[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”133″ gal_title=”March 6, 2017 three solid days, drys are back, bwo]

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Welcome back! Been a couple of days of solid fishing, up here on the South Platte River, Decker’s, Colorado.  Currently, it’s pretty blustery, with 4o mph wind gusts and temperatures in the lower 40’s! A mix of clouds, sun, and even a snow flurry or two have been seen throughout the morning hours and into this early afternoon! There are a few dedicated folks out on the river, too cold for this guy, but I did see a few cars parked along Platte River Road, on my way to Decker’s from Trumbull. Alright, right now we’ve got flows below Cheesman Dam at 90 (cfs), with a slightly higher flow of 95 (cfs) through Decker’s and Trumbull. Last week we finally saw a bump in the flow, which really got the fish going! Combined with the warm temperatures and the BWO hatches, it really felt like Spring a couple of days last week. Well, if you’ve spent anytime at all in Colorado, you know that the weather can change at a moments notice, especially during the spring time, when we sometimes see a 30 degree temperature difference from one day to the next. This does some interesting things to the fish as well. Last week, I believe it was Tuesday into Wednesday, we saw a cold front approach and the barometer dropped like a bomb! After living on this river for a couple of years, and observing the behaviors of the fish, it’s pretty obvious that this is an excellent time to be out on the river. For whatever reason, the hours leading up to the impending precipitation always get the trout feeding rather aggressively. After the front came through, so did the warm up! Thursday and Friday were also very productive days, as we have begun to see the emergence of the BWO hatch, along with some dry midge hatches occurring around 11:30 to 1:00pm, then again around 4pm. Thursday afternoon, with the wind blowing about 30 mph, I went out to a rise I haven’t seen yet this year. Quickly tying on a single BWO, I caught fish after fish, cast after cast, by throwing my fly upstream and into the current. By the count of three on most drifts, I was hooked up on a fish, almost guaranteed! This continued for a solid fifteen minutes or so, with the majority of the fish being small brown trout, in the 12-14 inch range. Friday was more of the same, with a focus this time on the “slump buster” a small streamer like bug, really just a small leech pattern, but proved deadly over the three day weekend of fishing! At first, on Saturday morning, I tied on the black leech, added a single BB split shot about 4 inches above the leech and presented the bug on a shelf that drops into a 4 foot hole rather abruptly. After just a few tosses of this leech, I picked up a rainbow making  a b-line for the leech! Fish on! This was the fish I was trying to get the attention of, as the bigger bows and browns tend to hang off of this shelf, waiting for the impending meal.  Mornings have been productive nymphing with lead bugs like the leech, Pat’s Rubber Leg’s, Egg patterns (rainbow’s are pairing up to spawn), and San Juan Worms. Middle bugs that I have been using and catching fish with have been predominately the Copper Johh (with blue and green middle flash, and plain), Pheasant tails, RS-2’s (tan and grey), WD-40’s(olive and grey), Barr’s emerger, and the Rainbow Warrior. A few of my favorite bottom bugs have been the buckskin midge, purple and blue juju midge, red zebra and red fire midge, and the grey RS-2 when the rise is occurring.

This will be my fourth season living on the South Platte River here in Decker’s/Trumbull, and I must say that based upon the amount of people that I’ve seen on the river daily this past fall and winter, I believe it’s going to be a busy season! Be sure to check out the rest of livedeckercolorado, as the SERVICES THINGS TO DO pages are packed with tons of information about the Decker’s and surrounding areas. Where to camp, hike, tube, raft, rock climb, or rent a cabin. You can find it all right here! That’s all for today folks! Have a great day an I hope to see you on the river soon!

Chris

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”132″ gal_title=”february 28 2017 good 4th day of f;ow bump 90″]

Good Evening All!

Welcome back my friends, to the most up to date report on the South Platte River, Decker’s, Colorado!  Before we get into the fishing conditions, let’s take a look at the next couple of days. We’ve got a nice warm up ahead of this weekend, with temperatures quickly rising, after a cold snap and snow showers we’ve seen the last two days. Flows remain kept a little higher than they’ve been most the winter, with the increase occurring on the 23rd, leaving us with 90.2 (cfs) below Cheesman Dam, and about 90-95 (cfs) through Decker’s and Trumbull. Now that it’s been a couple of days since in the flow increase, clarity has improved and the water temperature is at 41 degrees.  The fishing has been fantastic for the last couple of days, with most success coming from nymphing, but we have seen several hatches of BWO’S the last week. Today I went out twice, the first time at about 11, and then I went back after a snow squall moved through at about 3pm. When I first went out on the river, fish were already rising and the increase in flow presented a much more favorable drift than what we’ve been experiencing in this hole for the last three months. With tons of fish breaking the surface, on what looked to be some sort of emerger, I kept the Double Copper John set-up, trailing a couple different bugs over the first hour session. The first three fish were taken on the middle Copper John, which had a blue flash on the back, then the bottom fly at the time was a grey RS-2. After catching about a dozen fish with this set-up, I lost my entire rig on big “piggy” brown that came up and slammed the top Copper John as soon as it hit the water! Around 1:45 the snow and wind moved in, so I came in and warmed up for a bit. Around 3pm, the sun came back out, the wind stopped and it was time to get back out on river. This time, armed with a purple Pats Rubber Legs, Copper John, and trailing the Red Fire Midge, I was right back on the fish in less than three casts!  This went on until about 4:30, when I could no longer feel my fingers or the left side of my left hand! When it was all said and done for the day, I believe my final fish count was somewhere around 15 in the net, with another 6 to 8 hook-ups! One of things I’ve noticed the most about fishing the South Platte River, here in Decker’s/Trumbull, is that when the barometer is rising or dropping quickly, the fish definitely respond in an aggressive matter that usually leads to a great day of fishing! If you enjoy reading my blog, sign up for our email alert and get a “new blog” reminder message each time I publish new content on the website!  Also, if I don’t post daily, please feel free to take advantage of the LIVE weather and river flow constantly updated on the blog page! That’s all for today folks! I hope you enjoy today’s picture gallery, as it was a day full of browns, and I hope to see you on the river soon!

Chris

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”131″ gal_title=”February 25, 2017 big brown by Ike 97flows on a bump”]

Good Morning!

Pretty chilly up here on the South Platte this morning! Currently, we’ve got temps in the low 20’s, with mostly sunny skies! Not much snow dropped in the valley from this last system, but look for the temperatures to remain cold through the weekend. After weeks of no change in the flow, we saw a change on Thursday afternoon, with current flows below Cheesman Dam at 90.5 (cfs) and about 95-100 (cfs)  through Decker’s/Trumbull.   For the last week or so, most of my success has come from fishing the faster moving riffles, with one split shot for weight. However, when fishing the deeper pools and drop-offs, I’m fishing  with a significant amount of weight and also placing that weight a short distance from my top fly, allowing my set to present it’s first bug rather close to the bottom, where I’ve tended to pick up the bigger trout. In addition to the heavier rig, I’m keeping my bottom two bugs only about 8-9 inches from each other. Not sure if this is doing much, but I have recognized more fish in the net when I approach with this set-up. With the warm up that we saw the previous five days or so, I began to see much more dry-fly activity on the water. BWO’s and tiny midges were present on both Monday and Tuesday. Typically, when we see an increase in the flow, the trout tend to get a little dispersed and hang tighter to the bottom. Friday afternoon the fishing was really hot! Check out the big brown that our good friend Ike pulled in yesterday afternoon in today’s picture gallery! Even with the flow increase, the fish were extremely aggressive yesterday, as my two friends must have caught 2o fish in two hours!  That’s all I’ve got for now folks on the fishing folks! If your new to the area, or looking to try your hand at fly-fishing, let the knowledgeable friendly folks at FLIES AND LIES http://www.flies-n-lies.com take you on a guided trip. Or, if you’ve simply left your gear, but want to fish for the day,  let them outfit you for the day or week  with their full selection of  top-of the line gear, at a very affordable prices. And if you’re looking for a place to stay while visiting Decker’s, the Decker’s Country Store and South Platte River Cabins http://www.southplatterivercabins.com have got you covered. Visit the website or stop in today for rates and availability. Hope to see you on the river soon!

Chris

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”130″ gal_title=”February 22, 2017 Bailey moved to Minnesota”]

Greetings my friends!

Had a breezy day on the river today, but boy was it productive! As usual, the impending front moving in had the fish active and aggressively feeding today, as we did really well with streamers and larger bugs throughout the day! But first, let’s get you up to speed on the current conditions and outlook for the rest of the week. Flows remain unchanged, with 61 (cfs) below Cheesman Dam and about 70, through Decker’s/Trumbull.  The clarity is great, with water temperatures around 40 degrees here in Trumbull.  For a second day in a row, I got out on the river by about 10:30, this time accompanied by my friend Jerry, who made a special trip up here today to not only fish, but to say goodbye to Bailey, the Golden Retriever that has been part of my life for the last 8 months! Bailey is moving to Minnesota to be with family, as I have been her foster dad since her original owner and friend of mine, suddenly passed away in May. She has been a joy to so many people on the river and I have shared so many wonderful mornings, afternoons, and evenings with this little girl, that we’ve grown to be the best of friends. It’s with a heavy heart that I will not be able to continue to photograph such a beautiful, loving, sweet little doggie and share the joy with you each day. I will, however, be taking on a the challenge of looking after a little RAT TERRIER, named Chloe, after Fox’s television series 24, staring Keifer Sutherland. She will be joining me each morning, as I walk the river and report back to you on the weather and river conditions here in Decker’s and Trumbull each day. Ok, with that being said, let’s continue with the fishing update. The fish today were much more active then they have been the last two days. Not saying that the fishing hasn’t been solid, but today the fish were feeding all over the water column, but we had good success in the shallower, faster moving water today with mostly streamers and spinner baits, as my friend Jerry is a Spin Fisherman! What! you mean that you write about fly-fishing and allow someone to use that horrific device called a “Spinning Rod” to fish at your house? What kind of heathen are you? Ok, relax my friends. I know that there is much to argue when it comes to the topic of spinner bait Anglers vs. the fly-fisherman. The big argument here is that the treble hooks that are used on the spinning lures, tear up and kill lots of fish. Well, that is partially correct, but there is more to the story.  After spending several days on the river this past year with Jerry and a few other spin fisherman, it comes down to a pretty simple concept. Crimp the barbs, or cut them off and the fish slide right off the freaking hook! People please! This is something that I find truly bewildering! What’s the problem with a guy that fishes with three hooks vs. one, takes as good or if not better care of the fish then some fly-fisherman I see handling fish, and then he releases every fish he catches? Anyway, just wanted to share that with you, as I don’t see a problem with someone who pays the same fees as you and I do.  Therefore,  I feel he or she  is entitled to fish however he or she feels, as long as it’s within the rules and regulations that we all must follow. Ok, that’s my rant, but honestly folks, the weather changes are when these fish really seem to get busy! That’s all I’ve got for now folks.  Today’s picture gallery is sort of a farewell gallery of my little friend Bailey, fish from today, and some of the great shots I’ve taken of her over the last 8 months. Hope to see you on the river soon!

Chris

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”129″ gal_title=”February 21, 2017 last day with Bailey”]

Good Evening Everyone!

Well, this weather has been truly amazing. It feels more like spring and baseball season then the middle of winter! Temperatures reaching about 55 to 60 today, with plenty of sunshine and some wind gusts, but nothing to serious! Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we’ve got some snow in the forecast, moving in Thursday evening and into Friday. This should really turn the fish on tomorrow, as we are going to see high temperatures in the lower 60’s, but with winds up to 19 mph.  The flow below the dam is currently at 61 (cfs), with about 70 through Decker’s/Trumbull.  I’ve been out fishing mostly everyday for the last two weeks and today was no different! Getting out on the river at about 10 this morning, I already noticed a midge hatch taking place as I entered the river.  Starting out with my nymph rig, consisting of a purple Pat’s Rubber legs, followed with a grey hare’s ear pheasant tail, and trailing a buckskin midge, I chose a stretch of river just downstream from a deeper run, where the river bottom shallows up and presents a shelf where tons of fish seemed to be congregating. This proved to be effective rather quickly, as I hooked up on three fish in a matter of about 10 minutes!  I think the bug selection was appropriate, but more importantly, I made some adjustments to my depth, being that I’ve been fishing the deeper pools, which require much more length to get to the bottom. Therefore, I moved my strike indicator way down towards my flies, giving me only about two feet of distance between my indicator and my split shots. Basically, I made myself a shallow water nymph rig, with only one small split shot for weight. At about 11 o’clock I noticed a significant hatch of BWO’S that hadn’t made there way back down to the water quite yet, so I went ahead and set up another rod with a simple, two-fly set up that I like to use when the fish are starting to rise. I quickly tied on a Griffiths Gnat, followed with a grey, sparkle winged Rs-2. Once again, with no strike indicator or weight, I threw this concoction across the riffle and into the downstream flow, where seconds before I had seen several fish rising to what I suspected to by the dying off adult bugs. After only a few attempts at these fish, I hooked up on a nice 16 brown, followed by a respectable Cut-bow! . Both fish were taken on the RS-2.  As lucky as I am and as much as I get to fish this wonderful river each day, I’m amazed at how conditions and how the fish can behave change from one day to the next.  One day the fish are going crazy on one color, the next day they want nothing to do with that color or even that species of bug! That’s what makes fly-fishing so enjoyable to me! It’s the challenge of figuring out what the fish are feeding on and making those adjustments to catch the fish! As we get closer to the one year anniversary of livedeckerscolroado.com, I’m looking forward to having that year’s worth of data to refer to and see if I’ve learned anything over the last 12 months! Livedeckerscolorado.com is also currently under a site rebuild and I hope to be launching the new site soon!  Stay tuned and keep coming back, as I hope to have the new site presented by early June! That’s all I’ve got for now my friends! Have a great evening and I hope to see you out there on the river soon!

Chris