11/08/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

11/08/12
Blue River Below GM
Flows 200
10:00 - 3:00

Flows below GM are perfect right now!  Fishing has been good with good sized fish being caught.  It wasn't on fire, but it was decent.  We started the day fishing a 3 nymph rig with a golden stone up top, a copper john, and then a soft hackle pheasant tail.  We managed fish on all 3 for most of the morning, but the bite died down around noon.

So I decided to change it up and put on a good old san juan and managed a few more fish!  My buddy decided to try to swing a double articulated streamer and managed 2 more nice ones!

Overall a great day!  A good mix of browns and bows.  We tried some eggs too, but didn't get any hits.  Fish were still keyed in on bigger flies and they really liked the stonefly patterns and the san juans.  A 20 incher and golden stone were my point flies for the day.  With the water dropping and temps dropping, I can see a decline in stones, but for now, the fish are really keyed in on them!  Remember, even though we fished on the private stretch, the same things will work right below the dam at GM.  Flows are perfect bringing lots of bugs into the riffles so thing big and fish big!

09/28/12 Blue River in Silverthorne and Below Green Mountain

09/28/12
Blue River in Silverthorne
Flow 52
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Blue River below Green Mountain
Flows 250
12:00 - 4:00 PM

My buddy who always told me that he has a terrible time on the Blue was finally done with me hounding him about how great it is...

Unfortunately, with all my bragging about how good the fishing is, I managed to jinx myself and we didn't have a great morning...

We started in town at Cable hole and fished our way up to Rodeo hole and back.  We managed 5 fish between us, but nothing of size.  The biggest was a nice little 16 incher that took an epoxy back mysis.

None of the big boys were out and about, and it was pretty weird not seeing a lot of fish in the water unlike earlier in the summer.  There's still fish there, but they have become very weary of weights, lines and flies and will generally move out of the way of your perfect drift.

I'm hoping that the fishing will improve once winter hits.  The cold keeps people off the water and allows the fish a chance to move back into the feeding lanes and feed a little more instead of hiding.

Since I couldn't show my buddy a bad time, we decided to head up to fish below Green Mountain to see if we could get into some more and bigger fish.

We tied on some stonefly patterns and soft hackles and were rewarded with fish right away!

A good mix of browns and rainbows holding in the usual spots.  The flows were dropped about a week ago which made wading easy, but it wasn't high enough to float.  I think with flows right around 250, it was perfect for wading, plenty of moving water putting food in the water, but not so high that fish were hugging banks and undercuts avoiding the faster water.

I did manage my biggest fish in the private stretch which made it a stellar day for me!  My buddy was shocked to see that this piece of water held such big fish.  I'd heard reports of people catching some of these pigs, but I was glad to see that we did have some in this stretch.  I think the high flows allowed for some of the big guys to make it up which is great for wade fishing here until the snow makes the road hard to drive down.  A good incentive to make the drive up, especially since the fishing in town is getting tough.

This 25 incher took a 20 incher.  Stoneflies were the hot ticket as well as the soft hackles.  It was nice being able to fish bigger patterns!

Soft hackle pheasant tails, and hare's ears also caught a few fish.  We managed to land about 8 fish, with plenty of bigger fish getting off before making it to the net.  Overall a great day on the upper stretch.

Don't forget, even though we were fishing the private stretch, the same flies and tactics apply for fishing just below the dam.  Upsize and think stoneflies.  Browns and gold in sizes 12-16. 

06/21/12 Blue River North of Silverthorne

06/21/12
Blue River North of Silverthorne
12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Flows 53

I had work obligations in the mountains so of course I brought along my rod to fish the Blue in town.  A buddy called and asked what I was up to and I told him to meet me at cable hole and we could catch some fish and call it a day.

The fishing in town has been good, but not great.  Lots of pressure and lots of fisherman all over the river.  Fish are getting smart and are staying out of feeding lanes for most of the day avoiding any fly that drifts by...

It doesn't mean you won't catch any fish...it's just much more technical now...
Here's one from cable hole...

And the fly it took...an orange larvae in size 18

The fly actually looked more red at the shop, but in the sun it looked way more orange.

Shortly after catching this fish, my buddy showed up and hollered that we need to get out of town!  He had found a spot north of town where the fishing was insane...

I was skeptical, but I hustled up the hill and we drove a little ways north of town.

I switched up my flies to a 20 incher, a tung teaser, and a prince nymph since I heard reports that the stoneflies were starting to come up.

All 3 flies produced lots and lots of fish!!!  This spot was on fire and fish were even rising.

My buddy caught his personal best with a 24 in, taken on a dry.

Of course there were smaller fish...a few brownies even...

Here's a long skinny guy...

But the majority of fish were bruisers that were +20 in!

What an incredible day!  We had lots of fish to the net, and quite a few that were able to break us off.  This spot was definitely a wonderful place that not a lot of fisherman know about unless they're exploring the Blue north of town.  Today definitely taught me a lesson to sometimes take a risk and try to fish a new place instead of going to the old stand by.  Especially with how the fishing is declining in town, this spot was a great escape from the crowds and lock jawed fish!