8/29/08
Clear Creek
Had to tie some hares ears before heading to Clear Creek so did not get started until 10 a.m. Air temp 78 degrees at noon. CFS at 115, clarity excellent. Could see bottom 2 feet deep at 15 feet away except in pools with moss on bottom. Fished with some friends from the Federation of Fly Fishers High Plains Drifters club. One pool was a nice deep one over 3 feet deep and some 12 to 15 feet wide before it shallowed at the edge nearest us with another 10 feet to the stream edge.
Nice browns were hanging along the slow - fast water seam taking emergers about 6 inches below the surface. My friend Al was using a 3 nymph rig with a beadhead pheasant tail on top and a #20 mercury bead gray sparkle wing RS2 on the bottom. All the fish Al caught today were on the RS2.
By the time I got rigged up, Al had caught and landed 3 nice 12 to 14 inch browns. This is normal size for Clear Creek. I set up my Orvis Clearwater II, 9 foot, 5 wt, 4 pc rod with a beadhead hares ear on top which is my favorite fly when there is a fast water run feeding a pool. I added a #18 gray thread body RS2 with a white antron wing cut equal to the body length. This is a longer wing than many use on the RS2 but I have found that the longer wing provides a good "wiggle" to attract fish when using the Leisenring Lift technique. Usually I like to use a total leader length around 11 feet with this rod. Terminal tippet material was 18 inches of 6X Rio Flourocarbon tippet that I have been trying out.
Several casts resulted in my first brown of the day. A scrappy 12 to 14 inch brown. Several more long casts and drifts later, I hooked up with another one. Then I switched to a shorter 15 foot cast and an eight foot drift to get my third fish of the day.
Al had helped Bob get rerigged and set him to fishing the pool below a small water fall feeding into the pool. Some six casts, Bob hooked and landed his first brown in this pool. Bob was learning to fly fish and it was exciting watching him land this fish. Bob hooked up with a bow a couple of casts later but lost it.
We moved upstream to Dumont and fished the white water riffles west of the bridge in Dumont. Al took 3 browns in this water on the #20 RS2. Bob hooked and landed one nice brown. I fed the river 4 flies. Another fisherman fishing the big pool below the dam upstream hooked 2 nice browns in 4 casts.
I went downstream to fish with my friend Larry and a fellow HPD member Tom. Larry and Tom were fishing a very large deep pool. Maybe 3 to 4 feet deep with fast water through it. I made some 30 drifts through the pool before hooking an 11 inch brown. This was it for me on Clear Creek. I was off to Bear Creek to try and catch the 15 inch bow I had lost on 8/26.
Bear Creek
Bear Creek was down to 20 CFS which is about as low as I will fish it. My favorite pool was still murky with moss on the bottom of the deepest run. I could occasionally make out the white flash of a fish taking insects midwater column. I continued using my 9 foot rod as it was set up with the gray RS2 as the tail fly. I tried a white yarn strike indicator, a yellow thingamabobber and no strike indicator. Some 20 casts did not produce any strikes.
I moved upstream one pool and switched to a #20 gray RS2 emerger. Using the white yarn indicator with long drifts, I finally hooked and landed one 11 inch rainbow at the end of this pool.
Waded upstream to a small waterfall below the bridge in Kitteridge. Bottom almost totally covered in brown slimy moss that occurs in fall and low water flows. This moss almost looks like rock snot but I am not sure. No fish in the two pools below the waterfall.
Back to my favorite hole. There was a large hatch of midges coming off. I kept my #18 hares ear on top and switched to a #24 midge pattern tied on a 3X long hook. Some 20 casts and drifts along the main run with no strike indicator, I felt and noticed the line acting differently. I have a fish on, I thought. Raising the rod tip enough to set the hook resulted in a nice fat 15 inch brown coming to the net after 3 or 4 runs. This was it for this pool.
Time to head for home but a satisfying day. The brown was a good substitute for the 15 inch rainbow I had lost on 8/26.
Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
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