5/14/09
Thursday on Bear Creek was as good as Wednesday on the South Platte was bad. The Creek was running 66 CFS with semi-clear water. Bottom was visible to about 1 to 2 feet. Beyond 2 feet it was hard to see much even with the sun overhead.
I used tungsten bead weighted czech nymphs as point flies and for weight. These were big flies in the size 10 range. My first fish struck hard at the czech nymph but I missed it. The second fish was a scrappy 11 inch brown on a #14 beadhead goldribbed flashback haresear as a tail fly.
Then things kind of stopped. No strikes nothing. So I stopped a moment and thought about the situation. If the browns are back, they probably had been up in Evergreen following the rainbow spawn. Ah! An egg pattern. I tied on a Walt Mueller Jr. Soft Milking egg in pink. These are soft vinyl eggs with a bit of 3 layer antron for the milt. They look very real in the water.
My first drift had only gone about 3 feet when WHAM! A hard strike with a fish boring for the bottom of the pool into the 3 to 4 feet of water. Halfway down the water column, I saw the flash as the fish rolled off the hook. Nice fish with a flash about 12 to 13 inches long.
Next cast, I made a longer drift and hooked up with an 11 inch brown. Two casts later, a nice 12 inch brown and then the action died down again. So I moved upstream to the pool above this one. First drift down the seam along the fast run at the head of the pool, I hooked a scrappy 10 inch brown that tailwalked his way to the back of the pool. When I reached with my forceps to release the hook, I grabbed the tippet instead. One fly and fish departed back into the pool. No other eggs with me. Rest back in car. But the fun part was a good analysis of the situation resulting in 3 nice fish.
Back to the car to eat lunch and get some more eggs. While eating lunch, I helped a beginner fly fisherman to learn the river cast and picked out a hares ear for him to use. He went to another pool and immediately hooked 2 browns and 1 rainbow using what I had taught him. This was satisfying for me.
Back to my first pool. I tied on another czech nymph with a grey body and a pink thorax which was the opposite of the one I was using in the morning. A Barr tan graphic caddis was my tail fly. First cast a nice 10 inch brown took the caddis on the swing. Then it was cast, cast, cast, cast with no results. No matter where I dropped the cast or changed my casting position, nothing seemed to work. While running a close drift down by the rock line, a large brown smacked the surface after a caddis. A small hatch was happening. Four more casts and I had the big brown on the end of the line. Halfway back to me, he decided to leave but I saw him and he will be there next time.
Far downstream to another large pool. Shaking out line, I let it drift downstream in preparation for a river cast to the far side. Just as the line moved, an 8 inch rainbow hit the Barr caddis. Then no more for that pool. Finally, I hung the czech nymph on the rocks in the fast run which would be waist deep on me at 66 CFS. Breaking off the rig, I counted $7.50 worth of lost nymphs plus the ones I had tied. Just part of fly fishing.
My last 30 minutes were spent practicing casting in this pool. Good for a 25 foot roll casts and 20+ foot overhead casts under the trees. All in all an excellent day on stream.
Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
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