4-6-13 / 4-8-13 Upper & Lower Boulder Creek report

Here is a quick report on the last few days out:
4-8-13
Monday, right before the snow storm, the fish were starving! I fished a sz. 16-18 BH Prince and a sz. 18-20 olive Pheasant Tail all day and the fishing was incredible. I fished right at Sugarloaf turn-off (pretty high in the canyon right now but the lead guide had a client going lower in the canyon, so being the gentleman...), and then headed downstream towards Dome Rock. Definitely better the lower you stayed but still fishing well up high. Saw a ton of BWO's coming off at about 4:00 down low. The water temp was 42 up high and about 46 down low. Fishing great though. Here is a pic of one of my favorite friends of the day:



 The bite was great though. Look for those fisher in the deeper ponds still but they are willing to venture out a little with warmer temps in the afternoon.

4-6-13

On Saturday, I had a break at work and headed right down the hill for some late afternoon fishing. Got to my spot and I remembered my license expired. Being in a worry over wasting my one fish break ever at work, I got pretty bummed out. But then I remembered it like it was old news...Ace is the Place! Cruised into Ned and got my license, always a great feeling to have nothing but 365 days (er 359 this time) stopping you from fishing all the time. I love it. It's still always an experience for me. And this no exception. Call me crazy. I just love this stuff too much.

Anyhoo-fished upper Middle Boulder Creek and it was slow. Not telling you my spot but I will say that the water temp was 38 degrees, mostly ice free with some scattered ice nuggets, and the daytime temp was a high of 62 in that spot. Elevation is about 8,600' or so.

Fished extremely slow for the hour I was there. The usual suspects-midges in sz. 20 or so, Saint John's worms in purple, and I might have even thrown a poison tung or gummy midge. Slow fishing. Not quite time yet. But it's been 4 days already and it's completely ice free as of this afternoon.

Here is a look at what it looked like a few days ago-



Almost time!



Tight Lines-

3-31-13 Work sucks, fishing doesn't

As some of you may know, I work at Eldora ski resort. It's a good gig. However, when you guide fishing trips for a living in the summer you really start getting tired of seeing snow every single day at work. Snow here, snow there, snow everywhere. 

Such is the case for me recently. So in an attempt to side step the winter blues I came into work on Sunday in the worst (planned) mood ever. Knowing that the mountain would be slow and my boss would get tired of my attitude, I just griped and moaned all day in hopes of being sent home. It's that time of year where none of us want to be here and my boss knows the best way to get me to shut up is to send me fishing.

So did it work? Well look where I was at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Sunday:



Great plan. Good thing too because with this weather, I would have cried if I didn't get to fish that day. It was 67 degrees when I hopped in the river and the water was 48 degrees. Fish on!!

I started out with a BH Prince and BH Tung Zebra (red sz. 20) and it was producing right off the bat. Most came off the prince but some were hitting the midge as well. After about an hour or so, the water became complete chocolate milk for about a half hour or so. Not sure if there was a push in the canyon or down four mile but it cleared up pretty quick. I think it brought warmer water as well because right after it cleared, BWO's were everywhere. I saw a few risers, but it looked like they were mostly chasing emergers. RS-2 time for sure. I really like that Callibaetis dub and sure enough they did too. I ended up catching about 10 total in 2 hours or so and then headed off home. I was very satisfied. And very happy to not be at work.

What a great plan; played to perfection sir!

Tight Lines!

3-28-13 BC report and Fly Film Tour

Not much going on. Just a short update on BC. Went up to Boulder Flycasters hole and down from there. Nice stretch. Never been there before.  It went alright it was a little slow. Red zebra midge was the ticket. I assume the fishing got better after I left as the wind died down and the sun came out. Argh! But I still caught one in my short time out. Better than none. Here is a pic of where I was:

Returned to the fly shop and got ready for the barbecue before the Fly Film tour. Cooked for everybody. Had a good time. If you missed the flick, too late. Sorry. It was alright. Not great. We sat at the bar for most of the night. Better seats!! Better drink access too. In all, a great day of Fly life.

Tight Lines