03/23/12 Dream Stream

03/23/12
Dream Stream
7:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Flows:  97

I had the opportunity to head out for a quick morning of fishing and made the decision to head over the Dream Stream again...

I got to the Charlie Meyer SWA parking lot at 7:00 and saw that I was the 2nd car in the lot!  I figured I had plenty of time to fish my way down to the inlet since the water looked great.

I picked up quite a few fish as I moved downstream.

A nice little brownie...

Nothing too big...just a lot of little stocker sized fish, but they were readily taking flies and not at all shy.

I kept looking back to see if more cars were in the lot as I made my way downstream...

As cars started to fill the lot, I quickened my pace to get down to the inlet, but I was surprised to see there were already quite a few people staking out their spots on the river!  Apparently a lot of folks are parking on the side of the road closer to the inlet and just walking in from there!

I wish I knew that!  As I walked around, I did see lots of big fish that had made their way up from 11 mile.  Also, lots of redds were visible, but most of the fish were hiding in deeper water. 

I continued to fish my way back upstream since quite a few of the guys looked pretty intent on camping out.  As I fished my way back, I did see quite a few more big fish and with the sun higher in the sky, it was easy to spot them.

I made quite a few casts to some of the bigger fish, only to have the smaller fish pick up my flies before it could get to the big guys.

I did hook up twice with some bigger fish, only to have them break me off.  I stupidly was wrestling them in on 6x tippet.  But that's the price you pay for fishing with such fine tippet and getting too excited to land a big boy!

So I eventually made my way back towards the gauging station...I missed my chances with some of the big guys and they won't give you a second chance.

As I was leaving, I looked over the bridge and noticed a pod of fish above the bridge...I decided to give them a couple casts to see if I could entice any of them.

I ended with a nice bow and a mutant brownie!

The brownie was super humped back with a fat belly.  Maybe it had been gorging on eggs, but it sure did look funny.

I ended up leaving at 1:00 since I had to meet my brother at the airport, he was coming in to ski for the weekend...little did I know that skiing was going to be so bad that he would end up fishing with me instead!

Flies for the day were bead eggs, micro tungsten san juan worms, and flashback WD40's.  Bead eggs in pink and orange were the hot flies all day long.  The best part of the day was the fact that there was no wind!  A Dream Stream day with no wind and a few fish is a great day!

03/11/12 S. Platte Dream Stream

03/11/12
S. Platte Dream Stream
7:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Flows at 112

I didn't want to go...I knew it was going to be crowded...I knew it was going to be windy...

A friend talked me into it. At the last minute, we decided to get up early and head to the Dream Stream. I'm by no means a fair weather fisherman, but considering the nice weather and the anticipation of the rainbow spawn, I knew it was going to be a busy day on the water...After my last trip down, I was hoping that some of the bigger fish had made their way up. Unfortunately, they are still taking their sweet time making their move.

Lots of these...


A little brownie...


More little guys...


A few coloring up and getting ready for the spawn...


The fishing was good and relatively consistent. Lots of 8-14 inchers in just about every bend. Unfortunately there were also fisherman in almost every bend. We were the 6th car in the lot at 7:30, and we could see that the lot was full by 9:00.

Fish were taking egg patterns, baetis patterns, and san juan worms. Red is the key. The water is slightly stained, but visibility is still very good. Fish an eggs and bacon set up and you will catch fish.

We fished our way down to the outlet, but it was so crowded that we decided to head back since we couldn't find a spot to fish. We were within sight of the outlet, and it looked like people were lined shoulder to shoulder. We didn't see a lot of catching going on, and we only spotted a few fish, but nothing of size. At the end of the day, we did hear from some other fisherman that there was a group of guys that were hole hogging the outlet that caught quite a few fish over 20 in. In a way I'm glad we didn't make it all the way down...those guys were in that hole all day long, so we wouldn't have had a chance to fish it, but it would have been cool to see where the fish are staging getting ready for their move up the river.

Towards the end of the day, we decided to goof around and fish the gauging hole and the bridge hole. We could see numerous fish and the lots of spin fishing guys chucking gear and not getting any bites. I saw a few risers so I tied on an eric's midge and managed to land 3 little bows. It was fun catching fish on dries again!

After a while, the hardware chuckers left so we put our eggs and bacon rigs through there and managed a few more fish.

My trophy for the day was this nice 17 in. brown.


So...would I go again? Well...yes. The fishing is good, but I would get there early. Unless they bump the flows again, the big guys are still going to stick around the outlet without moving up. They need the higher flows to feel more protected on their journey upstream to spawn.

I would also try to go on a weekday. The weekends are brutal and the pressure keeps the big fish weary.

03/04/12 S. Platte Dream Stream

03/04/12
Dream Stream
7:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Flows at 107 from 53

With the jump in flows, I thought it would be a great time to hit the Dream Stream. I was coming back from the mountains so a quick jaunt through Fairplay and Hartsel led me to the Dream Stream.

Flows have been at the seasonal low around 50 and the bump on Saturday, there was a good chance that some big fish were going to be making their way up from Eleven Mile.

Unfortunately, I hit it a little too early. There certainly were a lot of fish around, but nothing of size.

Since I didn't have much time, I decided to stick to the lower section thinking that I would find some big fish downstream closer to the inlet of Eleven Mile. I was the second car in the lot at 7:00 am so I thought I would get into some fish quickly at the gauging station.



I certainly did get into some fish but nothing of size...lots and lots of 10-12 inchers.





After catching a ton of these little guys, I decided to move downstream and see if I could sight fish before the parking lot filled up.

I worked my way downstream and picked up a fish or two in the usual spots. Fence hole, bend hole, and the long run just before the outlet to Eleven Mile. Lots of "regular" fish and no big lake run or even the bigger resident fish were present just yet. I suspect that some of the bigger fish moved upstream with the bump in flows.

Fish weren't too picky, I was running a 3 fly rig, bead egg, dark prince, and a rojo midge and I took fish on all 3. I also used some zebra midges, regular prince nymphs and a nuke egg and those were all taking fish as well.

The wind wasn't too bad. There were a few gusts that blew through, but overall not a bad day in South Park.

The crowds did show up bright and early. There were 5 cars in the lot by 8:00 and when I left at noon, the lot was full. Lots of people on the water but everybody was relatively respectful of your space and the run you were fishing. It was funny to see people come running and trying to fish around you when you did catch a fish, but it certainly wasn't as bad as it could be.

I did snap a pic of this guy fishing from the bridge...I should have said something and told him that there's plenty of good spots, but I'm not one to interject my opinion... Besides, he seemed to enjoy not catching any fish.



:)