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.

07/07/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

07/07/12
Blue River below Green Mountain
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Flows 420

My last day in the mountains and I was stuck at the house waiting for the carpet and tile installers to come.  Our rental property has been trashed by the previous tenants so new carpet and an upgrade to the bathrooms was in order.

When they finally arrived, I figured I'd get a line wet down at the private stretch even if it was for an hour or two.

When I pulled up to the gate, I was dismayed to see 2 cars setting up with at least 4 fisherman rigging up...I guess even a private stretch will be busy for a holiday weekend! 

I made my way down to the far north of the private stretch and proceeded to try my luck where I've caught many fish before!  Today...nothing.  Not on a copper john, not on a prince, nothing...

The flows were fluctuating a bit before the holiday week, but it should have stabilized by the time I was fishing!  But still nothing...weird...

I made my way back up towards diversion and saw the 4 fisherman pounding the far bank.  Looked like they weren't getting into any fish either.

My luck did change while fishing the diversion.  I managed 3 small brownies.  They might have been small, but they sure beat the skunk!  All 3 took a rubber legged copper john.

I figured I'd better get a picture even though it was a small fish or I wouldn't have any pictures at all!

After picking up these 3, I needed to head back to the house to supervise the installs.  Plus, I would rather to end the day on some fish rather than being potentially frustrated for another couple hours!

07/01/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

07/01/12
Blue River Below Green Mountain
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Flows 498

The old tenants at our rental property moved out, so I had to head up and take pictures of the condition of the house.  Of course I was going to go do some fishing as well!

The private access on the Blue was busy with campers for the weekend.  All 3 camping areas were taken by familes but none of them were fishing.

I headed out and headed north to fish the far reach of the private stretch and managed to hook into a few fish, but lose them in the faster water.  I ended up catching a nice bow right at the end of the private stretch that took me for a run downstream.

Not huge, but it certainly was a fun fight.

This guy took a copper john.

As I made my way back upstream, I continued to fish and kept getting bites, but either the fish would spit the hook, or I was too slow on my hookset.  I guess it's just one of those days...

At the bend, I managed to hook up with another fish that hook a rubber legged copper john/prince that took me into my backing!  Now that was a fun fight.  After 2 runs, I was finally able to wrangle him into the shallow riffles and netted him.

It's good to see that there's still lots of big healthy fish in this stretch.  They certainly are more spaced out at these higher flows, but this stretch is still easily fishable and wadeable at 500.

Back at the car, I decided to get 1 more drift at the cut bank and was rewarded with a nice brownie.  He took a copper john as well.

A fat little guy that obviously has been eating well.

Fishing has been fair down here.  For those of you who might be trying to fish below the dam, stick to stonefly patterns.  What works here, will work down there as well. 

The green drakes haven't really started coming up yet.  But try a green drake nymph.  And if you are floating the canyon, a green drake nymph would always be on the end of my line.  It's getting close...any day now and we should see a hatch.

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!

Arkansas River Below Pueblo 11/23/11 - 11/24/11

Spending 2 days down in Pueblo with the in-laws does have it's upside...

Flows are down at about the norm for the Arkansas this time of year. 55 CFS.

Temps for both days of fishing were warm, with a cold front that blew in shutting down fishing for a couple hours on the second day, but the fishing over all was excellent!

I ended up with 2 new species, the 1st was a surprise...the second, not so much.



A little walleye that took a red copper john.



A sucker that took a pink san juan worm. I'm kind of surprised that I had not caught more suckers since I've heard they are pretty common. It was actually a pretty fun fish to land, it fought hard and took some long runs.

Besides the two surprises, the rest of the fish were bows. Mostly stocker sized with an occasional brute at 18 in. No browns, and I didn't see any spawning beds, but this is probably just because of location. I'm sure if I had fished up torwards the dam and the nature center, I would have seen a redd or two.

Below is a little video of how the action was, the clip is only about 5 mins long, but I was picking up fish about every cast. Again, nothing of size, but still fun. I wish my battery on my go pro hadn't died, since there a few other spots that I wanted to get video of as well. Oh well...



Flies that worked for trip was almost everything and anything.

The standard copper johns worked well in a size 16 and 18, copper and red worked very well.



A new fly that I had been working on were some czech nymphs. I was really surprised to actually catch quite a few fish on them since I only tied them up to help get my rig down.





This green with a hot spot was a very favorite until it started falling apart...

A standard green czech nymph also worked!



Also rainbow warriors in a size 18 worked great...



And of course egg patterns were still very popular...



Orange...red...pink...they all worked well.

This is a great stretch of water that generally isn't too busy. There's lots of fish habitat since it is the Pueblo Whitewater Park, and you will see all kinds of people fishing this area from fly fisherman to bait casters...it's a very productive area, but with smaller fish and I would assume this is the case because it is not a catch and relase stretch of water.



On my next trip down, I'll do a little more fishing closer to the dam and around the nature center to see if I can find some bigger fish. I've even heard of people catching some nice fish down by the riverwalk in downtown...

Clear Creek at Georgetown 11/07/11

No solid lid of ice yet, and there is still open water at the inlet with good fishing available...

Fishing is still good with nymphs and egg patterns. Size of the fish has dropped, I suspect that people have been taking the larger fish.

I know fishing to spawning fish is quite controversial, so please practice catch and release and there is no need to play the fish to exhaustion. I fish with a 5x leader and 6x tippet and I've had no problem bringing fish in quickly and releasing them.

When I arrived today at noon, there was nobody there, but people started filling up the parking area by 2:00. EVERYBODY was fishing close to the bridge and quite a few people were snagging. One guy even had the nerve to show me what he was using to catch fish...2 bare lead head jig hook. He asked me how the fishing was upstream and I replied good...I should have said terrible because he made his way up there to snag some more fish and run them back to his car. He only caught two and moved back to the bridge saying it was easier to fish off the bridge.

Anyways...it's going to happen at most fisheries with close access to Denver and decent fishing... do what you can to educate others and if someone is knowingly breaking the law, call the DOW's operation game theft line.

No pictures, since I just got a go pro and was playing with that, enjoy the little video! I know the resolution is terrible...I gotta figure out a way to make the editing software to save in high res.



I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it back to Georgetown before it all ices up, but I'll be fishing the Arkansas below Pueblo around Thanksgiving as well as the Blue River in Silverthorne. Keep your eyes peeled for those fishing reports.

10/15/11 - 10/16/11 Weekend on Clear Creek

I had a hall pass for the weekend to get out a fish! I wasn't going to waste the chance so I decided to hit up Clear Creek again. The browns are running strong now and stacked up in every pool from the inlet, all the way upstream. They are especially stacked along the sandbar at the inlet as well, looking for their opportunity to make it upstream to spawn.

I know I've been fishing Clear Creek in Georgetown a lot recently, but with how good the fishing is, why not? I do like exploring new waters and fishing in different places, but considering the relatively short drive, I'd rather be catching than fishing. So, I think I'll continue to fish here until the spawning run ends and I start visiting my winter haunts. (Arkansas below Pueblo, Blue River) Also, since we have a newborn in the house, it's hard to find time to schedule trips to places further away so I think sticking to what's working makes my fishing trips worthwhile!



The browns were again, very eager to eat. You can see in the picture below the fly that this one took. A hare's ear, size 16. This was the favorite of the brownie's, I ended up going through 3 of them on Saturday since they were getting so beat up.



Copper john's were also a consistent producer. I think size is more important than color. They seem to like the copper colors a lot, but I even caught quite a few on green and reds as well. Another gentleman that was fishing there was also using a blue body prince nymph that was also producing for him, but again, I think it's more the size rather than color or variety. Just about any nymph will work, but stick to a size 16 or 18.



The bows were also hitting, but not as much as the brownies were. The lake was stocked 2 weeks ago, and there are still plenty of stocker bows around munching on eggs and the occasional nymph. But they really haven't made their way upstream. If you are looking for stocker bows, fish the sandbar and bridge hole.





Brookies are also in there, I lost a huge one trying to land it, but I managed another a few casts later...no where near the size of the other, but it was cool getting a Clear Creek Grand Slam again.



Egg patterns are still the to go to and it's the lead fly in my rig. To be honest, all different colors are working, pink, orange, cerise, and yellow. One of the female brownies decided to let loose with some eggs on me and when I saw their color, I switched to a yellow egg that also produced.



Although I like using a an egg pattern like otter eggs, regular egg patterns are also producing. Vary the size and color a bit until you find what they are keying in on. It does change quite a bit, and there are periods where they will ignore eggs completely, but change it up and you will start catching fish again.

This weekend was the busiest that I've seen it. People are everywhere so please use a bit if etiquette when fishing; I had a lady cross my line 3 times as she saw that I was catching fish in my hole when she could have cast upstream to fish a great hole just in front if her! I was polite as I untangled or lines, and I think she was new to fishing so a little compassion was warranted, but if you see someone fishing a hole or run, give them some space; or ask if you can fish above or below them. There isn't much room to fish, but there are plenty of runs and holes that the fish are stacked up in. Just be polite, say hello and talk to your fellow fishermen, and don't just fish the same hole that someone else is fishing. Not only is it rude, but it's a hassle untangling lines. There's lots of fish in there! Just find your spot!