July 16, 2024
The South Platte River – Deckers (Fisherman’s Run & from the Cable Hole to the Mini-Canyon)
Flows: 350 cfs @ 9a and dropping to 318 cfs by 12N.
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous (76% illumination).
Water Temp: 44F @ 9a.
Water clarity: Clear to about 5’ or 6’.
Air Temp: 62F @ 8:30a – 66F @ 3p.
Hatches: Midge: 8a to 10a. Caddis: Patchy throughout the day. PMDs: 1p to 3p – heavier is spots. BWOs: Sparse 1p to 3p.
Spawning: No redds seen.
Flies: #10 Cranefly Larva, #16 Tungstone, #16 Tan UV Scud, #12 Tan San Juan Worm, #20 Flashback Black Beauty, #16 Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear, #18 Olive Foamback RS2, #16 Graphic Caddis, #18 & #20 Elk Hair Caddis, #18 Pheasant Tail, #18 Two Bit Hooker, #18 Puterbaugh Caddis.
On the river-left side of the top island.
It was about 1p and Brian and I were standing at the Road Hole peering into the river looking for fish. We didn’t spot any and I began to look across the river. I hadn’t had a single hit all day – except for a “Boot Licker” that hit one of my flies while I was holding the line in my hand. More on that later. The other side of the river looked inviting. The river bends to the left as it flows downstream forming an inside seam as it does. There, the water was slower. From experience I know there are troughs and boulders that form little pockets – both places that trout like to lie.
The day began at the resort where we geared up. We were optimistic. It was cool and there was plenty of cloud cover.
Fishing weather.
With the cloud cover we were expecting prolific hatches – and if it would spit some rain, even better.
Fisherman’s Run was open and that was where we were heading. The water has receded in the past couple of weeks and we could use the steps to climb down the embankment making the run much easier to access.
As we walked toward it Brian decided to go to the other side of the river and work the run from there. He would be on the river left and I would be on the river right. As I descended down the steps I looked into the Bridge Hole. There were no fish in sight. I had an elevated view into the river on my approach to Fisherman’s Run and could clearly see into the river as I walked along the bank. When fish are in the run I can spot them and form my plan for attacking them.
An amazing picture that Brian captured of an adult BWO. (They're not supposed to be hatching this late in the year - but they obviously are!)
Brian Kenney.
I didn’t spot any fish.
Very uncommon. Not spotting a single fish in either the Bridge Hole or Fisherman’s.
Brian’s approach was river level and he couldn’t see clearly into the water but began to cover the run – working from close in to the bank and working his way toward the middle of the run.
As he began to work the run I walked up farther along the bank still peering into the river. Just above the run I spotted a rainbow and watched him as he came up and sipped a fly off the surface. There were midges and caddis hatching and I wasn’t sure what he ate. It wasn’t a splashy rise so I was thinking it must have been a midge.
After watching that I walked back to where I laid my extra rod – my dry fly setup – and rigged it up with a #16 Elk Hair Caddis with a #24 Top Secret Midge dropped off the bend of the Elk Hair Caddis. I wanted to cover both bases.
I was standing in the middle of this stretch when a "Boot Licker" hit on of my flies while I was holding the line in my hand! (Top island on the right.)
Now set I cautiously approached the spot that I saw the rainbow. I spotted him lying behind a rock but he wasn’t coming to the surface. Even so, I casted my flies above him and let the current bring them into his zone. But he wasn’t interested and after a few casts he moved on. Well he didn’t like what I was offering and I obviously spooked him somehow so I began to cover the river close in to the bank upstream of me. Then I worked my way out farther into the river.
While I was casting my dries Brian called out and he was hooked up back in Fisherman’s Run. He had worked his way to the troughs near my bank and was tight lined with a nice trout. It was encouraging – there were fish in the run. As Brian continued to fight the fish – he broke off. Ugh!
It was a nice brownie who took Brian’s #16 Tabuo Caddis. The fish just can’t seem to pass that fly up!
I eventually worked my way back into Fisherman’s Run where I spotted a nice rainbow lying in front of a submerged boulder at the top of the run. I switched back to my nymphing rig and began to cast to the rainbow. It was rigged with a #16 Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear followed by a #12 Tan San Juan Worm and a #16 Tan UV Scud. These flies were already tied on from my last trip and I decided to try them. I had several drifts where my flies were within inches of his nose and he didn’t move – not even slightly.
Looking into the Between the Islands Run. (Bottom island on the right.)
Maybe he was keying on the hatch – emerging flies. With that thought, I changed my rig leaving the Guide’s Choice and tying on a #16 Olive Caddis Larva and a #22 Flashback Black Beauty. Still no interest. I gave it several tries before I gave up. He just wasn’t feeding.
My moment of optimism – when Brian hooked up that brownie – was replaced with pessimism. I just wasn’t feeling it.
Wanting to locate the fish – walked along the shore downstream to the top of the Bridge Hole. The place where I spotted a bunch of rainbows last time out. My plan was to check that hole and if there were no fish I was going to head up to Ray’s Run. I didn’t spot any fish in the hole and as I walked back up the Fisherman’s to grab my stuff I noticed that there were now four anglers upstream of us. Two were fishing the pocket water between Fisherman’s and Ray’s and two were in Ray’s. We were hemmed in.
Brian was still in Fisherman’s Run and working the river-right side of the river where he had spotted some trout. As he worked that, I grabbed my stuff and headed downstream to fish the Bridge Hole. Since I didn’t spot any fish on my side of the river I was going to cover it from the river-left side. That side of the hole works at times, especially if you see fish lying in the drop-off in the middle of the river.
A Tabou Caddis I tied. This fly has been a top producer for both Brian and I.
I didn’t see any fish but covered it anyway. It was about 10:30a as I worked my way up close to Brian I suggested that we pick up and head upstream. See what’s open. This part of the river was hopeless – as far as I was concerned – I wasn’t feeling it.
We drove all the way to Mark’s Run and parked there. The river was open from there all the way down to the Mini-canyon. I started out in Mark’s as Brian moved into position to fish the pool by the Huge Boulder. Again, by the time I had covered the whole run I didn’t spot a single fish . “Man this is really strange” – that was my thought.
The water department has been lowering the flows quite a bit – about 100 cfs - every day for the last week. And for some reason they’re lowering them at 11a – right in the middle of the day. I would find out later – they lowered it again during the day. Don’t they realize they’re messing up the fishing!
Something was off and I was thinking the constant step down of the water level was the cause. Either that or the intense pressure was either killing the fish or spooking them off – the fish counts just weren’t there.
Another amazing picture Brian got - this time of an adult stonefly.
Brian Kenney.
After covering Mark’s I moved downstream covering the river all the way to the entrance of the Mini-canyon. No runs, no errors, no fish. Except for the boot licker. Brian coined that phrase. It’s for the fish that congregate below your feet and eat any insects that are kicked up off the bottom as you move about.
I was standing below the Huge Boulder in the pocket water level with the 1st island holding my line in my left hand and my rod in my right. My bottom fly was in the water and my middle fly – the Tabou Caddis – was just above the surface. I was looking for fish. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a brownie come up and hit the Tabou. Holy Mackerel! I had the fish on but what could I do. If I let my line lose he would probably spit the hook before I could get the line tight on my reel so I decided to try to pull him toward me, not even thinking of how I would get my net. With the line taunt and no give he was able to spit the fly.
Wow! Never had that happen before.
That’s the only fish I saw and the only “hit” I had. Holy Moly – it was getting towards 1p and that was it.
The view while eating lunch. Looking into the Between the Islands Run.
I then moved downstream to the entrance of the Mini-canyon covering the water as I went. When I came back up Brian was now in Mark’s run. He said he had four fish on earlier but they all broke off. He was getting them in the pool by the Huge Boulder.
After we both covered Mark’s Run one more time we decided to head upstream. Maybe we’d find some fish in the Cable Hole – or the Road Hole.
When we came up on the Road Hole there were no fish in sight and that’s when the other side of the river caught my eye. It just looked fishy.
First fish of the day.
I told Brian I was going to head that way. He was headed to the Cable Hole. At 350 cfs the flows were still considerably high. Not easy to wade in. Besides being on the dangerous side – for me – it is physically challenging.
I made it about ¼ the way across the river navigating around the many boulders when I decided to give it up. The water was almost hip deep and moving fast, and the submerged boulders made it tricky. One stumble on one of those boulders to knock me off balance and the swift water would do the rest. And even if I made it across unscathed – I’d have to make it back.
When I got to the shore I stood there looking at the other side. I wanted to fish it - damn it!
And there was a way.
The leg of the river formed by the high flows.
I could walk to the bottom of Mark’s Run where the water is much lower – about knee deep – and cross there. Then I could hike along the river and make my way back up to the spot I wanted to fish. After thinking about it – I started walking.
After wading across the river and hiking along it I had to leave the bank and get back in the water just below the spot I wanted to fish. As I did, I found that the recent high flows created an island with a small leg of the river running on the left side of it. I’ve never seen this little leg before and as I walked up on it I spooked a fish. It looked like a small one and I didn’t give it much thought.
Then I spooked another one.
Hmm. That got my attention. Maybe there are more in this little leg that looked like a small brook.
Releasing my first rainbow.
It was very tight and the water was shallow. This would require a Dry/Dropper setup or a plain dry fly. There were a few PMDs coming off and still some caddis in the air so rigged up an #16 Elk Hair Caddis with a #20 Flashback Barr Emerger PMD as a dropper and began to wade - as stealthy as possible - up into the brook. About midway up I spotted another smallish rainbow in a flat spot. As I was getting ready to cast to him a much larger rainbow came from the opposite bank and chased the smaller one away.
“OK – this is nice” was my thought. Now I’ll target that big boy. But as I raised my rod to cast he bolted. So much for being stealthy.
I worked my way back downstream toward the mouth of the brook and when I got there, I spooked off another trout. Jeez – I was finding out that it was really hard to be stealthy in this tiny brook. I was about to give up on this and head up to where I was originally intending to go but for some reason I decided to wade in the water below the island and explore the mouth of the brook. Where it meets the river.
Caught my second rainbow in the same place as my first one.
From my vantage point I spotted two rainbows. One was in the wash right where the brook met the river and another one tight along the bank sipping flies off the surface.
If I could just get my flies in tight to the bank I might be able to fool that guy. Getting them there would be a challenge with all the overhanging willow branches lining the bank. I had to cast kinda side-armed – across my body between my left elbow and shoulder.
Surprisingly I was able to get some - what I thought were on-point drifts - without getting caught up in the branches. Even though, the fish ignored my flies while he continued to sip naturals. I had changed my flies to different types of adult PMDs because I was pretty certain that was what he was eating. But I couldn’t get him to take.
Finally, I changed to a light colored – a brownish/olive colored #22 Sparkle Dun. It was the closest thing I had - in a Sparkle Dun – that matched a PMD. I was about to tie on a trailing fly but though I might get a better drift with just one fly.
Another view of the small "brook".
Again, I cased this fly tight to the bank and again the fish ignored it. Jeez. “Am I wrong? Is he eating midges instead of PMDs”? That’s what I was wondering and was about to change out the Sparkle Dun for a midge pattern. But then – for some reason unbeknownst to me – I decided to give it a few more cast.
On my next cast the fly dropped even closer to the bank. Closer than I thought was possible and it drifted right into the zone. When it got the rainbow he came up and casually sipped it. BANG! I set the hook hard and in perfect rhythm with the take of the fish.
Fish on – tight line! Yeah BABY!
After the day I had had – there was no way I was losing this guy, I was intent on netting him. He was bigger than I thought and tried to swim from the brook into the river – where the fast current was. He did this a few times and each time I was able to guide him back into the brook where I finally netted him.
Getting ready to release my first rainbow.
A nice 16” rainbow in the damn net.
FINALLY!
Well, that whole sequence of events fishing the brook was the most fun I had all day. There were fish in sight, I chased them and finally had one hooked up.
After releasing the rainbow, I headed upstream to the spot I had admired from other shore.
In this stretch of the river there are a bunch of smaller submerged boulders with small pockets behind them and a few troughs. The stretch runs for about 50 yards before it gives way to the Cable Hole upstream. In the past I have found a lot of brownies and rainbows in the pockets or the troughs.
And sure enough there was a nice rainbow lying in one of the troughs. The water was very clear – surprisingly with all the run-off we recently had. One wrong move and this guy will be gone – spooked. I was back with my nymphing rig with a #16 Tabou Caddis as my target fly and I got a few good drifts to the rainbow. Then my flies got hung up on the bottom right in front of him and he bolted.
With that I headed up into the Cable Hole. Even though there were no fish in sight I covered it anyway. While I was doing this – Brian was on the river-right side of the hole. In that spot the river bends to the left and there is an eddy flowing back upstream along the bank with slack water above it. Brian was casting dry flies to fish rising in the slack water.
Another view of the rainbow.
He was also using a Sparkle Dun and had about four fish hit. But they were lightning-fast hits and he missed them. Reminded me of my experience last week.
After covering the Cable Hole I moved back downstream hoping the big rainbow was back. I was walking my flies downstream when I came to the spot that he was earlier. He wasn’t there. I was peering into the water looking for him when I felt a tug and a fish streaked toward the opposite side of the river – pulling line out of my reel as he went.
I was taken by surprise. Never saw the fish – never saw him take. I finally was able to get him stop his run then my line went slack. JEEZ!
Once I retrieved my line I saw he had broken my tippet. It was just above the Tabou.
Later when I described this to Brian he asked if I was sure I didn’t foul hook the fish. “No way” – that was my immediate response. I never even set the hook. How could I have foul hooked him – he had to have taken it, I explained. But then I thought – I didn’t see the fish or the take so I couldn’t be sure. Could have one of my flies got caught on him as they drifted by? Maybe so. I’m not sure what happened.
Releasing my second rainbow.
After rerigging I continued to cast into the pocket water where I had a nice brownie hit. For some reason that I can’t explain I wasn’t ready when he hit. My set was late. I fought the brownie briefly – but he was able to spit my fly and swim away. DANG IT!
Once I got back down to the brook I looked to see if another fish had taken the spot where the rainbow from earlier was lying. Yep, sure enough another one did. I was back at it. Casting my Sparkle Wing tight to the shore. After about the fifth try he came up and took it.
BANG – BANG fish on!
He tried the same tactics as the other rainbow – going straight for the fast water. But I was ready and soon netted a nicely colored 15” rainbow.
The fishing is not always better on the other side of the river – but on this day it definitely was!
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