Jan-Mar 2017 Spring Fishing the locals Boulder, St. Vrain and River CLaP

Early fishing has been wonderful this season with plenty of opportunities to get out and catch trout. I've personally been out to several different places this spring/late winter and have found that the fishing has been nothing short of wonderful. I've gotten out to the St.vrain River and also Boulder Creek, not to mention the Poudre. Early-season temperatures allowed for most of the rivers to remain relatively hat free since late February. This has allowed for some of the bug life to start popping up a little bit earlier than we see in most seasons. That always makes it good for the fisherman but there's a little worry as far as late summer and fall fishing. As I speak right now I'm looking out my window at a snowstorm which is much needed and should help with River bases. That being said we're looking forward to more warm weather the next couple of weeks coming into April. April? Did somebody say April? That must mean it's almost time to go check out the Ark in Salida and Pueblo...stay tuned for a report.

Below is a report of some of the local waters in Northern Colorado.

Boulder Creek: Boulder Creek has been fishing really well as of late. I've gotten out about 5 or 6 times in the last three or four weeks; mostly late afternoon trips in the canyon. I can say all sections; the lower, middle, and upper are all fishing well. It seems that the closest you get to town the better the fishing is with more prominent hatches being seen. Look for stoneflies, Caddis midges and your occasional blue winged olive on select days. I've been throwing mostly blue poison tongues size 18, bead head Prince Nymph size 16, and various attractors and naturals on top including chubby Chernobyl's and stimulators, Blue wing olives and a couple of Caddis. Haven't thrown any midges on top but I'm sure that they would all work. I tend to keep my offerings a little on the simple side... dry dropper typically 12 to 18 inches below the dry. I recommend giving a PMX on the smaller size a try, as well as a FOD, aka Fly of Destiny. All of the aforementioned flies are for sale on the site. If you don't see it, call.




St Vrain River:
The Saint Vrain was more or less my late-winter staple as I fished it from January into February and even a little bit into March. This is an old friend of mine that I haven't fished in quite some time like I used to when I first started fly fishing. I have found that a lot of my holes that were devastated by the flood from 2013 are now starting to take shape again as they once were or finding that the new riverbed channel is starting to carve out new holes; and you're starting to see the bug life really come back now. I've been spending a lot of time within the town of Lyons which may not be the most scenic location but when you're catching 18 to 20 inch fish with relative ease in the same hole over and over what are you supposed to do right? It's good to see that the trout are healthy again as I've seen a bunch of torpedoes in there over the last several years. 


Definitely means that the bugs are coming back and fish are healthy. As for bugs that I've been using on the St Vrain; I''ve been using mostly a chubby Chernobyl as an indicator and a bead head Prince Nymph with a San Juan warm trailing that has been working efficiently. As I have not been up there in a couple of weeks, I cannot speak to conditions as of late but I can only imagine that the dry fly fishing is starting to heat up. I will be fishing the South Saint Vrain here in the next week or two and I will post a report as soon as I do.  That being said, I expect that flows are up a little bit more right now. If you plan on getting out there refer to the resources section on the right hand tab for up-to-date flow chart reading.

River CLaP:  River CLaP appears to be fishing wonderful right now. I've only been up there once as of late. I decided to fish a couple of lesser-known sections especially closer to the town of town FC. The river seems to be fishing wonderful. Flows actually seemed a little bit better there than everywhere else. I've experienced catching beautiful trout in the 16 to 20-plus inch range and having a fun time doing it. Got some action on top with a chubby when I was up there about 2 weeks ago. They seem to be really keying in on stoneflies, prince nymphs and and smaller midges especially poison tungs. I love this river; it seems to be never-ending in its offerings to The Angler. I plan on spending most my days off up there especially in the summer with the family and even more so this fall and early winter this year. I'll have more time to do some personal fishing this year (you just got warned trout of Colorado).

Well I hope you get a chance to get out there and hope that this report has provided you with some inspiration to do just that, and if you were already inspired I hope it's helped you pick out a location or what bug to tie on to the end of your tippit, which I would recommend still being in that 5x-6x range with most of our local streams, considering that we're still coming into Spring a little bit; not quite to summer yet. As I stated I'm looking at a snow storm out my window right now. Well good luck if you get out there.

Remember if you would like to book a trip with me... you can call me directly at 303-523-3136, or you can call the shop directly at 303-447-2400. Just tell them you want to book a trip with Chris Hull. And if you don't need to book a trip because you're not a beginner, maybe you'd just like to up your game and maybe even learn a new technique such as  Tenkara or Czech nymphing. Go ahead give us a call. There's not too many things we can't get you set up on (besides bait).

And if you don't need a lesson at all, then maybe I'll just run into you at the Fly Shop or out there on the river. Stay out of my damn hole though, but please wave!

Tight lines!