Time: 10:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 04/11/2025 Photo Album

I had my eye on Eleven Mile Canyon with the anticipation of intersecting with a decent blue wing olive hatch. In past Aprils I enjoyed some excellent days on this river with the benefit of abundant quantities of the diminutive mayflies. Early in the week the weather suggested highs in the low seventies with partly cloudy skies for most of the afternoon. The temperature aspect of this forecast remained in place; however, the cloudiness was replaced with bright sunshine and clear skies. I decided to follow through with my commitment, and I made the drive to Eleven Mile Canyon on Friday, April 11, 2025.

Next to the Rocks

I arrived at my usual pullout by 10:00AM, and the dashboard temperature displayed at 51 degrees. In response to the chill, I pulled on my Under Armour long sleeved thermal undershirt, and then I added my fleece cardigan and my raincoat as a windbreaker. It is always windy in the spring in Colorado. For a casting tool I chose my Sage One five weight.

Love the Deep Water Next to the Large Rock

Given the weather forecast and the absence of clouds, I expected very little surface feeding; however, I surmised that baetis nymphs would be active. In response to this thought I began my day with a size 8 chubby Chernobyl trailing a size 16 olive perdigon and a size 22 classic RS2. I also adopted a strategy of skipping the pools in favor of pocket water, moderate riffles and deep current seams.

Perfect Water for My Tastes

In the 1.5 hours until lunch at noon, I managed to land three rainbow trout in the ten to eleven inch range. I also connected momentarily with several fish, and I foul hooked a rainbow that was my best fish of the morning. I might have hooked it in its mouth, but in its efforts to escape, the fish may have shed the upper nymph and been snagged by the trailer.

Melon Color

I adhered to my strategy and skipped around five pools, before I paused for lunch on a nice large and flat rock at noon. After lunch I progressed up the river and skipped around  three additional pools, and several were occupied by other anglers, so that worked out nicely. The other fishermen favored the pools, and they left the intervening pockets for my prospecting.

Humpback Brown

At one o’clock  the drifts that were previously ignored suddenly began to attract attention. Trout began to attack the nymphs especially on the lift and swing. I continued migrating up the river, and I landed an additional seventeen trout to boost my fish count from three to twenty. I would not characterize the action as intense, but it was steady. Three of the landed trout were rainbows in the thirteen inch to sixteen inch range, and I was quite pleased with these catches. Another four were respectable browns of twelve to thirteen inches, and the remainder were beneath the twelve inch threshold.

Seam Produced

Both the perdigon and RS2 delivered results, but the RS2 probably accounted for a higher ratio of netted fish, and that split could have been even greater had the tiny fly held on more temporary hook ups.

Number 19, Best of the Day

I moved at a fairly fast clip and did not dwell in any particular location. In most cases I executed five casts with several being a dead drift and an equal number activated with lifts and swings. The dead drift seemed to work on a directly upstream cast, while the swing and lift were effective on casts across and down.

Angling Competitors

In spite of the lack of clouds, Friday was a splendid day. I hit a new high for a day of fly fishing at twenty landed. The quality of the fish was satisfactory, although the average size was less than Wednesday’s haul, and it fell short of spring trips to the South Platte in previous seasons. I covered .8 mile of the river and adhered to fishing the faster water, and it paid off with solid results. I will continue to look for cloudy, cool days in Eleven Mile Canyon in order to experience the frenzy of a dense hatch and hot dry fly fishing.

Fish Landed: 20