Finally I connected with a pair of trout, but the catch rate lagged and refusals to the hopper became a commonplace occurrence. The temperatures gradually warmed into highs in the sixties on Saturday and Sunday, and the long range forecast for Monday, November 2 through Friday was very encouraging with highs touching the seventies. These were both bad assumptions, and although I set a goal to last until lunch before making changes, I was forced to deal with my sweaty state by 11:30AM. The flows were 142 CFS when I arrived, but the water managers reduced the output from the dam to 125 CFS, while I was fishing. I lost my favorite net, but I have a viable backup for future outings this week. A guide and two customers were gathered behind one of the cars, so I hustled to beat them to the trail. South Boulder Creek originates in the Front Range, west of Rollinsville. All Rights Reserved. Another forecast of ninety degrees in Denver, CO had me craving a cold water wading destination. After lunch I exchanged the pool toy hopper for the peacock hippie stomper, and I swapped the prince for a hares ear nymph. Monitoring location 06730200 is associated with a STREAM in BOULDER COUNTY, COLORADO. The turkey flat version duped one trout, and then a wave of refusals ensued. Both cities are hot spots for tourists throughout the year though, so make sure if you do plan to go that you book well in advance. Cutthroat trout; Lake information. First I tested a May break, which is a type of green drake cripple. Its less so about the direction but the cause for the . Whew! Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 46 min to complete. backlog intangible asset; west metro fire union contract. In fact, I sensed that the perspiration had soaked through to my fishing shirt. All Rights Reserved. Nevertheless I was pleased with a double digit day in November. I actually enjoyed double digit days in both instances, and this encouraged me to make the drive to South Boulder Creek on Friday morning. The air temperature was in the low seventies as I began, and probably peaked in the upper seventies by the middle of the afternoon. After lunch I replaced the hares ear with a pheasant tail and eventually a salvation nymph, and the salvation accounted for a single fish, while the prince and hippie stomper chipped in one each. One small hurdle remained; however, before I could finalize my trip plans. Along the way, you will see some of the most beautiful mountain meadow and high altitude pasture land in all of the United States. It looked ideal to me, and it worked fine for two fish, at which point the hackle climbed up the wing post, and I was forced to retire it from service. Our Boulder Creek fishing report will give you an idea of what flies to use and general conditions you can expect. Two gobbled the hopper, and the hares ear and salvation produced one each. High gray clouds blocked the sun throughout the morning, and when a breeze commenced, I felt very uncomfortable. I concluded that I could generate refusals just as easily with the more buoyant peacock hippie stomper, so I swapped out the parachute green drake, and as I was performing this transition, I noted a small stonefly and a couple small pale morning duns. I made the trip to the Kayak Parking Lot below Gross Reservoir on Monday morning. Fishing pressure decreases as you travel further downstream. Brown Trout Smacked My Fly Near the Stick Jumble. This site, formerly known as Jumbo Mountain Picnic Ground, has interpretive signs about local history and new picnic tables. The low floating bug duped a pair of nice fish, but it also floated unmolested through some very attractive smooth pools. I replaced the prince with a salvation nymph with the hope that a pale morning dun nymph imitation might kick start some action, and similar to the prince, it generated a few small fish, but it did not seem to be a prevalent food source. Free up-to-date fly fishing reports for Colorado public waters. The action was torrid between 12:15PM, when I finished lunch, and 2:00PM, when I notched number forty. Flows on August 18 remained at 102 CFS, and I took advantage. Concern crept into my outlook. The drainage starts for the north fork just south of Navajo Peak, and runs south along the divide to James Peak which feeds the south fork. That was the only explanation that made sense out of the comparatively few number of anglers given the presence of six cars. Game on. Five cars were ahead of me in the kayak lot. I knew that Wednesday was destined to be a chilly day, so I wore my light down coat over my quick dry undershirt and fishing shirt and stuffed a long sleeved Under Armour thermal shirt in my backpack along with my raincoat. It seemed that one out of every five looks resulted in a landed fish, with the others categorized as refusals. Most trout are on the smaller side, but there are angling opportunities year round. The "South Boulder Creek Kayak Run" parking lot provides the easiest access. A few random rises appeared, and I interpreted these as a sign to tie on a PMD comparadun. Durable, green drake number two proved to be a fragile version of the pattern. South Boulder Creek 09/10/2021 Photo Album. I decided it was time to convert to a green drake. Favorable weather, manageable flows and lack of competition portended a fine day of fly fishing. I removed my backpack, and inspected it to see if perhaps the ring pulled out of the handle, but the female end of the snap mechanism remained in place. Toward the very end of my time on the creek I replaced the comparadun with a classic size 16 Adams, and that fly also accounted for four trout. I made many more casts to each prospective holding lie, and many quality spots failed to produce, but if I persisted, I could dupe a trout here and there. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. This, in combination with warm weather most of this week, encouraged trout to spread out from their winter lies and into more opportunistic water. South Boulder Creek We are proud to offer guided fly-fishing trips on South Boulder Creek. On Sunday night I checked the flows on the local streams and noted that South Boulder Creek was maintaining an attractive level of 83 CFS. Given that it is a creek, you can expect comparatively narrow water as well as large boulders that create some amazing pocket water. South Boulder Creek is one of the more beautiful places to fish within an hour of Denver. Anglers should also be aware that walking along the train tracks is considered trespassing on Amtrak land, and passenger and freight trains pass by throughout the day. The surface flies failed to create a refusal, so I concluded that the fish were more focused on subsurface food morsels, and this thought caused me to attach a size 8 tan pool toy hopper along with a prince nymph on a three foot dropper. I skipped my fishing shirt and went right to the down coat as my next layer, even though it displayed signs of sweat in several locations. There is no road following the creek so if you are looking for some solitude this is the spot. I spotted four or five natural green drakes in the 12:30PM to 1:30PM window, so the hatch was not very dense, but the South Boulder Creek trout never miss a shot at a large meal such as the western green drake. That's the closest . This threesome moved the fish counter from seven to nineteen, and obviously the catch rate improved. I plan to take advantage of the nice fall weather to undertake a few more fishing outings over the remainder of this first week in November. I continued prospecting the double dry combination through some very attractive plunge pools and deep runs for another half hour, but the effort proved futile. I estimate that at least fifty fish were in a feeding frenzy. Large hatches of Baetis are common during this time of year on the middle section between the headwaters and the reservoir. During this time a second poly wing parachute joined its cousin in the retired fly patch, as the hackle climbed up the wing post. To reach the South Boulder Creek headwaters, head north on the 119 past Blackhawk until you get to Rollinsville. The higher than ideal flows reduced the number of viable trout holding locations, and I was largely reduced to short drifts in bank side pockets, as I ignored the rapidly cascading flows in the middle of the creek. South Boulder Creek Report - A Fisherman's Life South Boulder Creek Report With the arrival of warmer weather, South Boulder Creek has been fishing very well the past couple weeks. The flows, however, from the bottom of Gross Reservoir were cold and clear, and I was quite excited for another day on the small tailwater close to Denver. Public Water Trips. Read more 02-24-2023 Dacey Reservoir Fishing Report Windy and warm days are ahead. As I ambled along the upper canyon, I passed five fishermen, and this accounted for all the cars. It happened so fast that I could not react, and I sat down on the bank and grieved for a few minutes. Apparently my imitation was close to what the resident trout were looking for, because the fish were sucking it in confidently. My fishing session ended after one hour and fifteen minutes and nine fish, and I felt I was on the verge of some outstanding action. A few to check out are listed below. The pace of action improved, but I never regained the magic of the first twenty minutes. The pace slowed measurably from 2:00PM until 3:00PM, but I did manage to sag my net seven additional times to reach forty-seven. The choice was prescient, and I racked up thirteen landed trout in the morning, before I broke for lunch at noon. Flows are at a healthy level and trout are feeding opportunistically during peak heat hours. Winter fishing is possible, but the intense cold and frozen river flow in places may be too much for some. Far and away the typical landed brown trout was in the nine to eleven inch range. I added a size 14 prince nymph and below it a size 16 beadhead hares ear nymph, and this combination yielded three brown trout. I strung my Orvis Access four weight and descended the steep path to the edge of the creek; and, sure enough, the stream was flowing along at a reduced level from what I became accustomed to. Boulder, Colorado February 28 2023 Start Your Free Trial . A few to check out are listed below. Possession limits may apply. During those day I simply knotted a green drake pattern to my line and enjoyed the outstanding success. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. My blog posts highlighted the success of beetles and ants, and I was present on the creek one month before my 2017 visit, but I decided to experiment with a Jakes gulp beetle first. This meant that I unsnapped the net to photograph and handle a trout, but I apparently never reconnected the retractor device. Runoff tends to muddy the waters a good bit, so early spring makes for tough fishing. South Boulder Creek Trail (#900) Length: East Portal Trailhead (TH) to: Heart Lake - 4.2 miles; Rogers Pass - 4.6 miles. The hippie stomper attracted a few fish, but the salvation was the main target of the trout. After about 4.5 miles youll make a right on Gross Dam Road to which youll find parking via the Walker Ranch Open Space. Visit our DIY Guide to the Best Fly Fishing in Colorado. Mar. Big Thompson. FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $50, SHOP Hours: Mon Fri 9 AM 6 PM | Sat 9 AM 5 PM | Sun 10 AM-4 PM. In general, a dry dropper or hopper dropper is our go to mode of fishing, regardless of the time of year. The Denver Water managers seemed to have other ideas, as they sustained the flows at 180 CFS and above for all of July and early August. I now have two Sage rods out for repair, as I approach the meat of the summer and fall season. These two flies allowed the fish count to mushroom to double digits, but I was not convinced that I was optimizing my time on the usually productive creek. Dry Flies- Adams Dry Fly- Elk Hair Caddis - Blue Wing Olive - Royal Wulff - Griffith's Gnat White - Stimulator, Organge - Chernobyl Ant Nymphs/Wet Flies- Rubber Leg Nymph, Brown- BH Pheasant Tail Nymph - BH Prince Nymph - BH Hare's Ear Nymph - Barr's Emerger Nymph - Zebra Midge Nymph, Black Streamers- Wooly Bugger, Black (Size #8x2)- Wooly Bugger, Olive (Size #8x2). I was interested to see how the large bulky fan wing of a comparadun played with the resident trout, and I assumed the large wing would be easier to track. The dry spell was temporarily broken, when a twelve inch rainbow snapped up the super nova, but this proved to be an aberration, and eventually I returned to a dry fly approach with a moodah poodah and a pheasant tail on a short eighteen inch dropper. DISTANCES ARE ONE-WAY. All the trout sported vivid and bright colors, and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. After lunch I decided to revert to the poly wing parachute that yielded ten trout in the morning, and this move proved to be a winner. Stats about all US cities - real estate, relocation info, crime, house prices, schools, races, income, photos, sex offenders, maps, education, weather, home value . I surmised that perhaps beetles were the answer, but another drought developed, and I decided to call it quits at 2:30PM. During lower flows, the dry-dropper set up works the best. what was the louvre before it was a museum. This one had maroon ribbing and tightly wound dubbing with a dense hackle and a tall wing post. That said, you can still manage to catch fish during this time. I landed a deeply colored brown trout at 3PM, and as I reached for my net, I realized that it was absent. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Between 1:30PM and 3:00PM I was supremely confident in the green drake imitation. The net frame was cracked, but the bag was in excellent shape, so I decided I could salvage that part for future use. While the increase was small, flows are now back within the ideal range for this time of year. Portions of the creek flow through forest lands. In one of the larger pockets I plopped the beetle (moodah poodah), and a brown trout shot across the small pool to inhale the foam terrestrial and raised the fish count to thirteen. I fluttered casts to all the likely pools, pockets, riffles and runs; and more often than not the trout cooperated. The main attractions for fly fishing South Boulder Creek are brown trout, but there are plenty of rainbows and the occasional cutthroat and brook trout to be had here, too. Thick midge hatches will be present year-round. The trout seemed to take a siesta, and this angler felt like doing the same. The water is pretty much crystal clear during peak season, so you will want to make sure you approach quietly and carefully so as not to scare off your catch of the day. Yuman. This is a must see! As mentioned earlier, I began probing the depths of the stream with a peacock hippie stomper, but gorgeous deep pools, that I was certain harbored trout, failed to deliver, so I paused to reload with a Jakes gulp beetle. Regardless, you'll want to focus on getting your nymphs into the deepest water column while targeting the deep and slow pools, runs and pockets as this is where the highest concentration of trout will be. A couple of the browns measured eleven inches and proved to be some of the best fish of the day. By 2:30PM the sun was bright above and the heat in the canyon was oppressive. 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