June 28, 2022
The South Platte River – Deckers – Lone Rock Campground & The Road Hole to the Mini-Canyon.
Flows: 87 cfs.
Water Temp: 50F @ 9a.
Water clarity: Crystal clear.
Air Temp: low 51F @ 8:30a – high 83F @ 4p.
Hatches: Midge 8:30a to 10a. Stray Caddis and BWO after 12N.
Flies: #20 Elk Hair Caddis, #18Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear, #22 Beadhead Miracle Midge, #24 Black Top Secret Midge, #24 Barr BWO Emerger, #24 Grey Sparkle Wing RS2, #18 Beadhead Pheasant Tail, #22 Parachute BWO, #22 Sparkle Dun BWO, Orange Egg, #10 Egg Sucking Leech,
Top producers: Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear, Miracle Midge, Sparkle Wing RS2,
Brian - getting ready to net a nice rainbow.
Deckers has become handy.
For many a fly fisherman it has been and most likely will continue to be – a destination. It’s reputation as a world-class fishery is intact.
But for Brian and I – or maybe just me - it’s become a handy place to fish.
Why is that?
It’s relatively close by. We can get there and back without breaking the bank on a tank of gas!
There wasn’t any run off to speak of throughout the entire South Platte River drainage this spring. And even though the flows are a little less than 1/3 of what they normally are for this time of year – we can usually find and catch a few nice trout in and around Deckers.
Looking into the forest from the river.
And it is still a beautiful, mountain stream with abundant wildlife.
Speaking of which – along with the gaggle of turkeys, various deer, and an otter swimming about - we saw a lone elk cow walking in the river as we left. That was a first for me. I’ve seen plenty of deer in the water, but never an elk! This one was splashing water with her front feet and dipping her head into the splash – evidently to cool off. It was quite a sight!
With the low flows I’ve been guessing that the fish would be in deeper parts of the river. In places that provide cover. We’ve found them in those types of places and surprisingly, we’ve also found them in runs with knee deep depressions and in even shallower water.
A 15" brownie. He took a #22 Beadhead Miracle Midge just upstream from the Lone Rock Campground Run.
Our day started at the Lone Rock Campground. It rained the night before and we could smell the wet forest as we geared up. It was a fresh pine fragrance. Once we got to the Campground Run – the smell of pine burning in the campground fires added to the aroma of the wet forest.
The fish weren’t in their usual spots. Well, I guess there were a couple that we spotted and casted to – but they just sat there. No takes. After a few drifts by them – they became wary and ran off. At least the one I spotted, and tried for did.
So I moved upstream. There is a deep pool just upstream from the campground and some nice smaller pools and pockets too. Places that I thought I might find a trout or two in.
There they were – at the tailout of the deep pool. Some were in about 5 feet of water and some were at the end of it - in calf deep, slow water. I was trying my combo Leech/Egg setup to start – but they weren’t interested in either, so I switched my flies to a standard nymph rig. A Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear leading, followed by a Beadhead Miracle Midge and a Black Top Secret Midge.
Another brownie - this one 17 inches. Caught in the same run on a Guide's Choice Hare's Ear.
With the low flows I was surprised at how much weight I had to use in order to get my flies down. The one .12g bb split shot that I started with was too light. So I began to add mud till I got the kind of drift that I liked. The amount of mud that I added was substantial.
After getting my flies down – BANG! Well - it really wasn’t a BANG – at the end of one of my drifts I began to lift my rod to recast and a fish hit. Not as exciting as a BANG – but fighting and landing a 15” brownie is always fun. Like most brownies he was game and presented a challenge. He took the Miracle Midge. I decided to use this fly since it was a bright sunny morning, and I was in crystal clear water. I hadn’t used one in a while and happy to see that it still worked!
I would get a few more out of the hole before lunch when we decided to move upstream.
After landing a couple of the brownies I motioned to Brian to come up and join me. He was fishing the pool from the opposite side. There were several – in the teens, maybe more – in the entire run we were fishing. I expected that we’d get way more than we did. The action seemed to stop after I landed the few fish.
I was getting brownies in the morning. You can see his bright coloration in this photo.
We’d get good drifts and the fish would just sit there. I wanted to ask them “what are you doing – just sitting there? Why aren’t you eating?”
If fish could talk.
Brian might have been thinking the same thing because at one point - he mentioned just that. “I can see trout, but they aren’t taking anything”. A few minutes after that lament, he got one to take! It was a nice 17” rainbow. Funny how that works.
But that was it. No more fish – so we decided to head to the car to eat our lunch. After that we would try the area near Mark’s Run and the Mini-Canyon. Brian likes the Mini-Canyon – and it’s deep – thinking that it would be holding some fish, he headed there.
Brian got this 17" beauty in the same run above the Lone Rock Campground.
Brian Kenney.
My car was parked at the top of the hill and after finishing my lunch I drove it down to the parking space at Mark’s Run – which was open. That’s a bonus in my book.
As I peered into the ankle deep water near the shore, I spotted a couple of smaller rainbows. They were feeding in the little seams that flowed to them bringing insects with it. Not one to pass up feeding fish, I casted to them. My flies were too heavy though – even after removing all weight – they kept getting caught on the bottom before they hit the target zone.
Instead of changing my flies for lighter weight ones – I moved out into the deeper water. I’ve found a bunch of fish in the now calf deep water many times in the past. Even in the deeper water, I had the same result. Flies catching on the bottom or one the many rocks strewn about the run.
Brain in action netting his 17" rainbow.
Again, instead of changing my flies – I walked back to shore and got my other rod. It was already setup as a Dry/Dropper from my last outing. I was thinking that this setup should keep my flies up and enable me to get them to the target zone. I had a BWO Sparkle Dun leading, followed by a Parachute BWO. Dropped of the Parachute I had a Grey Sparkle Wing RS2.
This setup worked. It wasn’t long and I had a small, 12” rainbow take the Sparkle Wing RS2. I was getting the smallish rainbows throughout the run. From the very shallow water near shore out to the thigh deep troughs in the middle of the run. They were all in the 12” to 13” range and I got them all on the Sparkle Wing RS2 dropper. Although I did miss a couple of takes on my dries.
I found and landed most of my rainbows at the end of the run. In ankle to calf deep water. There were bigger rainbows and brownies throughout that part of the run. But for the most part – they just sat there. Just like earlier in the run near the campground.
It was rainbows in the afternoon.
If fish could talk.
At one point I decided to change my nymph rig to a Hopper/Dropper rig. Using my Chubby Chernobyl as my Hopper followed by another Grey Sparkle Wing RS2 as my Dropper. Not a standard Hopper/Dropper. I used the lighter weight “Dropper” because I didn’t want it to get caught up in the kelp – which was more than plentiful.
Speaking of the kelp – it’s overgrown, especially for this time of year. With virtually no runoff to clean it out – saying it’s plentiful is an understatement. Even with my dry fly setup – I had to clean them after just about every drift. When nymphing it was after every drift. It’s a real pain – but there isn’t anything you can do. Using lighter weight flies and in a Dry/Dropper config helps – but doesn’t avoid it.
On one occasion I spotted a nice size brownie along the north shore at the tail end of the run where it flows into the pocket water. He was in the calf-deep, crystal-clear water. This one wasn’t just sitting there though, and I floated my Hopper/Dropper rig by him a couple of times. As my flies floated by the second time he followed them, swimming downstream. Then he kind of circled them and looked like he would swim away. I wasn’t sure if the Hopper was spooking him or not – and then he turned and hit it - lightning bolt fast.
A brownie from the morning.
As often happens on hits like that – I set my hook way too fast. He hit the fly perpendicular to the current and I set my hook downstream pulling the Hopper away from him. It all happened in a microsecond. After that he swam away not to return. Exciting as it was --- I moved on looking for other fish to stalk.
That’s the fun part about this run – the tail end of it and the shallow water along the shore. You can sight fish – pick out one that is eating, stealthily get into position, and cast your flies to get a drift into his zone. I got another rainbow or two like that at the end of the run – they also hit the Sparkle Wing RS2 Dropper. Then I headed back toward shore.
Brian was standing in the shallow water near the shore and pointed out a couple of fish that were feeding. He said he couldn’t get them to hit anything. He was tying on new flies as he was saying this.
If fish could talk.
Another brownie from the morning.
Throughout the afternoon we would see trout sporadically taking flies off the surface in a splashy way. At this time of year, splashy rises usually mean the fish are hitting adult caddis. As they hatch, adult caddis skitter about on the water as their wings dry and the trout have to hit them aggressively in order to get them. Thus the splashy rises. We did see a caddis here or there in the air – but not on the water – so I wasn’t sure that they were indeed taking caddis.
I continued along the shore looking into the shallow water for other fish. As I did, I heard some commotion downstream – and looking back – I saw Brian fighting a fish to net. He had tied on an Elk Hair Caddis and the fish that wouldn’t hit his earlier offerings – hit it.
Nice work Brian!
A brownie that I released about the Lone Rock Campground Run.
We left shortly after that. Interrupted by a family and their dog – who wanted to wade into the river without regard to the fishermen who were fishing the very same place!
All in all it was another fun day on the river. The success we had was well earned. Changing flies - changing techniques. Figuring out what worked.
If fish could talk ---- it would make it much easier for us fly fishermen!
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