where I’d caught the previous fish, I decided to explore the left bank. The current caressed a huge boulder along the bank, and I’d had success there before. The CDC BWO is not a great fly for prospecting, and I’d seen occasional caddis, so I tied on an olive body deer hair caddis and flicked it to the top of the run along the rock. Immediately a small six inch brown smacked my fly, and I quickly landed and released it. I watched the water for another few minutes and then prospected the top third of the area with the caddis, but nothing was doing. It was now 4PM, and I was feeling quite chilled so I called it quits and drove back to Denver.

Time: 11:30AM – 2:30PM

Location: Whale Rock area downstream from Nighthawk

Fish Landed: 0

South Platte River 04/09/2011 Photo Album

With weather reasonably nice on Saturday, but forecast to be cool and possibly damp on Sunday, Jane and I packed the Sante Fe and headed off to the South Platte River. Taxes could wait until Sunday when the weather wasn’t as nice.

We arrived at the parking lot below Whale Rock at around 11:15, and I was on the river fishing by 11:30. I helped Jane down the path to a spot near the river by the car, and then we walked down the road, and Jane snapped a few photos before I descended into the canyon to begin fishing. It was quite windy with intermittent clouds and sun. I walked a short stretch downstream to the point where the river spills over a cascade. The water was higher than usual for this time of year, but clear and quite fishable. Because of the extra flows and the wind, I tied on a pink San Juan worm and trailed a beadhead hares ear.

Dave Set to Pursue Trout on Saturday

I worked all the likely spots on the roadside of the river, but had no success. When I reached a point perhaps half way to the bend below the parking lot, I crossed as the river fanned out and enabled a reasonably safe ford. I walked down to a point across from where I’d begun, and fished back up along the west bank, again with no success for my efforts. I crossed back at the same point and fished a nice juicy deep run midway to the bend pool. I clipped off the San Juan worm and tied on the hares ear as a top fly and the GO2 caddis on the bottom. Neither of these flies interested fish in the deep run, and I proceeded to the bend pool.

Near Starting Point

Here I covered all the likely water and thought I spotted a rise in the V where the eddy swirled back along the main current. I also spotted what appeared to be two tiny BWO’s. I’d been fishing for an hour now, so I decided to return to the car, eat lunch and see how Jane was doing. Jane was seated in her chair by the river with her hood up and back toward the gusting wind. We loaded the car with her chair and my fishing gear and drove back up the road to the next parking lot, which I named Latino Landing. We ate our lunches in the car to remain sheltered from the wind.

Nice Hole

Beadhead Hares Ear and RS2

After lunch I hiked up the road, and Jane once again accompanied. Unfortunately another fisherman had come down the road and was standing across from the boulder stretch that I love that harbors many brown trout. I elected to move above him, and dropped down the bank and began nymphing a nice long deep run that feeds into the pool/boulder area. I switched out the GO2 caddis for a beadhead RS2. I added a second split shot to account for the deeper water and higher velocity current. Once again I was disappointed and moved on upstream along the left bank fishing likely runs. The wind was really gusting by now, and I was forced to stop fishing from time to time to wait out the gusts. My last stop was the nice deep run and pool across from a vertical rock wall. I worked this water for ten minutes or so and decided the fishing wasn’t worth all the hassle and returned to the car. Jane was sitting in the car reading. We packed everything up and drove back to Denver.

Time: 12:30PM – 3:30PM

Location: Oxbow Bend

Fish Landed: 0

South Platte River 11/07/2010 Photo Album

Our beautiful fall weather continued on Sunday, November 7 with high temperatures once again in the 70’s. Jane expressed a desire to get out of Denver, so we prepared to drive to the South Platte River below Deckers. I threw my fishing stuff in the van, but had low expectations as our primary purpose was to enjoy a wonderful fall day. Dan called as I was loading the car and asked to jump on board, so we picked up sandwiches at Jimmy Johns for three, then picked up Dan and headed to the river.

We arrived at the pullout at around noon and hiked the path to a spot next to the river where we ate our lunches. I’d chosen a spot that we frequented quite a bit when we lived in Castle Pines, but I hadn’t been there in the last 10 years or so. The river makes a huge oxbow bend away from the road, so we hiked on a nice path along the ridge around which the river bends. There is a campground and parking lot where the river meets the road again after making the large bend.

Jane Hangs on to Willows

I began fishing on the north side of the bend, but not too far from the farthest point away from the road. I tied on an olive woolly bugger with a black marabou tail and began working it in a nice deep riffle. I didn’t have any success, nor did I see any fish, so I moved upstream to an area where a large boulder protruded from the river. I spotted a fish hugging the bottom next to the boulder and worked the bugger past the fish numerous times to no avail. Since I could see the fish, there appeared to be no reaction to the woolly bugger. Meanwhile I thought I spotted a rise in the run above the rock where the river ran near the far bank. I quickly clipped off the streamer and tied on a dark olive body deer hair caddis. A second trout rose just below a small rock next to the bank. I began casting the caddis and on one of the drifts the fish rose and sipped the caddis. I set the hook and felt some weight for a split second before the fish flipped off the hook.

I continued throwing casts higher in the run next to the small rock, but I couldn’t entice a rise and assumed that the hook up had spooked the fish in the area. Around this time I spotted a couple of tiny mayflies on the surface and guessed these caused the few rises. I switched the caddis for a CDC BWO and drifted it through the area, but this also didn’t pay any dividends. Would they grab a tiny baetis nymph? Next I tied on a Chernobyl ant and trailed a small gold bead baetis nymph. I worked the area thoroughly, but eventually gave up and moved upstream. I used the Chernobyl and nymph to search some nice deep holes around large in-stream boulders and experienced one refusal to the Chernobyl just as it started to drag around a rock.

Oxbow Bend on South Platte River

I continued moving upstream to a very nice eddy at the south side of the oxbow bend. When the sun went behind a cloud I spotted several rises right where the eddy reached its furthest point and began flowing back upstream. I quickly clipped off the Chernobyl and nymph and tied the CDC BWO back on. I was certain that I’d catch this fish, but it didn’t happen. I continued fishing up through this area with several juicy eddies and sloughs next to the main current. Dan had hiked up from where he and Jane were sitting and chatting, and he watched my failed attempt at the riser. Next I moved up beyond the bend to a nice spot were a fallen tree provided a narrow window of cover. I probed this and once again saw no sign of a fish.

Nice Pool Before Current Hits Rock Wall

Looking Back at Rock Wall

It was now getting late in the afternoon and with the time change shadows were covering the southern half of the river. I quickly exited the river and hiked the north bank to a place where I could cross at a shallow riffle and then waded up the river to a high rock wall. Many years ago I’d fished to numerous rising fish here during a BWO hatch. Alas there were no rising fish on this visit. I made some nice drifts from above through the nice narrow pool just upstream of where the current ran against the rock wall with the CDC BWO and then switched back to the caddis to provide something a little larger in the absence of a specific hatch. None of these strategies worked so I decided to clip the caddis to my hook guide and head back to Jane and Dan and possibly give the bend spot another chance. Sure enough when I cast the caddis to the spot where I’d seen the fish rise several times in the eddy, a trout tipped up and sucked in my fly. Once again I raised my rod to set the hook and felt weight for a split second before the fish fell off. I let out a shriek of agony as I knew I’d just blown my best chance at avoiding a skunking. Jane and Dan asked what happened when I walked near their blanket, and I explained the near miss. I walked back to my initial scene of rising trout and tried some drifts there to no avail and then went further downstream and prospected some areas that looked encouraging with no success.

Dan and Jane's Comfy Setup

It was around 3:30 and the sun was setting behind the canyon walls, so I returned to Jane and Dan, and we hiked back to the car. It was a pleasant day for early November, and I had a bit of action even though I failed to land a fish.