October 19, 2023
South Platte River – 11 Mile Canyon (The Road Hole to the Bridge Run.)
Flows: 50 cfs.
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent (14% illumination).
Water Temp: 44F @ 10a.
Water clarity: Crystal clear.
Air Temp: 41F @ 9:30a – 64F @ 4p.
Hatches: Midge: 9a – 10:30a. BWO: 10a – 1p. PMD: 12:30a – 3:30p.
Spawning: Active brown trout spawning.
Flies: #10 Chubby Chernobyl, #18 Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear, #22 Black Sparkle Wing RS2, #22 Flashback Black Beauty, #24 Top Secret Midge, #24 Grey Sparkle Dun, #22 Olive Jujubee Midge, #20 PMD Barr Emerger, #16 PMD Pheasant Tail, #18 & #22 Pheasant Tail, #20 Thorax Dun PMD, #20 Parachute Adams, #22 BWO Sparkle Dun, #24 Matt’s Midge, #12 Grasshopper, #16 Egg.
Top producers: Matt’s Midge, Pheasant Tail (18 &22), PMD Pheasant Tail, Egg, Grasshopper.
This bad boy - a 21" rainbow - hardly fit into Brian's net.
All pictures in this post by Brian Kenney.
Colorado.
As I was growing up I read about it. Saw movies based on the state. Heard stories about it. Fantasized about it.
This was in the ‘60s and ‘70s and to say things were different then would be an understatement – for sure. Our society wasn’t mobile back then – not even close as it is today. Colorado was inaccessible to me. By the time I was 21 the farthest west I had traveled was Indiana - twice. Once was for leisure by car and the other time was by airline on a business trip.
Pennsylvania has a lot to offer the outdoorsman – and I was into the outdoors. Fishing, hiking, camping, hunting – anything to get out and experience the forest and wilderness. I only dreamt of places like Colorado. It and Wyoming represented the true wilderness to me and I always wanted to go there.
Someday.
The first fish of the day. Brian got him - a 20" brown - in the riffles at the Road Hole on an egg pattern.
That all changed when I got a hired by United Airlines. It was in January of 1980. The airline industry just became unregulated by the US Government. Airlines could then choose routes to fly based on opportunity – instead of being mandated by the government. Until then, most of the airline passengers were businessmen – traveling to and from their meetings – or the rich traveling to what was then considered exotic places.
My base was the Pittsburgh International Airport and United’s technology hub was located just outside of Denver, Colorado. As part of the onboarding process, I was “required” to travel there for a seven-week training course. I was 23 at the time and - WOW – talk about excited!
That was my first exposure to the state. I could finally see the Rocky Mountains in person. I didn’t get to go out and explore while in training, but in May of that year I took Keeny on a trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We stayed at the Lemon Lodge for a long weekend, and I knew then that I wanted to live here someday.
It took me eight years. In June of 1988 I landed a job at the technology hub and me – and the family – arrived in Colorado. We’ve been here ever since.
Days like last week are one reason.
Got this one in the pool along the road in the Road Hole on a small Matt's Midge.
An absolutely gorgeous fall day here in Colorado. The colors were out in the mountains. The aspens in bright yellow contrasting with the deep green of the pine trees. The burnt oranges of the scrub oaks and reds of the bushes mixed in. Bright blue sky.
And a trout stream loaded with trout.
The trout stream was the South Platte River in 11 Mile Canyon, and Brian and I were geared up and ready to fish it at 8:30a on that beautiful morning. It was a bit chilly – no it was downright cold - in the shade of the canyon, but the sun was about to make its presence felt.
We started at the Road Hole and for some reason on this absolutely beautiful day, there wasn’t a lot of fishermen around. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.
Perfect!
Another picture of Brian's brownie - with the net giving perspective on his size.
As we settled in, Brian took the run just as the river begins to bend downstream at the road. I was just downstream of him at the pool along the road. We had seen some fish in the pool as we walked up along the road and I was planning to go after them.
There were some midges in the air and what looked like BWOs. It was early for BWOs to be hatching and I wasn’t sure. Neither was Brian. I rigged up my Hopper/Dropper setup since the fish that we saw looked like they were in the upper column. Using my Chubby as the Hopper, I followed it with a #18 Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear, a #22 Black Sparkle Wing RS2 and a #24 Top Secret Midge.
As I began to fish the pool and the run along it I noticed some fish were feeding just below the surface and some were starting to rise and take insects off the surface. I still wasn’t sure what those insects were.
Not all the fish were big. We both got little guys like this one.
As I covered the run Brian had a hook up and I could tell it was a nice fish by the bend of his rod. When he finally got it to net it sure was a nice fish – a 20” brownie! Wow – nice start. He hooked it up in the riffles which were about calf deep and he got in on an egg pattern. The brownies were starting their fall spawn. We would later find their redds - spawning beds – and also see some brownies actively spawning on them.
There were some redds upstream of where Brian was fishing, but not in the riffles where he got that big brownie. Using an egg in that position was a great tactic.
As more fish began to rise to the surface, I made a decision to change to dry flies and waded back upstream to get my other rod and backpack. Still not sure what the fish were eating, I tied on a #22 Parachute Adams and a #24 Matt’s Midge.
Releasing a cutbow.
I got my first take on the Matt’s Midge. It was a smallish – 14” rainbow. I was pretty confident now that they were midges that the fish were eating and continued to cast my flies into the seam of fast water. They were pretty selective and it took me quite a while before I got another fish to take. This one was bigger – a nice 18” rainbow. Fat and a strong swimmer. He took the Matt’s Midge too.
I would get another fish to take, but he was able to break off as I fought him to the net. My set was just off – not aggressive enough. These trout have thick lips that are tough and you have to set pretty hard to get the small flies to fully imbed in their lips.
I continued to fish to the risers – but they must have been onto my flies. I had a few refusals and I may have missed one or two on the set, but they soon stopped looking. Brian headed downstream and I stayed, making several changes to my dry flies.
An 18" cutbow I would get later in the day in the Bridge Run.
When there are a lot of naturals on the water, sometimes casting something entirely different – or a mole fly – will do the trick. The mole fly imitates a fly that is hatching, but is stuck in his shuck – representing an easy meal for the fish. But none of these tactics worked.
Eventually I moved downstream into the Secret Hole. After crossing the river to get on the road side of the hole I spotted a couple of nice fish in the pool. They were very picky and ignored my offerings. As I covered the hole I noticed that some PMDs were now hatching. It was about 11a or so – and early for them to be out, but none the less, I changed up my flies yet again and tied on a #16 Pheasant Tail PMD, and a #20 PMD Barr Emerger as my target flies.
The bigger fish that I was targeting in the pool still ignored them. Then I saw some fish rising in the riffles just upstream of the pool and casted to them. They were more willing, and a few of them took my Barr Emerger PMD. Small fish though – in the 5” to 8” range. The bigger fish just would not hit.
Brian's big rainbow went after the Grasshopper that he drifted in the riffles near shore.
After taking a lunch break I headed further downstream. The flows were very low and there was a lot of kelp in the water. Places where we would normally find nice seams, runs, and pools holding fish weren’t there. The fish had found other places.
Downstream of me there is an island – a sandbar – that is exposed at the lower flows. On one side – river left – there is a nice pool below riffles and on the other side – river right - there are riffles feeding into another pool. I like to fish the riffles just above the pool river left and let my flies drift into the pool. But the pool was now very low and there were no fish to be found. So I fished the riffles river right where I could see a couple of nice fish and bang – bang. I had a couple of fish hit – but again they will little guys. One was about 3" and the other was about 5”.
They annoyed me. Causing my flies to get tangled up as they slither and jumped around trying to get free. And they spooked off the bigger fish I was targeting.
Another cutbow taken in the Bridge Hole.
I then moved into the pool below the riffles where I spotted another nice fish. Not huge – looked to be a 15” to 16” rainbow. On one of my casts my flies got tangled in the kelp and as I pulled my rod back to free them, they suddenly broke loose and came flying back at me. As they went behind me I casted forward trying to get them back in the water. As I did, I felt resistance as they had got stuck in one of the stream side willows. But only momentarily – then they broke loose and landed in the water in front of me as planned.
I thought all was good and continued to cast to that rainbow and got him to hit. It was a weird sequence of events, and I saw my Chubby go under and I set the hook. Then nothing. What – did I really see a take? I was one of those things where I began to doubt what I saw.
Then I decided to check my flies. My Pheasant Tail and Barr Emerger were gone. The tippet must have frayed or got stressed when I got hung up on the kelp then the willow – and broke as I set the hook on that rainbow. Dang it!
The big rainbow getting his bearings after Brian released him.
As I was retying, Brian walked up and we chatted. He said he got a 21” rainbow in the riffles just upstream of us. The ones I was fishing and got those two little guys. Brian said he drifted a Grasshopper through the riffles and the big rainbow came up and just smacked it. It was an exciting hook up which I could relate to.
He said he also caught a small fry in the same riffles – and I could relate to that too!
We then moved downstream to the Bridge Run. It’s a run just above the bridge where the water flows through tubes below the road. We found some fish just below the water fall but they were just as picky as the other fish that we found and wouldn’t hit anything.
I then moved into the seam near the bank where a bunch of submerged boulders provide nice pockets. In front of one of those boulders was a nice rainbow. It’s a tricky cast and drift to get your flies in front of fish that are lying in front of those boulders. But after several tries my Chubby abruptly stopped and set hard downstream not knowing if I got hung up on that boulder or if the fish took one of my flies.
Another view of Brian's first fish of the day.
He took my #18 Pheasant Tail.
After dragging me though a bunch of those submerged boulders and out to the middle of the river I finally got him under control back near the shore and netted him. It was a beautiful 18” cutbow.
That little seam near the shore ended up making my day as I got a few more rainbows and cutbows – all in the 18” range, and a 16” brownie. All of them took the #18 Pheasant Tail.
After releasing the last one – the brownie – it was time to call it a day and we left the river.
Me with a beautiful rainbow I got in the Bridge Hole late in the day.
It was a Colorado day on a renown Colorado River.
And I felt fortunate to be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and fish a river loaded with big trout.
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