CONVERGENCE

Here in Colorado we’re getting amped up for big game hunting. I like the way my fly fishing for trout and elk hunting converge this time of year. The streams are low and clear right now. I have to carefully stalk every trout just to get into position to make a cast. After that it comes down to just letting myself do what I already know how to do. It’s too easy to over think things. Let your instincts take over. The trout I’m casting to right now is tuning me up for next week’s hunt. 

NEW WATER

This is new water. It’s spring-fed for sure. You can tell by the clarity, very green aquatic vegetation and the water cress along the banks. My sweetheart, Jana, and I left early this morning. The new water is remote only in the sense that it took several hours to get here. I can’t tell you any particulars such as how much fishing pressure it endures or who knows about it. All I can say is we’re the only ones here today.

I can’t get over the abundance of this little spring creek. A hatch of tiny mayflies is just beginning. There are midges in the air and plenty of grasshoppers along the stream bank. A caddisfly skips on the riffles. I see trout in the deeper pools. Occasionally one tips up and sips something from the water’s surface.

I didn’t want to agonize over rods, reels and line weights before we left this morning, so the only fly rod I brought along is a sweet casting split-bamboo 7-footer for a 4-weight fly line. Besides, I don’t think my tackle will be the issue anyway. The challenge will be getting a fly to drift over a trout without spooking it. I’ll need to make flawless, slow-motion approaches to begin with. It’s not just about spooking the particular trout I’m stalking, either. If I spook any trout at all, my trout will spook. I don’t even want to talk about what comes next. Let’s just say I better make my first cast my best cast. I keep telling myself to take my time, plan my moves, and that one good presentation is always better than a hundred poor presentations. And that this will be a perfect day no matter what happens.

Then again, I’m also thinking catching just one trout isn’t asking too much is it? 

THE BEST STRIKE INDICATOR

I like “sight-nymphing” to trout. It’s a specialized style of nymphing that some Rocky Mountain tailwater fly fishers have elevated to an art form. To my way of thinking it combines the most exciting elements of dry fly fishing and nymphing.

Watch the trout to detect strikes when you're sight-nymphing. 

            Accomplished sight-nymphers all agree that the best strike indicator is the trout itself. Practice by watching a trout feeding on actual nymphs, midge pupa or larvae. If you see anything close to the same feeding behavior when your nymph imitation drifts close to the trout it’s time to set the hook. 

SKUNKED....

Huge trico mating swarms.

Huge trico mating swarms, spent trico spinners everywhere, size #24 Blue-winged Olive duns popping…..and very low water volumes on the South Platte River tailwater in Elevenmile Canyon.

I’m supposed to be here taking photos for another project. That didn’t work out. The river is skinny and very clear. I don’t see many trout rising probably because the flows dropped just yesterday. It’s really, really thin water. I can't leave this without fishing.

Upstream and later on a few very nice sized trout sip spent trico spinners and after that rise confidently to tiny Blue-wings. I lengthen my leader to 14-feet. Maybe it’s more. If those big boys do take my spent spinner imitation and then dive into the weeds I’m toast. But, no worries they don’t even come close to taking any of my offerings.

A few very small trout bat my little dry fly imitations around like beach balls. Three hours later all that remains is the brilliant autumn day. I’m skunked for sure today. I’ll need some 7X or even 8X tippet material and sparsely dressed smaller fly patterns tomorrow. My size #22 BWO imitations looked like Bumble-bees on the water. The tricos. Who knows what I’ll do about them.

Spent trico spinners

Skinny, clear water.

What a day! 

"Dude, are those Pink Flamingoes?"

I drove back and forth to the South Platte River on U. S. Highway 24 for more than 20 years when I was guiding fly fishers. I can’t remember when the “flamingoes” first appeared in this field next to the highway, but it was a long time ago. The flock changes every year, sometimes there are more flamingoes and in other years there are fewer. I always said I should stop and take a picture, but never got around to it. Well today I did. And I’d like to thank whoever faithfully puts them out there every summer.

I’ll let you know if I ever see them fly away…..

Cannon's Snowshoe Hare BWO Emerger

A friend suggested that I give recipes for the flies I mention or show in Lone Angler Journal. That sounded like a good idea. Here’s the recipe for how I tie the Jim Cannon Snowshoe Hare BWO emerger that worked so well for me on the Frying Pan River last week (see yesterday’s Lone Angler post).

HOOK: TMC 2487 or similar hook, size 20 – 22.

THREAD: Gray.

ABDOMEN: Olive goose biot.

THORAX: Gray/Olive Superfine dubbing.

WING: Natural or light dun dyed Snowshoe Hare dubbing (take from the foot of the hare).

I like to tie the wing a little denser than some of my pals mainly because it helps me see the fly, but I also carry a few copies with a less dense wing for skinny, flat water. I dust the wing with a very small amount of desiccant powder before I make my first presentation.

This is one of those fly imitations that doesn’t look a lot like the natural when you’re holding it in hand, but on the water looks just like the real thing. It’s quick to tie, durable and considering its small size is easy to see on the water.

OBSESSION ON THE "PAN"

SEPTEMBER 18 (continued - sorry for the delayed post!!).  I met up with my pals from the Michigan Fly Fishing Club (MFFC) yesterday. This morning we’re fishing the Frying Pan River tailwater just below Ruedi Reservoir Dam. The Michigan gang is upstream sight-fishing the flats for the large trout we all know inhabit them. Some of those trout are already rising to midges. Tiny midge pupa imitations are usually the ticket, but a #12 Green Drake dry fly can work wonders, too. There’s still a few green drakes coming off up and down the river and the trout don’t easily forget the good eats even though they are rising to a midge hatch.

It’s already getting a little crowded on the flats. I go downstream and squeeze in behind three or four fly fishers gathered at the top of the Bend Pool. They are casting tiny midge emerger imitations to dimpling trout. Midge imitations will do for now, but we’re all secretly hoping for a Blue-winged Olive hatch. I stand around for a while just watching the trout rise. I know trout will rise hundreds of times this morning and I’ll drift any number of different artificial fly imitations over them. I’ve fished here before and I also know that if I hook two or three fish it will be a good day.

I spot a very nice rainbow trout rising in a steady feeding rhythm six inches out from a mat of gooey algae next to the opposite bank. I can’t keep myself from watching him. I’m thinking this will be my trout today. I tie a stillborn midge pattern to the end of my 6X tippet and ask the trout for the next dance. …The trout completely ignores every presentation I make with every different fly I try for the next hour all the while never deviating from what has become a hypnotically steady feeding rhythm.

Two hours later the trout is still rising. He’s exhausted all my resources. I know I will not catch him today, but I’m obsessed. How can I not catch such a steady riser? But I can’t go on. I meet the Michigan guys at 2 PM and we head back to the cabin for lunch.

SEPTEMBER 19. I have to leave for home at noon today. The Michigan guys are heading way upstream past Ruedi Reservoir to fish for cutts and brookies in the high country. I’ll stay behind and fish the Pan for a few hours and then head back home.

It’s early, but I drive upstream to a pullout to check things out. Most of the water is still in the shade, but across the river the morning sun lights up a riffle that spreads out into a small pool. I see a trout rise. There are Blue-winged Olive duns on the surface. By the time I suit up and wade into casting position more trout are rising. I note that there is a larger brown trout against the opposite bank. I tell myself I will fish to it eventually, but why wade over there now with so many other rising trout between us? The sun lights the larger brown trout up. The tail and adipose fin are the indescribable orange that some Frying Pan River brown trout exhibit. That ups the ante. Throughout the morning I sneak glances at the trout. I am obsessed….again.

So it has to be. At the end of my fishing day I wade unsteadily through heavy current and slick streambed rubble into casting position. The larger orange-tail brown trout is rising in a steady rhythm to the supply of “olives” that the current carries its way. I try not to think about the similarities to yesterday’s very nice rainbow trout up on the flats. I’m going to cast a size 22 Snowshoe Hare BWO Emerger to this trout. Jim Cannon showed me this fly pattern many years ago. It’s a great fly imitation.

My first presentation isn’t exactly drag-free, but doesn’t spook the trout. In fact, the trout doesn’t miss a beat in its steady feeding rhythm. My second presentation is better. The orange tail brown trout tips up and casually takes the imitation just like it’s been taking the naturals. I hook up and land him. It’s a beautiful trout. 

FISHING EMERGENCY

The rain stopped. The skies cleared. Ute Pass is open. I declared a fishing emergency and activated my rapid deployment fly fishing protocol. This means I threw my all stuff into the truck and headed to the Frying Pan River last night. It’s morning now. I’m here. This is a good. Stay tuned.

WATER

EARLY A.M. –I’m supposed to meet my pals from the Michigan Fly Fishers Club on the South Platte River this morning, but I took a rain check. If you live in Colorado you’ll understand the irony. It’s been a tough and deadly week in terms of water. There’s been too much of it for too long and heavy rain is in the weather forecast again for later today. Still, it’s nice outside right now. A partly cloudy sky that’s red with the sunrise. I go back inside and turn the TV on to take a final look at our new oracle---the high resolution weather radar that the TV meteorologists call NEXRAD. It says I should stay home, but I know the skies could be clear up on the river…

12 NOON & LATER. It’s all thunder and lightning now. I’m sitting at the fly tying bench trying to dream up a diversion to get my mind off the water. I’m a trout fisherman. How can I not like the water? Well, I don’t today. With luck I’ll get a fly tied. 

IT JUST WORKS

It’s cloudy, rainy and finally cooling down. Needless to say, I have Blue-winged Olives on my mind. If it wasn’t raining so hard I’d be on the river. I’m at home right now checking my fly boxes to make sure I have Blue-winged Olive spent spinner imitations and it isn’t because I expect to see an “olive” spinner fall. I don’t know when the spinner fall happens on the rivers I fish, but it isn’t when I’m there.  And I fish the September/October Blue-wing Olive hatches a lot.

You can blame Mike Clark for my fixation on the spent spinner imitations even though I never see a spinner fall. We were fishing to a very difficult hatch of olives on the Frying Pan River. About when I’d gone through every BWO imitation I had in my fly box Mike started catching trout right and left. I couldn’t stand it and asked what he was using.

“A Blue-winged Olive spent spinner. I always go to the spent spinner when nothing else works,” Mike said.

So there you have it. He’s right, too. The spent spinner works when your emerger and dun imitations which actually match what you’re seeing on the water don’t. It seems to defy common match-the-hatch logic. But don’t get me going on possible scientific explanations and there are plenty of them. It just works. Save it as the secret weapon for those times when you really need it. Don’t deplete the juju…..