Time: 10:30AM – 3:00PM
Location: Winter Parking on road to Wild Basin
North Fork of St. Vrain Creek 07/04/2006 Photo Album
After reading all the fishing reports, I noted that Rocky Mountain National Park water levels dropped, and reports suggested that it was fishing well, so Jane and I decided to spend the day in the park. I chose the southern Wild Basin area, as that contains the North Fork of the St. Vrain River. The park entrance person told us the parking was full at Wild Basin, so we parked at Winter Parking lot around .5 miles from the entrance gate. I never fished the lower water below Wild Basin parking, so I was fine with this option. Jane decided to hike the Finch Lake trail, and that was another .5 mile up the road.
Smooth Beaver Pond
Wild Lily at RMNP
I hit the water around 10:45AM in a stretch full of channels and beaver ponds. I tied on an emerald trude and began casting in fairly shallow smooth water. Almost immediately I landed a small brook trout. I kept moving upstream a foot or two farther at a time and landed another three brookies. The last two were in the 9-10 inch range, and that represents a very reasonable size for Colorado brook trout. But the sky darkened, and a few raindrops fell, so I decided to exit and return to the car for my raincoat, before heavy rain commenced. When I reached the car, I was in the process of removing my vest and belt, when the rain really intensified, so I decided to eat my lunch in the car and wait out the storm. It was now 11:30.
Largest Brook Trout
After lunch I put on my raincoat and returned to the beaver pond area, where I ended my earlier session. Another cloudburst developed, and the trude began sinking repeatedly, so I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and beadhead hares ear nymph. I caught a couple browns on the nymphs, but I was progressing deeper in the maze of ponds and channels, and fear of getting lost entered my thoughts. Also I really desired faster moving water.
High But Clear
I exited and hiked along the stream looking for normal moving water, and I found it at a bridge, where the dirt road crossed over. Here I began fishing upstream. The creek was flowing rather high but clear, and I discovered that all the fish were in slack water lies tight to the bank. I switched to a beadhead prince dropper at some point, with the thought that it would be more visible to the resident trout population. I worked upstream covering a lot of water seeking the slack water lies along the banks, and this approach enabled me to pick up fish here and there. I lost several pairs of flies along the way and ended up utilizing prince nymphs, a chartreuse copper john, and a double bead caddis larva. For the most part, the fish were attacking the yellow Letort hopper. I lost the bright yellow version and switched over to a pale yellow model, but the fish did not seem to mind.
Pretty Speckled Brown
At one location near some picnic tables next to the stream in a nice pocket, I saw a fish rise but turn away. At this point I had the chartreuse copper john as a dropper. The fish appeared to be larger than others, and after a couple more casts I hooked up with a nice size brown. The fish immediately charged out of the pocket and headed downstream into some heavy white water. I let the fish run in the fast current, but after around twenty feet I applied pressure. I managed to elevate the fish to plane on the surface two or three times, but could not maneuver it to a position near me, and there was no way to follow it downstream due to tight evergreen vegetation and heavy current that bordered the bank. Eventually the fish parted the line, and once again my line was devoid of flies.
I landed seventeen trout before I quit, and I returned to the car at 3:15PM. Of the eleven trout caught after the beaver pond area, all but two or three rose to the hopper pattern.
Fish Landed: 17