Time: 9:30AM – 2:15PM and then 1:00PM – 2:00PM

Location: Across from Steamboat Flyfisher and then upstream to pedestrian bridge that spans an island; Chuck Lewis fishing access.

Fish Landed: 6

Yampa River 06/30/2015 Photo Album

Ever since the fun day I experienced on June 23 on the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs, I yearned to return. On that Tuesday I worked exclusively along the edge of the river and landed twelve very nice fish. The other rivers in Colorado were receding, but the Yampa remained the best option for late June.

Campsite Number 11 at Meadows Campground along Rabbit Ears Pass

I created a window of time in my schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday, June 30 and July 1 to make the drive to Steamboat to recreate the magic. On June 23 a strong pale morning dun hatch developed between 11AM and 1PM, so I wanted to be present during that time on June 30 in case it repeated. For this reason, I drove to Rabbit Ears Pass on Monday and secured campsite number eleven at the USFS Meadows Campground. The long drive was now behind me, and I was positioned to be on the water early on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning I made the thirty minute drive to town and parked at the Howelsen Ice Arena lot and rigged my Sage four weight rod. I made sure I had several varieties of pale morning dun imitations in my front pack, and then I crossed the Fifth Street Bridge and turned left so that I entered the water directly across from the Steamboat Flyfisher. I knew that the flows had dropped quite a bit in a week, but I was surprised to discover that they were now at 320 cfs. It was obvious as I stepped in the water that this would not be edge fishing. The lower flows made it possible for the river population to spread out, and I could no longer focus on the ten feet next to the bank. At least I could count on a pale morning dun hatch to cause the trout to reveal their positions. Or could I?

I began fishing some attractive pockets along the left bank with a Charlie boy hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear nymph and a salvation nymph. I moved along at a decent pace and quickly arrived at the Fifth Street Bridge with no results to report. A nice pool beckoned me just above the bridge, so I positioned myself at the downstream lip and began to cast. As I was in the process of covering the pool, I spotted a rise, but the fish was not interested in my three course meal. I was contemplating a switch to a pale morning dun imitation even though I did not see any in the air, when a mother and two young boys appeared. The boys were quite active, and they scrambled across some exposed rocks at the top of the pool. Of course this alerted the fish to the presence of human beings, so I waited out the surprise guests and abandoned ideas of switching to a comparadun.

A Nice Fish from the Yampa River in Town on Tuesday Morning

After five minutes the threesome moved on, and so did I. More time passed, and I was having no success, so I decided to convert to a deep nymphing approach. I began with a beadhead hares ear nymph and salvation nymph and continued upstream. This change in strategy paid dividends, and I landed a pair of rainbows that nabbed the hares ear nymph as it drifted by. Number three was a hard fighting rainbow that measured in excess of fifteen inches, and this fish displayed lots of girth.

Great Girth on This Bruiser

Late in the morning I spotted a small blue winged olive, so I clipped off the salvation nymph and tied on a size 20 soft hackle emerger. This move provided temporary results as I landed my fifth fish on the small wet fly. All the other fish that found my net in the AM favored the hares ear. In fact between 11 and noon I noticed quite a few yellow sallies cruising up from the water surface, and the hares ear nymph is a fair imitation of the stonefly nymph. The yellow sallies would represent the only hatch I encountered on the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs, as the much anticipated pale morning duns never appeared.

By 12:15PM the tuber and kayak traffic became an annoyance, so I decided to move to a different location. I chose the Chuck Lewis public access east of Steamboat Springs, as I knew that this was beyond the reach of the tubing enthusiasts. I pulled into the parking lot and munched my lunch so that I was prepared to resume fishing at 1PM. A nice worn path cut through a recently cut hay field until I eventually arrived next to the river. The river was still flowing too high to enable crossing, and it is largely a wide featureless trough. Some man-made concrete wings were constructed, but at 320 cfs the water simply flows over the top of these structures, and therefore there are minimal current breaks that create fish holding sanctuaries.

Featureless Chuck Lewis Segment of the Yampa River

I began covering the middle of the river with the nymphs that remained on my line from downtown, and much to amazement I landed a thirteen inch rainbow from the middle of a deep trough on the ultra zug bug. The ultra zug bug was on my line because I broke off the salvation nymph on a root clump earlier. Once I covered the entire trough section, I could see another fisherman above me near a bridge, and the water in between was unattractive, so I decided to cut my losses and head to Stagecoach State Park.

Six fish in a morning of fishing is relatively slow, and clearly the conditions changed quite a bit since my fun day of edge fishing on June 23. The greatest impact on my success was the apparent absence of a pale morning dun hatch. Was this a temporary phenomenon related to the weather conditions, or was the hatch complete on the Yampa River for the 2015 season?

Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Upstream from the park next to the library in Steamboat Springs until I almost reached the bridge that crosses to the ice rink.

Fish Landed: 12

Yampa River 06/23/2015 Photo Album

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and river fishing in Colorado is no longer a distant event. Once again I experienced the elation that comes from fishing to a hatch, catching nice hard fighting trout, and enjoying the surprise that comes with prospecting a dry/dropper combination to likely trout holding water.

After my lack of success on Monday on Steamboat Lake, Jane agreed to accompany me to Steamboat Springs so that I could enjoy a day of river fishing in the Yampa. Based on the stream reports from the Steamboat Flyfisher I envisioned fishing either the tailwater below Stagecoach Reservoir or the Yampa River within the town of Steamboat Springs. We attached Jane’s bike to the rack so she could explore the trails while I fished. In addition we packed a change of clothes so we could end the day with a fine dinner in town to celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary.

Our first stop was the previously mentioned Steamboat Flyfisher where I purchased a three pack of tapered leaders and then asked the sales clerk where he would fish if given a day to fish in the area. He never paused before replying that he would choose the section of water that runs through town. He explained that it was fishing well, and said that a trail parallels the stream and any stretch of water should be productive. I also noticed a blackboard on the wall with fishing reports, and the information suggested PMD patterns for the Yampa in town. The fishing information also noted that flows were 959 CFS.

We left the store and headed west to the area of the library where we found a parking spot that was good for eight hours. I put on my waders and assembled my Sage five weight, and I was prepared to fish. Jane and I agreed to meet at the car at 12:30 after she purchased ice and explored town on her bicycle. By 11AM I approached the water and noted that it was quite high although also clear. I typically enjoy these conditions as the trout are forced to seek relief along the banks where boulders and logs block the current and create eddies and slower moving currents. This situation means that I can virtually ignore the entire river except for the five to ten feet of edge water next to the bank.

I’ve had success in high post-runoff conditions with a Letort hopper, so I elected to tie one on as my surface fly, and then I added a beadhead hares ear beneath it on a long three foot dropper. I prospected the edge water for fifteen minutes or so with no success, so I swapped the hares ear for a beadhead salvation nymph. This also failed to attract interest, so I exchanged the Letort hopper for a Chernobyl ant, but after a half hour of fishing I remained without so much as a look.

Fortunately it was about this time that I began to see pale morning duns fluttering up from the surface. They were a light yellow in color and some were size 18 and others were size 16. They all seemed to emerge from the very fringe of the river right next to the bank. Despite this sudden abundance of food, no trout appeared on the surface, so I decided to go deep with PMD subsurface imitations. I looped a thingamabobber to my line and crimped on a split shot and then tied on a salvation nymph as my top fly followed by a juju emerger at the point. This would be my first test of the juju emergers that I tied over the winter.

Nice Speckles

My modification resulted in a sudden change in fortune as I landed a thirteen inch brown on the juju emerger as the fly began to swing at the end of the drift. After moving up the river a bit, I felt the throb of a thirteen inch rainbow that inhaled the salvation nymph. I was especially thrilled to discover that both my offerings were of interest to the trout during the early stages of the pale morning dun hatch. I was gaining confidence as I covered a few more attractive spots along the bank with no luck, but then I made an exception to my casting regimen and lobbed a cast to a deep slot behind a submerged boulder more than ten feet out from the bank. As the flies drifted toward the end of the deep run, the indicator paused, and I lifted and set the hook on another nice thirteen inch brown trout. This fish also chomped the salvation nymph, and this would be the only fish on the day that did not come from the ten foot corridor along the north bank.

No Two Was This Rainbow

Next I approached a sweet deep run below some overhanging tree limbs, and I was excited to spot a pair of rises from two different fish. I was tempted to switch to dries, but I patiently stuck with my nymphs. This turned out to be a wise move, and I was rewarded with another thirteen inch brown that also found the salvation nymph to its liking. I cast the nymphs back to the fishy area, and once again hooked a fish on the lift, but this proved to be only a momentary success as the fish freed itself after a short run. I also sensed that this fish may have been foul hooked.

Once again I scanned the target area below the tree limbs, and much to my surprise the two risers were now feeding with increased regularity. I was reluctant to take the time to switch from my nymph rig since it produced four fish in a short amount of time, but these fish were paying no attention to my subsurface offering and were instead focused on the abundant food supply on top of the water. I relented and removed all the nymphing gear and tied on a light gray size 14 comparadun, also known as the money fly.

Best Fish of the Day Was This Fat Brown

I made a couple conservative casts short of the top riser, and then made a third and checked my forward stroke high allowing the small dun imitation to flutter down to the swirly water where the top fish was working five feet below the menacing branches. Slurp! The dry fly disappeared, and I set the hook and felt a strong active heavy weight on my new Sage rod. Quite early in the battle I obtained a glimpse of my foe and realized I was dealing with a more substantial fish. I played the fish cautiously always prepared to yield line at the first sign of a strong run or change in direction. Luck was with me on this day, and I finally played the fish to my net and discovered a brown trout in excess of fifteen inches. It was a beauty and would be the best fish of the day.

Site of Brown Trout Chow Down

I gently released the prize brown and returned my attention to the area below the branches, and I was surprised to see that the lower fish continued to rise despite the commotion that I just created. I dried the comparadun and placed a cast above the second riser. It took a few drifts to get the timing right, but eventually a fourteen inch rainbow fell for the money fly as well. Did I really just land six gorgeous fish between 13 and 16 inches in the space of an hour on the Yampa River when it was flowing at 959 cfs? I pinched myself and moved along the bank to the next juicy spot. The fishing gods were looking down on me with favor as I once again spotted a rise just below some faster water at the top of a long run. I carefully worked the tail with no results and then positioned myself and dropped a nice cast to the spot where the fish rose. Slurp! Another 13-14 inch brown mistook my imitation for a real PMD and fell victim to my fly.

By now it was nearly 12:30 so I quickly exited the stream just before reaching the tubing rental shop, and I discovered that I was nearly across from the Santa Fe. Jane was waiting, and although I felt the hatch was waning, I asked if we could meet in another hour, as I desired to continue fishing while the hatch was still in progress. Jane was amenable because she was not very hungry, but she requested that we meet at some picnic tables near baseball fields on the opposite side of the river. She planned to move the car there, and she scoped it out on her bike ride and suggested it was a much nicer place to have lunch. I quickly agreed and returned to the river where I exited, but there were very few remaining mayflies on the surface, and I soon felt that prospecting with the small size 16 comparadun was futile with no sighted fish to cast to.

I converted to a Chernobyl ant with a salvation nymph and used up half of my hour exploring water with this combination to no avail. I encountered a place where low hanging branches prevented me from wading along the edge, so I climbed to the bike path, and as I began to walk upstream, an approaching couple flagged me down to ask questions. I learned that they were from Harrisburg, Pa., and they asked quite a few questions about my level of success, what I was using, and what technique I was employing. They seemed quite surprised that I had already fished to a hatch and that I was having success despite the high water level. This conversation used up another fifteen minutes of my time, so when I resumed fishing, I only covered a small amount of water until I reached the tubing shop. I used this as an excuse to quit and hustled across the pedestrian bridge to the Howelsen Hill ski jump parking lot where I discovered Jane at a large picnic table under a massive gazebo.

The Middle of Town

16″ at Least

We enjoyed a one hour lunch and agreed to reunite at 4PM. I returned to the river where I ended before lunch and skipped the tubing shop area until I reached a nice section of water with no interfering vegetation. There was a boulder wall on the left bank, and I landed three more nice rainbows in the next hour while continuing with the dry/dropper approach of the Chernobyl ant and salvation nymph. All three gobbled the salvation as the Chernobyl served merely as a strike indicator. During this time the river exploded with all manner of traffic…tubes, kayaks, and rafts drifted by with jubilant water enthusiasts. As I fought and landed one of the three rainbows, a raft passed by, and I received a strong ovation from the occupants.

Evening Tubers on the Yampa

After the three early afternoon rainbows I weathered a dry spell, so I changed to a Charlie Boy hopper, salvation nymph and iron sally. I observed a handful of yellow sallies in the air, so I theorized that the iron sally nymph imitation might create some interest. It paid off, as I landed two more rainbows of thirteen and fourteen inches in the last hour on the iridescent attractor nymph, although I covered a lot of water and worked hard to get around bank obstacles to land these fish.

Last Fish of the Day

I’m still in a euphoric state as I write this blog. I never expected to have a double digit day on June 23 on the Yampa River with flows still high. Even more surprising was the 1.5 hour long hatch of pale morning duns and my ability to land three nice fish on a comparadun. As the reader might expect, I’m already yearning for another day on the Yampa River as I not so patiently wait for the other rivers to fall into tolerable fishing conditions.

Time: 9:00AM – 2:00PM

Location: Below Stagecoach Reservoir

Fish Landed: 10

Yampa River 07/20/2013 Photo Album

I was either in a fishing slump or I reached the turning point where I shift my focus from freestone rivers to tailwaters and high elevation headwaters. My last day on the Eagle River yielded six fish, a day in Rocky Mountain National Park on headwaters resulted in four fish, and a day on the Colorado River netted five fish. Size was another matter. A few of the Eagle River fish were decent size, but most of the other fish were below average in size for those rivers. Thursday on the Big Thompson was a slight improvement from a numbers perspective, but size continued to be lacking. Catching five trout on my newly designed parachute green drake was a nice boost, but given the overcast conditions, I was dissatisfied with the results.

Our original plan for the weekend was to drive to the Denver Creek Campground along Willow Creek north of Granby where Jane and I would set up camp and then spend Saturday hiking and biking and then we would return early on Sunday to beat the construction traffic east of Idaho Springs. While I was at the Saddleback Design Golf Tournament on Friday afternoon, however, Jane and Judy Supple worked out a change in plans. Jane returned the camping gear to its storage locations as we now planned to drive to Steamboat Springs and stay with our friends, Judy and Steve Supple. Judy and Jane planned to attend a parade of homes type tour on Saturday morning and then bike around town while Steve and I would fish in the Yampa River. I hate these changes in plans that add to my fishing time.

I got home from the golf outing by 6PM and in a short amount of time I packed a few remaining items and we headed off to Chipotle Mexican Grill for a quick dinner. We made the three hour journey to Steamboat Springs and arrived at the Supple condo by 10PM. After some brief chatting we crashed to the sound of hummingbirds hovering by the Supple feeder.

On Saturday morning we woke up early to the sound of Grady and Duffy’s tails banging the hallway walls. Grady and Duffy are the Supple’s well loved golden retrievers, and they bring a lot of energy to each day. Judy prepared some quick eggs for breakfast and Steve and I pooled our gear in Steve’s car and headed to the Yampa River below Stagecoach Reservoir. Along the way we passed a pack of road bikers apparently doing a century ride or some distance between 25 and 100 miles. The Yampa tailwater below Stagecoach is a short but impressive fishery with only perhaps .5 mile of open water, but an extremely dense population of fish. I counted 14 fishermen already in the visible stretch of river as we drove up to the parking lot and at least 12 cars in the lot. It would not be a day of solitary reflection.

A Few Friends Below Us

Steve and I quickly set up our rods and climbed into our waders and then hiked down the path to some open water above the last group of fishermen. The positive to this fishery is that the fish density is so great that one does not need a large amount of space to wade in. I chose a spot below Steve and 20 yards above the next downstream fisherman as my starting point and tied on a Chernobyl ant and a beadhead hares ear and then a zebra midge as a third fly below the  hares ear. Steve told me the Steamboat Angler was recommending tiny flies such as midge larva and RS2’s. I stood next to and slightly above a large exposed rock with a rounded top and as I began to flick upstream casts I observed one, then two then five then seven or eight large fish in a 25 square foot area next to and above me. I can attest to the fact that this immediately gets the juices flowing.

Steve on Yampa below Stagecoach Reservoir

It didn’t take long before the Chernobyl dipped and I set the hook and landed a fine chunky 13 inch rainbow. I gazed out a bit further to a nice run next to another large rock, and there I spotted another nice fish, and eventually another rainbow rose and smashed the Chernobyl. This fly was supposed to simply serve as an indicator for shallow nymphing! Eventually I worked my way across the river to a nice pool area along the opposite bank and here I added a third rainbow that stopped the Chernobyl indicator and inhaled the midge. In an hour or so of fishing I’d landed three beautiful rainbows in the 13 -15 inch range and I was feeling pretty good about this bonus day of fishing.

Pretty Rainbow Caught in the Morning on Chernobyl Ant

The hares ear wasn’t producing so I exchanged it for an orange scud but kept the midge larva as the bottom fly, and it was this combination that delivered the third fish. After focusing on the pod of fish above me for quite awhile I moved upstream on the left side and over the next couple hours added a couple more rainbows and one twelve inch brown. The rainbows crushed the Chernobyl ant and the brown fell for an olive midge larva that replaced the zebra midge. I was amazed by the success of the large Chernobyl with the bright peacock chenille body in a river where miniscule flies are recommended. There were probably 50-100 casts in between each catch and most fish ignored my offerings, but enough fish were gullible enough to show interest in my flies to make things interesting.

By one o’clock I found myself positioned below a nice pool characterized by a run that ran within four feet of the left bank and then a much stronger current that bordered the right side and split the river in half. I could see ten to fifteen large trout spaced out in this pool between the currents and they weren’t showing interest in my three fly offering so I decided to experiment with single dry flies to see if I could unlock the code and land one of these beauties. I was at seven fish and they were all nice size so I was ready to do some focused dry fly fishing for the remainder of the outing.

First I tried a parachute ant and one large fish nosed this fly at least three times. I could actually see the wave created by the fish’s jaw spill over the ant on one of the close up looks. Next I tied on a size 18 light yellow comparadun, but this didn’t even create interest when it passed over the fish. I’d spotted a few sporadic PMD’s riding the surface of the water and a couple that became airborne, so I elected to tie on a light gray size 16 comparadun. I cast this fly to the very top of the smooth water and as it drifted slowly back toward me a large rainbow gradually elevated under the fly, inspected, and then miraculousloy sipped it in. I made a quick sure hook set and battled the big guy to the net. This fish was easily 18 inches with a nice thick girth, but I couldn’t settle it on my net for a photo and eventually it squirmed back in the water and snapped off my fly before I could capture a good photograph.

I tied on another light gray comparadun and flcked it upstream but slightly below the point where I’d hooked the previous fish. This time the fly drifted to the midsection of the pool area and it was deja vu. Another rainbow slowly floated back under the comparadun and then confidently sipped it in. Again I reacted with a solid hook set and played and landed a sixteen inch rainbow. This was really fun. I decided to leave the spot I was in and walk downstream to find Steve and offer him a light gray comparadun. It was now 1:45PM and we planned to depart at 2PM and the crowd of fishermen had thinned out significantly.

16 Inch Rainbow Took Light Gray Comparadun

I found Steve in a prime pool closer to the parking lot, a spot that was ringed with fishermen when we arrived in the morning. I gave him a comparadun and then began probing the nice water near him. There was a little nook next to the bank where a side current curved along the bank and then merged back into the main current. I could see at least eight nice fish in this small area and I succeeded in getting one that was inches from the bank to refuse my fly two or three times. There were a couple nice rainbows in the slack area between the current along the bank and some large rocks at the top of the indentation. I couldn’t get a good drag free drift over these fish because of the swirling current even though I moved several times to create different approach angles.

I gave up on this area because of the difficult angles and moved close to Steve. Steve pointed out all the fish that were stacked up below him ostensibly to feed on nymphs and larva kicked loose from Steve’s wading. I attempted a few downstream drifts to these fish, but they were looking down for their meal and probably aware of our presence. I pivoted around and popped some casts into some faster moving runs between exposed rocks above us, and on one of these drifts experienced a refusal. I rested this run for five or six casts to an adjacent run, and then returned to the scene of the refusal and midway down the run a fish rose and slammed the light gray comparadun. This fish betrayed itself as a hot fish as it charged up and down the river in short spirts. Several times I thought I had control and attempted to raise the fish’s nose, only to face another short spurt upstream and then downstream, but eventually it grew weary of the fight and I slid my net under a brightly colored rainbow. It was another 15 inch fish, but this one was perhaps the most fit and brightly colored of all the fish I landed on the Yampa River.

Ten fish landed in five hours does not sound that exceptional, but all the fish were in the 13-18 inch range and all but one rainbows. I was able to land three fish on a Chernobyl ant and three on a size 16 light gray comparadun, and by all accounts this is exceptional for this stretch of water where size 20-24 size flies predominate. Just spending five hours fishing over hundreds of large trout that I could see and target was a salve to my bruised confidence after being battered by a heavy dose of unproductive blind casting in the previous four outings. On a bright blue sky day with high temperatures approaching 90 degrees, this day was a huge success and perhaps among my top ten of 2013.

Time: 9:00AM – 12:00PM

Location: Chuck Lewis access area

Fish Landed: 1

Yampa River 09/04/2011 Photo Album

Jane wanted to leave early on Sunday to return to Denver, but I convinced her that since we’d made the three hour drive, we should stay and play in Steamboat a bit longer. It didn’t take much arm twisting, so we had a nice early breakfast at Winona’s in downtown Steamboat and then returned to the condo. The girls decided to either play tennis or go to the air show taking place. Steve and I planned to hit the Yampa at the Chuck Lewis access closer to Steamboat Springs. This was downstream from Stagecoach and Catamount lakes, but outside of town and thus avoiding the dense tube traffic that occurs in the town of Steamboat.

Hay Bales Near Start of Fishing on Sunday

We arrived at the parking lot and wadered up and walked down the well defined path through the hay meadows between the parking lot and river. We arrived at a fork and chose the right fork only to stumble into two fishermen in a nice riffle and run stretch. We pushed back the willows and returned to the fork and hiked downstream a ways. Steve stopped below some stream improvement rocks and began to fish a beautiful run while I worked my way further downstream and crossed over then further downstream below a nice run and eddy. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper, beadhead hares ear and orange scud and began prospecting the run. Nothing was showing as I worked the riffles in the bright sunshine. Next I moved up along the bank to the eddy, and I thought I spotted a decent fish in the deepest part of the eddy. After numerous casts over the fish and switching to an RS2 as the bottom fly, I spooked the fish, so I moved on.

Dave, Hay Bale, and Steamboat Ski Area in Background

I went upstream to the nice wide riffle and run area where Steve had begun. This was fairly deep water and the dry/dropper combination seemed fairly futile. Also I was spotting the occasional small mayfly emerging in the riffles, so I abandoned the dry/dropper method and rigged up with a strike indicator, split shot, BHHE and beadhead RS2. I worked the water relentlessly with nice long drifts from the whitewater at the head to below me and finally after thirty or so drifts, the indicator moved slightly and I hooked and landed an eight inch brown trout. As I brought the fish near me I could see another larger fish trailing the brown. I wasn’t sure what to make of this.

Steve was opposite me and noticed numerous rising fish along the slow moving water between the current and bank. I finally gave up on the run and moved upstream above Steve and tried some water that was slower moving but did have a thin current seam through a deep trough eight feet from the bank. I worked downstream from the top to across from Steve with the nymphs and midway removed the scud and tied on a sunken trico. I had a RS2 and sunken trico combination. I suspected that the small mayflies I spotted earlier were emerging tricos and now judging from the characteristic slow steady rises felt that tricos were on the water.

The sunken trico didn’t produce, so I walked back downstream to a point where I could cross back over to Steve’s side of the river and then stood to Steve’s left and slightly below him and inspected the water. Sure enough I spotted tiny tricos in the surface film. I showed Steve a couple specimens I was able to dip from the water and he found some trico flies in his trico box to try. I had one trico spinner in the bottom of my round plastic container, and I carefully removed it and tied it to my line. I was skeptical that this would work as the samples I observed were size 26 or smaller whereas the fly I had was a 22.

Steve and I began to flutter casts to the current seam where at least five fish were rising but the fish were having none of our offerings. After 15 minutes of this futility I switched and put on a small fur ant with an orange tuft of poly on the back. After numerous refusals, a fish sucked in the ant, and I set the hook. As I suspected these were extremely small fish and I landed a three inch no count rainbow. Meanwhile Steve faced downstream and cast to the pod below us that had resumed rising and hooked three tiny fish.

Steve Wading in Yampa River

We eventually left these small fish alone and moved upstream to some fishy seams and eddies, but it was now close to noon with the sun high above and our confidence was waning so we removed our flies and hiked back to the parking lot and ended our fishing for the day.

Time: 8:30AM – 2:00PM

Location: Below Stagecoach Reservoir

Fish Landed: 6

Yampa River 09/03/2011 Photo Album

Jane and I accepted an invitation to visit Judy and Steve Supple at their condo in Steamboat Springs for Labor Day weekend. Jane got off work early on Friday, and we drove to Steamboat arriving around 4PM.

On Saturday morning Steve and I planned to fish in the .5 mile special regulation water on the Yampa River below Stagecoach Reservoir. This high quality water gets extremely crowded because of the large fish and short distance of public water. We had a quick breakfast and left the condo by 7AM arriving at the parking lot by 7:30AM. There were already three other cars in the lot so we hustled to put on our waders and rig our rods and hiked down the path to the river. There was only one other fisherman on the water so we snagged the prime run and pool in the middle of the short stretch of water.

Steve Supple on Yampa Below Stagecoach Reservoir

I immediately went to a strike indicator with an orange scud and beadhead RS2 and began casting in a nice run on the side of the river near the path. Steve went a bit upstream and began fishing with nymphs as well. After a bit of fishing a chunky 12 inch rainbow hit the orange scud, and I landed it in the chilly early morning. It took awhile for the sun to get above the ridge to the east and warm up the air temperature. Steve had mentioned that the fly shop in town suggested using scuds, but he had forgotten this advice. When I told him I caught the first fish on a scud, he added one to his offering.

Steve Prepares to Release 17 Inch Rainbow

I continued prospecting with the nymphs and landed a couple more small rainbows on the RS2 over the next few hours. As the morning progressed and the sun moved higher in the sky I was able to spot nice sized fish on the bottom of the river and sight fish to them. But as I changed offerings nothing seemed to provoke their interest. I spent quite a bit of time fishing to three nice fish in front of me further downstream from my initial position at the base of a nice pool.

Steve Concentrates on Fly

I decided to cross over to the opposite bank and work up along that side with a Chernobyl ant and some droppers. By late morning a herd of additional fishermen had arrived and quite a few were above us. I also began to notice occasional blue wing olive size mayflies slowly flying up from the river so I added an orange scud and beadhead RS2 to the Chernobyl ant. Fishing upstream in this fashion I added a couple more rainbows to my count, one taking the RS2 and the fifth of the morning taking the orange scud. The fifth fish was actually the largest of the day and probably measured out at 13 inches and quite chunky. I took a quick photograph of this fish and resumed casting.

Dave's Rainbow Took a Chernobyl Ant

I reached a point where there was another fisherman above me working some nice water so I climbed up on the bank and walked around his position and re-entered. As I drifted the three fly combination past a rock protruding above the surface a nice rainbow appeared and inspected the Chernobyl, but didn’t take. After multiple drifts from below and along the side, I moved six feet above the rock and stayed back from the water. I flicked a cast eight feet above the rock and let the flies drift directly downstream until the trailing flies went directly into the rock. The big rainbow couldn’t resist and appeared to grab the scud. I set the hook and the rainbow thrashed a bit and moved out from the rock. I applied some side pressure and moved it a foot or two to the right when viewing from upstream. The rainbow appeared to be increasing its resistance and made a quick head snap to the right, and the fly came hurtling back toward me. This was quite disappointing after working hard sight fishing to large trout all morning.

I moved on and began using the technique of drifting the flies from above to large boulders that appeared to have cushions or holding water above the rock and shortly after the hookup with the large rainbow experienced a momentary hookup with another fish. Alas I was running out of good water to deploy my newfound successful technique and it was now early afternoon and getting close to the time when we’d committed to return and meet the girls. I waded across to the opposite bank and began walking down the path to meet Steve. When I got twenty feet or so above Steve, he suggested I stop and check out a small eddy along the bank. I stood and peered into the water for a minute and spotted at least four beautiful fish in the small 5 X 5 eddy. Two gorgeous rainbows were facing downstream along the bank as the current actually eddied back and brought food to them.

Dave Lands Large Rainbow Caught on RS2 at End of Day

Steve had exited the water and said he didn’t know how I’d get a cast to them and was standing behind me. It was actually quite easy from my position above the fish, and I flicked the Chernobyl, scud and RS2 into the water on top of the two fish. On the first cast neither showed any interest, but a second cast below them drifted back through the two and the fish furthest from me made a slight movement with its head. I suspected it sucked in one of the nymphs with this maneuver and set the hook. Sure enough I had a fight on my hands and played the rainbow as it thrashed and fought. Since I was close to the fish I could control it fairly easily and brought it to net while Steve looked on. Steve kindly took my camera and snapped a few photos of the purple hued beauty.

Purple-Pink Coloring

It was a fine ending to an enjoyable day of fishing on the Yampa at Stagecoach.

Time: 12:00-7:00PM

Location: In Steamboat Springs near ice arena then Stagecoach Tailwater

Fish Landed: 10

Yampa River 09/15/2010 Photo Album

My original plan suggested driving out of the Flattops on Wednesday morning to North Park and then through Walden to the North Platte River at Northgate. However while reading my Colorado fishing guide book one evening, I read the section on the Yampa River. I would need to pass close to Steamboat Springs on my trip, and I’d fished the Stagecoach tailwater several times, and loved it. The book said the Yampa had one of the best fall BWO hatches in the state. I modified my plan to fish the Yampa then camp in one of the three campgrounds along Rabbit Ears Pass on Wednesday night.

I ate breakfast and packed up quickly to get an early start. But as I was finishing the packing and getting ready to depart I heard this loud bleating punctuated by occasional whistling. The campground hostess came by and informed me that a sheep roundup/drive was taking place. I asked her if I could drive through it, and she said, “Yes, but slowly”. She was worried about the sheep crapping in the campground. I jumped in the van and drove to the entry lane to the campground where I found sheep everywhere along with the herding dogs, guard dogs, and the shepherds and their horses. Apparently they were young guys from Chile who spent the summer in the mountains while watching and caring for the sheep.

Sheep Being Driven Down the Valley by Campground

Sheep Herding Dog

Horses of Sheep Herders

Need a Sweater?

I took a movie and a bunch of photos and slowly moved into the herd. Fortunately they were almost beyond the entrance road, so I was clear of the sheep and on my way fairly quickly. The road was littered with sheep manure, so I now understood what the hostess was concerned about. As I was driving back road 8, I spotted a colorful pheasant-like fowl on the left bank along the road and stopped to photograph it. I’m guessing it was some sort of grouse.

Grouse Along Road

When I turned on to the road that would take me over the two passes, I stopped at several overlooks to photograph the Flattops Wilderness landscape and also to capture some of the fall foliage that was already brilliant at some of the higher elevations. On my exit trip I ran into two additional sheep herds being pushed down the road and had to slowly move through them as they parted to the side of the road. I was making the shepherds earn their pay as they had to round them back up again to the roadway. Apparently I chose to travel on Colorado sheep roundup day.

Chinese Wall in Distance

Aspen Leaves Changing at High Elevations

I decided to pass Stagecoach and go to Steamboat first to buy ice for the cooler, top off the gas tank, and visit a fly shop for information. The main street in Steamboat was under construction, so it was difficult to get from the north side of town to the south side. I parked the van near the convenience store where I bought ice and gasoline and walked to the south side and then a couple blocks to the fly shop on Yampa Street. I learned that the BWO’s were not yet hatching, there were some tricos in the late morning, and afternoon fishing tended to be slow. The young man behind the counter suggested fishing in town until around 4PM then driving to Stagecoach for the evening.

I went back to the van and found a place to cross to the south side and parked on the south side of the river in the ice arena parking lot. There was another fisherman in the area above the bridge where I planned to start, so I walked up along the railroad tracks on the south side of the river 50 yards or so and entered there. Steamboat Springs has done a lot of stream improvement in town creating very nice runs and pools and a lot a slicks and pockets behind large boulders. I was at the east end of town near where all the stream improvement ended. I started across from a huge deep hole where the water eddied back toward some large boulders. I kept the Chernobyl ant on with a BHHE and began casting. Much to my surprise a medium size brown charged up and inspected the Chernobyl, and then I spotted a quite large fish move up from the depths to within a foot or so of the attractor. But I couldn’t induce either fish to take. The smaller fish actually bumped it a couple times.

I moved on to the next attractive area where a long deep run created a soft shoulder 20 to 30 yards long. I methodically cast the two flies along the seam and then over closer to shore. One-third of the way up, a trout surface and grabbed the Chernobyl, but when I set the hook, the fish slipped off as quickly as it emerged. Next I moved upstream to where two channels of roughly equal size merged. I believe this was two braids of the Yampa separated by a wide island. I stayed to the right and discovered a huge hole below a railroad bridge. I worked this very attractive water to no avail. The next section of water was a long smooth pool, and there were fish occasionally dimpling the surface. I half heartedly began casting my huge Chernobyl in the smooth pool without structure, and as I was doing so the frequency of rises increased particularly along the right bank midway through the pool. I cast the Chernobyl to the spot where I’d seen a couple rises at the downstream end of the area but not even a look. I clipped off the two flies and tied on a parachute ant, and a fish swam up and inspected but did not take.

As I observed, there were three or four browns stacked up in a row along the bank rising fairly regularly now sipping in something. I stared at the water near me but couldn’t find anything significant that might represent food. I tried a CDC BWO and a light gray comparadun to no avail. In retrospect I’m wondering if they were sipping a sparse trico spinner fall even though it was after noon. The rising slowed down and I finally abandoned the pool and the fish and headed up to the railroad tracks and used it as an expressway to return to my starting point. Additional fishermen now occupied the upper stretch where the river came back together below the island. I jumped back in at the deep pool/eddy where I’d interested two trout earlier and gave it another try. This time I couldn’t get the large fish to show. I tried switching flies and removed the Chernobyl and BHHE and started trying other attractors. First I tried a yellow Letort hopper, and it wasn’t floating well so I removed and tied on a bushy caddis. Again no interest so I replaced with a royal stimulator. On around the fifth drift the smaller brown came up and nosed the fly and I set the hook and had a momentary hookup, but that was it. I now decided I need a new approach and fresh water so I decided to continue beyond the bridge where I started to the next bridge crossing. I never made it that far and hopped back in where some stream improvement boulders jutted out in the river and created a flume with some nice slack water behind it. I was now directly across from several restaurants on Yampa Street with dining decks along the river. I returned to the Chernobyl ant with a beadhead hares ear and added a beadhead RS2 in case some BWO nymph activity developed.

My fortunes made a significant improvement. Fish started grabbing the small RS2 aggressively. Between 2:30 and 4:00PM I landed 10 trout; three cutthroats, two browns, and five rainbows. The fishing was extremely hot during this time, and I had quite a few hookups of fish that felt like decent size that I didn’t land perhaps because of the small size 22 RS2 nymph. In one area of riffles of moderate depth I was amazed to hook at least five fish as they attacked the small RS2 practically before it hit the water. Three of the rainbows that I landed were tough heavy 14 inch fish that fought me hard. Most of the fish hit at the end of the drift as the flies started to swing a bit or several times the Chernobyl sank a bit below the surface so I lifted to recast and the fish grabbed on the lift.

Fat Rainbow from Yampa on Wednesday

Toward the end of this time period the rainbows and cutthroats stopped hitting aggressively, and I had to make numerous drifts, but I managed to catch the two browns at the tail of the drift. The final brown was a 15 inch bruiser that took the beadhead hares ear. In fact, both browns took the BHHE, one small cutthroat took the Chernobyl, one rainbow hit the BHHE, and all the other fish slashed and took the RS2.

When I caught and landed the last brown a younger father was fishing above me, and he immediately commented “Nice fish. What did you catch him on?” I told him and circled around and above him. After the flurry of action, I was now bored by the lack of action so at 5PM, I decided to follow the fly shop’s recommendation and drive to the Stagecoach tailwater of the Yampa. Unfortunately the road construction really delayed me, and I didn’t arrive until 6PM.

Another View Upstream of Tailwater

Even this late in the day, the parking lot was nearly full with six or seven fishermen stationed in the prime spots. The reservoir was being drawn down so the flow was higher than I expected. Nymphs probably would have been the preferred method with a RS2 or tiny midge larva, but I thought perhaps I could interest a fish or two in a caddis. I fished several spots for an hour with no success. I didn’t see anyone else around land any fish and I was concerned about driving to a campground on Rabbit Ears Pass in the dark, so I quit at 7PM.

Dumont Lake Campground Thursday Morning

I was planning to camp at the Walton Creek campground right along US 40, but I must have driven past it and missed the sign. I finally saw a sign for a campground, Dumont Lake, so I pulled over and checked my camping book to see how far off the highway it was. 1.5 miles worked and I drove on the paved road to the campground. It was now dark so I picked off the fifth site as it appeared to have a relatively flat pull through for parking the van and sleeping. It didn’t appear there were any other campers, and I had the place to myself.