Time: 9:30AM – 10:30AM

Location: Between Frisco and Copper Mountain

Ten Mile Creek 08/05/2024 Photo Album

Monday and Wednesday were open dates for fly fishing during the first full week of August, 2024. I desperately wanted to return to South Boulder Creek, but now that the Lake Shore wildfire was under control, the water managers raised the flows to 211 CFS. That is too high in my estimation for comfortable wading and fly fishing. How many hurdles can the fly fishing gods throw at me in order to thwart my ability to fly fish South Boulder Creek?

I decided to check in with my fly fishing student, Ben, to see if he was available to tag along for a day. I contacted his mother, and she informed me that Ben might be open Monday, but there was a chance he could work, and she would get back to me on Sunday. True to her word, she texted me on Sunday that Ben would not work, and he was free to join me.

Since Ben is a relative newcomer to the sport, I wanted to choose a place that was not too challenging for backcasts. I fished the North Fork of Ten Mile Creek a short while ago with my young friend, Nate, and I wondered if the main stem of Ten Mile Creek might produce similar results. When I first moved to Colorado, I avoided Ten Mile Creek, because it supposedly contained heavy metals from mining that stunted the growth of the fish population and reduced the insect supply. Perhaps, however, over the intervening period of thirty-four years, the aquatic environment improved. I decided it was worth a try, and the Curtain Ponds were available as a fallback.

Wide and Shallow Near the Start

I picked up Ben at 8AM, and we made the drive to the parking lot at the Frisco Main Street exit off of Interstate 70. I chose my Orvis Access four weight, and Ben armed himself with one of his 8.5 foot six weights, and we hiked down the trail for .1 mile and then cut to the creek. I was wearing my new waders after determining that the three year old Redingtons were worn beyond repair. The air temperature was in the low seventies, and the sky was deep blue. I explained to Ben the rules of alternating fishing on streams that were too narrow to allow anglers to fish in parallel, but Ten Mile Creek was wider than I expected, and we decided to move side by side. Ben took the left bank, and I occupied the right bank.

Ben began his quest for trout with a hippie stomper that he bought with a lime green body. I, meanwhile, opted for an amber ice dub body chubby Chernobyl with a beadhead hares ear nymph on an eighteen inch dropper. For the next hour we attacked the small rushing creek next to Interstate 70 with extreme vigor, but the results were quite disappointing. Neither of us landed a single fish. Furthermore, we never witnessed a look or a refusal or even a fish darting for cover as a result of clumsy wading. In the early going I blamed the quality of the holding water, and hoped that some attractive pools might change our luck. At one point I lengthened my leader to achieve deeper drifts and swapped the hares ear for a prince nymph. Just before 10:30AM we approached a gorgeous deep run and pool below some fallen logs, but even this juicy spot failed to yield a trout. This was the last straw, so we clipped our flies to our guides and found the trail and returned to the parking lot.

As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Unfortunately we were victims of the nothing gained part of the sage saying. The creek was cold and clear and surrounded by scenic mountains, but based on our experience, it contained a sparse population of trout. Were we too early? Did we need to allow the water to warm to generate more movement from the fish and a greater appetite? Did we choose the wrong flies? The observation that led to our departure was the total lack of fish sighting. This is highly unusual for a productive Rocky Mountain stream based on my years of experience.

Fish Landed: 0