Time: 11:00AM – 3:00PM

Location: Between East Portal and Rollinsville

South Boulder Creek 08/26/2024 Photo Album

Jane and I reserved a campsite at Kelly Dahl campground from Sunday, August 25 through Tuesday August 27. We invited a group of friends to join us, and six agreed to camp along with three who planned to make a day trip on Monday, August 26. Two of the six who committed to overnight camping had to withdraw due to a family medical issue, so four of us arrived on Sunday and set up camp at sites 23 and 24. We scrambled to assemble the canopy and tents, before rain commenced on Sunday, and we were all thankful for the canopy cover that made dinner and evening card games comfortable.

Canopy Ready for Rain

Most of the group planned to complete a hike at the East Portal on Monday, but I tossed out the idea of fly fishing. Our friends, Howie and Sandie, decided to accompany me on the fly fishing venture. The only decent option within close driving distance of Kelly Dahl was South Boulder Creek between the East Portal and Rollinsville. I fished this section of South Boulder Creek a few years ago, so I decided to give it another trial. I had low expectations, but I hoped that Sandie and Howie could experience catching a few wild trout from the small stream.

We arrived at an obvious public stretch of the rapidly flowing creek by 10:30AM, and we were positioned on the stream casting by 11:00AM. Howie and Sandie decided to share a rod and alternate, and they were prepared before me, so they cut down to the creek first. Howie began with a Charlie Boy hopper and a beadhead pheasant tail nymph.

For the start of my day I bet on a tan size 8 pool toy hopper and a salvation nymph. I ambled along the creek for fifteen yards, before I slid down the bank and crossed the creek.   I began working up along the opposite bank, and I managed a small eight inch brown trout in the early going along with a couple browns below the six inch cut off that I require in order to count.

Fast Water Ruled

After the early success, I endured a fairly lengthy dry spell with quite a few refusals to the pool toy hopper. The nymph was totally ignored, so I added a 20 incher below the salvation to generate deeper drifts. The creek was tumbling along quite rapidly due to high gradient and flows that I suspect were above average for the last two weeks of August. My deep nymph strategy was rejected completely by the resident fish, so I crossed back to the road side of the creek,

I decided to look for Howie and Sandie to suggest that they try a different approach, but they were not in sight. I walked down a nice path that followed the top of the bank in an eastward direction, and eventually I found them. I rounded them up, and we moved back upstream beyond the parking lot that contained many worn paths and that screamed heavy fishing pressure. For the remainder of the afternoon we progressed upstream along the left bank and alternated among the three of us. I switched to a peacock hippie stomper and a size 14 light gray caddis, while Sandie and Howie utilized a Chernobyl ant and a size 16 parachute Adams.

During this time frame Howie had a slap at the trailing Adams, but he never saw it. On one other occasion, however, he spotted the take and set the hook and momentarily felt the weight of a brown trout. Unfortunately it quickly popped free and swam to freedom.

Best Fish of the Day

During my turns I tended to claim the places that looked fishy, but required superior casting skills. This entailed quite a few casts across the main center current to slower moving shelf pools. I executed mends and reach casts to counter the drag of the main current on my fly line. In a few cases my mend caused the double flies to skip or jump, and the fish responded with a refusal or look.

Same Fish Extended

I did manage to hook and land three browns during my turns. All of these trout consumed the deer hair caddis, and they were all in the eight to ten inch range. By 2:30PM some dark rain clouds slid across the sky and settled above us. I was wearing my raincoat for warmth, and it was a fortunate choice, as we paused for ten minutes under a cluster of large evergreen trees, as the skies opened with a curtain of rain. After the precipitation ended, we resumed for a short while, but I could sense that the troops were ready to head back to the campground for an early start to happy hour.

We called it quits, but left our waders on, as we drove another five miles to the East Portal. Another angler stopped to chat with us, as we fished along the creek, and he informed us that he fished near the East Portal with decent success on dry flies. One of the spots he mentioned was by some large rock piles. We found the rock piles before arriving at the East Portal parking lot, so I parked and crossed two sets of railroad tracks to have a look at the creek. It was interesting and perhaps worth a future try. The gradient appeared to be a bit less steep, but there was more tight vegetation along the banks to thwart efforts to move upstream.

My fish count was below average, but that was attributable to sharing the stream with Howie and Sandie. My expectations were low, but the high gradient limited the number of fish holding lies, and it represented quite challenging conditions for two fairly novice fly anglers. The combination of high gradient topography and small fish make South Boulder Creek in this area a marginal destination choice in my opinion.

Fish Landed: 5