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!

10/27/12 Little Pigeon River

10/27/12
Little Pigeon River
Flows ?
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

A business trip to Gatlinburg, TN allowed me a chance to fish in the Smokey Mountains!  But...I spent all my time fishing in town!

I had originally intended to fish in town on Friday and spend Saturday in the park, but I missed a connecting flight in Houston, so Friday was shot.

I stopped by the local fly shop and asked for some advice.  The first words out of his mouth was earthworms and powerbait.  I was pretty surprised to hear that since I was in a fly shop!!!

After I told him I was fly fishing, he got a little more friendly and opened up about the park, and fishing through town.  He circled a few spots on a map and recommended that I start around the aquarium.

I couldn't find any parking close, so I drove a little ways through town and I figured I would fish my way to the aquarium.

I parked next to the parking structure and started fishing at one of the bridges.  Right away I was able to get into some fish!

I had a 3 fly rig with a price nymph, hare's ear, and a san juan.

He hit the san juan hard!  The water was very clear and flowing very slowly so sight fishing was key.  You could see the fish either take an interest in your flies, or get out of the way.

I ended up changing my flies to an orange stimulator, a red san juan and an orange egg after I had quite a few fish come up and hit my thingamabobber.

The stimulator was a great choice!  I had lots of hits on it with many fish too small to take it, but quite a few that were big enough.

I made my way down to the aquarium and the fish size dropped...

Lots of these little guys were taking the san juan.

As I made my way back to my car, I bumped into quite a few people fishing conventional tackle with spinners and bait.  I also noticed that EVERYBODY was keeping fish!  I completely forgot that this is a put and take fishery.  Hence, the many takes on the egg and the san juan! 

The town actually closes down the river to fishing on Thursday and stocks it!  By Saturday however, most of the fish have been taken and you need to move away from the stocking areas and upstream to get into the fish.

Lots of beautiful water that did hold fish!

Even though they were all stockers, it still was a nice chance to wet a line and get into some fish!  Hot flies were stimulators, san juans, and egg patterns.  I tried different egg colors and stimulator colors and it didn't matter...

I don't think you can go wrong fishing in town on a Friday or a Saturday!

I was a fun trip and I look foward to fishing in the park next time!

10/14/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

10/14/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
Flows 41
8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Another day down in Pueblo!  My buddy Andy joined me today and I was looking for the fishing to improve compared to yesterday!  We started at Valco again and picked up a few fish at 3 rocks, and we made our way upstream to the gauging station shortly after.  The fishing was still pretty slow like yesterday, but we were getting consistent bites.  Not a fish every cast, but we could pass our rig through some fishy water and eventually pick up a fish.

I was rigged up with a red san juan and 2 midges.  Andy had a red san juan, a soft hackle hare's ear and a midge.

Andy managed this nice bow at the far run at the gauging station.

Later in the day, we moved over to the Water Treatment Plant and caught a few more small guys.  I was starting to get discouraged, and Andy had to leave to go back to Denver so we decided to head over to the dam to see if we could find anything bigger.  The water looked even skinnier here so we decided to call it day.  Andy made his drive back to Denver and I started heading back into town...but I just couldn't resist one more cast at Valco...

I'm glad I stopped!  I ended up finally catching a decent fish above the gauging station.  He took a beadhead olive emerger pattern.

He measured out to 19 in, so certainly not the biggest, but a nice fish when all you've been catching all day is 12 inchers.

Here he is swimming away...

On my way back to the car, I ran into this little fella.  Made me want to tie on a crayfish streamer and see what would happen!

I guess this proves that there's plenty to eat in this river for the big fish!

So...a good end to the day.  Fishing was ok, but not incredible like I've seen it before.  I'll attribute the poor fishing to the low flows and windy conditions rather than my fishing ability.  :)

If you're going to head down, stock up on midges, mayflies, bwo's and trico's.  We witnessed an amazing trico spinner fall at 11:00.  Fish were rising to them, but took our small black size 20 midges as well.  I imagine a drowned trico spinner would get lots of hits too.  I tried a z wing caddis, but had zero hits on it...looks like the caddis are pretty much done.  Moving into winter, bwo's and midges will be the go to flies.

10/13/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

10/13/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
Flows 41
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

I got up at 4:00 AM and started my drive down to Pueblo from Vail.  I thought I might stop at the Dream Stream, but with the snow and rain, I figured it would be a better idea to make it to Pueblo before I stopped and fished.  I had a wedding Saturday afternoon and even if the weather did make me late...it wouldn't be an excuse my wife would accept!

So on down to Pueblo and my 1st stop was Valco.  I was surprised to see a lot of cars in the parking lot, and even more surprised to see this many fisherman on the water!  I guess the nice weather down south drew some Denverites to make the drive down south instead of west to fish.

I know the picture is a bit dark, but there were 4 guys fishing the gauging hole run and 2 guys standing in the middle of seams where fish lie!

So I made my way upstream and fished a red san juan, a two bit hooker, and midge.  I managed a few fish, but nothing of size.  I was pretty dissapointed with the low fish count and size so after catching a few, I hoofed it over to the Water Treatment Plant.

At the Water Treatment Plant, I didn't have much luck either.  I did run into the Steel City Angler guys and the local TU chapter who were doing a river clean up.  They managed to haul out 6 bags of trash and it still looked like they didn't do anything...glad they are out doing stuff like this, but it's hard when what they do only has a minimal impact.  Crazy how much punishment this river can take and it still produces good fishing.

I managed a few fish at the pools upstream but again, nothing too big so I decided to call it a day and focus on getting a good start tomorrow.



Fish were taking mostly the san juan and midge.  I had a few take the two bit hooker, and a few took a price nymph when I changed out the two bit hooker, but overall the fishing was slow.  The flows at 40 made the water really skinny and the fish super spooky.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

10/12/12 Clear Creek at Georgetown

10/12/12
Clear Creek at Georgetown
Flows 45
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Another trip to the mountains means another stop at Georgetown!  Flows are super low but the browns are stacked up nicely.  Even though it was a Friday, I did see 4 other fisherman, and a guide with 2 clients. 

The guide and his 2 clients were up at the deep pool behind the culvert, so I stayed downstream and fished the fast water all the way to the bridge and managed quite a few fish!  Bead eggs were still the favorite with a size 4 mm orange trailed by a red copper john.  Both were taking fish, with most interested in the egg.

I did get stopped by a DOW officer who was checking licenses and was happy to see him!  This little stretch gets hit pretty hard and since it is not a C&R only piece of water, it gets harvested pretty hard too.  Glad to see him out and about checking licenses and limits.

I only fished for about and hour, but caught probably 20+ fish!

Again, the hot flies were bead eggs and copper johns.  Since I only fished for about an hour, I never did change my rig up, but I'm sure similar patterns will still produce!

10/09/12 Clear Creek at Georgetown

10/09/12
Clear Creek at Georgetown
4:00 - 6:00 PM

Cooler temps means fall is in the air!  And as the cooler temps settle in, the browns start staging for their spawning run!

Clear Creek is my go to place to catch fall browns.  They move up out of the Georgetown Lake and into Clear Creek and tend to congregate here for spawning activity.

Last year, I made it here much earlier than this year so I was happy to see lots of browns stacked up under the bridge and up in the deep pool behind the apartments.  The water is way lower than it was last year, but I don't think that has stopped the browns from making their run up.  Numbers look to be about the same as last year, but that's just from eyeballing and I have no empirical data to back that.

It was relatively busy; I saw 3 cars in the parking lot, but this short little stretch can get fished out quickly when you have a fisherman at every bend and run.  Luckily, there wasn't anybody at the deep pool when I arrived, but 2 guys were fishing under the bridge and another downstream.

I rigged up with a 4 mm orange bead egg, followed by a hare's ear and red copper john.

I had hits on all three patterns, with most taking either the bead egg or copper john.  Weird since the hare's ear was the preferred pattern last year.  No need for a lot of weight, just a little to get your rig down if you aren't running tungsten beadheads.

Lots of fish were between the 12-16 in. range with one or 2 pushing 17 and maybe a  long and skinny 18 incher.

Be careful of the redds, fish are already starting to stake their spots on the gravel beds in preparation for spawning.  Avoid walking through them

Also, be careful and try not to snag the fish.  They are stacked in there tight, and they are eating aggressively so watch your indicator carefully and look for true takes and not the slight wiggle from your flies and tippet brushing up against the fish.

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. 

09/15/12 Clear Creek Golden to Blackhawk

09/15/12
Clear Creek Above Golden
12:30 PM - 2:30 PM

I only had a few hours so I thought I'd run up and see how Clear Creek has been doing!  I hadn't been there in a while, and the last time I was there, I only fished between tunnel 1 and 2.  This time, I decided to head up further and try to fish past tunnel 3.

I'm glad I did, since almost every parking spot and pull out was full of cars!  I didn't really see anybody fishing, but lots of people were hiking or climbing in the canyon.

I decided to give my new Scott A4 4 weight 10 ft rod a try since it would be the perfect rod to get some good drifts since Clear Creek isn't very wide.  I rigged up a 3 fly rig with soft hackle pheasant tail, a hare's ear, and a WD40.

2 casts in, and fish on!

A nice little brownie that took my hare's ear.  I managed to catch fish on all 3 flies and they were all brownies except for 1 rainbow that managed to squirm out of my hand before I could snap a picture.

Nothing super big, but still fun nonetheless.  After making my way upstream, I decided to switch up my flies and try a dry dropper rig.  Fish still continued to take the hare's ear and WD40, but none wanted anything to do with a stimulator, foam hopper, or even an elk hair caddis.  It probably didn't help that I was fishing during the hottest part of the day!

In any case, it was a fun few hours and not a bad drive to catch a good dozen fish.  Lots of hungry fish and flows are low and clear!

Free Fly Rod and Reel...Sort of...

So here's the deal...I have an old broken St. Croix Premier 5 Wt. sitting at home collecting dust. 

I called St. Croix and they said to send it in under the "Gold Star Service Plan" and it will be replaced with a Rio Santo.  Basically, you pay shipping plus $50 and get a new rod.  (Shipping is $10 through Fedex, Return shipping is included)

Details here:  St. Croix Warranty and Service
Since I don't need a new rod, I thought I would pay it forward and offer it up to a new or young fisherman that needs equipment!  Here's the sort of free part...you will need to pay for shipping and the $50 to St. Croix to get the new rod.

To sweeten the deal since you are still incurring some cost, I'm also going to include a used Pfleuger Trion Reel with Cortland 444 Classic 5 WT WF Line and backing as well as a small flybox with some of my go to flies for some local waters and a leader.

Basically, it's everything you will need to get on the water.

To be eligible to win this "package", just post a comment with some details of who's going to use this set up.  Is it your son or daughter in need of some equipment?  Does your wife want to try to fly fish, but the expense of equipment has kept her away?  Do you know someone who has served our country and would like to get into fly fishing?

Please don't comment if you are just wanting this set up as a back up.  I really would like this to go to someone who will use it to learn how to fly fish or someone in need.

I will randomly pick a "winner" at the end of the month.  Don't forget to include an e-mail or some way that I can get in touch with you if you win.

Good Luck!

09/02/12 Arkansas River Below Pueblo

09/02/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Flows 106

After sleeping in a bit, it was time to hit the road and head back to Parker.  But I couldn't leave without fishing in Pueblo!  It would be crazy not to fish before I left town!

So back to Valco for a quick trip.  I a was out of my regular flies for this stretch having lost or mangled them from the last 2 days of fishing.  I thought I'd try a change since the fishing has slowed down a bit over the weekend from all the pressure.

I rigged up standard "winter" midge set up with a juju baetis, zebra midge, and a blue poison tung.

There was already 2 guys fishing below the 3 rocks so I moved up to the faster waters and the tailout.  I was pleasantly surprised to pick up a fish on my second cast!

Another 2 casts later and another rainbow!  The fish were really liking the midges and the 2 guys below me came up to talk to me after I picked up another.  They had been fishing san juan worms.  I suggested a prince and a midge combo.  They thanked me and moved on upstream while I managed to catch another beautiful cutbow.

After 7 fish in an hour's time, I decided it was time to head home!  I guess it was fortuitous that I was out some of my "standard" flies since the midge fishing was hot!  I'll have to remember to try midges when the fishing slows down late in the summer.  Size 18-22 on 6x fluro seemed to be the ticket.  The overcast skies also probably helped.