Time: 2:00PM – 2:30PM

Location: A knoll at the end of a two-track road on the south lake.

South Brown Lake 06/28/2023 Photo Album

After a fun trip to Creede in June of 2022, Jane and I booked another stay at an Airbnb in Creede from June 23 through June 27. For our 2023 trip we were joined by our friend, Amy S. Prior to departing for the journey from Denver to Creede I reviewed the flows on the Rio Grande, and I was disappointed to learn that the river was raging along at high run off levels. Consequently I developed a backup plan, and I skipped ahead in my Colorado Easy Access Mountain Lakes book to read about five lakes in the Rio Grande Valley vicinity.

Jane, Amy and I departed from Denver on Friday and made the 4.5 hour drive without incident. We easily found our cabin overlooking the mining town of Creede, and after we unloaded our baggage, we made the less than one mile drive to Main Street. The Rio Grande Angler was closed for the day, so we continued our stroll along the small downtown area, until we reached the Ramble House fly shop. I entered the shop and immediately met with a young salesperson. I bought two spools of tippet, and then I questioned my salesman for fishing information in the area. I discovered that the Rio Grande remained very difficult to fish due to the high flows and that the salmon fly hatch was just beginning. I described the successful edge fishing that I enjoyed on other freestone rivers, and the gentleman suggested the Coller State Wildlife Area as a spot to try edge fishing.

Next I asked if there were other moving water options, and he offered Crooked Creek by Road Canyon Reservoir and North Clear Creek west of Creede. My final line of questioning revolved around lakes, and he suggested Big Meadow Reservoir and Beaver Creek Reservoir, and he assured me that both were ice free. Both reservoirs were in my Easy Access Mountain Lakes book, so I was pleased to gain the information about the status of the lakes.

On Saturday morning Amy, Jane and I completed a five mile out and back hike on the Deep Creek Trail. When we returned to the cabin, we ate our lunches, and then I was free to embark on a fly fishing excursion, while the ladies ventured forth on the Up and Over hike. I dropped them off at the trailhead, and then I drove west on CO 149. I planned to explore the North Clear Creek option, and my backup included Brown Lakes State Wildlife Area. My easy access book presented Brown Lakes as a solid destination for hungry brook trout.

When it came to North Clear Creek, I was shooting in the dark regarding a section to explore, so I set North Clear Creek Campground as my destination. I knew that a National Forest campground provided some assurance of public water in a national forest setting. As I entered the campground, I spotted a rectangular wooden sign that pointed to fisherman parking, and I made a left turn and parked. Jane reserved tickets for a play at the Creede Theater on Saturday night, and we had dinner reservations before the show, so I was on a tight timeline. I quickly pulled on my waders and assembled my Sage four weight and anxiously crossed the campground entry road and dropped into the forest. I could hear the rushing water of the creek, but it was not visible. I advanced twenty yards toward the sound of water, when I felt a thick twig in my right boot foot. I tried to ignore it in order to avoid removing all my gear and my waders, but it was pressing into the bottom of my foot, and I could not imagine continuing to fish under these circumstances. At the time I noticed a high barbed wire fence that angled from the road to the creek, and this sealed my decision to retreat to the road. I grabbed a seat on the bench of the first campsite after the parking area, and I removed my front pack, backpack, wading staff, camera, and my right wader foot, until I was able to hold it upside down to empty the irritating twig. I put myself back together and continued down the road past several campgrounds, and then I cut back to the creek.

My first glance at the creek was not reassuring, as the water was rushing along at high velocity and very tight to the bank. I decided to walk upstream a bit, but viable places to cast a fly were practically nonexistent. The two that I observed were quite marginal, and I could foresee excessive hiking along the creek between possible fish holding locales. I decided to cut my losses, and I returned to the car, stashed my gear and proceeded a few miles to the Brown Lakes SWA.

Brown Lakes was two miles off of CO 149, and as I approached, I noticed the parking lots were completely devoid of cars. The lakes were in a wide open setting with no trees, and the wind gusted relentlessly and created whitecaps on the small bodies of water. Adding to my initial feelings of doubt, the color of the water was brown with minimal visibility along the edges. The book did not suggest which lake to fish, so I drove by the north lake parking lot, until I reached a parking lot for the second, and here I spotted a two-track lane that stretched toward the south end of the lake. I was hoping to find the inlet, since fishing near inlets had served me well in other stillwater ventures. The two track eventually curled onto a knoll that rose twenty feet above the lake on a small point.

South Lake Looking North

I removed my fly rod, which remained strung from my aborted effort on North Clear Creek, and I added a tan size 8 pool toy hopper and a beadhead hares ear nymph and black mini leech. I dropped down a steep bank on the north side of the knoll, and I was positioned in a calm, murky cove. I never saw any surface activity, but I was at least protected from the wind, so I began spraying casts toward the calm water in the protected portion of the lake, as I moved toward the corner. I allowed the flies to rest for varying amounts of time and then deployed short jerks and strips, but the fish, if they were present, ignored my actions. I lost confidence and grew frustrated, so I decided to explore to the south in hopes of finding the inlet. After a brief hike, I once again encountered a barbed wire fence, and it extended into the lake, so I abandoned the inlet search. I returned to the point that protruded from the knoll, and I reconfigured with a streamer, but ten minutes of casting and stripping did not yield anything besides arm exercise. I cut my losses and returned everything to the car. Fly fishing in the Rio Grande Valley in June of 2023 was not getting off to an auspicious start.

Fish Landed:0