Time: 1:30PM – 3:30PM

Location: Near Copper Mountain

Curtain Ponds 08/25/2026 Photo Album

I departed Clinton Gulch, and the Curtain Ponds were along the way, and I could not resist the need to stop and try my luck. I parked in the lot provided and hiked along the bike path to one of the ponds along Interstate 70.

Mirror Smooth

I ended my time at Clinton Gulch with a size 14 olive-brown deer hair caddis, so I kept that dry fly on my line, and I began to fan casts toward a shallow cove. I was pleased, when a brightly colored brook trout slammed the caddis, and I was on the board at the Curtain Ponds.

Glamour

For the next two hours I moved along the shoreline and sprayed casts toward the middle of the pond, and I managed to land five brook trout in total. Near the start I noticed a decent brown trout, as it spooked from the shallows to deeper water, but I was unable to connect with any browns during my two hours.

Respectable

I began with the caddis, and then, after I observed two very dainty insects skittering across the surface followed by a few random rises, I found a tiny tuft of a fly with an olive body and a CDC wing. This fly generated one small brook trout that reacted to a strip.

Chowed on the Hippie Stomper

After this success, however, the tiny fly failed to produce, so I decided to go big. A peacock hippie stomper was a star performer on other Curtain Ponds, so why not try it here? I did, and it brought three more brook trout to my net. One was actually quite decent and probably measured eleven inches. I cast the stomper within a yard of the bank, and the brook trout crushed it.

Home of Nice Brook Trout Next to the Bank

Five trout from the Curtain Ponds salvaged my day to some degree. By 3:30 I was in the midst of an extended lull, so I decided to begin my return drive. Lake fly fishing continues to be a bit of a mystery with this fly angler.

Fish Landed: 5