04/15/12 Blue River in Silverthorne

04/15/12
Blue River in Silverthorne
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Flows 75

The fishing is on fire!  DOW stocked the river with brooders about 10 days ago.  Lots of "dumb" fish eating everything drifting in front of them and lots of residents still around post spawn looking great!  Although local shop reports are saying that the fishing has slowed...the fishing is still excellent and now is your chance to get into some big fish without having to use 7x fluro and a perfect cast and drift.

Here are some hatchery tagged fish.

Pretty cool to see the tags that the DOW uses to mark them.

In addition to the tags, they also cut off the adipose fins on these brooders.

Fish were taking just about anything you had on.  I started my set up with a two bit hooker to bring the flies down and dropped a rs2 and a WD40 behind and caught fish on all flies.  I did start with 6x tippet, but after losing 2 flies to fish breaking me off, I switched to 5x and I didn't have any problem horsing in the fish after that.  Bead eggs also produced and fish really liked the smaller pink sparkle bead.

After breaking a few fish off and losing my flies, I switched up the droppers to some random midges in various colors that I tied up to give them a shot.  These "experimental" flies are crazy color combinations and styles that I like to try out on winter tailwaters to try to "bust the hatch".  Even though they caught lots of fish today, it's not a true test as to their effectiveness since these brooders are willing to eat just about anything.

But, I did have a resident fish take one of my multi-color midges so I'll be sure to tie up more of them for the Blue this winter!

 A great day on the Blue!  I was pretty excited to see that the DOW put some brooders in there.  The fishing this winter has been average to poor which could have been for lots of reasons.  (high fishing pressure, lower flows, weather conditions) But the fish survey that was done last year has shown a significant decline in fish population and size.  Hopefully these fish will add to the numbers there and help increase the quantity of resident fish in the river when they spawn next spring.

I wish I didn't have to leave since the fishing was so good, but 3 hours of fishing and over 20 fish to the net equals a good day.  I didn't want to end the day stuck in skier traffic so I left with a sore arm and memories of big fish peeling line off!

04/13/12 Inlet at Green Mountain

04/13/12
Inlet at Green Mountain
2:00 - 3:00 PM

Before heading to Vail, I noticed that nobody was fishing the inlet at GM, so I pulled over and made the hike down to the inlet.  The water was stained and rising, and it didn't look promising...

I decided not to change up my rig from fishing below GM and lazily made a cast into a seam behind some rocks.  Immediately after my indicator made a swirl in a whirlpool, it dove under water and shot upstream!  Fish on!

What a surprise!  A nice little chunk of a rainbow.  Not too long, but it had plenty of fight.  Another cast into the same spot and a little longer drift yielded another, and another!

The fishing was hot!  Even though the water was dirty, the fish are stacked at the inlet and feeding heavily.

No monsters, but consistent action with hard fighting rainbows is always fun!  I did have to change up my flies as there are quite a few snags in this section, but fish were eating everything.  Large beadhead flies as a lead, and drop an egg, san juan, or a smaller attractor nymph and all flies would catch fish.  An orange bead egg was also an extremely effective pattern.
All fish were rainbows, and all gave a great fight.  If you can get a long cast out, you can systematically fish the seams and bubble lines without standing in the water, but with the way the water is moving, getting a good drift is a little tough.  Luckily these fish were very forgiving to poor presentations! 

Since GM is filling slowly, access at the inlet will remain good for a couple more weeks, but as the water warms up, these fish are going to make their way into deeper water and the wade ability of this stretch will diminish greatly, so get out there while it's good!

04/13/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

04/13/12
Blue River Below Green Mountain
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Flows: 72

Flows are low making wading and sight fishing super easy.  Flows are predicted to remain low as Green Mountain fills...this puts a damper on trying to float the Blue a bunch this year, but luckily fishing here is great at lower flows.

I was able to catch quite a few browns and bows today, all feeding in the riffles.  Hot flies were sparkle wing rs2's in black and flashback WD40's.

I even tied up a few rs2's with a tungsten bead, and without tails and managed a few fish on it as well.

I ended up catching quite a few dink rainbows, surprising since there usually aren't a lot of small fish in the stretch.

After spending a couple hours exploring, I had to head back for a meeting in Vail so I had to cut this trip a little short...but the fishing was great and I expect that it won't change much for the next month or so.  I am hoping the low water doesn't affect the hatches...the green drake hatch is awesome on the Blue and I hope I get a chance to fish it...

04/08/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

04/08/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Flows 182

Easter Sunday!  Lots of candy was eaten and lots of pictures were taken of the kiddos in their Easter Sunday dresses.

I was able to slip away and get some fishing in before we had to head for home.

I headed over to Valco and was welcomed by a full parking lot!  With th beautiful weather, I was expecting people, but luckily I was able to fish the 3 rocks with only people down stream trying to fish the riffles.  I quickly managed a fish on a red san juan and another on a two bit hooker.  Nothing too big, there were lots of big fish slapping the surface and crashing on emergers.

Lots more fish in the 12-14 in range than I was expecting...but I did manage to hook into quite a few bigger guys.  Lucky for them, I was practicing long distance releases!  Quite a few of the big guys took a size 20 sparkle wing rs2...and they all managed to spit the hook before I could land them.  I guess that's what happens when there's a crowd looking on! 

After an hour at Valco, I decided to see if the fishing was better at the spillway.  Lots of bait dunkers here pounding the water right at the spillway so I focused on the riffles and below the bridge.  Again, lots of stocker sized fish, but I can't complain when the fishing is good!

Not a bad way to end my Easter weekend.  Fish were taking the usual fare of san juans, two bit hookers, and rs2's.  If you need to get a fix, head down to Pueblo sooner than later!  The flows will be jumping up again making it much more difficult to fish. 

I don't anticipate fishing the Ark in town again until the fall.  For any other trips down south, I'll head up towards Canon City and fish the Ark up there...the Mother's Day Hatch should be early this year with the low snowpack and warmer temps...

04/05/12 Clear Creek at Georgetown

04/05/12
Clear Creek at Georgetown
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

On my way home from the mountains, I figured I'd stop and check out Clear Creek at Georgetown.  The inlet fished incredibly well in the fall and I was hoping that there were still some spawning rainbows up in the creek.

To my disappointment, the flows were super low and it wasn't likely that any fish were able to make it up in to the creek to spawn.

I was able to catch quite a few fish, but nothing of size.  Lots and lots of stocker sized fish willing to hit any fly that was put in their face.  Bead eggs, pheasant tails, copper johns, anything drifting by got a look, of not a taste.

It was a fun hour of non-stop catching, and I even managed a little brookie that took a bead egg.  I fished up from the diversion all the way to the inlet with fish holding in every pool or bend that looked fishy.

Although the fishing was good, if I was going to make a drive up to the mountains, I think hitting the Eagle or the Blue for a chance at bigger fish is a better idea.  However, if I were happened to be skunked up the hill, this would be a great spot to stop and get that skunk off my back!

04/05/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

04/05/12
Blue River Below Green Mountain
Temp 65
Flows 72
1:00 - 4:00 PM

I had to take care of some business up in Hot Sulphur Springs so I decided to bring the rod and see how the Blue Below Green Mountain was doing.

The flows have been reduced quite a bit from normal so I figured sight fishing and clear water would be the name of the game.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case...even though the flows are low and wading is easy, visibility isn't the greatest.  Not sure why, but I wasn't able to spot too many fish.  Hopefully it clears up a bit, but even still, the stained water didn't turn the fish off.

This bow took a size 20 grey WD40.

I tried to fish some bigger flies, but got no takers, so I switched back to flash back rs2's and other midge patterns.  Dark and tiny were on the menu...

I did get into quite a few browns that were feeding in the riffles.  Occasionally, one would rise and take emergers so a 3 rig of midges and rs2's with no weight fooled many fish.

Fish count for the day was 8 fish, all browns except for 1 rainbow caught in the diversion.  I did hook into quite a few more fish in the diversion, but they either spit the hook, or ran up into the waterfall creating slack in the line which caused the hook to fall out.  All the browns were caught in the riffles and were actively feeding.

Flies for the day definitely were rs2's in black, flash back, and regular as well as dark midge patterns in a size 18 - 22.