Time: 10:00AM – 11:45AM

Location: Near Lottis Creek Campground

Lottis Creek 08/13/2024 Photo Album

My wife, Jane, expressed an interest in camping, since she had not camped since 2023, so I accessed the USFS campground reservation service and reserved campsite number eleven at Lodgepole Campground along the Taylor River for two nights, August 12 and 13. Jane does not fly fish, and we only had one car, so the campground location was ideal, since it was directly across from a section of the Taylor River that I like to fish. I could operate independently, while she commandeered the car for a trip to hike and browse around Crested Butte.

We made the drive to our campground on Monday, and stopped for a sumptuous lunch at the House Rock Kitchen along the main street in Buena Vista. By the time we arrived at Lodgepole, it was three PM, and we quickly set up the canopy and tent, before we took a stroll along the river.

Small Stream

Tuesday was my allotted day to fish. I mentioned that historically the Taylor does not fish well in the morning, and I often fish Spring Creek for a few hours before returning for prime time on the Taylor River in the afternoon. We tried to devise a plan whereby Jane dropped me off at Spring Creek, but all the scenarios had me not returning to the Taylor until 2:00PM. As an alternative I thought of Lottis Creek. I checked the map, and it was two miles from Lottis Creek to Lodgepole, so we adopted a new plan. Jane would drop me off at Lottis Creek, and I would fish for a few hours in the morning, and then I would hike the two miles back to Lodgepole to fish the Taylor. Neither of us would be constrained by timing deadlines to meet up.

Early Catch

I prepared to fish at the campsite with my Sage R8 four weight, and Jane dropped me off next to the campground at 10:00AM. The air temperature was in the sixties, and the sky was quite overcast, so I wore my rain shell for warmth. I was geared up with my rod strung, so I advanced immediately to the small creek that was running quite full for August 13. I began my day with a Chernobyl ant, and I landed a pair of small browns.

Big Boy

Home of Big Boy Between Branch and Log

After a fast start, I began to witness refusals, so I added a beadhead hares ear nymph two feet below the Chernobyl. Once I was ready, I flicked a short cast to a narrow band of slow water tight to the bank. I had already fished the spot, before I added the hares ear, so I had low expectations. In fact, it was a perfunctory effort aimed more at simply getting the nymph wet in anticipation of a cast farther upstream. While I watched the top fly, I noticed a fish beneath the surface making a quick move, so I set in case it grabbed the nymph. It did! Not only that, but this fish was a monster compared to the small size of Lottis Creek. It put up a powerful fight in a confined space, before I slid the fourteen inch brown trout into my net. This catch vindicated my decision to fish Lottis, and in fact, it made my day.

Salivating Over This Stretch

I continued fishing the Chernobyl and hares ear upstream and added five more trout to the count to reach eight. One was a six inch brook trout, one was an eight inch rainbow, and the remainder were small browns with perhaps one or two twelve inch fish in the mix.

At 11:45AM I called it quits and departed on my two mile jaunt along the highway back to Lodgepole. In 1.75 hours of fishing, I landed eight fish including a fourteen inch prize. I was pleased with my session on Lottis Creek.

Fish Landed: 8