Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Between Avon and Eagle, Colorado

Eagle River 07/09/2024 Photo Album

My camping experience launched with a tough start, when I was unable to screw the regulator from the camp stove into the neck of the propane canisters. I tried four different containers with the same result, and my wrist and fingers were on the brink of injury as a result of all the pushing and twisting. I was forced to drive back to Minturn for a BBQ dinner at the Kirby Cosmos eatery, so glamping was gradually replacing camping. Surely my one night camping outing could not get any worse.

I returned to my campsite at Hornsilver after dinner, and recorded my fishing notes and read for a bit, before I crashed in my REI two-person tent. I was situated in a great position to get an early start on the Eagle River once again on Tuesday. My day on Monday was decent, so I decided to return to the same general area, but to begin my fishing venture farther upriver, thus, allowing me to overlap with the most productive section yet provide for farther advancement.

Hornsilver Camping Setup

I woke up at 6:30AM, but I remained in the tent in my comfortable sleeping bag until 7:00AM. When I stepped outside, I was immediately shocked by the cold temperature. I quickly wrapped myself in my heavy down parka, which I very nearly left behind. Of course, I was without a functioning camp stove, and this eliminated my ability to heat water for my usual mug of black tea. It also precluded hot oatmeal for breakfast, or the ability to wash my face with warm water.

Frost on the Tablecloth

I decided to begin preparing my sandwich for lunch, and at this point I discovered a thin film of frost on the the tablecloth as well as a coating on the rain fly of the tent. Apparently the temperature at Hornsilver dipped to freezing at the high elevation. I decided to wait a bit, until the air temperature elevated, but after fifteen minutes, I concluded I was wasting time and proceeded with the steps of sandwich construction. I placed two slices of bread on a paper towel and applied my favorite spread. At this point my hands began to ache, and I stuffed them into my parka pockets and blew on them for warmth. I was forced to go through this regimen with each step of building my sandwich, and it took a ridiculous amount of time to make one lunch item. Did I mention that, in the midst of the sandwich preparation, the mustard exploded from the squeeze bottle due to the high elevation and change in pressure?

Next I proceeded with the chore of breaking camp, and of course the sun remained sequestered behind the ridge to the east, and the air temperature dwelled in the thirties. Eventually I took down the wet tent and rainfly and rolled them up in the back of the car to dry out later. For breakfast I downed a yogurt cup and granola bar, but I almost broke my teeth on the frozen brick of a fruit and nut snack. Finally I was on my way, but was I? I had to stop two times on my way down Battle Mountain Pass for single lane road construction crews. I was aching for my standard cup of black tea, so I stopped at the Sunrise Cafe in Minturn only to discover that the only black tea on the menu was Earl Gray. I dislike Earl Gray, so I exited with the thought of stopping in Avon or Edwards.

When I reached the entrance to interstate 70 west, I was alerted to the fact that the on ramp was closed, and I had to detour east to the West Vail exit where I completed a U-turn to continue on my way to my chosen fly fishing destination. I looked at my watch and realized that I was on track to start fishing barely a half hour earlier than on Monday, when I packed the car and traveled all the way from Denver. So much for camping near the river. I abandoned all thoughts of tea and proceeded directly to the river.

Flows Remained High on Tuesday

OK, back to fly fishing. The temperature was in the low seventies, as I prepared to fish, and the sun was beating down relentlessly with no clouds in the sky. I sensed that Tuesday would be a difficult day. Flows were in the 700 CFS range, so the river was still high and cold to offset the warming impact of the sun’s rays, and that provided an element of hope. I hiked down to the river following Monday’s path, but I stopped short of my starting point of the previous day. To began my foray into edge fishing I tied an amber ice dub body chubby Chernobyl to my line and then added a beadhead hares ear to imitate yellow sally nymphs and an olive-black Pat’s rubber legs for weight and depth. As I suspected, I began casting at 11:00AM merely thirty minutes sooner than on Monday after packing the car for camping and fishing and driving from Denver. In the hour before lunch I managed two temporary connections with decent fish, but that was the extent of my success in spite of prospecting some very attractive pockets and riffles of moderate depth.

Early Catch

 

I ate my lunch by the river bank and observed, and yellow sallies dominated the sky, although the density of the hatch was far more sparse than that which I viewed on Monday. After lunch I removed the rubber legs and replaced it with an emerald caddis pupa and moved the hares ear to the end position. A few caddis flitted about among the willows, so I played the hunch that a caddis pupa might be the ticket. It worked temporarily, when I landed a nice, chunky thirteen inch rainbow, and that was bracketed by a pair of eleven inch fish that snatched the hares ear. One was a rainbow and one was a brown trout.

Talon Scarred Rainbow Trout

I moved along at a fairly rapid pace and hit the promising spots, but other than another small rainbow, my efforts were thwarted. By 2:00PM I began to suspect that the lower river was not going to produce, but I made a last ditch effort to salvage some action, and I swapped the caddis pupa for an iron sally. In a nice angled shelf pool the chubby dipped, and I found myself attached to an angry sixteen inch rainbow. It thrashed and splashed, but eventually I slid my net beneath it, and I thought it was the same fish I landed on Monday from the same location. Once I reviewed the photos, I realized it was a different rainbow with a talon mark in a different spot.

I moved on and skipped around a wide and marginal section and arrived at the nice moderate riffle area, where I ended my day on Monday. I tossed an abundant quantity of casts and covered all the lanes thoroughly, but I was not rewarded for my efficiency. Once again I progressed up the river, and in a deep pocket next to a fallen log I hooked and landed an eleven inch brown trout, and that ended my day on that section of the Eagle River.

I returned to the car, and as I did so, some large, dark clouds were shifting into position to the west. I decided to test another section of the river farther upstream closer to the headwaters with a narrower riverbed, more pockets for aeration, and more trees to provide shade. By the time I drove the extra miles and parked and hiked to my starting spot, it was 2:45PM, and the clouds were nearly above me, so I pulled on my rain jacket. I immediately approached a series of pockets that I favor, and I made a few casts with the dry/dropper that remained on my line, but success remained elusive.

New Location, Nice Brown Trout

Pockets Galore

I decided to cast my fortunes to a dry fly approach, so I removed all the dry/dropper flies and switched to a peacock body hippie stomper trailing a size 16 light gray caddis on a twelve inch dropper. Bingo! Success was instant. Over the next hour I progressed through the fifty yard section of pocket water and boosted the fish count from six to eighteen. Six of the twelve trout were small browns in the eight to ten inch range, but the other half dozen included a much appreciated rainbow of fifteen inches and a pair of brown trout in the thirteen inch range. The others were respectable browns and rainbows in the twelve inch bracket.

Surprise Catch

Between Middle of Three Exposed Rocks and Rock on Far Right

In one very attractive pocket I spotted two decent trout; one at the lip and the other toward the middle. I attempted to interest the one at the lip, but it was sullen and did not move, but the one higher up was definitely in feeding mode, and I managed a few looks but no takes. I began swapping out the trailing fly, and I moved through a cinnamon comparadun and an olive-brown body size 16 caddis, but neither flies changed the fish’s unwillingness to feed on my offerings.

Required a Fly Change

I moved on to the next deep pocket which was similar in dimensions and depth, and once again I spotted a large fish stationed at the lip of the pool. It also feigned indifference, so I exchanged the olive-brown caddis for a size 16 light gray comparadun. On the fifth drift, the targeted trout snatched the comparadun, and the fight commenced. I was fortunate enough to land the prize fifteen inch slab for what proved to be the prize of the day.

Deep Slot

Bravo

Large Deep Pocket

Tuesday was almost an exact replay of my day a year ago with my friend, Nate. We began early in the same spot, encountered challenging fishing and then defaulted to the upper river, where we met with some fast action late in the afternoon. I’m done with the lower Eagle for the summer, but a return to the upper section is certainly a consideration over the remainder of July.

Fish Landed: 18