South Platte River – 05/13/2025

Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte River 05/13/2025 Photo Album

After a fantastic day on a new section of the Arkansas River on Friday, I yearned to return. However, temperatures in the upper eighties over the weekend spurred a heightened amount of snow melt, and when I checked the streamflows at the Nathrop station on Monday, the graph depicted a severe slope upward. I called the local fly shop, and Tony informed me that the fishing on the Arkansas River was probably on hold, until the run off began to subside in June. It was time for plan B.

Zoomed

I quickly shifted gears and examined the flows on tailwaters starting with Eleven Mile Canyon. I knew from previous years that the water managers hold back water to fill the South Platte reservoirs, and that proved to be the case in 2025. The gauge at Lake George was displaying flows in the mid-eighties, and I recognized this as an opportunity to visit Eleven Mile Canyon.

Produced

Behind the Boulder

I arrived at one of my favorite parking lots at 10:30AM, and the temperature registered 61 degrees, and the sky was quite overcast. I opted for my raincoat as my only layer, and I pulled together my Sage R8 four weight. I love this rod on medium sized rivers. To begin my effort to net South Platte River trout, I knotted an amber ice dub size 8 chubby Chernobyl to my line, and then, being in a contrarian mood, I selected a partridge and orange wet fly and a hares ear nymph. I wish I could report that my choice of a seldom used fly paid dividends, but after fifteen minutes of casting in relatively attractive water, I had nothing to show for my experimentation with a classic wet fly and nymph. I moved the hares ear to the upper position and replaced the partridge and orange with an emerald caddis pupa.

Love the Pose

After this change in plan, I began to catch a few trout on the hares ear, and I steadily progressed upstream. When I rounded the bend, I was disappointed to spy another angler, and a second person stood nearby next to a folding chair. This clearly blocked my forward progress, but I advanced, until I was twenty yards below the man’s position. I later discovered that the other person was the angler’s wife or partner. During this period, I increased the fish count to six, with the hares ear doing most of the damage, although after a short trial, I abandoned the caddis pupa and replaced it with the trusty olive perdigon.

Right Side Slick

Upon approaching the couple, I exited right and circled around them through a dense clump of bushes and then followed the road, until I arrived at a spot, where the river ran right next to the dirt lane. Another angler arrived in the meantime, so I moved another twenty yards upstream and continued my upstream progression. I found a nice clear spot along the bank and chowed down on my lunch before resuming.

Just Before Release

For the most of the remainder of the afternoon, I persisted with the chubby Chernobyl, hares ear nymph, and olive perdigon. By 3PM, I spotted some stray blue wing olives, so I replaced the hares ear with a PMD supernova and then a sparkle wing RS2. Each of these flies yielded a pair of fish.

Very Respectable

After lunch I moved through some pocket water and then made some long casts in the smooth pool and glide at the bend. I did connect briefly with what felt like a heavier fish, as it attacked the chubby Chernobyl at the tail of the long slick. Once I passed the run and pool, I debated whether to move to my second favorite location, but I decided to persist. The next section featured a wide area that spilled around exposed rocks, and this created pockets, albeit relatively shallow. The gambit paid off, as I built the fish count to twelve, and this included some surprising twelve inch brown trout from fairly marginal lies.

Spectacular Spots

Once I covered the pockets, I opted to exit, since another slow moving deep pool was in my future. I hiked back to the car, and the couple that I encountered was present at their vehicle next to mine, and the gentleman was using the folding chair to remove his waders. We shared greetings and a brief exchange of our successes, and then I departed and moved .3 mile up the river to my next area to explore.

Shelf Pool

Rare Double

I spent the rest of the afternoon prospecting pockets, slots and deep runs among faster water, and I advanced the fish count from twelve to twenty. Among these catches were a pair of very nice and chunky thirteen inch brown trout. In addition, I experienced a rarity, when I hooked two fish at once and landed them both. A nice thirteen inch brown trout grabbed the chubby, and as I began playing it, a small brown nabbed one of the trailing nymphs. This always makes me wonder, whether I need to strip my flies faster, since the fish nailed the trailing nymph, while the larger fish streaked about attempting to escape.

Source of Double

My big revelation on the day was the effectiveness of the juicy chubby Chernobyl. Six of the twenty netted trout mashed the chubby, and these were some of the larger trout. The hares ear accounted for three, the supernova added two, the sparkle wing tallied two and the remainder grabbed the olive perdigon. The perdigon was a factor, but it was not the heavy lifter that it has been in recent outings.

Covered in Spots

Although Tuesday was a solid day, I would not characterize it as hot fishing. I covered a huge amount of the river and made an abundant quantity of casts. Places that I was certain would produce failed to do so, and other spots that screamed marginal came through. Tuesday’s success required a lot of casting and steady movement and above all continued focus. Hopefully I can squeeze in more stream fly fishing, before I am forced to resort to stillwaters.

Fish Landed: 20

Surprisingly Productive Chubby Chernobyl