Flows: 51 cfs
Water Temp: 50F @ 9:30a.
Water clarity: 6’
Air Temp: 49 @ 9:30a – 64 @ 4:30p.
Hatches: Tricos 11a – 12:30p. BWOs early to mid-afternoon.
Another week – another adventure!
Carlos on the South Platte River at Deckers.
I’m lucky to have two grandsons who are interested in fishing. (May have a few more grandchildren interested in the future). This week Carlos – my 10 year old grandson – joined me for an outing. He’s been mentioning that he wanted to go fishing with me for most of the past summer. I definitely wanted to get him out on the fly rod, but things just hadn’t worked out - till yesterday. So I was really happy to squeeze in what in all likelihood was our last chance this year.
On the drive to Deckers Carlos said he was looking forward to seeing wildlife. On queue, we saw a gaggle of wild turkey's in Castle Pines. Later as we drove through the ranches in Sedalia we saw a few mule deer eating on the side of the road. And one of them was standing right on the berm. I slowed to almost a stop to make sure he wouldn't bold into - or in front - of the car. As we went by them, Carlos mentioned that he would really like to get a picture of the deer. A bit later we saw another herd, but I could stop to take a picture. Then as we went up into the pass, we we spotted another gaggle of wild turkeys. This time we could stop and get a picture. We were on the lookout for bears or elk, but we didn't see any.
A gaggle of wild turkeys on the way to Deckers.
As with Roman last week – we started out in Fisherman’s Run so that Carlos could practice casting. And you never know in this spot – there may be a fish in there ready to take a fly too!! Before we left, I had given Carlos a pair of a pair of sunglasses that are polarized so that he could spot fish in the water. And we both scouted the water as we made our way to the run.
As with Roman, Carlos caught on to the roll cast pretty quickly. Being 3 years older than Roman, Carlos is taller and has a little more hand-eye coordination. This enabled him to mend the line. Mending the line is essential in order to get the all important drag free drift.
Carlos showing good form on his roll-cast.
As we were practicing, a guide brought his entourage of three fisherlady’s into the end of Fisherman’s Run and the beginning of the Bridge Hole. Fishing it from the other – north – side of the river. This didn’t leave much room for Carlos and me. So I kept Carlos in the spot we had hoping that there was maybe a stray fish or two in the shallow water that we were fishing. At some point the flies snapped off. As I was retying flies onto the line I told Carlos to scout the river downstream to see if he could spot any fish.
Completing the cast and starting the drift. (The guide and his customers in the background).
He came back with a report of three spots that he saw fish holding in. Our plan was to hit those spots as soon as the lady’s on the other side left. One thing good about fishing guides – among many other things – is that they move on pretty quickly, especially when they’re not getting any action. So they moved out a little after – and we moved in!
The 1st and 2nd spots that Carlos found weren’t productive, but the 3rd was. It was a familiar spot but was loaded with hungry fish. I’ve never seen it with so many fish lined up in multiple feeding lanes. I started out first as I wanted to see if I could land a fish in short order to help keep Carlos engaged. And it wasn’t long before I was able to hook up a nice 16” brownie. Carlos proved to be a good net-man and got him in the net without any issues.
The 1st fish of the day - a 16" brownie.
After the 2nd fish in the net, I gave the rod to Carlos. He used the roll cast and mended the line as he did earlier. At one point, I was helping him with the lift and he had a fish take. As the fish took off, Carlos asked if he had one on. And I said yes – you definitely have one on. This is the first time that Carlos fought a fish on a fly line. And it was a nice size one to boot. It is not easy.
Carlos working the net.
I tried to guide him on what to do – and things change very quickly as you’re fighting a fish. Keep the rod up, tension on the line, reel in – quickly, take your hand off the reel and let him run, etc, etc… So needless to say the fish finally broke free. But it was a very exciting experience for Carlos! And a job well done by him. I have to figure out a better way to prepare him for fighting and landing a fish.
Another 16" brownie.
We took turns fishing the run and we had a good amount of fish on – but about half of them were able to get off. A lot of them were taking on the lift – in which case – it’s pretty difficult to get a good hook set. But we had 3 fish in the net before lunch.
On one of Carlos’ turns – he made a good cast into the intended zone, had a good drag free drift with decent line mending, and had a fish take. I called out to set the hook – and he did. And had his 2nd fish on! This looked to be one of the bigger fish that we had gotten in to. It was a brownie and made a run upstream, then changed direction and ran fast downstream – and broke free. Ugh! I was hoping that we could land that one, but again it was exciting for Carlos. And it showed that he could cast and hook up a fish. A great accomplishment on his 1st outing!!
So right in the middle of getting into a bunch of fish, Carlos said he wanted to break for lunch. It was about 11a – a little early for lunch. Considering that we were having such success – I asked him if he wanted to wait a bit. But he didn’t. So we broke for lunch.
When we 1st started out in the morning, I had brought his spinning rod as a backup for him to use. But given how good he did with the fly rod, I left the spin casting rod in the car when we broke from lunch. Carlos showed a lot of interest in the surroundings – and wanted to read a map that was posted near the parking lot. He asked me to point out where we were fishing and to show him other spots that I’ve fished. Then it was time to go back and get more fish.
My thought was – why not keep it simple and go back to the same spot. Chances were pretty good that we could get a few more fish out of there. But a couple – a man and his wife – who were near us before lunch, moved into our spot. They were fishing it from the other side of the river, but we couldn’t get in without infringing on there territory.
I was about to move upstream but we spotted some fish feeding a little downstream. The water was very slow and clear in this spot – and the fish are easily spooked. But we gave it a try. After several tries and no hits, we gave up and moved further upstream.
There was the couple taking the upper Bridge Hole and the lower Fisherman’s Run – and another guy in the top of Fisherman’s Run. This left a small space for us to squeeze into. And there were some fish near the shore feeding in a slow eddie. They weren’t feeding on the surface, rather sipping nymphs and pupae. Trying to get them below the surface presents an extremely difficult – if not impossible - challenge. So I decided to try some dries. Maybe we could entice one of them to look up and hit a dry. But this didn’t work.
So I casted my nymph rig further out into the faster water. Before long I had one on, but he broke off. While all this was going on, I told Carlos that as soon as the lady left her spot – we would move back into the spot we fished in the morning. And sure enough, she left a bit later – and we moved in.
Yet another brownie.
Carlos was spotting for me and directing me where to cast. As we worked the run, it was approaching 2p and Carlos said he was ready to call it a day. I wanted a couple more casts – as I could see fish feeding in a lane out in front of me. Carlos agreed, and not much longer I had another nice brownie on. We netted him – the largest of the day at 17”. As Carlos was holding him for a picture, the fish wiggled free, jumping into the water.
So we ended the day on a good note. I was proud of Carlos and was so happy to see that he was able to hook up fish on his own. He is on his way! And we both agreed that we would do it again.
Another adventure waits!
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