April 27, 2020
Flows: 257 cfs.
Water Temp: 40 @ 9a
Water clarity: Crystal clear.
Air Temp: low-40s @ 9a – high-60s @ 5p.
Hatches: Heavy midge – 9a to 11a, steady BWO 11a to 3:30p.
That’s exactly what Brian and I did yesterday – we took a hike into the Cheesman Canyon. The hike into the nearest fishing hole is about 25 minutes along the Gill Trail - and isn’t too hard. The hike out - well that's a different story! But it’s certainly worth the effort as this is one of the most beautiful settings for fly fishing that I’ve ever seen – and the river is loaded with trout!
The Family Hole
Our plan was to fish the lower canyon – this would provide us with the shortest hike. The reasoning behind this is there are a number of holes in the lower canyon that hold plentiful and big trout – and they are the easiest to reach. Good plan!
We intended to set up in an area called the Ice Box – then work our way downstream into the Family and Fence Holes. But we changed up as we reached the river and decided to setup at the Family Hole. And it turned out to be a good decision. The Family Hole is a pretty large stretch of riffle, run, pool water that provides many feeding lanes, pockets, eddies, and such.
When we arrived there was a good midge hatch in progress and we could spot a good number of fish feeding in about a 60 yard stretch. Having said earlier that the river is loaded with trout – it’s true – but they are very selective and are hard to fool. Some of the water where we were fishing was slow and clear, giving the fish plenty of time to inspect our offerings. Other parts were faster riffles, runs, pocket water, and eddies.
Sometime yesterday – it might have been when I caught my second fish – I decided that I wasn’t going to count how many fish I caught. I’ve been thinking that counting and reporting numbers makes it seem too much like a competition or an attempt to prove your fishing expertise – and it takes too much effort to boot. Or something like that. So in my blog I’m going to concentrate more on the setups used. Depth, weight, flies, and techniques - as this will be more informative.
There are two schools of thought when hiking into the canyon. One is to backpack your gear in and wader up stream side. The other is to wear all your gear in. There are gives and takes in both. Backpacking in saves wear and tear on your boots and waders, and is more comfortable – but the pack is pretty heavy on your back. Wearing your gear in is more straightforward and you can get into the water quicker.
I backpacked my gear in – and Brian wore his gear in. That's why we make good fishing buddies - we seem to have different approaches to things. Which is good. So Brian was ready to go as soon as we arrived. We had spotted a handful of fish feeding in a sandy, unobstructed run in gin clear water about 4’ deep. This is where Brian started as I was rigging up. It paid off as he had a nice rainbow hooked up pretty quickly. His rig was setup with a Rainbow Warrior followed by a #22 Top Secret Midge. The fish took the Top Secret. He was able to fool a few more fish with a #20 Miracle Midge.
Brian working the Family Hole.
The area I was fishing was pocket water created by a bunch of 2’ to 3’ boulders. This made getting the flies in front of the fish on a dead drift challenging – to say the least. I was using a standard nymphing rig with a #18 Desert Storm leading followed by a #20 Flashback Black Beauty and a #22 Top Secret Midge. I could see the fish feeding but couldn’t tell what depth they were. The water was anywhere from 3’ to 6’ deep and some of the fish were behind the boulders and other were just off to the side of them. I changed my weight and depth – adding, subtracting – trying to find the right combo.
It seemed that about 9’ of leader/tippet – from indicator to last fly – and a #4 with a #2 weight worked best. By lunch with this approximate setup I had landed a handful of fish. They were very athletic and provided a lot of excitement with leaps into the air, bull rushes, and head shakes. The fish ranged in size from 19” to 14” - with most in the 16" to 17" range. I caught the first one on the Desert Storm and at some time, I changed out my Black Beauty for a #20 Mercury Miracle Midge – which fooled a few more.
Brightly colored rainbow.
At about 11a the BWOs started to come off and I changed my rig to a #18 Guides Choice Hare’s Ear, followed by a #20 Grey Sparkle Wing RS2 and a #20 Chocolate Thunder. I caught a couple more on the Hare’s Ear. BTW – I took this fly out of the mouth of one of the fish I caught a few weeks ago. It still works!
These bright marking make it easier to sight fish.
As I was eating my lunch it occurred to me that a Hopper/Dropper setup would probably work better in the boulder strewn run – as it wouldn’t be prone to getting tangled on the moss covering the boulders – while enabling me to get the flies in front of the fish at the right depth. So I rigged up a Hopper/Dropper setup with a #8 Chubby Chernobyl as my Hopper, a #16 Euro Style Pheasant Tail as my Dropper, followed by a #20 Purple JuJu Baetis and a #18 Flashback Barr Emerger BWO. The depth from the Chubby to the Barr was about 3 ½’.
These baetis were taken from a stomach pump we used on a 16" rainbow. Pretty surprising that he was feeding exclusively on baetis.
After a couple of casts – I notice that my flies were near the surface, too high in the water. So I added a #6 split shot between the JuJu Baetis and the Barr Emerger. That was the trick. It got the flies to the right depth. I had 4 fish on in the next 6 casts. The first two broke my line. One on a full bull rush – and before I new what was happening he broke the line – taking my JuJu Baetis and Barr Emerger with him. The other broke off my Barr Emerger after a few acrobatic leaps. Luckily I had enough JuJu’s and Barr’s to retie them on – and I quickly loosened by drag setting!
Beautiful 19" brownie. They"re brightly colored too - indicating the availability of good nutrition.
This set up proved to be very effective as I continued to catch fish throughout the day.It fooled trout in the slower water, fast riffles, and in eddies.They were taking both the JuJu and Barr Emerger – with more taking the Barr. Probably about 2 to 1.
A 17" brownie.
I caught my last fish – an 18” female rainbow in an eddie created by a huge tree trunk submerged at the end of a riffle run.
18" female rainbow.
And then the hike out. Yes it’s a different story – it begins with a very steep climb to reach the Gill Trail. But it’s worth it!
View from the Gill Trail trailhead.
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