5/18/14-5/26/14 Glacier Creek, Big T Report

Panoramic View of Moraine Park (South to North, left to right, with Longs Peak on the left)

Run off. My least favorite time of year. We have to deal with it every time. It's just not that much fun to me.  Sometimes it's not that bad, others we have to wait more than a month. The plus is that it's a great time to hit those high lakes. The negative is that I can't fish in the river and that is why I got into this into the first place. But it's essential, and without the cycle, the trout would suffer. Either way, we just have to make do.

Fortunately, we are not quite to that run off stage yet. Well, as of now we are. But in the beginning of the week, we weren't having to deal with this. Amazing what one week in Colorado can do. Certainly, some of the high flows are attributed to the massive rain storms we had this week, but the near 80 degree and above days aren't helping either. 

As I said, the beginning of the week was fine. I spent Sunday the 18th up in the park on a scout trip to Glacier Creek. By scout trip, I mean just that. A lot of looking and exploring, with some fishing. I really just wanted to find some good water for clients the next couple of days. 

Glacier was fishing good. I put in at a normal spot (the obvious one for this time of year in my opinion) and ended up not regretting it. I couldn't get them to take a dry, as it was fairly bright and sunny all day. However, I did manage to hook into quite a few on san juan worms (purple), and black pheasant tails; with and without flashback. The fishing was good. I did manage to lose a larger trout and that spoiled my mood for an hour or so. I literally had to stop and sit on the banks and just 'relax' for a few minutes. Maybe I care more than I try to tell myself sometimes. 

Hanging out below Hollowell Park

And even in the few hours that I was up there I could see a slight change in water levels throughout the

day. On the drive out, I found a spot just slightly lower than where I usually fish early season and was intrigued. I figured I would check it out next time as there was an angler already there that day. I had a great day on the water and felt solid about putting some clients in the same stuff over the next week or so. 

That night, instead of scouting Wild Basin as 

Eat Me! (Male Blue Winged Olive)

planned I headed to Big T canyon. I stopped in my 'spot'. The flows were high, about 370, but I knew I could come out with something. It was all side pocket pocket fishing, but I found one hole with a ton of fish in the lane. I waited. Waited some more. It started to get a little darker and then those trout started rising. I ended up catching 3 nice trout in about 2 hours. I love those Olives. 

The next trip up, it was fishing the same. This time I had a client and it was nearly an identical day, although the flow had definitely bumped up a bit since my visit two days earlier. We got a couple of bites on some Para Adams, but again the hot fly with the increased flow was definitely the purple worms. 

One side note-as we were walking from one hole to the next I happened to walk through this little side 'channel' that had absolutely no flow to it whatsoever Just total still water. So not only did I feel totally comfortable about walking through there without disturbing possible trout beds, I certainly didn't think about having my client throw a fly there. It literally had no flow and looked like dead water. I looked in it before I stepped in it. Had there been trout, I would have stopped and had the client throw a fly. 

So on I proceeded and sure enough with one step into the water, an absolutely enormous trout came darting out of some undercut bank that you couldn't even see. Without even thinking about it,  I yelled out "oh, shit". I have never seen a trout that big in Glacier Creek. I could have never imagined it. In my pre-pants-poopin experience, I would have said that an 18" trout in  Glacier Creek is certainly possible, but few and far between. Definitely possible though. 

Had you asked if me there was 22"-24" trout in there, I would have called you stupid. Now, I will call you correct. That's right...

On Memorial Day, I had a make-up trip with two younger guys from around here. Real chill guys. Real fun clients. The first time out, we got completely blown off the Thompson. Literally, we had gravel from the road above us blowing in our faces. Horrible. One of them caught a fish, but after an hour and a half or so, we called it. So I was looking forward to getting out with them again, especially considering the weather would be much better this time. 

The big problem this time would be where to take them. The Thompson was running at 500 (or so) CFS and Boulder Creek was blown out as well. Keep in mind, most of this was attributed to the rain from the week before. So I figured I would take them up to Glacier Creek to see how it was flowing and then perhaps Sprague Lake if Glacier didn't shape up. 

Upon throwing this idea out at them, they stated that they were in a cash crunch, and time crunch as well. Totally understandable. So I knew my one option...on Memorial Day...with rivers running high...would have to be below the dam. I knew it would be a crap shoot with those conditions, but I felt confident. 

We pull up to Mall Rd and sure enough, total chaos. Like 11 cars parked by the bridge and another 6 or so in the lot! We got geared up and went walking. After a little while we made our way just past the 19th hole and found a nice spot. After a couple of minutes and playing around with some different weight set ups we found the right combo. Both guys ended getting into trout and they were some real nice rainbows. It ended up being a great trip. We stayed in two different holes for the whole 3 hours, before retiring to some grilled brats and kraut, but it was great, considering at one point there was as many as 15 fly fisherman out there and up to another 6 spinning guys. Crazy. Amazing what a little positivity will do though. 

Happy Memorial Day!

Tight Lines!