Flow: 39
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 AM
The great thing about Bear Creek is its proximity to the Denver Metro area. The worst thing about Bear Creek is its proximity to the Denver Metro area.
I decided to try to get in a little fishing since the wife was working in Colorado Springs and wouldn't be home until later that afternoon.
Fishing Bear Creek on a weekend is always a bear, pun intended...don't get me wrong, there are plenty of places to fish along Bear Creek but if you are short on time and want quick access, Lair O' the Bear is a great place. Unfortunately, non-fishing people love to recreate in the area as well. On most nice weekends you will find plenty of mountain bikers, hikers, and people who just love to splash in the water at every spot easily accessible from the road. Also, this little stretch tends to get fished pretty heavily because it is so close.
So after all the poo pooing on Bear Creek, it actually is a great place to get some fishing in after work or avoid the crowds by fishing early morning or evening. The bite dies off during the heat of the day anyways...
I decided to start at Lair O' the Bear and made my way downstream. There is a nice little hole with a tree overhang right next to the bridge. The fish tend to hug the bank where the tree overhangs so putting your rig in the right place is a bit of a challenge and there are many flies in that tree to prove it. I ended up pulling out a nice brownie who took a small pheasant tail, beadless. After a few gawkers started to hang out on the bridge and trying to avoid the embarrassment of having to tug my flies out of the tree and re-tie for the 3rd time, I decided to move on. Up past that spot, the river moves away from the bike path and there are a few nice riffles and a bend that seem to always hold fish. Unfortunately, there was a guide and his client fishing here so I hopped back on the trail and headed up to Corwina Park.
Corwina Park is a smaller park area that a lot of the road bicyclists use to park and there is also a pavilion that some day hikers use to eat lunch or take a break. Fishing through here is similar and I usually see some people leaving here with rods in hand and a sad look on their faces. Bear Creek can be challenging, and I can admit that I've been skunked here before, but learning this creek takes time and timing.
Late Summer and early spring can be great times to fish here, especially if the fish are looking up! Patterns to try are smaller hoppers, caddis, stimis, wulfs, and always drop a size 18 pheasant tail, copper john, or some other nymph pattern for those guys hugging the bottom. Enough of the preaching on the the best patterns and times to fish! I was fishing mid summer just before prime dry fly season hits on the creek so back to the report!
So after a short day up and down the creek, trying to avoid people playing in the water, and other fisherman, I had a successful day. In the 3 hours that I fished and moved up and down 285, I ended up with 10 fish, all browns. Most were taken in obvious spots, large pools behind boulders, bubble lines, and cut banks. For the entire time, I stuck with a double fly rig of a natural pheasant tail, no flash, no bead and a small san juan.
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