Time: 11:00AM – 2:30PM

Location: National forest land

St. Vrain Creek 07/29/2026 Photo Album

After a fun day on Monday on South Boulder Creek, I decided to visit another Front Range stream, St. Vrain Creek. The St. Vrain where I fished is a small high country creek, and I was fairly certain that stream temperatures would be conducive to fly fishing.

Nice Spot

Jane decided to accompany me on Wednesday, and she planned to hike and then read, while I explored the nooks and crannies of the high gradient creek. We arrived at the trailhead parking lot relatively early on Wednesday morning, and the air temperature was a comfortable 73 degrees. I decided to wet wade in the small creek to lessen the overheating resulting from the hike. As the day progressed, I was quite pleased with this decision.

Orange Hand Full

By 11:00AM I reached my chosen beginning point, and Jane and I said our goodbyes, as she continued on her way. I was using my Orvis Access four weight, and it was the perfect rod for the narrow creek with numerous overhanging branches and bushes. I began my day with a peacock hippie stomper, and in the first ten minutes I landed four brook trout. Jane paused to observe my start, and she snapped a few photos of my first landed fish.

Caught One in the Corner

For the next three hours I moved up the creek and landed a total of twenty-eight fish. Twenty-five were brook trout and three were cutthroats. I reveled in each cutthroat landed, because they are rare, in spite of being Colorado’s only native trout. The cutthroats were perfectly colored and delicate jewels, while they temporarily rested in my net.

Pink Blush

The brook trout were also colorful fish in the nine to eleven inch range. They were obviously not giants, but they put up feisty battles on my light Orvis Access, and I had a blast prospecting for them.

Orvis Access Was Perfect for Small Stream and Tight Quarters

Perfection

I stayed with the hippie stomper throughout my time on the water, and the fish seemed to savor the attractor fly. I took one of the stompers out of circulation, since it was missing a tail and a leg. Another hippie stomper broke off in the mouth of a brook trout perhaps due to a damaged knot. Two additional hippie stompers were donated to evergreen trees due to errant backcasts. Four lost flies is a small price to pay for a fun day catching mountain trout. It is, after all, the reason I tie flies during the winter months.

Solitary Fireweed

What a Spot

The flows on the creek were outstanding, and since I was wading wet, I was certain that the water temperatures were in the ideal range. Small tributaries remained flush with water, and it was obvious that rainfall refreshed the area on Tuesday. By 2:00PM the western sky darkened, and I decided to pull on my raincoat in anticipation of some rain. Rain did in fact fall, but it was very brief in duration, and I kept the raincoat on just in case, as I exited the stream and hiked back to the parking lot. Jane said that a fairly heavy dumping took place just after she returned to the car.

Best Cutthroat of the Day

Wednesday was an enjoyable day in outdoor Colorado. I shared the day with my wife, and I landed twenty-eight wild trout. Each catch was a vivid reminder of the beauty that Colorado streams have to offer. The scenery was outstanding, and somehow I avoided the steady rain that fell to the east of my position. Another day on St. Vrain Creek would be very welcome.

Fish Landed: 28