Time: 10:30AM – 2:30PM
Location: First .5 mile below Scraggy View where the road makes a 90 degree bend, and then the Oxbow area in the special regulation section.
South Platte River 08/17/2016 Photo Album
I avoided breaking my rod or falling in the river. Those are the two positives I can cite regarding my fly fishing trip to the South Platte River below Deckers on Wednesday August 17.
My sister and brother-in-law were in Colorado Springs at a bed and breakfast celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary, and Jane made plans to golf, so I had an unexpected day to myself. I checked out the local options, and given my shift in focus to tailwaters, the South Platte River at Deckers flowing at 300 cfs attracted my attention. The reports on the local web sites seemed encouraging with tricos, pale morning duns and blue winged olives in the picture, so I took the plunge and made the one and a half hour drive. Nearly all my trips to the Deckers area since the Heyman Fire were disappointing, but I was hopeful that the fishery recovered, and I expected reduced fishing pressure on a Wednesday.
The weather was gorgeous for human beings with the morning temperature in the low seventies and a clear bluebird sky. Unfortunately these conditions are typically not popular with cold water fish. When I departed the stream at 2:30, the thermometer reading on the dashboard registered 84 degrees. It would have been a great day to wet wade, but the pockets on my fishing shirt were not large enough to contain my fly box, and I had no alternative places to stash the flies besides the bib pocket on my waders.
Starting Point on the South Platte River
My first stop was approximately one half mile below the Scraggy View picnic area, where the river made a ninety degree bend and flowed below a small narrow island. I began fishing with a tan pool toy and a salvation nymph and beadhead hares ear, but after fifteen minutes and no interest, I made a change. I removed the hares ear and replaced it with a size 22 sunken trico. Given the warm temperatures I assumed that the trico hatch and spinner fall occurred early in the morning, but I speculated that some laggards remained in the drift. As I was configuring my line, a young tuber appeared at the bend, and then she paused across and slightly above my position. I was surprised to encounter a tuber at 11AM on a Wednesday, and I suspected that she was waiting for friends before continuing.
Upside Down Pool Toy
As this observation was taking place, I saw my hopper disappear, and I quickly reacted with a lift. My rod bent and the inertia of my hook set brought a thrashing brown trout to the surface, but just as suddenly it escaped and returned to the deep run. Given the brevity of the hookup, I assumed that it grabbed the tiny sunken trico.
I was now anxious to move up to the deep juicy run where the currents merged below the small island at the bend, but as I took my first step, three more tubers appeared from the left braid. Two teenage girls were balanced on the one tube, and they towed a second flotation device. Twenty yards behind them was a lucky young boy, and he splashed and floated right over the deep run that I anxiously planned to probe in pursuit of his cute friends.
The Channel Away from the Road
The tubers gathered across from me and went on their way, as I waded along the bank and approached the area below the island. I was not deterred by the disturbance and spent ten minutes covering the deep seam, but the fish apparently were affected, and my casts went unheeded. Since the swimmers floated along the left channel, I elected to work my way up the right braid, although it was shallower and much less enticing to this fly fisherman. I made long casts to the deeper areas next to the bank, which contained tall grasses with the expectation that some brown trout might lurk intending to ambush wayward terrestrials. My premise was solid, but the vision never materialized on August 17.
By 12:15 I reached a wide shallow section of the river that was unappealing as a fish holding area, so I crossed and climbed a steep bank and returned to the car. I decided to move to another location farther upstream, and the choice resulted in pulling into a roadside parking space next to the oxbow section of the river. The river at this juncture makes a large loop away from the road and then returns below a campground. I ate my lunch in the shade of some ponderosa pines, and then I gathered my fishing gear and hiked along the top of the knoll that causes the river to make a large double bend.
Oxbow Area
I began fishing on the northeast side of the loop, but once again the river seemed to be devoid of hungry fish. I moved up a bit and swapped the sunken trico for a RS2, and finally in a relatively shallow run behind an exposed rock a small brown trout slurped the surface fly. Or at least that is what I thought, until I played the fish and discovered that the trailing fly hooked the fish in the cheek. A second opportunity to move the fish counter was squandered.
The next segment of the river at the tip of the oxbow was very attractive, as the main current of the river ran against the far bank and created a huge deep run and shelf pool. I waded to the eastern side and began working my way through this stretch with renewed optimism. I made long casts and fixed my gaze on the hopper, as it bobbed along the current seam and through ideal trout holding areas. Finally I spotted a sudden dip and set the hook, and I was connected with a decent fish. I played it cautiously as it streaked back and forth several times, and then as I applied side pressure to bring it closer to me, the fly hurtled from the mouth of the finned resistance and crashed against the rock ledge wall behind me. Needless to say I was disappointed and discouraged simultaneously. My one brief glimpse suggested that the fighting fish was a thirteen or fourteen inch rainbow.
Soft Hackle Emerger
I moved on and fished the remainder of the juicy shelf pool, but my casts proved fruitless. A significant amount of loose aquatic vegetation floated by me, and this suggested that scuds were knocked loose and floated in the drift. I reacted to this theory by knotting an orange scud to my line, but it also was completely ignored. In a last ditch effort to solve the South Platte puzzle I replaced the orange scud with a size 20 soft hackle emerger, but this only served to temporarily boost my optimism.
The next area was marginal and characterized by a wide shallow streambed, so I quickly skipped around it until I stumbled across four fishermen. This group appeared to be two guides with their clients, and after greeting them with a hello, I circled around them. I was now back where the river flowed along the road, so I crossed and climbed the steep bank and returned to the Santa Fe. It was quite warm, and the adverse fishing weather seemed permanent, so I cut my losses and quit.
It has been quite a while since I was skunked, but Wednesday was one of those days. I had a few opportunities to land a fish, but three trout engagements in three and a half hours of fishing is a testament to difficult fishing conditions. The scenery was a positive, and I experimented with my new camera a bit. but overall Wednesday was not one of my better experiences. The August doldrums are clearly the new order.
Fish Landed: 0