Fly Fishing Colorado

Flyfishing Colorado Stream Conditions

Monday, May 15th, I put the lessons learned on the North Fork Ranch to work on Bear Creek. The day was perfect for Colorado fly fishing. Weather was in the high 70's, water was 24CFS and gin clear. The fish were co-operative. I hooked up with 35 to 40 fish during the day. A totally successful day "Fly Fishing Colorado". Fly of the day was my favorite number 16 bead head gold ribbed flash back hares ear. This fly works especially well on bear creek in a three nymph rig.

An interesting lesson from using the 3 nymph rig. Usually, I loose between 6 and 12 flies on a trip to Bear Creek as I fish on the bottom. I only lost one fly due to hanging up in a sunken branch. Lost two flies in a rainbow that took the middle fly. Then jumped about 3 feet and broke off on the way down. This bow was a feisty one. Over the years, Bear Creek has provided many fond memories of fly fishing Colorado.

Marshall, Editor
Fly Fishing Colorado

Location	Bear Creek West of Denver, CO. O'Fallon Park at Kittredge, CO and Bear Creek behind Dunafon Castle downstream to bridge crossing
Date	Monday 5/15/2006
CFS	24.9 CFS at Morrison, CO and steady. Current flow on 5/28 is 14 CFS and dropping. Snow is mostly gone from Mt. Evans the head waters of Bear Creek.
Water Temps	Best guess was in low 40s
Water Clarity	Clear Visibility to 8 ft plus. (What I would call almost fall gin clear.)
Weather	Air Temps high 70s most of day and hot. Skies were clear and sunny. A great day to be outside fishing.
Hatches	small gray Hendrickson hatch
Patterns Used	#14 caddis emerger, #18 GB, GR, flashback hares ear, #18 silver ribbed RS2, #25 GF, GR hares ear, #16 Killer Special
Techniques	3 nymph rig all day stepped down to 6X final tippet. caddis emerger top, #16 hares ear middle or #16 killer special middle, and #18 RS2 or #24 GB, GR hares ear bottom
Overall Fishing Rating	Excellent Total hookups were 35 to 40. Bear Creek in this area offers mostly rainbows and browns. All rainbows must be returned to water immediately. Most fish were small. A couple were 4 inches; rest ranged from 6 to 14 inches with one fat rainbow in the 18 inch class. (This one felt like it would be about 3 pounds.)
Fishing Forecast	Water Flow was down to 14 CFS 5/28/06. This low a flow in May may bring poor fishing unless the flows pick up soon.
Comments	Water Flow was down to 14 CFS 5/28/06. This low a flow in May when the 20 year avg. is 105 CFS in May does not bode well for fish in Bear Creek. I find fishing is excellent at 60 to 100 CFS area with 60 to 80 best. I have been fishing Bear Creek for 36 years this year so have some experience with the area. O'Fallon Park provided mostly rainbows with a few small browns. Behind Dunafon Castle to the bridge trail crossing was mostly smaller browns with a few rainbow thrown in.
Reported By	Marshall, Editor Fly Fishing Colorado