October 31, 2023
South Platte River – Deckers (The Cable Hole to the Mini-Canyon.)
Flows: 113 cfs.
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous (96% illumination).
Water Temp: 44F @ 9:30a.
Water clarity: Crystal clear.
Air Temp: 17F @ 8150a – 56F @ 3:30p.
Hatches: Midge: 10:30a – 12p. BWO: Heavy in spots, 1p – 3p.
Spawning: Some redds spotted, but no sight of active brown trout spawning.
Flies: #10 Chubby Chernobyl, #10 Tan San Juan Worm, #18 Pheasant Tail, #24 Grey Sparkle Wing RS2, #22 Sparkle Dun, #24 Parachute BWO, #20 Mercury Pheasant Tail, #22 Chocolate Thunder, #22 Black RS2, #16 San Juan Worm, #16 BWO (dry fly).
Top producers: #16 & #10 San Juan Worm, Pheasant Tail, Sparkle Wing RS2, Sparkle Dun, Chocolate Thunder, Black RS2, BWO (dry fly).
It was a frosty - and beautiful - start to the day.
17 degrees.
That was the temperature at 8:15a when we pulled into the parking area at Mark’s Run.
17 degrees.
That was the temperature at 11a.
Are you kidding me? I wish I was.
But this is no joke.
A wintery river scene along Mark's Run.
It was supposed to be 32F at 8:30a – warming up quickly into the 50s by noon, then hitting a high of 65F by 3p. That didn’t happen. But believe it or not, it did get really warm by the time we left at 3:30p.
When we pulled into the parking lot, everything above ground was frozen. The brush along the river, the tree branches, the grass, and even the dirt along the side of the road.
I didn’t make a move to get out of the car. Brian did.
At first he said he’d wait until it got to 18F, but then after about 5 minutes he changed his mind - got out into the cold and geared up.
1st fish of the day. Brian got him on a frigid morning in Ray's Run about 8:30a.
Brian Kenney.
I stayed in the car, engine running, heat on ---- for about ½ hour. It was then decision time. Should I drive down to the resort and get a cup of coffee, or should I at least suit up and scout the area?
My seat belt was fastened, and I was ready to go get some hot coffee, but then I decided not to. I thought to myself “I’m here. A little scouting wouldn’t hurt. In fact it could help. I may learn something”. So, I got out and suited up. Waders, boots, hat, coat, gloves. My coat was a light winter coat – more of a jacket. Wish I packed a heavier one.
Between the time Brian got out and I made the decision to suit up, Brian landed a 13” brown - got him on a #22 Chocolate Thunder. Wow, that was interesting considering the very cold temperature and went against conventional wisdom. Trout are cold blooded and in cold water their metabolism slows and they aren’t real active.
This says it all.
I did learn a few things while scouting – and one of them was the water temperature. It was 44F. That’s pretty warm – and a bit surprising considering the cold air temperature. Trout are definitely active in 44F water.
I continued to scout the water with no rod and reel – walking up and down the road peering into the river to see if I could spot some trout. I found some near the shore below the “Big Boulder” and a few upstream by the Road Hole. I also waded out to see how Brian was making out in Mark’s Run. By then he had landed another rainbow – a 10” one this time – on a #20 Black RS2.
I was waiting for the sun to come up over the canyon walls and warm the place up. The only problem was there were clouds blocking it when it finally did. That’s why it stayed so cold for so long. We had the whole place to ourselves. No one else was crazy enough to come out in this weather and fish!
My 1st fish - a real beauty.
A few years back, Brian and I fished 11 Mile Canyon during the winter – this was before we discovered the Tailwater in Pueblo. Winters are always really cold up there. Brutally cold. Brian came up with the idea of keeping the car running and tying up our flies inside the car. We would put the fan on high and blast it out of the dash – then stand next to the open front doors and tie our flies onto the tippet over the front seats. This saved our hands and fingers from freezing – and made the tying a lot easier.
Then we would fish until we got too cold – or until we caught a fish – then go back to the car and warm up. Then repeat until it got warm enough to stay out and fish.
It got to be about 9a and it was still 17F so I decided to go “11 Mile Canyon Mode” and gear up. I had my Chubby on from last time out and tied on a #10 Tan San Juan Worm as my lead fly. I had read a fishing report that said it was a hot fly lately. I followed it with a #18 Pheasant Tail and a #24 Grey Sparkle Wing RS2. When I made my scouting rounds, I didn’t see any midges in the air so I left them out of my setup.
Brian got this bad boy in the Mini-canyon.
Brian Kenney.
The first place I tried was below the big boulder where I spotted a couple of trout earlier. I checked before I waded into the water and saw that one was still there in front of the same boulder. After several tries with no action I checked and couldn’t see the fish anymore. Must have spooked him. I then moved up to the pocket of water next to the big boulder. I’ve come to really like that spot.
On my second cast my Chubby disappeared. Fish on! Check that – a really nice fish on!
He took me down below the big boulder where I finally netted him. An 18” brownie. He took the San Juan Worm – which would be my hot fly during the morning.
To be honest – I kinda didn’t want to catch a fish so soon. Catching a fish meant that I’d have to get my hands wet to handle it. That meant freezing hands and fingers. But I was really glad to land that bad boy. A good way to start the day.
Another brownie on the San Juan Worm.
After releasing him I paused for a bit – gloves on, hands in my wader pocket. I needed to warm them up before going back in. While I was warming up, Brian came down and he fished the pocket where I landed that big brown.
When my hands warmed up enough to fish again, I waded a bit upstream and casted my flies into the riffles. There are a bunch of small boulders/big rocks in the rapids which form small pockets of slower water. That’s where I found my second fish of the day. It was a smallish – 13” – brown who took my #18 Pheasant Tail.
After releasing the brown, I again gloved up and put my hands in my wader pocket to warm back up. After warming up I quickly caught another brownie – this one a 16 incher. I got him in the riffles just below where I got the 13” one earlier on the San Juan Worm. He flopped all over the place in my net - causing a huge tangle. I spent way more time than I wanted getting my flies untangled. My hands still wet from handling the fish were out in the cold too long. They got painfully cold and I had to head to the car – 11 Mile Canyon Mode.
The browns were out. Brian got this one in the Mini-canyon.
Brian Kenney.
It was about 9:45a and it was still 17F. I was thinking to myself “If I left now, I’d be happy with the day”. As I began to warm up I decided to eat an early lunch. May as well eat while I continued to warm up. That way if it ever did get warmer outside, I wouldn’t have to take a break in the better weather to eat. Good idea!
It was 10a when I was ready to go back out. My plan was to grab just one rod – my Hopper/Dropper – and I’d go watch Brian fish for a while. Then maybe it’d get warm enough for me to start fishing again. He said he was headed for the bottom of the Between the Islands Run and that’s where I was headed.
Along the way, I kept checking the river to see if I could spot some fish. There were three nice brownies in slow water tight against the bank just above the big boulder. I made a mental note of where they were and planned to come back for them later.
Another brownie taken in the run by the "Big Boulder".
Once I walked down the road far enough to see into the bottom of the Between the Islands Run, Brian was nowhere in sight. My thought was that he must have gone into the Mini-Canyon. The sun doesn’t shine that much in there – and it always seem colder. No way I was going anywhere that may be colder than where I was. No way!
So I walked back up to where I saw those three brownies. They were still there. The short walk warmed me up and my fingers were feeling much better, so I thought I’d give it a try. I walked upstream a little further, then waded into the river and crossed to the other side. My cast would be from mid-stream back toward the bank on the side of the road.
They were still in tight to the bank and there was a bush overhanging the water making for a difficult cast. My first cast wasn’t on target. Neither was my second. I was too concerned about getting caught up in that bush. After my second attempt I said to myself “you need to do a lot better than that if you want to catch those guys”.
Brian got this rainbow in the afternoon in Mark's Run on a dry.
Brian Kenney.
My next cast was right on target and BANG! One of those bad boys – a 17” brown - took my San Juan Worm. With no weight on and no weighted flies, it floated just below the surface where he attacked it. And when he did, there was a big splash with half his body coming out of the water. Pretty exciting.
After releasing him, I went back in to see if I could get another one. And I did. This one had moved about ten feet upstream and that’s where I found him. He hit almost as soon as my flies hit the water. I briefly had him on before he broke free. He surprised me – hitting my fly so quickly - and my set wasn’t good enough.
After that, the little pocket of water that they were in cleared out. Not surprising with all the excitement, and I moved back into the riffles.
Took this while standing at the top of the Between the Islands Run just before 11a.
As I was standing in the river the sun came out – hooray! But it was just a brief showing then it went back behind a cloud. Still, it was starting to warm up. Finally! I checked my watch - it was 11:15a.
With the weather warming up I decided to continue to fish the run – moving downstream. I thought I’d go see if that brown was still sitting in front of the rock that was just downstream of the big boulder. I found him a little farther upstream of it than I thought he was. A nice 16” brownie. He took the San Juan Worm too.
As I continue downstream I landed yet another brownie – again on the San Juan Worm. At that point I had only covered about 75 to 100 yards of water. The length of the upper island. What a day!
The brownies are getting their spawning colors on.
I kept moving downstream and was now below the island. Two other guys had moved into the bottom of the run – where I thought Brian would be earlier. Between me and them there is a lot of boulders and pocket water of various size. Some small, slow pockets - others almost forming a small pool in fast water.
There is one pocket in particular that I like to hit. It’s mid-river with fast current flowing over four or five big boulders. The pocket is one of the larger ones – not quite a pool, but almost. I have found more than a few fish in it before.
My cast was just below the boulders, and I let my flies drift into the pocket. As they did, I could see the San Juan Worm as it drifted into the middle of the pool. Then I saw a trout appear. He looked like he was tracking my flies, and I was waiting for him to hit. Then he casually headed back toward the other side of the pocket. Just then I noticed my Chubby was following him.
I set – BAM – fish on!
A beauty of a rainbow.
Brian Kenney.
It was a challenge netting this guy. He was big and strong and had that swift current in the middle of the river on his side. After chasing him downstream, across the river, then back upstream I finally netted him. Another 18” brownie – and another one on the San Juan Worm.
After releasing him, I was trying to decide on where to go next. As I looked around it seemed like fishermen had come out of the woodwork. It was pushing noon and the sun was now shining bright – it was warm – and the fair weather fishermen were out in force. I was thinking to myself “instead of calling them fair-weather fishermen maybe I should start calling them smart-fishermen”!
I was hemmed in. Guys upstream of me, guys downstream of me. So I waded over to the other side of the upper island. As I was covering it I noticed a rainbow rising to eat adult BWOs (Blue Winged Olives) that were now hatching. I didn’t have my dry fly rod, but I gave him a look at my Hopper/Dropper setup. He wasn’t interested and I moved upstream into the fast riffles.
Releasing a brownie.
After about three casts I had a small rainbow on. I wasn’t too excited about that – and about fighting him the fast water with a bunch of boulders all around. I was stationary and a bit lackadaisical as I fought him. Needless to say – with little effort on my part – he broke free.
As I was getting my flies back in order, Brian waded up to meet me. As I had thought he was fishing the Mini-Canyon where he landed a nice 16” rainbow and a nice 17” cutbow. He got them on the #20 Black RS2.
He was hungry and was headed to the car to get his lunch. With the BWO hatch now in full force, I waded over with him to get my dry fly rod, surveying the area on the way. As I grabbed my dry fly rod, I also took off my jacket! It was now that warm out. It really did heat up fast.
This was taken about 1:30p. The afternoon weather was much different than the morning.
Basically the only thing open was the bottom of Mark’s Run and the small stretch on the far side of the upper island where I had just left. I had seen some fish making dimples at the bottom of Mark’s Run and decided to start there with my dries.
The water was very slow and crystal clear. Not the kind of water I like to fish – especially with dry flies. Too much inspection time! I had a #20 Sparkle Dun BWO and a #22 Parachute BWO tied on and I didn’t get any interest. Not even a look that I could see.
Then I thought about that fish rising on the far side of the island and I headed there. It was only about 50 yards downstream of me. When I got there, I didn't see the fish rising. Hmm – wondering if he was still there, I covered the seam anyway. He wasn’t there.
This is the rainbow I got in the afternoon on my dry fly.
I moved a bit further downstream and was now at the end of the upper island and I saw a nice rainbow rising to eat adult BWOs. No - he was gobbling them up!
They say the trout rise in kind of a rhythm – and to try to time your cast so that your flies are in front of the fish when they rise. That wouldn’t work on this bad boy. He had no rhythm. He’d come up and eat a fly, then move to another spot, come up and eat another one. Then eat three more in the same place. Then move again.
I was persistent and kept casting into the seam trying to get my flies in front of him. Finally I got them on target and he hit my Parachute BWO. But I missed him! Set too quickly – AGAIN! I thought I blew it but kept after him. After several more casts he hit again – and I got him this time!
He was bigger than I thought and I had a challenging fight on my hands. So much so that I was concerned that I’d lose him. I was able to stay either across from him or downstream of him as he fought to go upstream. That’s a good thing, in order to go upstream the fish has to fight the current and me. He finally tired and I was able to guide him into my net. A beautiful, 17” rainbow with the Parachute BWO imbedded in his upper lip.
Another look at this beauty that I got with a Parachute BWO on the far side of the upper island.
A bit later Brian and I met up and we fished Mark’s Run for a bit, then headed upstream to the Road Hole and the Cable Hole. It seemed like things had turned off. We did spot a few rainbows, but they ignored our offerings. I think all the pressure from the “smart-fishermen” made em’ spooky. After a bit we decided to call it a day.
Every day on the river is a different experience. This one- 17 degrees -- all morning -- yet we were netting nice brownies. The afternoon with the sun out – fishing in shirt sleeves - and a heavy BWO hatch.
Another fun day fly fishing on the river.
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