[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”116″ gal_title=”Dec.30 Christmas week 2016″]
Hey folks!
Welcome back from the Christmas break! Been real busy on the river and catching lots of BIG FISH!! Let’s get you updated on the current river conditions and then we’ll dive into the good stuff! The flow has been fluctuating since Christmas, when we saw a drop in the flow, with a second drop on the 28th. Currently, below the Cheesman Dam, we’ve got 58 (cfs) and about 65 through Decker’s/Trumbull. Water temperature is right at 41, with good clarity and not much moss to deal with over the last four or five days. As far as the weather goes, it’s been a little windy, cold in the mornings, but with plenty of sunshine and moderate high temperatures for the day ranging from 30-50 degrees by mid-afternoon. Looking ahead to the weekend, we’ve got warmer temperatures for today, upwards to 50, then dropping to the low 40’s for the rest of the weekend. Now! What do we do with all of this information? Read on!
Ok, after living on the South Platte River, here in Decker’s/Trumbull for almost three years now, I’ve started to pick up on a few things that have actually been present the entire time, I just wasn’t paying attention! Let’s start with the most simple of topics, “what are the fish eating” There are several hatch charts available for both the state of Colorado, and more specifically, the South Platte River Basin, but most Anglers simply pass up the obvious resource available to them, their own small net and some basic “bug knowledge.” After taking an Etymology course via http://thecatchandthehatch.com , the ability to recognize and identify what’s in the river has become instrumental in my newfound success! I highly recommend taking this course, as you will greatly improve your knowledge of the basic fly groups and be able to easily identify what the trout are eating wherever you may be fishing. Next on my epiphany list has been the ability to locate “where the fish are feeding.” This has been mostly trial and error with the approach being, how far off the bottom are the fish feeding, and where are my flies? Making adjustments to the strike indicator, adding additional weight, or simply paying a little more attention to the weight of the upper two bugs on my rig has contributed greatly to my success, especially with bigger fish! Every angler knows that tide, water temperature, light level and moon phase can affect our fishing success, but there’s another factor that often goes overlooked. Although barometric pressure can’t be predicted as accurately as the other elements just mentioned, it has a major influence on fish behavior. I found a pretty neat article about this, you can read it here by following the link https://weather.com/sports-recreation/fishing/news/fishing-barometer-20120328. Now, with all that being said, I’ll let you know what’s been working for us lately! Hands down, the RS-2, WD-40, Mercury Flash Back Midge, and jujubee Midges have been just killing it! Yesterday, we also had good success with the Lightning Bug Midge, and my buddy Ike’s favorite, and what he likes to call, “the Red-Headed Step Child” We’ve had 20-30 fish days for the last four or five outings, with some fish exceeding 22 inches! Yesterday, the brown trout seemed to be the aggressors, but we did pick up several large Rainbow and Cut-Bow Trout as well! Fishing the shelves, deeper pools and run-offs with heavier nymph rigs have proven to be highly successful all day long! The fish haven’t really been getting active until about 10:30/11 each morning, but when they’ve turned on, the action has been hot! The areas around the Decker’s resort area have seen a little more pressure these last two days, and today will probably be more of the same with all the new gear received for Christmas! Remember! there’s plenty of good fishing downstream from Decker’s! That’s all for now folks! Lot’s of great pictures in today’s picture gallery, so be sure to check them out! Just a reminder, be sure to check out The Fly Fishing Show, being held at the Denver Merchandise Mart on January 6-8! Here’s the link,http://flyfishingshow.com/denver-co/.
Have a great day!
Chris
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January 1, 2016 Eagles and Fishing
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”117″ gal_title=”Jan 1 2017 eagles and flows at 75″]
Happy New Year Everyone!
Good evening and here we go with the update! South Platte’s flowing through Decker’s/Trumbull this evening at about 75 (cfs). Water temperature is at 41 degrees, with good clarity and not much moss to deal with at all. With a drop in the flow the other day, things have changed yet again. With the deeper pools filling up with fish, but from what I’ve noticed, the bigger fish seem to hang around the bottom. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get one to take your midge or nymph in the middle of the water column, or even off the surface for that matter, but I’ve had much better success by going deep and keeping my flies both closer together and closer to the bottom! Warm temperatures today and the holiday brought out the Anglers on the South Platte today, but believe me, the businesses in the Decker’s Resort Mall surely appreciate your patronage, especially during the off-season. With that being said, don’t forget that both FLIES AND LIES http://www.flies-n-lies.com and the DECKER’S COUNTRY STORE http://www.southplatterivercabins.com have daily and weekly cabins available year round! Please visit each website for cabin descriptions and rates.
One of the joys of fishing in the Decker’s area day after day, season after season, has to be the accumulated knowledge of the fish behavior as it relates to weather and the river flow. Since, in my opinion, these are the two factors that affect the fish the most on a day to day basis, I have been paying considerable attention to documenting both the weather and flow for the last 7 months. It’s not that I’ve gone and figured out something extraordinary or solved any great mystery, I’ve just made a few notes of some repeated fish behavior when the weather was changing, applied that knowledge to the imitation food source I was providing, a.k.a “my bugs” and where I was presenting this fine offering to the trout. Flow increases tend to send the fish down towards the bottom and also to the banks when the flow increase is due to things like heavy rain, spring run-off, feeder creek activity and so forth. Reason being I believe, is that when the run-off and spring rains release worms and other yummy organisms from the river bank, the trout hang close to the source of the food. River flow also will change how the current will flow through a particular section of the river. For example, when the flow through the section of river behind my house is above about 120 (cfs), the swirling eddy on the backside of the river doesn’t typically come into play and won’t affect your drift through the strike zone. However, when the flow drops below 120 (cfs) that very eddy may gain the ability to capture your drifting strike indicator with force field like strength, causing an unnatural drift that is sure to blow your cover! It’s little things like this that have improved my fishing. Simply by observing what information the river is offering me for free in plain sight, combined with a little bit of basic Etymology, you too can become a better fly-fisher-person in just a short period of time. A great course that I highly recommend can be found THE CATCH AND THE HATCH http://www.thecatchandthehatch.com. I hope some of these tips and observations that I’m sharing with you help you in your quest to catch more fish! Remember though, I’m only here to provide you a little insight as to what works for me! I am truly blessed to live in such a beautiful place we call the South Platte River Valley, Decker’s, Colorado!
Going forward for the next week or so, I’m going to try and focus more on the organisms and food sources currently present in the South Platte, along with blogging on the local wildlife that I will share in today’s picture gallery. I personally won’t be fishing for a week or two, as I have recently injured my ribs in a fall I took the other day! Today’s gallery has pictures of fresh eggs released by a cut-bow I caught the other day, local wildlife, including a majestic Bald Eagle I captured this morning as it was watching from high above! There are also a few great pictures of fish we’ve caught in the last week, and just some shots from life here in the valley. That’s all for now folks, hope to see you out there on the river soon and please help keep our river clean by picking up your trash when you leave!
Have a great New Year!
Chris
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Dec. 30, 2016 Decker’s fishing Report
fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”116″ gal_title=”Dec.30 Christmas week 2016″]
Hey folks!
Welcome back from the Christmas break! Been real busy on the river and catching lots of BIG FISH!! Let’s get you updated on the current river conditions and then we’ll dive into the good stuff! The flow has been fluctuating since Christmas, when we saw a drop in the flow, with a second drop on the 28th. Currently, below the Cheesman Dam, we’ve got 58 (cfs) and about 65 through Decker’s/Trumbull. Water temperature is right at 41, with good clarity and not much moss to deal with over the last four or five days. As far as the weather goes, it’s been a little windy, cold in the mornings, but with plenty of sunshine and moderate high temperatures for the day ranging from 30-50 degrees by mid-afternoon. Looking ahead to the weekend, we’ve got warmer temperatures for today, upwards to 50, then dropping to the low 40’s for the rest of the weekend. Now! What do we do with all of this information? Read on!
Ok, after living on the South Platte River, here in Decker’s/Trumbull for almost three years now, I’ve started to pick up on a few things that have actually been present the entire time, I just wasn’t paying attention! Let’s start with the most simple of topics, “what are the fish eating” There are several hatch charts available for both the state of Colorado, and more specifically, the South Platte River Basin, but most Anglers simply pass up the obvious resource available to them, their own small net and some basic “bug knowledge.” After taking an Etymology course via http://thecatchandthehatch.com , the ability to recognize and identify what’s in the river has become instrumental in my newfound success! I highly recommend taking this course, as you will greatly improve your knowledge of the basic fly groups and be able to easily identify what the trout are eating wherever you may be fishing. Next on my epiphany list has been the ability to locate “where the fish are feeding.” This has been mostly trial and error with the approach being, how far off the bottom are the fish feeding, and where are my flies? Making adjustments to the strike indicator, adding additional weight, or simply paying a little more attention to the weight of the upper two bugs on my rig has contributed greatly to my success, especially with bigger fish! Every angler knows that tide, water temperature, light level and moon phase can affect our fishing success, but there’s another factor that often goes overlooked. Although barometric pressure can’t be predicted as accurately as the other elements just mentioned, it has a major influence on fish behavior. I found a pretty neat article about this, you can read it here by following the link https://weather.com/sports-recreation/fishing/news/fishing-barometer-20120328. Now, with all that being said, I’ll let you know what’s been working for us lately! Hands down, the RS-2, WD-40, Mercury Flash Back Midge, and jujubee Midges have been just killing it! Yesterday, we also had good success with the Lightning Bug Midge, and my buddy Ike’s favorite, and what he likes to call, “the Red-Headed Step Child” We’ve had 20-30 fish days for the last four or five outings, with some fish exceeding 22 inches! Yesterday, the brown trout seemed to be the aggressors, but we did pick up several large Rainbow and Cut-Bow Trout as well! Fishing the shelves, deeper pools and run-offs with heavier nymph rigs have proven to be highly successful all day long! The fish haven’t really been getting active until about 10:30/11 each morning, but when they’ve turned on, the action has been hot! The areas around the Decker’s resort area have seen a little more pressure these last two days, and today will probably be more of the same with all the new gear received for Christmas! Remember! there’s plenty of good fishing downstream from Decker’s! That’s all for now folks! Lot’s of great pictures in today’s picture gallery, so be sure to check them out! Just a reminder, be sure to check out The Fly Fishing Show, being held at the Denver Merchandise Mart on January 6-8! Here’s the link,http://flyfishingshow.com/denver-co/.
Have a great day!
Chris
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December 25, 2016 Christmas Day!
fishing reportMerry Christmas Everyone!
Good Evening! I hope all of you are enjoying your day! If you’re coming up to fish the South Platte, we’ve seen a drop in the flow, with current flows of 70(cfs) below the dam at Cheesman, with about 85 through Decker’s/Trumbull. I’ll be back tomorrow with a fresh fishing report, river conditions update, and new picture gallery! I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas and happy new year!
Chris
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Dec.22, 2016 Fabulous fishing report from Decker’s
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”114″ gal_title=”Dec.21 good fishing day three big fish grey rs-2″]
Happy Holidays!
Greetings All, and welcome back to the most up to date fishing and conditions report, from Decker’s, Colorado! Alright folks, it’s been an up and down week with the weather, and the fishing has certainly reflected the changes. Let’s update you on the current flows of the South Platte through Trumbull. Right now, we’ve got 103 (cfs) below Cheeseman Dam, with about 115 through Decker’s/Trumbull. The water temp has increased slightly from 39 to 41 and the moss is pretty bad right now, but the fishing is definitely worth the slight inconvenience. Overcast skies today, with winds picking up later this afternoon and a high temp today of 39 degrees. Alright, now to the good stuff. The last couple of days have been really good nymphing! On Friday, the action was fantastic as the cold front moved in, dropping the pressure and really getting the trout active! Fishing with a standard three-fly nymph rig, I was consistently trailing multiple RS-2’s behind a various indicator bugs such as the Hare’s Ear nymph, Pheasant tail, Scuds,and even had Egg pattern at one point, after catching a big female Cut-bow that was just plum full of eggs! Throughout the weekend, as we went from -15 one day, to almost 60 the next, ice will form on the river’s edge and on the river rocks, which results in trapping the small midges, scuds, and other bugs that make up large portion of the trouts diet this time of year. When that ice starts to melt and releases all of that food, the trout are prime for taking! Along with the grey and tan RS-2’s that I’ve had great success with, I’ve also caught several large fish with a variety of colored jujubee midges and the red rojo midge. Last week when we saw an increase in the flow, combined with the cold front, the fish went deep and were feeding heavy on the emerging midges and midge larva on the bottom. This tactic proved to be rather successful in enticing some pretty big fish to take the bait! That’s all for today my friends! More to come this weekend and I hope to see you on the river soon.
Chris
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Dec. 19, 2016 Fishing Update for Decker’s/Trumbull
fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”113″ gal_title=”dec.19 2016 cold after snow on a monday 113 cfs”]
Good Evening!
Welcome to my fishing report and river conditions for this clear and cold night in Decker’s/Trumbull, Colorado! Currently, the South Platte through Decker’s is about 115 (cfs), with a water temperature of 40 degrees! As far as the clarity goes, be prepared to clean your flies, as I had to deal with a considerable amount of moss while fishing today. With the last blast of cold temperatures and snow, we’re back to iced up conditions around the river’s edge, which can create some pretty treacherous conditions getting in and out of the river. My shoulder learned the hard way today! With the sunny skies, 26 felt like 36, and with no wind, it wasn’t so bitter cold out on the river this afternoon. With just an hour or so to fish today, I kept to the deeper pools, applied enough weight and fished a three-fly rig, just like last week, when the snow moved out and the temperatures went up. I set myself up with a pheasant tail nymph, followed with a purple juju, and trailed a grey RS-2. This proved to be rather successful, as I netted two rainbows on the Grey RS-2. Looking ahead for the rest of the week, temperatures in valley will be in the mid 40-s, with partly sunny/cloudy skies and no precipitation forecast until the weekend. From past experience, Christmas is a great day to come fishing in Decker’s! If I remember correctly, last year I had the whole river to myself, from the bridge in Decker’s, upstream to Lone Rock Campground. That’s it for today my friends! Today’s gallery has a few from the last snow storm, plus a picture of the Grey RS-2 that I have been using quite a bit lately! Until next time, have a great evening and I hope to see you on the river soon!
Chris
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