April 12, 2022
The South Platte River in Deckers – The Hole in the Wall to Trumbull Bridge & The Lone Rock Campground.
The top of the Lone Rock Campground Run.
Flows: 217 cfs.
Water Temp: 50F @ 3:30p (in shallow water in full sun).
Water clarity: Very clear – to about 6’.
Air Temp: 56F @ 8:30a – 46F @ 4p.
Hatches: Light midges in the AM. Heavy BWOs 1p to 4p (when we left).
Flies: #10 Egg Sucking Leech, #22 Mercury Black Beauty, # 20 Brassie, #24 & #22 Parachute BWO, #22 Sparkle Dun BWO, #22 Stalcup Baetis, #24 Chocolate Thunder, #24 Barr Emerger Dry, #14 Orange Egg, #22 Black Sparkle Wing RS2, #22 Black Beauty, #20 Top Secret Midge, #26 Black Midge.
Top producers: Chocolate Thunder, Parachute BWO (#22 7 #24), Mercury Black Beauty, Orange Egg, Black Sparkle Wing RS2, Black Beauty, Top Secret Midge, and Black Midge.
It was a short week for me. I only had three days to squeeze in a trip to the river. Two days really because Monday was filled with errands and things that I needed to catch up on.
Tuesday worked best for me. The weather was a bit sketchy though. Cloudy, windy, rain, and a little snow was in the forecast. Aside from the wind – it could turnout to be a perfect day to be on the water. The fish feel safer under a cloudy sky and aren’t as skittish. And the bugs stay on the water longer when they hatch because it takes longer for their wings to dry so they can fly off the water. And the hatches seem more pronounced before and after a rain shower.
Just downstream from the Mad Dog Hole.
The flows were up too. That would help get the fish spread out and into the runs. I envisioned fishing a few good hatches – fish rising to them. Yes it was my kind of day.
I was also thinking the inclement weather would keep a lot of anglers at home. They would decide to go on a more seasonable day. That would open up spots for Brian and I. Maybe we would try a new spot – the one below the steep hill where we see guys parked all the time, and the Mad Dog and Hole in the Wall Holes.
We decided against The Mini Canyon Hole. It’s below the Bridge Crossing Run that we fished last week. The hike down the side of the mountain and then back up just doesn’t seem worth it to me. I’ve often wondered why there are always a few cars parked at the top of the hill. Maybe the hike keeps fishermen like me away and they can fish in solitude. Or maybe it’s a good fishing spot!
From the middle of the 2nd island. The Mad Dog Hole is at the downstream side of it.
We passed on it and decided to try the Mad Dog and Hole in the Wall Holes in Trumbull. To start anyway. Then we would move upstream. I was thinking Fisherman’s Run, Ray’s Run, the Rock Garden, and the Lone Rock Campground would fish well with the higher flows. The river is wider in those spots and the higher flows allow the fish to spread out as opposed to the more narrow stretches of the river.
Once geared up, we headed to the trail that leads to the Mad Dog Hole. On the way we spotted a Bald Eagle sitting at top a bare, limbless tree - like a sentry. Brian actually saw a pair of them – but I only saw the one. The other day I read an article about the Bald Eagle’s recovery. They were nearly irradicated in the early 20th and mid-twentieth century. Over hunting – then the pesticide DDT were killing them off. Then in the early 1970’s the federal government passed the Clean Water Act and declared the Bald Eagles an endangered species. Now there are now a little over 300,000 Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states. Quite a rebound!
We didn't see this Bad Eagle move from his perch the whole day.
We see a pair upriver near the Cable Hole and Mark’s Run. And now we spotted another pair here in Trumbull which is about 3 miles downriver. Hopefully we’ll soon see even more of them.
There are a few runs on the way to the Mad Dog Hole and you’d think the fishing along this stretch of river would be good. There must be fish here or the Bald Eagles wouldn’t be nesting nearby. Right?
And I think there are fish along this stretch of river but I’ve not had that much success fishing it. Over the years I might have caught a few trout in it. I’ve had more success fishing downstream of the bridge and into Sailey Run. But some guys swear by it. Like the guy we met in the parking lot at lunch. He claimed to have caught a dozen fish in about two hours in the Slab Run last week.
Brian got this brownie in a stretch of river just upstream from the 1st island.
Brian Kenney.
This day was no different for me. We first stopped at the Slab Run and gave it a try. Without any success I headed up to the Mad Dog Hole while Brian stopped in a run just above the 1st island. The Mad Dog Hole is at the 2nd island and I covered the entire area without any hits. I did see one fish in the run at about mid-island. I wasn’t sure what it was though. It was big – but didn’t look like a trout. Was it a Sucker? Not sure, but he wasn’t interested in anything I was offering.
Next I hiked up to the Hole in the Wall Hole. I’ve never fished it, but this is another one of those spots where we always see cars parked and fishermen in the hole. There is private property along the way but the owners allow fishing from their banks. It’s a nice gesture. I didn’t spot any fish along the way and once I got within eye shot of the hole it looked like a pond. Slow, glassy water.
Brian got this rainbow on a Sparkle Wing RS2 in the Lone Rock Campground Run.
Brian Kenney.
I didn’t bother going any further. I didn’t like what I saw – so I began to hike back downstream. Crossing the river in the higher flow was a challenge. It required a lot of effort and care but I was able to make it over and back safely. When I met up with Brian he was still in the run above the 1st island. He had landed a nice 17” brown and lost a couple more.
We fished that spot and then moved down into the Slab Run. It was there that I finally had a fish on ---- but he broke off. The only other activity I had was snagging a brownie. Got him on the belly about midstream. Brian had a couple break off too. Then we headed to the car for lunch.
That’s when we met the guy that said he had so much success in the Slab Run
A nice brownie taken from the the Lone Rock Campground Run.
Later, when Brian and I were chatting about the run I said I just don’t like it. Brian was thinking I wasn’t confident fishing it and maybe that’s why I was having limited success – if you can call it that. But it wasn’t that. I just don’t like the water. It seems I’m always on the wrong side of the river and wading across isn’t advisable - in that area anyway. But some guys swear by it. Like the guy we met at lunch.
Anyway we headed upstream after finishing lunch. There were more guys out that I thought there’d be but the Rock Garden was fully open and as we drove by the Lone Rock Campground – we saw that the run there was open too. So we parked and headed that way.
One of Brian's rainbows. In his words "It was crazy by the campground".
Brian Kenney.
The Lone Rock Campground Run is about ¼ mile long. It starts just below the Horseshoe Bend Run and from there it flows south toward the road. At the road it bends to left as you look downstream and follows along the road. At the beginning of the run there is riffled water that falls into a pool. Below the pool are thigh-deep braids. Along the west side of the river before it meets the road there are a few pools and some slower water. As the water bends along the bank of the road, there are more pools and deeper braids mid-river.
We usually like to fish this run at the top. Where the riffled water dumps into the pool. As we walked that way, I spotted a few nice size rainbows hanging out in the slow water along the road. I couldn’t pass up trying to fool at least one of them – so I stopped there. Brian kept going – heading to our usual spot.
The first thing I did was spook the fish – all three of them! They’re easily spooked in the slow water along the road. Especially when you have to climb down the side of the bank to get into position. Or slide down as it may be. I kept at it though moving up and down the run. Then I fished further out into the deep braids. I was just about to give up on this part of the run when a fish hit. At the time, I was negotiating my way back toward the bank and I felt him tugging on my line. Without a proper set the fish wiggled free.
I got this rainbow at the tail end of the Lone Rock Campground Run.
I ended up spending quite a bit of time in the run – landing a rainbow and brownie, both in the 14” range. They both hit a #24 Chocolate Thunder. It seemed every time I decided to leave – I’d spot another fish. Finally, I gathered my stuff and headed upstream towards Brian. As I was walking along the road toward him, he called out to me and motioned that I should come his way. That’s a good sign!
When I got there Brian said it’s been crazy. He caught so many fish he lost count. Wow! As he was describing this – I was looking into the water and spotted a nice rainbow close in near the shore feeding in a shallow seam. I quickly put my stuff down and casted to him. “Your first cast is your best cast” – as they say. And it was - I got him on my 1st cast. A nice 16” rainbow.
That was easy!
Releasing a 16" rainbow back into the Lone Rock Campground Run.
This place was crazy. Crazy good. We continued to fish that part of the run the rest of the day. It got harder – but we still had good success – primarily nymphing.
I was going after a couple of rainbows midstream. As I watched them, they would come up near the surface and gulp a rising nymph. After seeing this I decided that I try a Dry/Dropper rig. After wading to the shore, I strung up my 4-weight with a Parachute BWO dry fly with a Barr Emerger following it about 8” below. The idea is to get your dropper in the film just below the surface. That’s where the fish were feeding.
A nice brownie took the egg in the riffles at the head of the Lone Rock Campground Run.
Brian Kenney.
After a few casts to them Brian mentioned that there were some fish rising in a pool on the west side of the river. The pool is at the bottom of a sheer, granite cliff. The pool had swirly water that formed an eddy. The faster water would flow downstream then hit the granite wall and swirly clockwise and flow back upstream.
The BWOs were now hatching - and I mean hatching. There were a bunch of them on the water and there must have been 15 to 20 fish in the pool feasting on them. Should be easy – right?
Wrong. It was very hard to get a good cast and drift into the pool – especially from where I was in the river. The fast water in front of it will grab you line and pull it unnaturally and the fish will ignore your flies. Add to that – I was standing in pretty fast water and the wind was gusting throwing accuracy out the window with it. I was using a reach cast, reaching upstream to minimize the current’s drag on my flies and was hoping to get a hit soon after they landed.
This rainbow took Brian's egg too.
Brian Kenney.
I had changed out my Barr Emerger for a #24 Sparkle Dun BWO and still had my #24 Parachute BWO leading. I finally got one of the rainbows to take the Parachute BWO. He was only about 14” but it’s a kick to get them on dries no matter how big --- or small. After continuing to cast from the middle of the river for a while, I decided to wade across the river and try it from the downriver side of the eddy.
From that position, I was now casting into the wind which made it even more difficult. There were so many BWOs on the water I was having a hard time locating my flies. The experts say that when you are dry fly fishing, you should observe the rhythm of the rising fish. They get into sort of a cadence – and time your cast so your flies are in front of them when they rise. That’s what I was doing. But the wind would either knock my flies back toward me or blow them either right or left of my target. It took a while but I was able to get a couple more to hit. They both took the Parachute BWO.
I was having such a hard time keeping track of my flies among all the real BWOs that I changed out my lead Parachute BWO for another, more visible one. It was a #22 – a little bigger and easier to track. I got my last one on that fly. I probably spent more time trying to catch this one fish then I should have, and I finally got him to take but he quickly broke off.
Releasing a rainbow.
When I changed my lead fly to the bigger Parachute BWO, I was sitting on the bank. And I got a little lazy – setting my fly box down on my net as I tied on the fly – instead of putting back in my pack. Well guess what? I forgot about it and it dropped into the river when I picked up my net. I didn’t know it at the time though.
It was after the fish stopped rising and I waded to the other side that I noticed that my fly box was missing. Oh boy! I have about 300 flies in that box. It will take me countless hours on the vise to tie up what I have in it. And then trying to remember all the different flies. It was a sickening feeling.
It was also about time to go. Brian suggested that we should look for it as we walked to the car. I agreed. It was a good idea – but one with little chance. It would ruin my day. There was no way I would find that damn thing!
A 17" rainbow. Yet another one Brian landed in the Lone Rock Campground Run.
Brian Kenney.
I went over to that side of the river where I dropped it anyway. Brian did too – but he was out ahead of me and was walking along the bank next to the road. He was almost to the end of the run – so about ¼ of a mile from where I dropped the box and he called out to me, lifting my fly box up so that I could see it!
You’ve got to be kidding me. I would never have been able to find that box – not in a million years. But Brian has a knack for finding things and I am grateful!
The fish were rising in the glassy water at the base of the granite wall.
What a way to end a crazy day by the campground!
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