September 28, 2020
Flows: 67 cfs
Water Temp: 48F @ 10a.
Water clarity: ~ 6’ – crystal clear early. Then becoming a bit stained with floating debris as the water level whipsawed a bit later in the day.
Air Temp: 38 @ 9a – 67 @ 4p.
Hatches: Surprisingly no apparent midge hatch. Sparse female Tricos at 10a (we couldn’t confirm, but most likely), then a pretty healthy BWO hatch late AM to early PM.
Driving into 11 Mile State Park.
For various reasons, it’s been about a month since Brian and I have been able to get together on the river. After chatting on Sunday, we agreed to meet at the Dream Stream on Monday. The thought being that it’s the time of the year when the large brownies begin their migration into the river to spawn. And they’re big – some in the 30” range! That’s the draw to the Dream Stream this time of year.
A perfect morning on the Dream Stream.
The flows are a little lower than their historical average, but they’ve been steady – which should translate to some decent fishing. Our plan was to start out in the lower section - near where it feeds into 11 Mile Reservoir. The fish migrate from the reservoir to span and this would increase our chances of getting into one of those monsters! Neither of us has fished this section of the river before and we found that access is much easier there too.
The advise from the guides who publish fishing reports is to look for the big fish in “dark water” (meaning deep pools) or along the undercut banks. By nature, brownies are very skittish and tend to lie in places that are hard to catch them. Never the less we were looking forward – Dream’n – of getting into a couple of them!
After we chatted on Sunday, it occurred to me that the last time we fished this part of the South Platte – we had a hard time netting the “regular” large browns and rainbows that we hooked up. This got me thinking about how we were going to land these monsters from the reservoir…
The other thing about brownies – especially when there in the spawning mode (but not in the act of actually spanning) – is they become very aggressive and territorial. So that fact – coupled with the possibility of hooking up a fish over 25 inches – led me to my strategy of tying on a streamer with 5x tippet to start.
So that’s how I started out. Casting a streamer – a #10 Leach pattern to be exact – to the far side bank which was pretty deep and dark. This area is just a bit upstream from the lower parking area. In the shallower water, Brain saw some fish rising. So he went with some dry flies – a Parachute Adams and a Griffith’s Gnat. In a short while he was able to hook up a couple on the Parachute Adams. After that, he switched to nymphs and was able to land another one on a Desert Storm.
A couple of nymphs Brian got in his seine. Notice the bubble on the one on the left. When they're emerging, the form bubbles to help them float to the top.
I was not having any luck with the leach pattern and there were baetis hatching – so I tied on a #20 Pheasant Tail BWO followed by a #22 Barr Emerger BWO. I kept the leach on as the attracter fly. I covered the far bank and still didn’t get any hits. So I moved upstream to a place that had some faster water dumping into a deep pool. I named it the Lower Plunge Pool. As I approached it – I was thinking to myself “there has to be a few fish in here”. And I was right. Within a few minutes I hooked up a 8” brownie on the Barr Emerger.
1st catch of the day - 8" brownie. Not exactly what I was Dream’n about!!
As I was covering the deep pool I spotted a large trout feeding in the eddie that formed on the near side bank and in the pool itself. I covered the entire pool trying to hook him up. Then I decided to cast into the faster water that leads into it. I was thinking that I could get a more realistic drift from there into the pool. On my second cast into the fast water – I had a hit. At first I thought was a snag on one of the rocks – then I set the hook. To my surprise, there was a nice size fish feeding in the fast water – and now was hooked up on one of my flies. Not sure if it was a brown or rainbow as he was off after a brief fight. Jeez! I probably could have been more aggressive with the hook set.
I was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be another fish feeding in that small run – but I spotted one not long after. When this one hit – I was ready and got a good hook set! I could tell it was a large fish and it took me all the way downstream to where Brian was fishing. He offered to net him – and I took him up on that. I could use all the help I could get with this one!
And it was a nice fish – a 19” female brownie. She took the #22 Barr Emerger. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t one of the monster fish from the reservoir – rather one of the large resident fish. She had a wide girth though – and I’m guessing she weighed in the 5 pound range.
The catch of the day for me.
Photo by Brian Kenney.
I fished that pool for a bit more – hoping to land another beauty – but it seemed to dry up. So I moved upstream and met Brian near another dark, deep pool. It was similar to the Plunge Pool. I fished it the same way and got into a few fish. The first one was able to get off. The one I did land was a peculiar looking rainbow. It wasn’t brightly colored and it’s fins were an orangish shade. It also had a small “cutthroat” marking on it’s throat - but off from where cutthroats normally have them. So not sure if was a hybrid cutbow or not.
A 16" rainbow (or cutbow) with unique markings.
After fishing that area for a while we decided to move downstream – then meet in the parking lot for lunch. I stopped in the Plunge Pool for another try and was able to land a 14” brownie. He took the Barr Emerger.
After lunch we were planning to fish downstream from the parking lot. But as we were walking in, Brian spoke with a couple of fishermen who just left that area and they said it was mostly slow and shallow. So we decided to get in the car and drive up to the upper parking lot and fish the river just below the Spinney Mountain Reservoir Dam. More specific – we wanted to fish Willows Run. We’ve had success there before.
With the lower flows, the river was much different in Willows Run. At first we weren’t able to spot any fish and the typical holding areas were empty. I moved upstream to check the area below the Upper Island. Same thing. No fish spotted anywhere. I checked the upper part of the Lower Island and sure enough there was a nice fish holding in the undercut bank. I threw a few casts in the seam that flows into that area – but couldn’t get my flies close enough to the bank because tree roots and brush were obstructing my approach. Yes brownies hide in hard to get places! Before long I spooked it.
So I headed back down to the Willows Run. There are a couple of seams that are thigh deep even with the lower flows. Even though I couldn’t spot any fish there I decided to give the one near the south bank a try. I should mention that I had a #6 split shot on with my leach, Pheasant Tail, Barr Emerger rig. Even with the light weight my flies would get hung up on the rocks in the more shallow areas – and that was the case in this seam too.
But one of those times it wasn’t a rock that I got caught up on it was a nice size brownie. So again – my hook set wasn’t that great. And to add to that, the fish ran directly downstream – which is in the same direction of my hook set. So needless to say – this one got off. Ugh!! From now on before going into the river - I’m going to remind myself to set aggressively on everything!!
There were a few more fish that would come into the seam and then move downstream into a deeper pool at the end of the run. Brian and I both tried to get them to hit – but they were very selective and would not take either of our offerings.
Interestingly, I spotted a fish feeding in one of the more shallow areas on the far side of the run. I made sure to cast far enough upstream from him that I didn’t spook him. My second cast was on point – but the fish took one look at my leach and bolted. I found that very interesting – but after thinking about it – it made sense. The shallow, slower water is so clear that it calls for small flies. Not a #10 Leach. Tying up Dry/Dropper rig or retying a smaller pattern fly to replace the leach is what I should have done! Duly noted.
After that I moved upstream to an area call The Slicks and Wind Chimes. There is some decent pocket water in this area – but the pockets weren’t that deep. And I really couldn’t see any fish holding in them. But I was able to get another 8” brownie in one of the deeper pools. This was below the island and he took the Barr Emerger.
Later, we moved downstream to Trestle Run and the Jugular Vein. Brian fished the Trestle Run while I was in the Jugular Vein. We were able to land a few more smaller fish – but that was it. Brian got his on the Desert Storm and mine were on the Barr Emerger.
11 Mile Village. (This little village sits on the border of 11 Mile State Park.)
Not exactly what we were Dream’n about. But it was a good time and a great way to spend another beautiful fall day in Colorado.
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