Time: 11:30AM – 4:00PM
Location: Clear Creek Canyon
Clear Creek 04/11/2022 Photo Album
I was in dire need of a day like Monday. After two one-fish outings on the South Platte my confidence dipped, and my arm ached for multiple throbs during a day a fishing. Originally when I noted overcast skies and precipitation in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, I considered a long trip to the Arkansas River in an attempt to find a dense blue winged olive hatch, but then I did my homework on predicted wind velocity and changed my plans. Wind speeds in excess of twenty MPH are not conducive to satisfying fly fishing. My search now revolved around wind velocity predictions, and I settled on Clear Creek in Clear Creek Canyon. Afternoon wind speeds were expected to peak around 10 MPH, and I experienced moderate success during my last visit on 04/03/2022.
I took my time in the morning to allow the temperatures in the narrow canyon to warm up, and I finally departed the house by 10:20AM. This enabled me to arrive at a pullout high above tumbling Clear Creek by 11:00, and I was on the water ready to cast by 11:30. I wore my fleece cardigan and North Face light down coat and tugged on my New Zealand billed hat with ear flaps, and I wore these layers through my day on the water. My rod of choice was my Sage four weight, as it is stiff and provides better performance in windy conditions The creek was flowing along nicely at 25 CFS, and the water clarity was perfect.
A Good Place to Start
I began my Clear Creek adventure with a yellow fat Albert, hares ear nymph and ultra zug bug, and by the time I broke for lunch the fish count rested on three. My first two landed fish were small rainbows, and the third was a nine inch brown trout. The fat Albert lured one fish to the surface, and the ultra zug bug accounted for the other two.
Handsome Brown Trout
I was near my car by 12:30PM, and my hands were stinging from being wet and the resultant evaporation effect from temperatures in the upper forties and low fifties, so I climbed the steep bank and returned to the car to eat lunch in the protected environment of my front seat.
Approaching Lunch Exit Point
After lunch I continued upstream with my dry/dropper configuration until 2PM. I swapped the unproductive hares ear for a beadhead black mini leech during this time period, and the three fly combination enabled me to elevate the fish count to eight. Also, the leech never produced, so eventually I replaced it with a size 14 prince nymph, and I experimented with an emerald caddis pupa as well. The yellow fat Albert fooled two more trout, and the size 14 prince yielded three. At around 2PM I hooked a fish, and all three flies broke off. I suspect that I was the victim of an abraded knot, as the fish in Clear Creek are not large enough to inflict this level of damage to a fly line.
Very Clear
Clear Creek Monster
Throughout the dry/dropper period I witnessed quite a few refusals to the hopper, and this observation caused me to question whether a double dry fly approach might be effective. I used the three fly break off to test my hunch, and I knotted a peacock body hippie stomper to my line along with a size 12 yellow stimulator. For the remaining two hours on the water I prospected my way upstream through some very attractive pocket water using the two dry fly approach. I was very pleased with the results of my experiment, as I doubled the fish count from eight to sixteen, before I scrambled up the steep bank to quit at 4PM. In the early going the yellow stimulator notched three brown trout, but then a lull and a wave of refusals to the hippie stomper caused me to swap the yellow stimulator for a size 14 gray caddis. The caddis fooled a small brown, and one trout gulped the hippie stomper, but the catch rate slowed, and I reverted to a size 14 yellow stimulator. The yellow stimulator renewed my confidence in the big hackled attractor, as it induced three additional brown trout to linger in my net.
Attractive Pool
Monday was exactly what the doctor ordered. Sure, the largest fish was only ten or eleven inches, but I enjoyed a steady stream of action. My fishing style clearly leans toward catching many small fish over a couple large fish. Of course a lot of large fish is always the preference. I am already anxiously waiting for the high winds to disappear, so I can return to a Colorado stream before the snow melt begins its annual rush down the mountain valleys.
Fish Landed: 16