Time: 11:00AM – 3:30PM

Location: National forest

Note: In order to protect small high country streams, I have chosen to change the name for a few. This particular creek happens to be one of them. Excessive exposure could lead to crowding and lower fish densities.

My last fly fishing effort was last Tuesday, August 18, 2026 on the Taylor River, and now that Jane and I were back in Denver, I was anxious for another day of fishing. The high temperature in Denver was once again projected to exceed 90 degrees, so I needed either a cold tailwater or cold high country creek. My initial impulse was to spend a day in South Boulder Creek, but when I checked the flows, I learned that Denver Water dropped the releases from 69 CFS to 10.6 CFS. The 10.6 level was in place for four days. I have fished at 10.6 successfully, but those experiences were in September, when the air temperature, especially the nighttime lows, were more favorable to fishing at low flows. I decided to consider alternatives.

My last two visits to Moose Creek were very enjoyable, and the flows in that stream seemed to be holding at decent levels compared to other drainages around Colorado. Moose Creek became my choice.

Brilliant

When I parked near the trailhead, I quickly assembled my Orvis Access four weight. The high temperature in the area was forecast to reach the low seventies, so I opted to wear my waders instead of wet wading. The possibility of showers also existed, so I expected cloud cover to keep things cool.

Prime

I found myself poised along the creek by 11:00AM, and I began my search for trout with a classic Chernobyl ant. Why? The Chernobyl requires no floatant or false casting. If the fish were duped by the Chernobyl ant, I was in for a low maintenance day. Well, the fish rejected my large foam attractor, so I switched to a size 14 Jake’s gulp beetle. The beetle attracted attention in the form of refusals, but it never produced a fish. Next I tried a double dry with a light olive body size 14 stimulator in front and trailing a light gray size 16 deer hair caddis. Finally a trout grabbed the caddis, and I was on the board, but then the two fly combination failed to deliver.

Workhorse Fly

Would a dry/dropper do the trick? I moved to a peacock hippie stomper trailing an ultra zug bug, and the zug bug delivered a nice brook trout. Unfortunately the stomper started generating refusals and distracted the trout from the nymph. I switched the ultra zug bug for a supernova PMD nymph, and the nymph produced, but once again the hippie stomper was a distraction.

Glistening

By 11:50, when I broke for lunch, my fish count was stalled at four, and I was puzzled by the slow action in a creek, where I previously experienced fantastic action. I ate my lunch on the south bank of the creek, and when I looked around I noticed many disbursed camping sites and well worn paths along the creek. I concluded that I was in an area favored by campers and fishermen.

So Colorful

I persisted after lunch with the hope that I would move at a faster pace and advance beyond the suspiciously pressured section of the stream, but the results remained disappointing. I did manage a few long distance releases, but prime spots that yielded multiple fish on my last visit, were seemingly devoid of fish.

First Cutthroat

By 1:30 I had enough, and I decided to move. I found the trail and moved westward by .5 mile and cut to the creek. The change of scenery was my salvation, and I moved the fish count from four to twenty-four, before I called it a day at 3:30PM. I abandoned the dry/dropper and settled on a light olive body stimulator trailing a size 16 tan body deer hair caddis. The caddis really started to produce, but about halfway through my afternoon period after changing locations, I set the hook on nothing and flicked the flies high above into a hemlock bow. There was no hope of rescue, so I broke them both off.

In the Net

I replaced the duo with a size 14 lime green trude and a size 16 olive-brown deer hair caddis. These flies continued to fool mainly brook trout, and I moved upstream at a steady pace. The lime green trude’s white calftail wing was easy to track as an indicator; although it also fooled a few fish. The caddis did the heavy lifting, and likely spots finally began to deliver.

Another Cutthroat

On the day I landed twenty-four wild trout. Twenty-one were brook trout, and three were cutthroat trout. Needless to say, I was quite pleased to net a few cutties. Even more rewarding was scooping a fourteen inch cutthroat into my net, after it smacked the caddis. I also hooked a pair of cutthroats that escaped before I could net them. The cutthroats came from deep, slow-moving areas next to large boulders. In two cases I was able to hide above the tail of the pool, and I sent downstream drifts to the deep areas, where the cutthroats confidently sipped the caddis. The cutthroat eats were the highlights of my day.

I definitely feel that I spent 2.5 hours in a more heavily pressured section of the creek. I need to trust my instincts, when I see evidence of heavy human usage. If I visit Moose Creek again, I will definitely be very selective about where I fish.

Fish Landed: 24