Time: 9:30AM – 2:30PM
Location: Edwards Rest Area
Fish Landed: 17
Eagle River 07/11/2014 Photo Album
As I walked back to my car on Thursday after my day of fishing, I heard the rumble of thunder and peered toward the southwest and noticed a huge black cloud. I hustled to get out of my waders and stow my fishing gear and successfully avoided the storm, but as I drove east on interstate 70 toward the Minturn exit, rain poured down on me in sheets and waves. Would this ruin my plans to fish the Eagle River again on Friday? As I exited the interstate and began driving toward Minturn, I got my first decent view of the stream, and sure enough it was chocolate brown. This water condition continued through Minturn until I began climbing the pass that moves away from the river. As I set up my tent and made dinner at Hornsilver, I decided that my backup plan was to fish Gore Creek if the Eagle River was too muddy, but I had no idea if Gore Creek was clear or murky.
On Friday morning I ate a quick breakfast and rolled up my wet tent and departed toward Minturn and the Eagle River with great trepidation. The lower Eagle River below Edwards muddies quickly from a tributary, so I didn’t even consider driving that far, and instead decided to examine the water by the Edwards rest area. Historically this section of the Eagle River has been great for me particularly during the high flows and edge fishing period. As I descended the winding pass I caught my first glimpse of the Eagle, and much to my relief it was nearly crystal clear. Unless Gore Creek was dumping sediments into the Eagle at the junction near I70, I was probably going to encounter clear fishable water at the Edwards rest area.
It wasn’t long before I reached interstate 70 and had my first look at the combined flow, and sure enough it was essentially clear. My anticipation of fishing in the Eagle River soared as I pulled into a parking spot at the rest area and prepared to fish with my Sage four weight four piece rod. I walked back to the bridge just below the rest area and then negotiated my way under the bridge and over some large round rocks and went downstream as far as I could go before encountering some fast whitewater. The whitewater stretch was going to be too difficult to fish, so I decided to begin my fishing day just above it. It was chilly and cool in the shadows of the big cottonwood trees when I began at 9:30AM.
I knotted a Charlie Boy hopper to my line as the top fly, and then beneath that I attached a copper john. Within the first fifteen minutes I hooked and landed a feisty twelve inch brown on the copper john and this increased my optimism. The flows remained at approximately 600 cfs, and this made for tough wading over slippery slime covered boulders. Also this section of the Eagle River has a narrower stream bed than the Eagle lease stretch, and this translated to high fast current tight up against the bank in many places.
After my quick success, I worked my way upstream and landed a second small brown just below the Edwards bridge. The copper john didn’t seem to be producing in some fairly attractive locations, so I added a bright green caddis pupa as my third fly. Above the bridge I cast to some nice short pools where a huge vertical cut bank looms over the river, and in this series of pockets I landed a few more browns on the caddis pupa. Given the success of the caddis, I moved it up to replace the copper john and then added a salvation nymph as my bottom fly.
These Runs Produced Two Nice Browns
At the end of the cut bank some large spruce trees extended over the river to the edge of some very swift current. I somehow managed to slide around the trees and resumed my upstream progression along the bank until I reached a point where the river widened a bit. There were a huge number of pockets in this area, and I was able to wade a bit and fish the short deep pools that were 15 yards from the bank. By wading carefully and moving from pocket to pocket, I added a few more browns to my count, and then I approached the place where a long log lies parallel to the river. This log is popular with tourists and workers who use it as a perch while they eat their lunches by the river.
16 Inch Brown from Eagle River
Several nice long deep slots ran parallel to the log, and I began to drift the Charlie Boy from the the top of the closest one to the tail. After five drifts, I coaxed a nice fish to snatch the salvation nymph, and this led to a brief battle with a 15 inch brown trout before it rested in my net for a photo. Once I released this nice catch, I began to cast to the next deep area that paralleled the one that yielded the 15 inch brown. This slot bordered some faster water, and as I ran the Charlie Boy along the current seam along the fast current, I saw a flash and set the hook and once again found myself attached to a hard fighting trout. After thwarting several short runs downstream, I applied side pressure and managed to scoop the 17 inch fish into my net and discovered it was a very hefty brown. I was flying high after landing two nice fish in such close proximity.
Fat Sixteen Inch Brown Put Up a Battle
It was now 11:30, and I was directly across from where the car was parked, so I decided to eat my lunch by the water. As I munched away, I began to notice some pale morning duns in the air, and the swallows were actively swooping across the river. This is always an indication of an insect hatch.
After lunch I swapped the Charlie Boy hopper for a Chernobyl ant as I hoped that I could generate some interest in the surface fly. I skipped the next section where evergreen branches once again obstructed my forward progress, and once I was beyond the group of trees I found a narrow path back to the river and resumed fishing along the bank. I executed this some workaround maneuver several times as I moved up the river, and in the process I landed five more trout including several rainbows.
Rainbow Materialized from Current Seam
By 1:30 I came upon a long extremely juicy pool that is usually occupied by other fishermen. There was a young gentleman at the very tail of the pool, and I asked if he was fishing. He responded no, as he appeared to be supervising his two dogs in a game of retrieve the stick. Another young man was sitting on a log overlooking the pool, so I asked if he was fishing, and he replied that he was not. With this good fortune I approached the pool and relished the fact that I had it all to myself.
16 Inch Rainbow from Long Pool on Eagle River
I began prospecting the eight feet of water along the left side of the fast deep run that flowed down the center of the pool. I fanned out three casts twenty feet upstream, and then made three or four steps and repeated the process. Much to my surprise I didn’t even receive a refusal, but I continued until I was near the top of the run. Here I made a nice cast that landed right along the current seam and as the Chernobyl drifted back toward me it took a dip. I set the hook and felt the weight of a substantial fish. This fish fought differently than the earlier browns, and eventually I slid my net beneath a seventeen inch rainbow. What a thrill to catch a rainbow of this size in the Eagle River near the rest area.
Beadhead Pheasant Tail Produced
The rainbow was fish number fourteen, and I continued working the left bank above the long pool. There were several nice pockets in this stretch, and I managed to land three more fish with one being a decent thirteen inch brown and the other two fish under 10 inches. Once again some foreboding dark clouds appeared in the southeastern sky accompanied by distant rumbling. I did not have my raincoat in my backpack, so I decided to hike back to the car to retrieve it so I could resume fishing without worrying about the weather. When I reached the car, however, I could see that the storm was going to hit the rest area, and it was not worth the effort to hike back to the river.
I hustled to remove my waders and stash my gear, and just as I jumped in the drivers’ seat, large raindrops began splatting on the windshield. The intensity of the rain increased as I began my return trip to Denver, and wet roads became the norm for most of the drive.
I experienced another fun day on the Eagle River on Friday with seventeen fish landed and three in excess of fifteen inches. Once again I began planning a return to the Eagle River while the water remains cold, and the fish continue to be active.