My Arm is “ICY HOT”

An "Icy Hot" Rainbow from Antero Res.

I usually don’t count fish or even measure or weigh them, but now and then I have a day where I get to wondering, ” How many fish did I really Catch” ? Or say to myself, ” That fish must of been at least 24 inches”. At that point I remind myself  it’s really not about numbers or size, but honestly it is nice to catch allot of fish and to be honest, it is really great to catch a really big fish, at least now and then.
Such a day I had at Antero Reservoir this past Wednesday when I went fishing with two of my favorite people, Joe Shafer and Jerry Vigil, who just happen to guide for the Blue Quill Angler. They picked me up at 3:30 AM and we arrived at  Antero Res at sunup.  After blowing up our Outcast float tubes we flipped on out to where the water was between 12 and 15 feet deep. It was pretty slow until around 9:00 AM and then ” all heaven broke loose”. We began getting strikes continually untill  4:30 PM when the wind came up. So without counting we had one “quadruple”.  A “quadruple” is when all three of us were hooked up at the same time, and then the first guy who “hooked up” released his fish and cast out and hooked a fourth fish. We had over 20 triples, 40 doubles, and uncountable singles. So, how many fish did we catch and release? Well, at some point it really doesn’t matter. It became an ICY HOT experience and we had to break out the Extra Strength Pain Relieving Cream to treat the burning arm muscles.
In the early morning, Joe and Jerry showed me how to “rig up” using a strike indicator, 14 feet of level 2x tippet, a split shot and three nymphs. Effective flies were #16 Midge Pupae patterns, Scuds, and Bead Head Hares Ears. This set up worked all day. I am sure we caught over __________fish. But who’s counting?  After a while it just became “ICY HOT”!

Jim Cannon

Fly Fishing Leadville Ponds – Colorado

Yesterday, in the mix of dealing with Memorial day traffic, I decided to fish the Leadville ponds, good choice if you do not want to deal with high water. Anyways, fishing was very productive on a wide variety of flies, but the best was stripping pine squirrel leeches near the bottom of the ponds. Fish range in these ponds from ten to sixteen inches, with a few eighteen’ers. All was great until the ride home, with traffic backed up to the Eisenhower tunnel, pulled over in Silverplume and fished Clear Creek until dark. While laughing at all the people stuck in there cars, I started to realize how smart I have become. Moral to the story, if your ever stuck in traffic, always have your fly rod in the car.  

Bob Dye – Blue Quill Guide

Prolific Caddis Fly Hatch on the South Platte makes for fat trout and happy anglers

 

       On Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to fish below Deckers. Leaving a moderate crowd around Deckers, I went downstream below Oxyoke. I found the river to be largely deserted of anglers. A massive Caddis fly hatch was just getting started when I arrived around 11:00 AM and it continued until around 4:30 PM. The bugs came in waves and at times were prolific, and as good as anything I have witnessed on the Arkansas or Roaring Fork. Trout were rising continually for 5 hours and most were not very selective. The Caddis seemed to vary in size from a #16 to #20 and  had black bodies and grayish translucent wings. Effective patterns were the Peacock Caddis, Barr’s Web Wing Caddis and the Puterbaugh Caddis.  It was one of the most memorable days I have had fishing dry flies to rising trout. By the end of the day the trout all had plump little bellies and I was also quite content. You must go!

Jim Cannon

High Water Dry Fly Fishing on Clear Creak

           Now that we are experiencing higher water from run-off, many inexperienced anglers get “down in the mouth” and discouraged. Inexperienced anglers feel they have to hang up their rods until July. I have had several anglers come into the Blue Quill moaning over the lack of fishing opportunities an the Blue, Colorado, Eagle and Roaring fork continue to rise.  Perhaps this “mind set” is born out of past frustration of not being able to catch fish in high water?  One man this last week told me, “Clear Creek is up over 500 cfs so I will have to wait until mid July in order to fish it again”.  In order to dispel this fantasy towards high water, I headed down to a favorite area on Clear Creek around Kermits.  I took one look at the water and joyfully decided to give it a try. Yes, it was high, running over 650 cfs and a little off color. Visibility into the water was probably 1.5 to 2 feet and certainly clear enough for fish to see the fly. I knew the majority of the fish would be pushed over to the edges, behind rocks and in the softer areas where the trout could get out of the current and still find a meal or two. I selected a #8 Orange Stimulator as my first fly and attached  24 inches of Fluorocarbon 4x tippet and chose #12 Elk Hair Caddis as my second fly. After treating my flies with Shimazaki crystal   floatant, I systematically began working my two dries into the multitude of pocket water opportunities created when Clear Creek was channeled into a fast moving trough.  After casting into several likely holding areas I got the first strike.  I watched as a foot long Brown chased my Stimulator downstream. When the trout’s mouth came out of the water to close on my stimulator it made a nice pop missing the fly by two good inches. That first strike put added confidence in the possibility of fishing Clear Creek in high water with big dry flies. I fished up through several more pockets with no strikes. Soon shadows were appearing on the water behind rocks and I wondered if the number of strikes would increase as I moved up stream in the low light conditions.. “Perhaps that first aggressive brown was a fluke”, I wondered to myself.  As I looked upstream a large, beaver cut log protruded out from the bank creating a break in the fast water.  Two inches of water overflowed the top of the log creating a “soft spot” and a foam line below it. ”A perfect lie for a brown trout”, I thought.  My two dry flies landed in the “soft water inches below the log. Immediately a yellow flash and my Stimulator was sucked under by a waiting, stream bred brown trout. When I set the hook the 10 inch brown catapulted out of the water as if confident it could break my 4 x tippet. After releasing the spunky brown I continued working the bank,  moving upstream. Huge boulders in the water in front of me created soft water eddies, and foam lines ideal for a resting trout. I scrambled up and down the rocky bank dropping my fly inches from the bank. Over and over chunky browns couldn’t resist my offering. As dark settled in the jagged canyon, I climbed up the rocky bank and out to highway 119. I had hardly noticed the Memorial Day traffic speeding up the Canyon and onto I-70. I wondered how many of the many anglers and campers who were heading out on their three day Memorial day week-end actually knew how great the fishing can be in Clear Creek, even in high water.

I had to go back today, Memorial day. The water was still pretty clear even after the rains we have had the past few days. Steve Parrott took his nymph rod and I hooked up with two dries. I fished first with two dries and Steve came in behind me with Czech nymphs. This was definitely a nymph day because Steve managed to catch a trout in most of the likely spots. I had several hit my Stimulator. I took off the second dry and added two bead head droppers. The fish were definitely deeper today and nymphing and dropper rigs had more  hook up’s.

Jim Cannon