Time: 9:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Downstream from Eleven Mile Canyon.

South Platte River 06/13/2016 Photo Album

Upon my return from Pennsylvania and Vermont, I was too busy catching up to consider fishing. The second week of June usually offers few options, as the rivers and streams of Colorado are usually swollen with high muddy run off, and given the average snow pack of the past winter, I had no reason to believe 2016 would be any different. By Sunday, however, I made solid headway on my list of backlogged “to do’s”, so I decided to take a peek at the DWR streamflow data.

As I expected, most flowing water options were not in play, but I was surprised to see that the South Platte River near Lake George displayed flows in the seventies. Two other tailwaters that stood out as possibilities for a fishing trip were the Yampa River below Stagecoach Reservoir and the Taylor River, but these destinations required longer trips and possibly an overnight stay. I made plans to visit the South Platte River once again on Monday, June 13. This represented my fifth trip to the Park County river, and the previous four were quite successful.

Rocks and Pockets

I arrived at the river by 9AM and quickly assembled my Sage four weight rod. I took some time to review my fly box since I put a major dent in my fat Alberts in Pennsylvania. My boat box, which I transport in the car on every fishing trip, did not contain additional fat Alberts, so I filled some open slots with pool toys and Charlie boy hoppers. By 9:30 I was ready to attack the river, and I began with a tan pool toy as my top fly, and beneath that I dangled a salvation nymph and beadhead hares ear. In the first half hour I managed to land a small rainbow and slightly larger brown trout on the hares ear, but some huge dark clouds appeared on the western horizon, and they were accompanied by the distant rumble of thunder.

By 10AM some rain began to fall from the sky and the thunder was closer, so I quickly found a place to wade to shore and climbed a bank to the Santa Fe. Just as I arrived the clouds opened, and I removed my gear and climbed into the drivers’ seat, where I watched sheets of rain descend for ten minutes. Once the precipitation dwindled to a light sprinkle, I prepared to resume my quest for trout by exchanging the pool toy for a fat Albert with a green floss body. The fat Albert is a very buoyant fly, and I wanted a top fly that could support two size 16 beadhead nymphs. I also removed the salvation nymph and replaced it with an emerald caddis pupa. Believe it or not, I found a small size 16 natural caddis with a gray body inside the car while I was waiting out the rain, and I seemed to recall that an emerald pupa sometimes matures into an adult with a gray body.

Nice Fish Landed in the Morning

I returned to my point of exit prior to the storm and began working my way upstream Suddenly the sky turned blue and the sun reappeared, and fish began to attack my nymphs. By noon I registered ten fish landed including the two prior to the storm, and all but two hammered the hares ear while the others favored the emerald caddis pupa. I approached the river with the same fast paced wade and cast strategy that worked in previous South Platte visits. The fish were smaller on average, but several of the first ten were husky twelve inch specimens.

Deep Coloration on This Brown Trout

After lunch I once again resumed my upstream migration, and this period was the most interesting phase of my day. Again some clouds blocked the sun, and this low light triggered several types of mayflies to emerge. I noticed small blue winged olives as well as a few that could be imitated by size sixteen flies. I was also delighted to view a smattering of pale morning duns. Generally PMD’s appear in decent numbers in the Deckers section of the South Platte in the middle of June, so I was quite pleased to see these size sixteen mayflies in the Lake George area on June 13.

Indian Paintbrush

The PMD observance caused me to rethink my fly alignment, and I swapped the emerald caddis pupa for a juju emerger. I conjectured that this medium olive creation would cover the larger BWO and the pale morning duns. In fact, I did land a couple trout that snatched the juju on the swing, but the hares ear continued to outproduce the second subsurface option. As I continued moving, the number of pale morning duns began to exceed BWO’s, so I once again made a swap and added a hare nation in place of the juju emerger. The hare nation is intended to copy the nymph stage of pale morning duns, and it did chip in with a few takers, but clearly the hares ear was preferred.

As these mayflies preoccupied my thoughts, the sky once again grew extremely dark and the sounds of thunder echoed across the valley. The deep reverberations were louder than the morning percussion, so I did not delay and quickly made my way back to the car as sheets of rain began to descend. I decided to use this break in fishing to move the car upstream closer to where I expected to end my day, and by the time I parked and turned off the windshield wipers, it was nearly over. The second storm sounded worse than number one, but it was much briefer and delivered less of a wallop.

Tail Wagging Rainbow Trout

The remainder of the afternoon continued in a manner similar to the morning and early afternoon, as I prospected all the likely pockets and runs with the three fly assemblage. At some point the hare nation seemed to be unproductive, and the very small BWO’s were still present, so I exchanged for a soft hackle emerger. This move landed me a fish or two, but the consistently favored fly was the hares ear nymph. By 3:30 I covered most of the attractive water, and once again some dark clouds appeared, although the threat of another storm was not imminent. Nevertheless I was weary from a day of aggressive wading and constant casting, so I called it quits with the fish counter resting on thirty.

Head Shot

During the afternoon I spotted several golden stonefly adults fluttering over the water, and I was curious if the fish might react to a dry fly. Over the last twenty minutes I fished a size ten Letort hopper with a light yellow body to see if I could attract any interest from the fish, but apparently the presence of these large insects on the water is not frequent enough for the fish to be tuned in at this early stage of the season. It was worth a try for future reference.

In conclusion I enjoyed a thirty fish day near the middle of June. I must admit that the predominant size of the fish was 6-9 inches, but I estimate that at least ten were in the eleven to twelve inch range, and that is not disappointing. I assumed that I would be fishing stillwater and managed to salvage one more decent outing on flowing water. I am thankful for the opportunity.

Fish Landed: 30

Time: 10:15AM – 7:00PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon just below Springer Gulch and special regulation water

South Platte River 05/23/2016 Photo Album

My love affair with the South Platte River encountered a small rough patch on Monday. It was another solid day, but I was spoiled by the three previous visits that yielded bountiful quantities of fish and above average size.

I contacted my young friend Danny Ryan to determine whether he was available to join me, and of course I touted the phenomenal days that left me in a state of euphoria on May 12, 13 and 20. Very little arm twisting was required, and Danny texted me that he cleared his calendar and planned to join me on a trip to Eleven Mile Canyon.

I arrived at Danny’s apartment at 7:15, and this enabled us to pass through the entrance gate for Eleven Mile Recreation Area by 9:30. We were about to discover one of the factors that made Monday more challenging and less enjoyable than my previous visits. We slowly drove on the dirt road that snakes along the nine mile length of the river, and once we passed Springer Gulch, the boundary with the catch and release section, every pullout was occupied with one or two vehicles. How could this many fishermen be on the river on a Monday? Does anyone still work in this nation? I speculated with Danny that the South Platte River in South Park is the only river relatively close to Denver that is not affected by early run off, and this explained the hordes of fly fishermen swarming along the upper reaches of the river. The other explanation was that too many people are reading my blog, but I suspect that reason is not likely.

We executed a U-Turn at the parking lot below the dam and returned along the dusty dirt road toward the entrance gate. After two miles we passed the border of the special regulation water, and we continued for another .5 mile. Here we noticed that the gradient increased, and the river passed through a narrows section with huge round boulders and deep plunge pools. This lasted for a short distance, and then the stream bed opened up a bit, and we decided to park and test our skills in this more moderate canyon section.

When I opened the car door, I met a chilly blast of wind, and this weather condition would be a constant irritant over the course of the entire day except for the evening period after 4PM. I elected to wear my Adidas pullover along with my raincoat as a second layer windbreaker. There were a few brief windows of sunshine, but overcast skies and a chilly breeze predominated for most of the day. I never experienced much success fishing after a cold front moved through an area, and Monday’s weather seemed to be one of those days. Certainly the atmosphere was cooler and drier than what Steve and I faced on Friday May 20. I blame the slower action and smaller fish on the combination of more adverse weather and crowds of fishermen forcing us to accept a secondary stream section.

Nevertheless Danny and I persisted. Experimenting with fishing the unregulated portion of Eleven Mile Canyon was actually an idea I pondered on Friday, but I was reluctant to suggest it to Steve when the highly desirable segment of the catch and release was open and unoccupied. I did well in the Happy Meadows area, another section open to bait fishermen, so I was convinced that I could catch fish in the section of Eleven Mile where standard regulations applied. The crowded circumstances of Monday forced me to test my theory.

Beautiful Brown Trout

Danny and I both began fishing with dry/dropper configurations. In my case I tied a fat Albert, ultra zug bug, and beadhead hares ear to my line; and I began to prospect all the usual locations that could harbor trout that evaded the bait and spin fishermen over the weekend. It took twenty minutes, but eventually I was on the board with a nice twelve inch brown trout. At eleven o’clock I spotted a few blue winged olives hovering over the stream, so I swapped the hares ear for a soft hackle emerger. Between our starting time of 10:15 and our lunch break at noon, I landed six trout, and all were brown trout. Three of my catch chose the soft hackle emerger as their food source, and the other three were attracted to the ultra zug bug.

Danny Prospects a Promising Run

After lunch Danny and I continued our progress upstream, and we actually passed under the bridge at Springer Gulch and fished the very bottom section of the special regulation area up until 3PM. At this time we bumped into another fishermen, so we reversed and returned to the car. During the early afternoon session, I abandoned the soft hackle emerger, as it ceased to deliver results, and instead I reverted to the beadhead hares ear. My lineup therefore consisted of the fat Albert indicator and the ultra zug bug and beadhead hares ear. The fish counter ratcheted up to ten during this time period, and my netted fish included a husky fifteen inch rainbow. Hooking and landing this fish was clearly the highlight of my day. I angled a short cast around a huge boulder to a narrow deep slot, and after a very brief drift I lifted to make another cast. This action apparently looked like escaping food to the rainbow, and it struck the beadhead hares ear.

Dave’s Best on the Day

Once we returned to the car, we decided to make another move toward the gate, and this time we found a small pullout next to the river just southeast of the single tunnel. Once again we applied our dry/dropper technique to water that was similar to the section fished earlier. I managed to add five additional fish to my tally, but these fish were smaller on average, with one or two reaching the twelve inch measurement. Since Danny works long hours, he wished to take advantage of a rare fishing day, and this motivated us to continue fishing until 7:30.

Beadhead Hares Ear Performed

Over the last hour I endured several refusals to the fat Albert, so I theorized that the fish were focusing their attention of surface food. In conjunction with this logic I decided to experiment with some dry flies that were more natural in appearance. I cast a light gray size 16 deer hair caddis in a nice pool with no response, and then I switched to a light olive size 12 stimulator. Neither of these options generated any interest, so apparently my hypothesis was off base. Danny meanwhile persisted with the dry/dropper arrangement and managed to net a few small fish on the hares ear and salad spinner.

In conclusion I ended my day with fifteen landed fish, and that sounds fairly decent. Consider however that I fished for nearly eight hours, and this translates to a catch rate of two fish per hour, and that is fairly average. In addition the size of the fish was beneath my experience on each of the three previous trips to the South Platte River. On a positive note I managed double digit fish on May 23, which is a decent accomplishment for a stream, when most of Colorado is in the early stages of run off. Also I spent my day in a beautiful canyon with my friend Danny who I had not fished with since March. Danny also achieved a double digit fish count day, so in retrospect it was a fun and productive day.

Trout Landed: 15

Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon near twin tunnels and then across from a picnic area outside the special regulation water.

South Platte River 05/20/2016 Photo Album

Euphoria lingered as I sat down to craft this report of my fishing trip to the South Platte River on Friday May 20. The quantity of fish landed did not compare with my experience the previous Thursday and Friday, but the quality of fish is what caused my mind to dwell on a fun day.

Two of my fishing friends had rotator cuff surgery in 2016. Steve Supple had his operation performed on March 10, and his doctor informed him that he could resume fishing three months later. Steve is right handed and his right shoulder was repaired. Steve’s wife, Judy, emailed Jane on Tuesday to inform us that Steve was ready to make his first fishing trip.

It was a week since I enjoyed fast and steady action on the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon, and I yearned to return while flows remained in the ideal range. I suggested to Steve that we make Eleven Mile our destination, and after he checked the DWR stream flow data and determined that releases from Eleven Mile Reservoir continued to offer near ideal conditions at 75 cfs, we eagerly made plans to visit the South Platte River on Friday.

I arrived at Steve’s house in Lone Tree at 7:10, and we quickly transferred my gear to his Subaru, and we were on our way. An uneventful drive brought us to a pullout near the twin tunnels on the dirt road that borders the river at 10AM, and we waded into the river by 10:30. Steve chose to begin casting his nymphs in a gorgeous long run and pool just below a long slender island. The two channels merged at this point and created an inviting riffle and deep pool.

I meanwhile walked downstream for thirty yards to some faster water that contained numerous exposed boulders and deep pockets. This river structure was more to my liking, and I began with the usual fat Albert trailing a beadhead ultra zug bug and a beadhead hares ear. I tied ten fat Alberts this winter, and I continue to use the same one that served me during all my 2016 fishing trips since early March. I am sure it set some sort of record for hours of continuous service without breaking off or being sacrificed to a tree.

In addition to the flows being nearly ideal, the weather was similarly favorable. As we began fishing in the morning, the temperature was in the upper fifties, so I wore my fleece; but the bright sun amidst a deep blue sky quickly warmed the air until the mercury moved into the sixties. There were several periods of extensive cloud cover, but never any significant precipitation, and the gray skies enhanced the fishing conditions.

In the first half hour I methodically worked my way up the river and prospected some very appealing water without any positive results. When I reached Steve, he was on the side of the river below the road, so I approached the gorgeous deep run from the opposite bank. I made some nice drifts from the top of the run along the main center seam, and on the fifth such pass the fat Albert made a dive. I reacted with a hook set, and chaos ensued as an energized rainbow trout charged up and down the run. I maintained contact through several sudden streaks, but then the missile made an abrupt turn and shed the hook. It was fun to finally connect with a fish, but disappointment reigned with the loss of a substantial hook up.

A Nice Fat Rainbow

Just before this sequence of events Steve landed a very spunky fourteen inch rainbow from his side of the seam on a RS2, and I paused to snap some photographs before moving on. Steve remained at the junction pool while I migrated through the right channel around the long narrow island. Quite a few nice deep pockets and runs presented themselves, and I capitalized on the attractive water by landing five trout before returning to check in with Steve at approximately 11:30. Of the five fish that felt my net, three were brown trout in the twelve to thirteen inch range, and two were rainbows. One bow was a chunky fourteen inch fish and the second striped beauty was a fifteen inch beauty although not as wide as the first one.

Speckled Rainbow in My Net

When Steve informed me that he landed his fish on a RS2, I swapped my hares ear nymph for a soft hackle emerger, and three of the fish on the north channel nipped the emerger, and the other two grabbed the ultra zug bug. This brief morning session built my confidence that I could use my favorite dry/dropper technique to catch fish in Eleven Mile Canyon. I was impressed with the quality of the fish, and trout seemed to materialize in most of the locations where I expected to find them.

This Rainbow Was Long But Not As Chunky as Previous

When I joined up with Steve, I learned that he landed another fish. I informed Steve that I planned to continue upstream beyond the long slow pool below some high vertical rock walls, and I committed to return by noon for lunch. The plan played out as I envisioned, and I encountered some nice faster pockets and runs above the long pool. In the remaining half hour before lunch I landed three more healthy fish including two rainbows and a brown. One of the rainbows was another feisty thirteen inch well fed specimen. Just before noon I found a nice path that scaled the steep bank and brought me back to the road just west of the second tunnel.

Wow a Fatty

As I walked back toward the car, I met a trio of fishermen scaling the steep bank between the twin tunnels. The older of the three was struggling to climb the last ten feet as the loose gravel soil was absent of any toe holds. I offered the young gentleman on the road my wading staff, and he quickly accepted it and extended it to the struggling climber who grabbed the end. With the assistance of the young friend and the sturdy stick, the trailing fisherman finally crested the rim, and thank you’s were offered all around.

After lunch at the Subaru Steve and I decided to descend the same path that I used to return for lunch. Steve mentioned that he fished the water upstream of the second tunnel on previous trips, and he viewed it as an enjoyable area, although on many occasions it was occupied by guides and clients. We quickly gathered our rods and descended to the edge of the river, and we were pleased to see the absence of other fishermen. Steve found another juicy deep run and began to explore the depths with his indicator nymph rig.

Brilliant Stripe and Cheeks

Meanwhile I stayed with the dry/dropper combination and quickly found some very nice deep pockets, slots and runs where the river rushed around numerous exposed boulders. The river structure was similar to the right braid from the morning, and it matched my favorite type of fly fishing playground. In the first fifteen minutes I failed to generate any interest, and blue winged olives seemed to be absent, so I reverted to the beadhead hares ear. The hares ear was all I needed on Thursday and Friday May 12 and 13, so I was convinced that the trout in the upper section of Eleven Mile would relish it as well. In addition Steve and I observed two mayflies that were size sixteen, and I had a hunch that the larger hares ear might match the nymph stage of the larger mayflies that we saw.

I Love This Type of Water

My hunch was on target, and I began to land trout with increased regularity. Deep pockets and narrow troughs where currents merged were nearly sure things, and I grew quite confident that if I could find such places, I could extract a fish. Between lunch and 2PM I added six additional fish to my count, and nearly all were in the twelve to fifteen inch range. Rainbow trout predominated this fishing period, as they accounted for five of the six fish landed. Whereas most of the brown trout that I landed in Eleven Mile Canyon measured in the twelve to thirteen inch range, the rainbows on average were strong aggressive fish in the twelve to fifteen inch size slot. The two hours in the early afternoon of May 20 represented some of the best action of 2016. The beadhead hares ear was once again the star, as it enticed all but one of the early afternoon netted fish.

At two o’clock I wandered back to find Steve who reported slow action. He landed one trout in the initial run, but the river residents proved uncooperative after that. Since another fisherman was in view above my ending point, we decided to return to the car and then explore some water downstream outside the special regulation area. We were amazed at the number of fishermen that arrived while we were occupying prime locations near the twin tunnels, as nearly every available pullout contained one or two vehicles. After we passed Springer Gulch we drove for an additional couple miles until we reached a small picnic area on the right that contained a rest room facility. Steve parked here, and we crossed the road to examine the quality of the river. It appeared to be similar to the segments that we fished earlier in the day, so we agreed to give it another hour.

A Surprise Cutbow

Steve took a position halfway across the river below another nice run, and I walked down the road .1 mile and then dropped down a short bank and began fishing some deep pools and pockets around large rounded protruding boulders. I moved through some exceptionally deep pools without any success, but then I reached a section where the river widened a bit, and I was able to wade and reach some very attractive places in the middle and opposite side of the river. Finally my dry/dropper technique paid dividends, and over the last hour I landed three healthy trout that averaged twelve inches. One was a cutbow and two were wild brown trout with vivid red and black spots.

Brilliant Spots on This Wild Brown

It was just a superb day in the catch and release section of Eleven Mile Canyon. It was also certainly my best showing in the highly pressured tailwater, and I discovered that using the dry/dropper technique along with covering a lot of water yielded excellent results. I focused on faster pocket water sections because this type of structure worked well for me in the downstream areas of the South Platte the previous week. Also I continue to believe that most fishermen (fly, spinner and bait) avoid this type of water. The typical fisherman gravitates to long deep runs at the head of smooth pools. Fishing pocket water is hard work and necessitates careful wading while leaning into a forceful current. Rocks and sticks tend to grab flies and fly lines, and short drifts dictate frequent lifting and casting. All of these circumstances cause extreme fatigue on legs, elbows, shoulders and the back. Only a dedicated few attempt this style of fishing, thus this type of water is far less pressured.

I am already eager to make yet another trip to the South Platte River in the South Park area. As long as the water managers maintain flows in the 75 – 100 cfs range, exceptional fishing should continue. Stay tuned.

Fish Landed: 17

Time: 10:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Near Happy Meadows Campground.

South Platte River 05/13/2016 Photo Album

Insanity is continuing to do the same thing but expecting different results. We have all heard this proposition. Is the corollary to this, therefore, that continuing to do the same thing will yield the same result? The corollary proposition is what I set out to test on Friday May 13. The other question weighing on my thoughts was whether it was a good idea to engage in a fishing trip on Friday the 13th?

Thursday was a spectacular day on the South Platte River, and the conditions for Friday were likely to match the previous day in nearly every aspect. The high temperature was expected to be in the mid-60’s in the Lake George area and the stream flows continued to release from Eleven Mile Reservoir at a very benign 64 cfs. I had my eye on the section of the South Platte River downstream from Lake George near the Happy Meadows Campground.

I sampled this stretch one time several years ago for a few hours, and I landed eight small fish, so I knew that trout were present. The area impressed me as a haven of bait and spin fishermen, so I suspected that it received considerably more pressure than the Eleven Mile segment, and since normal regulations apply, there was a greater risk that fish were harvested. At the very least it was likely that the bigger fish were killed and consumed for table fare. Perhaps I would undertake a two plus hour drive only to discover that small fish resided in the river, but the weather and scenery would certainly compensate for a pedestrian fishing experience. Most of the other stream options along the Front Range were beginning to exhibit the higher flows related to run off conditions, so I decided to gamble on the South Platte River in the Happy Meadows Campground area.

If you read my post from Thursday, you may recall that I suffered some disappointing equipment failure, so before I departed on Friday, I decided to attempt a contrived temporary repair. The metal button on the heel of my right boot snapped off, and with no place to hook the rubber tab; it flapped, and the rear section of the sole was loose. I was concerned that this situation could worsen if the tab wedged beneath a rock, so I created an on stream solution by knotting a section of 0X monofilament through the hole in the tab and then around my ankle. This held for a few hours until I made a quick movement which caused the heavy duty mono to snap.

Another Contrived Boot Repair Held Up Better on Friday

My new solution on Friday morning was to deploy a small bungee cord. I hooked one end of the cord through the hole in the tab and then stretched it across the front of my boot and around the other side before I hooked the other metal end of the bungee through the same hole. Voila! The bungee cord was sized perfectly and it stretched enough to hold the rubber tab taut against the heel of the boot, and thus the sole was lifted up against the mid-sole. I was pleased with my creativity, and the temporary fix did in fact bridge me through a day of fishing.

I took my time preparing for the Friday fishing venture, and therefore I departed the house by 7:40AM, and this enabled me to cruise into a narrow dirt pullout a mile or two below Happy Meadows Campground by 10AM. The air temperature was around sixty degrees with a slight breeze blowing, so I opted for a single fleece layer. It was warmer than Thursday, but it remained slightly uncomfortable without an extra layer over my fishing shirt. As was the case on Thursday I assembled my Sage four piece four weight for a day of fishing on a relatively small river.

Cannot Wait to Drift Flies Through That Run

I could continue to describe my tactics and fly choices, but it was really a fairly simple scenario. In the opening paragraph I questioned whether continuing to do the same things would yield the same results? In addition to weather and stream flows, I utilized the same fly patterns and same tactics as Thursday, and the results were in fact quite similar. At this point I emphatically declare that the beadhead hares ear nymph is back in a big way. On Friday I slapped on the same yellow fat Albert and then added a beadhead hares ear, and I utilized my favorite dry/dropper technique to prospect all the likely runs, riffles pockets and pools; and the results attest to the effectiveness of this fly fishing strategy.

A Beast

The fish in the South Platte River simply have a love affair with the beadhead hares ear nymph. By noon when I quit for lunch, I registered nineteen landed fish with another five or six brief hook ups that escaped. Once again the pace of fishing was insane. Admittedly the size of the fish was a bit lacking with numerous seven and eight inch fish, but there were enough twelve and thirteen inchers in the mix to keep me guessing. A few fish slurped the fat Albert on the surface, and an occasional refusal to the large buoyant indicator fly generated some frustration, but the constant effectiveness of the hares ear induced me to persist with the winning combination.

Tiny Slot Yielded a Decent Fish

After lunch it seemed that I covered a few juicy pockets with no results, so I decided to augment my offerings. I added an ultra zug bug in the top position and moved the beadhead hares ear to the end of the three fly lineup. Whether because I moved onto better water, or because of the addition of a second fly, the action resumed at a torrid pace. Toward the late afternoon I bumped into another fisherman who was tossing live minnows in a long deep run and pool. I did not want to infringe on his space, and the water he was covering was not to my liking, so I hiked back to the car and drove upstream a half mile and then reentered the river and resumed my progression.

Gorgeous Rainbow

The late afternoon section featured more white water and deep pockets with numerous large protruding boulders, and the ultra zug bug began to shine. I estimate that greater than 50% of the landed fish displayed the ultra zug bug in the 1.5 hour session from 2:30 until I quit at 4. In addition a higher percentage of netted fish were rainbow trout, whereas, the morning split was closer to 50/50. Several of the rainbows were very chunky thirteen and fourteen inch battlers.

A Wide Shallow Section

Friday was another fabulous day on the South Platte River. My gamble paid off in a big way, and the hares ear nymph temporarily resumed its place at the top of Dave’s favorite fishing flies. Will this last through the summer? Stay tuned. I continued to do things the same, and the results were similar. Friday the 13th did not seem to have a negative impact on my fishing results.

Fish Landed: 58

Time: 10:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 05/12/2016 Photo Album

Sometimes the stars align. Thursday represented one of the most insane fishing days I ever experienced. Did I really land sixty-two fish? Yes I did plus or minus two or three. I probably had ten to fifteen additional hooked fish that I was unable to bring to my net. The only downside was the size of the fish; but constant action, while most streams balloon with run off, is nothing to scoff at.

In addition to a great day of fishing, I received positive news on my Tuesday blood test related to my January surgery. In the grand scheme of things, that was probably greater cause for celebration than any sort of fishing accomplishment. But this is a fishing blog, so I will stick to the script.

I got off to a nice early start and arrived at the river and prepared to fish with my Sage four weight four piece rod. The air temperature was in the low 40’s, as I waded into the water, so I threw on my fleece to maintain some semblance of warmth, although I expected the temperature to rise into the sixties as the morning progressed into a sunny afternoon. The river was flowing at 64 cfs, and it looked nearly ideal. There was enough water to allow wading without requiring excessive caution, yet I could easily cross from side to side to fish attractive runs and pockets

Gorgeous Setting

One piece of bad news that placed a small blemish on a wonderful day was the discovery of a defect in my right wading boot. Jane purchased the Korkers for me as a Christmas gift, so I only used them this season; and as I prepared to fish, I noticed that the rubber loop at the heal was dangling away from the boot. I compared the right boot to the left and realized that the button or rivet over which the rubber loop stretched was missing. Hopefully this can be repaired and is covered by the warranty. I feel like a wading boot should last more than a couple months before breaking. I took a few minutes to contrive a repair, and it lasted for roughly half my time on the water. I cut a three foot length of 0X monofilament and threaded it through the hole in the rubber loop. I then tied a loop on the other end and wrapped the line around my ankle, and finally I used the end without a loop to tie a clinch knot through the mono loop. Unfortunately there was too much play in the leader, so I then wound the slack around the boa dial until it was taut. It worked for awhile, and I was rather proud of my creativity.

On Stream Boot Repair

To start my day of fishing I tied on a yellow fat Albert. I hoped that this would be the only fly required to dupe South Platte River trout, but unfortunately it was not the answer. Almost immediately I observed a refusal, and several juicy pockets failed to generate any interest, so I pulled up the fly and attached a beadhead hares ear on a three foot leader. This adjustment proved to be a stroke of genius, as I went on to land seventeen fish between 10:30 and my lunch break at noon. All the trout hammered the beadhead hares ear except for one gorgeous fifteen inch brown that rose and crushed the fat Albert. This was the largest brown trout I ever caught in Eleven Mile, and it was also the biggest trout landed on Thursday, May 12. The fat Albert fooled one fish on Thursday, and it was the largest of the day.

Fat Albert Fooled This Guy

My biggest concern was that I would deplete my supply of beadhead hares ear nymphs. In the morning two broke off and one unraveled. After lunch I decided to test a different fly in case my beadhead hares ears disappeared. Why not, as my fish counter already registered seventeen fish? I replaced the hares ear with an emerald caddis pupa, and I began to prospect the attractive spots in a manner similar to my morning experience. After coming up empty in two spots that screamed fish, I concluded that the trout were selective to a hares ear nymph. Instead of exchanging the emerald caddis for the hares ear, I added it on a second dropper, so that I was fishing three flies. This would now be an experiment to see if the fish ate only the hares ear, or whether they attacked both subsurface flies.

Beadhead Hares Ear Ruled

Guess what happened? Nearly all the fish landed in the afternoon grabbed the hares ear. It was amazing. In nearly every deep pocket, moderate riffle and deep run, a fish materialized from nowhere to snatch the hares ear as it tumbled along behind the fat Albert. In many cases I could observe fish move a foot or more to intercept the simple gray beadhead nymph. At one point I removed the emerald caddis pupa because it did not seem to be serving any purpose, but when I then fished with only the beadhead hares ear, it seemed that my catch rate deteriorated. I concluded that the two fly combination somehow attracted more fish, even though they were predisposed to take the hares ear

Instead of an emerald caddis pupa, I elected to knot an ultra zug bug to my line as the top fly, and this simple nymph did hook four or five fish. By 3:30 I reached fifty fish, and two more hares ears unraveled as the thread was severed by the repeated attacks of sharp teeth. Quite a few additional hares ears remained in my MFC fly box, but I once again decided to experiment. Over the course of the afternoon, the sky clouded up often, and during these gray periods I witnessed a fair number of blue winged olives. I never bothered to switch to a BWO imitation because the fish seemed to relish the hares ear, and who was I to tamper with success? But now I removed a beadhead soft hackle emerger from the fly box and added it to my line below the ultra zug bug. The soft hackle emerger accounted for four or five fish in the late afternoon time period, but it also generated many more long distance releases perhaps due to the smaller hook size.

Pink Stripe

Fly fishing on Thursday was outstanding and reduced to its simplest form. The beadhead hares ear was what the fish wanted, and I probably could have landed more fish if I yielded to their preference. Instead I over analyzed and experimented with other patterns. Since fly selection was a no brainer, the only challenge was wading and moving quickly from place to place. It was important to recognize the water types that yielded fish. The best spots were deep narrow runs or V-shaped pockets where currents merged. If I allowed the flies to drift beyond the sweet spot and then lifted, I hooked numerous larger than average fish from this type of structure. Riffles over a rocky bottom with moderate depth were also productive, and deep pockets longer that five feet yielded many fish as well.

Some Nice Water Ahead

It was a blast. I love this sort of fast paced action. I covered more than a mile of the river, and in most cases I found fish where I expected to find fish. Hopefully the ideal flows will last a bit longer so I can enjoy another opportunity to fish the South Platte River.

Fish Landed: 62

Time: 10:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: South Platte River

Fish Landed: 3

South Platte River 03/28/2016 Photo Album

After a nine day road trip and four days in the heat of Arizona, I was anxious to get my waders wet in a Colorado trout stream. My young friend, Danny Ryan, sent me a text message to check on my availability for Monday March 28. Danny did not need to initiate even slight coaxing, as I was on board immediately. Weather was another positive factor boosting my urge to fish, as high temperatures were projected to reach the low sixties on Monday.

I picked Danny up at his apartment at 8:30, and we made a quick stop at the Discount Tackle shop on South Santa Fe to restock our supplies of tippet material. Before long we pulled in to the parking lot near the South Platte River and began our quest for our favorite cold water species. Danny logged several days of fishing at this location, so he stepped into the guide role. We expected to do mainly subsurface nymphing, so I set up my thingamabobber configuration with five feet of level line below the indicator. Next I tied on a salad spinner and an RS2 and began to dead drift nymphs through a nice run of moderate depth. I began fishing on the gravel beach side of the river, whereas Danny assumed a position on a high bank.

A Wide Fish

From Danny’s high vantage point he could more readily spot fish, but he also shouted out positions to me so I could take advantage of his observation. We fished for only fifteen minutes when Danny shouted that he had a fish on. I glanced in his direction, and sure enough a large football shaped rainbow was thrashing on the end of his line, and his five weight rod exhibited a massive bend. Danny followed the fish down the river until he found a spot where he could clumsily slide down the bank, and here he was finally able to wiggle the large thrashing fish into his net. I immediately dropped my rod and line and rushed to a position opposite Danny, and he then waded across the shallow tail of the run so I could snap some photos. It was a thrilling start to our day on the river. Danny’s trophy fish for the day snatched a salad spinner from the drift.

Vivid Speckles on This Cutbow

We each resumed our positions and continued drifting nymphs through the twenty yard section of the river. Danny could spot numerous decent fish, and the prospect of landing another large rainbow kept us very focused on our venture. After another twenty minutes of fruitless casting I heard Danny once again shout that he hooked a fish. Again he carefully maneuvered his way downstream along the high bank, until eventually the rebellious foe wrapped his line around a branch that was protruding from the bank. I was certain that the fish was gone, but Danny carefully moved into the river and found the fish just downstream of the branch. Once he marked the position of the trout, he was able to slide his net underneath while lifting the branch. The effort was worth it, as he held a gorgeous cutbow in front of his chest so I could once again snap a photo. The cutbow displayed a vast quantity of fine vivid speckles, and Danny grinned from from ear to ear.

Of course I was elated for Danny’s early success, but at the same time seeing the two nice trout in his net spurred me to focus even more on my effort to join the party. Danny traded positions with me, and I assumed the perch on top of the high bank. From where I was standing I could see four or five decent sized fish in addition to three or four active spawners that we avoided out of respect for ethical fishing practices. I executed drift after drift over the sighted fish and watched both my indicator and the movement of the fish, but none of my efforts yielded a hook up.

Two Large Spawners

There was a very nice deep run and pool thirty yards below our water, but another fisherman claimed first rights by arriving before us. Late in the morning, however, we looked downstream and noticed the area was devoid of fishermen, so we quickly moved. As we began drifting our nymphs, we noticed a pod of at least fifteen large fish hovering along the current seam where the river bottom transitioned from light sand to a dark color. Initially we were quite excited with the opportunity to fish to this significant quantity of large targets, but after a few minutes we realized that it was a school of spawning walleye that held in the deep run. Of course I was not opposed to catching large walleye on a fly, but our next discovery was that these fish had an acute case of lockjaw, and they were not showing interest in our flies.

After fifteen minutes of fruitless casting we abandoned the popular hole and walked upstream to a nice riffle and run area above our starting point. As we waded across the river, Danny spotted a rainbow in some riffles, so he paused to cast to his fish. I went farther downstream and worked my nymphs along the bank in some narrow slack water areas, but I was prospecting and quickly grew weary of blind casting. Danny circled around me and approached a deep section next to some downed timber, and once again he hooked up on a monster fish. This time however the potential trophy spit the hook, and Danny was in a state of disappointment. I began drifting my nymphs so that they tumbled over some gravel and then dropped off into the top of the deep hole above Danny’s position. Again I was thwarted in my efforts, so I made several half-hearted casts to a narrow deep run along some brush on the far bank. Much to my amazement, a fish darted from cover and snatched the RS2. The rainbow that splashed on the end of my line did not measure up to Danny’s earlier conquests, but I was nevertheless exuberant to land a thirteen inch fish and register my first fish of the day.

A nice deep slow moving pool was just upstream from the location that Danny and I were fishing, but another fisherman occupied it when we first arrived, and he appeared to be casting dry flies. While Danny continued to pursue the behemoth that he hooked momentarily, I noticed that the pool was now vacated, so I made my move to claim it. I waded into the tail of the pool, and I did indeed observe several rises. In addition I could see five or six fish cruising the pool. These fish however seemed to be more interested in a mating ritual than eating. Since I did see a couple rises, I decided to abandon the thingamabobber nymph rig, so I sat down on the gravel and made the laborious switch to a tapered leader. To the end of the tippet I knotted a size 22 CDC blue winged olive, and then I paused to observe. It was not long before I noticed a rise near the center of the pool so I began stripping line to lengthen my cast.

Have you ever had one of those days when adversity finds you at every turn? As I began stripping line from my reel, I made repetitive tugs, but after I had twenty-five feet of line out, I felt no more resistance. I looked down at my reel, and I could not believe what I was seeing. The fly line was coiled on the gravel, and the severed end of another end of line protruded from my reel. Somehow my fly line tore as I was stripping line. What should I do? The tear was 25-30 feet from the end, so I concluded that I could knot the line and fish with the length beyond the knot. If I hooked a large fish that stripped line, I was out of luck as the line knot would surely catch, but the only other option was to hike back to the car and retrieve my four weight rod.

I threaded the spooled line through my guides and tied a square knot to reconnect the green line. The square knot eventually unraveled, so I replaced it with a loop to loop connection, and that endured for the remainder of the day. Initially I was disturbed by this turn of events, as I could not get into my normal casting rhythm, but eventually I learned to deal with the shortened amount of running line. I resumed casting to the vicinity of the observed rises and moved up along the bank, so I could reach the midsection without making long casts. I wish I could say that I matched the hatch and landed a batch of large rainbows, but the best I could do was two splashy refusals across from me next to a large submerged boulder. Another fisherman arrived and prepared to fish above me, and Danny approached from below, and I was weary of exercising my arm with no results, so we looped around the new arrival and moved farther upstream.

At the next attractive spot I ceded the nice water to Danny, as I sat down on the bank and ate my lunch. When I resumed I converted to a Fat Albert foam attractor matched with a beadhead hares ear and soft hackle emerger. Unfortunately this approach and fly combination did not pay dividends, so I continued up the river. It was now around 1PM, and although the sky was mainly blue and devoid of cloud cover, I began to notice sporadic small mayflies taking flight. A sparse blue winged olive hatch commenced, and I began to notice occasional rises in the slow moving pools.

Dave Shows a Small Brown

I reached a long smooth section of water above a large deadfall, and here I paused and observed four rises from separate fish spaced out across the pool. I clipped off the three fly dry/dropper set up and tied a different CDC olive to my line and began drifting the tiny imitation over the scene of the previous rises. Nothing. Perhaps I needed to try a different fly? I tied on another CDC olive and this was similarly unmolested. Next I gazed in my fly box and noticed a size 22 parachute olive with a tiny white wing post. The body on this fly appeared to be narrower than the CDC versions, so I gave it a shot. I cast the parachute three quarters upstream and allowed it to drift along the bank, and thwack, a fish surged and slurped my offering.

The confident eater proved to be a nine inch brown, but I was nevertheless excited to have found a fly that a fish regarded as food. I continued casting to the places where other rises occurred, but the hatch waned, and the fish showed no interest. Danny was downstream working his nymph magic, and it was getting late in the afternoon, so I decided to once again move to new scenery.

I waded upstream a bit and noticed another twenty to thirty yard long pool. As I paused and observed, I saw a dimple along the right bank near the top where the current angled toward the bank. I crossed to the other side, so I would be opposite the high bank and worked my way to the top where I spotted the single rise. When I arrived I stood motionless for a few minutes, and my patience paid off when I saw another greedy rise in front of a long submerged rock a couple feet out from the bank. My heart beat ticked up a bit, and I began to toss casts five feet above the location of the rise. I made five or six such casts, and I was about to give up, when I saw a decent fish dart from cover. The yellow missile chomped on my tiny blue winged olive offering, and I set the hook and played a thirteen inch brown trout to my net. It was not fat and was evidently recovering from the winter, but I was thrilled to net this gold colored beauty.

13″ Brown Trout

I continued upstream and scouted another very tempting bend pool, but the hatch was now over, and I saw no rises to straggling mayflies. Continuing to fish the size 22 olive was a fools errand, and I did not relish changing back to the dry/dropper configuration, so I retreated downstream and found Danny. We both agreed that it was getting late, and I was tired and hungry, so I cajoled him into calling it a day. We progressed so far up the river that it took thirty minutes via a well marked path to return to the parking lot.

It was a gorgeous early spring day, and although I did not catch many fish, I did enjoy fishing dry flies to rising fish. This was my first surface fishing in 2016, and I was rewarded with three brightly colored jewels. A day of fishing is always a success in my book.

Time: 12:00PM – 3:00PM

Location: Downstream from Deckers

Fish Landed: 0

South Platte River 02/29/2016 Photo Album

Monday February 29 was more than the first fishing outing of the year, as I took my first step toward a comeback from surgery on January 27. How appropriate that this significant stride occurred  on leap day, although I must admit that I did not execute a leap, but instead completed a slow shuffle into the ice cold flows of the South Platte River near Deckers, CO.

Although some residual abdominal soreness remained along with some other expected hardships associated with my type of surgery, I felt reasonably strong, and I could no longer deny the strong urge I felt to enjoy the unseasonably warm February weather. Would my arm still remember how to make the familiar casting stroke, and more importantly would the upper abdominal soreness come into play as I picked up line and generated a backcast? There was only one way to find out.

The temperature in Denver was forecast to reach the low 60’s on leap day, and this translated to the mid-fifties for Deckers, so Jane and I decided to make the trip. We arrived at the large bend pullout below Deckers by 11:30, and by the time I climbed into my waders and new wading boots and assembled my rod it was 11:45. The wind was gusting in a fierce unrelenting manner, so I decided to consume my lunch before I faced this adversity.

After lunch I walked along the road until I was just above a bridge, and here I slowly slid below a large boulder that served as a temporary windbreak. I strung my rod and before I could carefully shuffle into the river, Jane appeared along the road at the start of her one hour walk. I quickly shouted to her, and she approached on a short path and snapped a few photos of the momentous occasion. It was my first day of fishing in 2016, my first outing since surgery, and surely the first time I ever fished on a leap day.

Back in the Water after Surgery

I began my quest for the first trout of the new season with a flesh San Juan worm and a RS2. I quickly discovered that my greatest risk was a slip or stumble, as this would clearly aggravate my still tender upper abdominal muscles. For this reason I moved slowly, and my progress was interspersed with several long rest periods. The caution due to abdominal soreness is true, but the rest periods were provoked by two ridiculous tangles that forced me to snip off both my flies in order to straighten the entire mess.

After twenty minutes of casting practice, the indicator zipped upstream, and I set the hook and felt my line connected to a fish. Unfortunately this only lasted for a second or two, and then my best shot at a fish on leap day evaporated. I moved on and enjoyed being outdoors while I focused on executing dead drifts. In case the fish were reacting to emerging blue winged olives I alternated by imparting movement to the flies, but none of these techniques provoked any action.

Fine Looking Segment

At one point I spotted a fish chasing the worm at the tail of a run, so I exchanged the flesh colored imitation for a slumpbuster and retained the RS2 as a trailer from the eye of the streamer. This combination was likewise ineffective, although I once again observed a trout following the slumpbuster, but I could not entice a take.

Slumpbuster on My Line

Onward I moved until I circled the large bend where the Santa Fe was parked, and then I approached an island across from the Deckers parking lot. I worked up the right side to no avail and encountered a pair of fishermen at the attractive deep run near the top of the island. This forced me to retreat to the downstream tip, and then I worked a marginal run along the left braid. None of this resulted in a fish or even the image of a spotted fish, so I climbed to the road and strode back along the shoulder to Jane’s sheltered retreat near a bench.

RS2 Was Tested

I decided to repeat covering the stretch where I observed two follows. Unfortunately early in this pursuit I snapped off both my flies (an ultra zug bug and RS2), and rather than recommit to nymphs and an indicator, I decided to toss one of my new chubby chernobyls. I clipped off the flies and removed the strike indicator and split shot and replaced everything with a beige chubby and size 20 soft hackle emerger, as I stuck with the blue winged olive theme. Alas none of these strategies caused the fish to show interest. I swapped the soft hackle emerger for a salvation nymph and beadhead hares ear, but these were likewise ignored, so I called it a day and joined Jane back at the car where she sought refuge from the relentless gusts of wind.

I avoided injury and took my first fly fishing step toward recovery, so despite getting skunked, I counted leap day as a success.

Time: 11:00AM – 2:30PM

Location: Waterton Canyon near Rattlesnake picnic area.

Fish Landed: 3

South Platte River 11/03/2015 Photo Album

November 3 and the high temperature in Denver was 75 degrees. What should one do when such a fortunate break in the weather presents itself to a Denver resident? Well of course if one is an avid fly fisherman, one must visit a local stream.

After three consecutive visits to Clear Creek, I was ready for a change. At least five years passed since I last visited the South Platte River in Waterton Canyon, so I decided to make a trip to this historically productive location. During 2007 I fished the catch and release water below Strontia Springs Dam in late fall several times and experienced decent results including some fairly dense blue winged olive hatches. The stream strayed from my favorites in recent years due to a host of reasons. First it was closed for nearly a year while repairs were made to the dam. After that closure I read reports that the number of fish diminished, and fishermen were disappointed with results despite DOW assurances that the fish density remained the same.

More recently it seemed that the flows were either too high or too low, and I regularly found alternatives that seemed more promising. For the last two months when flows were constantly in the ideal range, the area was closed due to bear activity. Finally Jane read in the newspaper that Denver Water was reopening Waterton Canyon on Friday October 30. With this welcome news we decided to undertake a bike ride, and I packed my fishing gear.

Because of the time change to standard time, I set a goal to be on the water fishing by 11AM, and Jane and I managed to adhere to this intention. As forecast, the weather was gorgeous with the only negative being intermittent wind, although I did not complain as I was fishing in a long sleeved shirt in November. It took me 45 minutes on my mountain bike to reach the Rattlesnake picnic pavilion .75 mile above the diversion dam, and I established this as my base camp. A Denver Water employee later informed Jane that this was the center of the bear activity! I removed my backpack and climbed into my waders and then assembled my Sage four weight.

Downstream View

I decided to walk down the road to the bridge that was nearby, but I quickly discovered another fisherman in the huge deep pool next to a picnic table above the bridge. I considered fishing downstream of the bridge, but when I peered over the guard rail, I noted that the water was covered in shadows, so I reversed my direction and headed for the nice long run and pool nearly across from the picnic area. I found a marginal path that led to the edge of the river and tied a tan Charlie boy hopper, beadhead hares ear, and ultra zug bug to my line.

Most of the water in this area was also covered in shadows except for a five foot band above me along the left bank. Unfortunately the water in sunlight was even more difficult to fish than the shaded portion because of the wicked glare. I began to prospect the bottom part of the pool, but I observed no signs of fish until I reached the top third. Despite the sharp glare on the water, I tossed a cast directly upstream and allowed the flies to drift through an attractive shelf pool. I decided to lift my rod to determine where the hopper was, and suddenly I felt weight and movement. I did a perfunctory hook set, and as I stripped in my line, I noticed a foul hooked brown trout thrashing on the end of the line.

Beautiful Rainbow Was First Fish

I was disappointed by this turn of events, but I was at least reassured to learn that trout did in fact continue to inhabit Waterton Canyon. Next I began to prospect a narrow but long slot that ran down the center of the run. A large boulder served as a current break, and then a thin slower moving ribbon of water extended down stream for 25 feet to just above another large submerged rock. I made five drifts with no result, but on the sixth a large dark shadowy figure emerged from the deep swirly area at the tail. As I watched, the fish moved slightly to its right, and I surmised that it snatched one of the nymphs, so I executed a swift lift of the rod. Suddenly the fish felt the sting of a hook, and it began to thrash and exert pressure on my line. I held tight, and within a minute I applied side pressure and guided a fourteen inch rainbow into my net. Needless to say, I was shocked by this turn of events, yet quite thankful as well.

I released the rainbow and moved upstream a bit, but the water was wide and shallow and quite marginal. I was slipping and slogging along the bank to reach a stretch of deep water that ran along a vertical rock wall, when Jane passed by on her bike. I shouted that I would be up to Rattlesnake for lunch, but she apparently did not hear me and continued on to the dam. Since I now had more time before I planned to break for lunch, I waded back to shore and then carefully worked my way downstream to a location where the river narrowed and created another deep run and several juicy pockets. I skipped around this spot when I climbed the bank and walked up the road, but now I had time to inspect it.

Unfortunately I was approaching from above, and the many shrubs and willows did not allow me to stay back from the low clear river that was running at 72 cfs. I gave it my best effort and focused on some deep runs on the opposite side, but my flies were ignored. By now I estimated that Jane might be at the picnic pavilion, so I found somewhat of an opening in the willows and climbed the steep bank. Sure enough Jane was seated at the table, and I joined her to eat my light lunch.

After lunch Jane decided to take a walk to the dam, and I accompanied her up the road until I reached the path that delivered me to the wide shallow area that was my farthest advance prior to lunch. I splashed upstream until I was across from the deep run that rushed along the tall vertical rock wall, but again the fish were not tuned into the three flies that I presented to them. I was about to advance upstream again, but as I turned and surveyed the river, I noticed another fisherman blocking my path. This was the same person who occupied the emerald pool above the bridge when I first started to fish.

I reversed my direction and climbed back to the road, and then I hiked back downstream toward the bridge. I paused at the deep emerald jewel pool and covered the attractive runs at the top with no success, and then I moved along the bank and fished some nice pockets between the pool and the bridge. I continued to see no signs of fish in the after lunch time period.

Since my upstream migration was blocked by another fisherman, my only option was to continue downstream below the bridge. This area was now engulfed in shadows as the sun was low in the southwest sky and blocked by some high hills on the western side of the canyon. I walked down the road for .3 miles until I found a place where I could safely negotiate the steep bank. The water in this area was quite attractive with a series of cascading deep runs and short pools, so I began tossing the dry/dropper combination to the likely fish holding spots. By now my Charlie boy hopper was quite saturated, and after three or four foot drifts, it sank. I decided to switch it for a more buoyant top fly and chose a chubby Chernobyl with an orange body. From below this fly actually looked like an adult stonefly. I was not interested in catching fish with my top fly; I simply wanted something that was very visible and that suspended the two beadhead nymphs effectively.

Decent Afternoon Brown Trout

The chubby Chernobyl did its job, as I landed two brown trout in the last hour of fishing. Both fish snapped up the hares ear nymph, as it drifted along several feet below the surface. After I released the second fish, I was faced with the prospect of fishing the last .2 mile to the bridge where the river executed a bend away from the road. There was no obvious path before the bridge, so I elected to call it a day. My original plan called for quitting at 2PM, which was really 3PM by daylight savings time, so I reeled up my flies and hooked the ultra zug bug to my rod guide. I climbed the steep bank and returned to the base camp via the road, and there I discovered Jane seated at the table and reading her Kindle.

Jane at the Rattlesnake Pavilion

We packed everything up and rolled down the road on our bikes at a fast pace while enjoying the gradual downhill. We did pause halfway back to the parking lot when we encountered a cluster of male bighorn sheep. The sheep put on quite a show for the gathering of photographers, walkers and bikers as the rams sniffed each other and then backed off and butted their horns. In one amazing display of toughness, two rams suddenly backed up and then cracked their horns forcefully. I was stunned by the loud crack that this encounter generated.

Major Head Butt

It was a slow day on the South Platte River, but I had a great time nonetheless. The weather was delightful, the scenery was spectacular, and the wildlife was very entertaining. Outdoor time in November is priceless, and Jane and I appreciated our day.

Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: South Platte River

Fish Landed: 13

South Platte River 10/25/2015 Photo Album

It is getting late in the 2015 season, and my opportunities to fish are dwindling. When my friend, Danny, texted me on Saturday to ask what I was up to on Sunday, I leaped at the opportunity to register another fishing day. The weather forecast projected highs in the mid-60’s in Denver and sunny, so this influenced my decision to fish in a positive direction.

I picked up Danny at his new apartment in South Denver at 7AM, and we were off to the South Platte River. By the time we drove to our target destination and hiked the trail, we were positioned to begin fishing by 11AM. The temperature at the trailhead before we departed was 33 degrees, but the warming effects of a vigorous hike enabled me to shed my fleece layer after fifteen minutes. When we arrived at our base camp, I slipped back into my fleece, but this was adequate for my entire day on the river as the temperature probably warmed to the upper fifties.

Danny Reaches the Tenkara

Danny and I agreed to work along both sides of the river in parallel, so I elected the southeast side as it was away from the trail. I tied a tan Charlie boy hopper to my line, and then I added a salvation nymph, and on the third cast I hooked and landed a small brown trout. Danny meanwhile opted for a yellow Charlie boy hopper that supported an egg fly and a small midge larva that he designed. Danny chose to pack in his Tenkara rod, as it collapsed to the size of a very small wand to tote along the trail. I watched with interest as he cast the eleven foot long rod with a single fixed line that probably extended to fifteen feet. The Tenkara method proved to be very effective for Danny, as he could use the length of the rod to flick long casts to all the likely fish holding locations in the river. The extra reach and lack of fly line allowed nice drag free drifts, and with the flows at 73 cfs, being able to stay back and execute long distance casts was a significant advantage.

Ready to Cast

Dave Shows Off an Early Brown Trout

Meanwhile I progressed up the river casting my Sage four weight loaded with a traditional fly line and tapered leader, and I landed seven fish by 12:30 when I perched on a large midstream boulder and devoured my lunch. Seven fish in a hour and a half on October 25 was commendable, and I was quite pleased with my accomplishment, although Danny and his Tenkara wonder stick were playing havoc with the trout of the South Platte River to a much greater extent.

Same Fish, Different View

After lunch the action slowed, but I was pleased to land an additional six fish in the remaining time. The sun was directly above us with no cloud cover, so perhaps this explained the lull in action from 1 until 2:30. Danny and I continued to pick up fish, but the pace was much slower than our earlier experience. We also encountered another fisherman who was fifty yards above us, so this may have had an impact as well. The fly fishing gentleman appeared to carry two fly rods, as he moved quickly and paused only at places that were prime spots. Danny and I both conjectured that his upstream wading and movement produced a negative effect on our fishing success, but there was no way to prove this theory.

By 2:30 he was no longer visible, and we suspected that he either departed or moved a far distance above us. At any rate, the fishing improved in the later afternoon hours. In fact Danny was on fire, and although he did not count his fish, we were both certain that he exceeded twenty fish landed on the day.

I persisted with the Charlie boy and salvation nymph for most of the day, and nearly all my fish chomped the salvation. What a productive fly this attractor nymph has evolved into during 2015! I also experimented with a third fly in the afternoon and cycled through a soft hackle emerger, ultra zug bug, hares ear, and emerald caddis pupa. The ultra zug bug and hares ear delivered one fish each to my net, and the the other flies simply served as decorations on my line.

By 3:30 I reached the huge deep pool that bordered our base camp. I performed a feat of rock climbing in order to circumvent the huge vertical boulders that blocked my upstream migration, and once I was positioned above them, I began to lob short casts to the narrow shelf pool in front of me. This area did not yield any fish, so I decided to waste a couple casts in a short pocket no more than five feet long that was just above the shelf pool. On the first cast a fish rose and smacked the hopper, but I was only able to maintain contact for a split second. I was certain at this point that the only fish in this small area had been pricked, and that I was wasting my time to cast again, but I flicked another cast to the pocket nonetheless.

Held in the Water

The hopper paused, and I instinctively lifted my rod and set the hook on a feisty and chunky brown trout. I carefully maintained pressure on the fighter and guided it to my net and discovered a thirteen inch beauty. This was my largest fish of the day, and a very fine brown trout by South Platte River standards.

Nice Width on This Beauty

I was checking my flies and preparing to resume my quest for trout, when I heard Danny shout from his position at the midsection of the large pool on the base camp side of the river. I pivoted to observe, and saw him using his hand over hand retrieval method to guide a large fish to his net. He motioned me, and I could not hear what he was shouting, but I guessed he hoped I could join him to photograph his prize. I complied and carefully waded across the river and snapped a couple shots of Danny and the fourteen inch wide body rainbow trout. This proved to be the catch of the day, and Danny was quite pleased with his Tenkara prowess.

Fisherman and Fish

My nice brown trout was the eleventh catch of the day, and once my photographic duties were complete, I waded back to the southeast side of the river and resumed my progress. I managed to hook and land another small brown before I approached a nice deep pool with a foam current line seven feet out from the bank. I paused to observe and noticed several splashy rises along the foam. I ran my dry/dropper combination along the entire current line, but the fish were apparently tuned into something different, as they ignored my offering.

Base Camp Pool

I gave up on the area and moved upstream, but the shadows now extended across the river, and following my flies became quite a challenge. I had not seen Danny since the photo session, so I exited the river and hiked back down the path and spotted him in the same large base camp pool. Now that I was reassured that he was nearby, I retraced my steps on the path and entered the river across from the foam line pool. Since the dry/dropper was no longer delivering fish at a reasonable pace, I decided to experiment with a caddis dry fly. I tied an olive-brown deer hair caddis to my tippet and moved closer to the foam. Once I was satisfied with my stance, I fluttered some casts to the current seam and allowed the caddis to float toward the spot where I saw rises earlier. I could not see the caddis, but I clearly observed the three splashy refusals that were associated with my first three drifts.

I rested the area and flicked the caddis farther upstream and along the bank, but then I returned some casts to the area of rejection and elicited one more swat. I was not done yet, however, and I executed one more downstream drift, and on this pass I could clearly follow my fly. Just as it reached the nadir of the current seam, the fish rose and sipped my fly, and this provoked a swift hook set on my part. Alas, I felt weight for only a split second and then it was gone. Although I was frustrated by my inability to land this fish, I was at least pleased that I managed a take.

Smaller Left Channel

Danny was now across from me, and we were near the downstream point of a long narrow island that divided the river into two channels. The sun was still covering the left braid, and I could see a smooth pool near the bottom of the island. I asked Danny if I could work up the left channel, since I felt it was more conducive to my delicate single caddis adult approach. Unfortunately the caddis did not interest the fish despite the fact that I stayed back a good distance and executed some nice long distance casts. I abandoned the shallow smooth pool and moved upstream to a spot where I noticed two or three very subtle rises. The only food source I could see were tiny midges that hovered in sparse clouds over the river, so I decided to try a parachute hopper with a zebra midge dropper.

This tandem offering actually yielded a tiny rainbow trout that was below my six inch minimum, but that was the extent of my success. I quickly migrated upstream and stumbled on one additional spot where the water depth suggested that a fish might be present. Sure enough I flicked a very short cast to the small pocket, and a ten inch brown trout emerged and crushed the parachute hopper. This was my last success on the day, and with the temperature dropping and the shadows lengthening, I quickly waded to the top of the island and then crossed the river to the path and returned to Danny.

I suggested that we should begin our return hike, but Danny asked if he could work some very attractive runs between us. I looked on as Danny expertly maneuvered the Tenkara and landed a couple more brown trout. By now it was nearly 4:30, so Danny finally relented and climbed out of the river and spooled his long line, and then we began a vigorous hike back to the car.

It was a fun day on the South Platte River. I landed double digit trout late in October, and I was able to fish a dry/dropper combination most of the day. Best of all I enjoyed the companionship of my friend, and I introduced him to a new location, and he experienced one of his best days of the year. Hopefully I will register a few more decent days of fishing in 2015 before the winter storms force me to the fly tying bench.

Time: 11:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: South Platte River

Fish Landed: 51

South Platte River 10/08/2015 Photo Album

Sometimes all the elements combine to yield a nearly perfect day of fishing, and Thursday October 8 was one of those days. About the only ingredient missing from our trip to the South Platte River was large fish, but given the abundance of superb factors, I can accept this omission. During my last trek to this section of the South Platte, I lost my rod tip, and Jane and I spent an additional couple hours backtracking until we finally located it. I was hoping for redemption, and Thursday qualifies as double restitution.

Jane Sets Up Base Camp

Jane and I departed our house in Denver by 7:15, and unfortunately we were unable to avoid some heavy rush hour traffic in the tech center area of south Denver. Despite this momentary inconvenience we were able to arrive at the trailhead by 9:50, and we began our hike at 10:05. An hour and fifteen minute walk at a steady pace delivered us at our customary base camp location, and after Jane spread out her blanket, we continued along the path to my entry point. I began above my usual starting point since I hoped to fish upstream beyond the base camp; something I usually fall short of.

Looking Good at 103 CFS

The flows were 103 cfs, and this level is nearly ideal. The moderate current allowed me to move freely about the river, however, the water was deep enough so that the fish were not overly skittish. The air temperature was in the upper forties when I began fishing, and it probably never peaked above sixty-five. I was comfortable during my entire time on the river under the bright sun and clear blue skies except for one brief period when some large clouds rolled in and blocked the sun’s rays.

I hoped to fish upstream along the left bank since it is away from the path, and I embrace the theory that the fish opposite a path or road are less pressured. Unfortunately the shadows and difficult light during the late morning period caused me to fish the right bank and the center of the river until I broke for lunch at 12:30. I began with a Charlie Boy hopper and hares ear nymph on 2.5 foot dropper, and almost instantly had a ten inch brown trout in my net. This fish tied me with the 2014 cumulative fish count, and shortly thereafter I hooked another comparable brown to surpass last year.

An Early Success Story

During the late morning and early afternoon time frame, I worked my way upstream and landed thirteen brown trout before exiting and returning to base camp for lunch. What an auspicious start to a gorgeous fall day! After lunch Jane walked down the path with me to my exit point before lunch, and she watched me and took photos as I resumed my quest for fish. Of course while she watched, I struggled to land even a small fish, so I added another one foot section of tippet to the hares ear, and tied on a second nymph…a beadhead salvation nymph.

Some Fat on This Brown

Boom. This addition was instantly successful, and as Jane looked on, I landed a couple small browns. She commented that I made it look too easy. The remainder of the afternoon was pure joy, as I advanced up the river beyond the base camp and landed another thirty-eight trout. The salvation nymph was the main producer during the early afternoon, but the hares ear came on strong in the late time period. At 1PM I began to notice blue winged olives, and this coincided with an incident when I lost the salvation in the process of photographing and releasing a fish. Consequently I used replacing the salvation as an opportunity to test a blue winged olive soft hackle emerger.

After a brief test I concluded that the soft hackle emerger did not perform on par with the salvation, and I returned the attractor nymph to its previous position at the tip of my three fly arrangement. The slow deep pools were not producing, so I stopped wasting time in that type of water and moved directly to the head of each pool where deep runs and riffles entered. These locations along with pocket water yielded nearly all of my fish on Thursday. Many of the fish were hooked during the lift at the end of the drift as well as during the swing, when I cast from the side and allowed the flies to drift across and then below me.

Same Rainbow Held Above the Net Briefly

The most memorable fish was a thirteen inch rainbow. I dropped a cast into a narrow frothy slot at the very top of a deep trough in the middle of the river. Suddenly a mouth appeared below the hopper, and I reacted with a solid hook set. Quickly I discovered a rainbow attached to my line, as it streaked up and down the river and put up a noble fight. Eventually it tired, and I scooped the irate silver football with my net. This was the only fish of the day that slurped the hopper imitation, even though the Charlie boy was in place as my top indicator fly all day long.

Huge Black Spots on This Brown Trout

In summary many of the fish landed were in the six to nine inch range with ten or so extending to ten and eleven inches. In addition I landed three that measured a foot or more in length. Admittedly these were relatively small trout, but I thrived on the fast paced nonstop action that accompanies landing a large quantity of fish in four and a half hours. As to species I landed only three rainbows, and the remainder were brown trout. I do not have an explanation of why certain species seem to predominate at different times of the year.

Obviously I desired more size, but it was a blast moving quickly upstream and popping casts to all the likely spots and more often than not connecting with a wild fish. I was in a beautiful remote location under blue skies and sunshine with pleasant temperatures. My lovely wife accompanied me, and no other human beings were nearby to disrupt our outdoor adventure. The wild trout were plentiful and willing to eat flies that I created myself. It seemed that every nook of water that might yield a fish, did in fact produce. Sure I would have liked a few larger fish, but this degree of success on October 8 is something I am thankful for.

A Glow Over the South Platte