Aug 3, 2020
Flows: 197 cfs @ 8a – increasing to 284 cfs between 11:30a and 2p.
Water Temp: 42F @ 8:30a.
Water clarity: ~ 3’ at 8a – then off color starting at 11:30p.
Air Temp: 60 @ 8a – 88 @ 2:30p.
Hatches: Midges 8a - 10a, Tricos 10a to 11:30a, and spotty caddis in the AM.
Mount of the Sleeping Indian - as seen from Selalia on the way to Deckers.
The flows on the South Platte below the Cheeseman Reservoir and Stontia Springs Reservoir have been very low- about 80 cfs for most of the summer. By comparison, their historic levels for the same period are about 340 cfs. This section of water includes the Cheeseman Canyon and Deckers. The Denver Water Board had kept the flows low out of the Cheeseman Dam in order to fill the Cheeseman Reservoir. This changed on July 28th – when they began to increase the flows.
Low flows and temperatures in the 90s does not bode well for the fish. The end result is an increase in the water temperature, which stress the fish. So Brian and I have been avoiding Deckers for the entire summer. That was until Monday.
We decided to give it a try with the higher flows – and it helps that it’s relatively close by too. Even with the higher water it was a crapshoot because of a couple of factors. One is that it takes the fish a while to acclimate to the higher flows and the other is that it is very likely that there was a pretty significant fish kill from the lower flows throughout the summer. Realizing this – we still wanted to give it a try.
So we met at the Deckers Resort with the plan to fish the Bridge Hole, Hebrew’s Best, or Ray’s Run. Brian brought his granddaughter – Ashley. Ashley is 9 years old and this was her second fly fishing trip to Deckers . She was equipped with waders, wading boots, and a fly rod. Her favorite thing about fishing is holding the fish. She says she likes the way it wiggles in her hand. Her favorite fish is a rainbow trout. Ashley didn’t catch anything on this trip – but on her last one, she caught a sucker. She says she thinks the suckers are cute – she likes their lips!!
I applaud Brian for taking the time and having the patience to get his granddaughter involved in fly fishing!! I’m sure it will be a lifelong pursuit filled with great memories.
They were already fishing the Hebrew’s Best run when I arrived. Brian had hooked up and netted a couple of fish while I was rigging up below him and Ashley – in the Bridge Hole. There was a pretty good midge hatch taking place at the time and Brian said he got his fish on a Desert Storm.
There were trout in the shallows on the north side of the river and in the seam where it meets the faster, deeper water. So I worked that area - first with a dry/dropper rig. I was thinking that in the slower, clear water - the fish may be spooked with a standard nymph rig. I had a Chubby Chernobyl on a the Dry, and dropped a #18 Red Copper John followed by a #22 Top Secret Midge. To my surprise, I wasn't getting any hits - even when spot on with my drifts.
It occured to me that maybe my dropper was not deep enough. So I switched up to a standard nymph rig with a #18 Desert Storm tied on followed by a #22 Mercury Miracle Midge and a #24 Top Secret Midge. My suspicion was right - as I was able to land a few 15” to 17” brownies on this rig - they were hitting the Desert Storm.
A 17" male brownie taken on a #18 Desert Storm.
a 15" female brownie - taken in the Bridge Hole on a #18 Desert Storm.
As the morning progressed, I moved a bit upstream to the head of the Bridge Hole where the run flows into a deeper hole. I had one of the fish break off my Top Secret Midge when he was thrashing about in the net. Since I didn’t have any hits the Top Secret, I replaced it with a #20 Black Rojo Midge. And I caught a few rainbows in the deeper water with that.
A 14" female rainbow - taken on a #20 Black Rojo Midge.
At about 10:30a or so – Brian mentioned that fish were rising in the run near him. They were feeding on adult Tricos. So I moved up to the run and rigged my dry fly set up with a #20 Improved Sparkle Wing BWO leading – followed by a #22 Vis-a-Dun Trico. It didn’t take too long before I was able to net a few rainbows and brownies in the 12” to 16’ range. They all hit the Vis-a-Dun. Then just like someone flipped a switch - it was over. The fish stopped rising.
A 16" male brownie - taken on a #22 Vis-a-Dun Trico.
A 12" female brownie with a #22 Vis-a-Dun Trico in her mouth.
The #22 Vis-a-Dun Trico.
With that, I switched my Vis-a-Dun out for a #22 Trico Spinner. Many noted fly fishermen – Pat Dorsey included - say that the Trico spinner fall is actually better than the hatch. It didn’t work that way for me though. I didn’t get any hits with the spinner.
As I was working the run with the spinner – Brian netted a nice 17” rainbow. He switched back to his nymph rig when the fish stopped rising. He pumped the rainbows stomach and found a bunch of baetis pupae. This was consistent with what we’ve found doing stomach pumps on the fish in Deckers. They seem to feed almost exclusively on baetis. Although, we’ve both caught plenty of fish on midges too – as evidence from earlier in the morning. Go figure!
With the fishing slowing down, we decided to take a lunch break. Ashley had had enough for the day – and her and Brian headed out after lunch. It turned out to be a good move on their part.
When I went back into the river – I noticed that it was very hard to see into the river. There were clouds overhead and a light rain had started to fall. So at first, I thought that was what was contributing to the low clarity. But as time went on – I noticed that the water level was definitely increasing. Then when the sun did come back out – it was clear that the river was off color and had a bunch of debris floating in it.
As it was, the Denver Water Board had increased the water by almost 90 cfs from 11:30a to 2p – almost a 50% increase! I’ve experienced this type of increase in the past – and the best thing to do when this happens is to call it a day. And that is what I did at 2p.
So it was a shortened day – but we caught our share in the morning and had a chance to take advantage of some dry fly fishing during the Trico hatch. And it was nice to share some time with Brian and his new fishing partner – Ashley.
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