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!