[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”98″ gal_title=”Nov.12 fishing with dub and jerry”]
Happy Saturday night my friends!
Finally getting into a nice groove of writing my blog at the end of the day. It’s not that I underestimated what it would take to blog daily on a particular topic, but I did underestimate how long it would take to actually produce the end product, when you include picture editing, video uploads, content writing, jumping fish to distract you! The list goes on and on. In no way does this reflect any sort of complaining what so ever. My life has truly changed since the first day I started writing this daily blog. I spend my days fishing, observing, shooting pictures, watching wildlife, and best of all, meeting wonderful people from all over the world in one of the best places to fly-fish for Trophy Trout, in the State of Colorado! I had one of the best experiences to date just the other day. A young gentleman who happened to be fishing in the hole behind our house introduced himself . After I returned the pleasantry and told him that I had this website, he excused himself, interrupted me, and told me that he came to Colorado a month and a half ago. He had been following my blog for three months, while living in Minnessota. He then told me that the reason he was standing and fishing in the South Platte River, in Decker’s that day, was because of following my blog! That was a great feeling, knowing that someone has read enough of my, sometimes poorly written daily fishing report, and decided to come up and give us a try! Made my day! Now that I’m six months into this new life, I’m happy to report that the intention of losing the 100 pounds has almost come to fruition! I’m down from 289 pounds in October of 2015, to 209 pounds currently. As I have spoken earlier about finding a groove to write about the daily fishing, I’m also trying to implement a writing schedule/platform, to incorporate my nutritional and life-style transformation into the blog. Until I can get it all figured out, I’ll keep you updated on my progress! Thanks again for all the support for the website and daily blog. My ultimate goal of this is to continue to provide reliable, current, and accurate information to make your Decker’s, Colorado experience and safe and happy one! Please enjoy the entire website!
Getting you up to speed on the real reason you came, the FISHING!! Alright, flows haven’t changed a hair in a almost a month! We’re still sitting around 68-70 (cfs) in both Decker’s and Trumbull, pretty much all the way down Platte River Road to the Confluence. Canyon sitting at 65.5 (cfs), and haven’t personally been up there since mid-September, nor have I heard much since the flows were dropped on the 19th of October. Talking about the clarity again, as I only seem to do when the moss becomes a big pain in the you know where! It’s not that bad, especially if you’re nymphing in the faster, somewhat deeper runs along the river. Yes, deeper runs do exist during these low flow periods, that’s why getting away from the main bridge area and upstream will expose you to brand new places to find fish holding during these periods. There are several great spots to fish right now between the Sugar Creek Rd. turnoff and Scraggy view. This stretch of river has several spots where the channel repeatedly narrows, followed with several run-offs, that drop into deeper pools. This is where I’ve been picking up fish early, exclusively nymphing with a three-fly rig of an egg
or worm
, followed with a pheasant tail
or even sometimes another egg, trailing a few different successful bugs like the red zebra
, fire midge, olive midge, purple juju, clear-bead head black beauty. When I returned from fishing downstream, I returned to my yard, where I found Jerry, my buddy I met on the river, was fishing with his buddy “Dub” to some rising fish along the ever-present bubble line that has been occupying this section of river for weeks! Starting out with a Parachute Adams by itself, I threw what seemed to be 500 casts, before finally giving up on that bug and put on a two-fly rig with a BWO, size#22, and trailed it with another one! simply a size down, #24. Two casts later, I caught a small brown, satisfied my need to catch a fish on a dry and decided to go nymphing in an area we like to call the “land of the Giants.” When the fish aren’t rising on the dry’s, or I’m after bigger fish, because let’s face it, you generally catch bigger fish down deep, or at least I do on the South Platte, I’ll nymph! I was using the pole from this morning, set up with that double-egg deal and trailing the olive midge. I threw this trio into a run no wider than 3 feet, but slightly deeper, and when the trail bug hit the water, even before the strike indicator had touch the water, I was hooked up on a nice brown! My two friends, Jerry and Dub were both spin fishing today, and I must say folks, I was rather impressed with both my friends, who I witnessed personally remove barb-crimped hooks from all of their fish, leaving no fish injured or in distress for prolong periods at any time. I know this is a touchy subject of some of the naturalist, but that’ not what my blog or website is all about. As long as you are not using live bait, or snaring fish, I don’t have the right to say anything about your choice of equipment or tactics to catch fish. Today’s picture gallery has a few shots of Dub and the nice fish he was able to net while fishing the “hole.” Looking like another dry, but warm and beautiful day here in the valley. Forecast is for high temperature of 63 degrees, with 5-10 mph winds. Look for that mid-morning midge and BWO hatches around 10:30/11:00. That’s all for today my friends, looking forward to sharing more with you tomorrow! Take care and have a great evening!
Chris
Nov.16, 2016 The Shocking News!
fishing report, South Platte News[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”101″ gal_title=”Nov.16 fish shocking/counting great pics and video”]
Today we have a real treat!
As I was preparing to head out for a hike on this 70+degree day in November, I stumbled across the Colorado Parks and Wildlife http://cpw.state.co.us/ setting up to count fish by means of electroshock. Electroshocking a stream temporarily stuns the fish, allowing for capture and counting before being released back into the habitat. The data collected includes species, length, and weight, and whether the fish appear healthy or have obvious problems. In addition to this annual event, I was also lucky enough to spend some time with one of the biologist who is doing a 2-year study to find the causative agent responsible for a bacteria that has been found in Colorado hatcheries, as well as hatcheries in bordering states of Colorado. This study is being done to find out if the bacteria is present in the South Platte River and what effects it may have on the general fish population. I will be following up on this study and sharing the results in a couple of weeks. As this was the first time I witnessed this event, I was truly impressed with the care involved to prevent one fish from being injured during the entire process. This is truly an amazing process that involves about 20 people working together to temporarily stun the fish, gather and net the fish, count, weigh, log and return the fish to the river. Today’s event took place between the second Decker’s bridge, upstream to the Y-Camp road, and took about 7 or 8 hours to complete. The group was made up of several biologist from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Service, with support from the U.S.Forest Servicehttp://www.fs.fed.us/ and several student and community volunteers. I spent about 4 hours with the group today, shooting pictures and video as they braved the wind and rugged river bottom to complete this very important and inherently risky task! The data collected proves that restoration and management efforts on the South Platte river are astoundingly successful, as we continue to see our beloved fishery return to pre-Hayman fire levels. Some of the data collected includes species, length, weight, and whether the fish appear healthy or have obvious problems. As someone who is blessed to live on this river and have the opportunity to fish each day, you gain a new perspective on what conservation, education and preservation really means when it comes to a healthy fish population. Watching this group work today was one of the most educational experiences I’ve had since living in the valley and I look forward to more events and volunteer opportunities with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Service. A big thanks to Jeff, Scott, Paul, and anyone else I may have forgotten that allowed me to be in the mix as you carried out your important work today on the South Platte River, Decker’s, Colorado! Oh, by the way, the flows are at about 55 cfs in Decker’s, a little lower at 48 below the dam at Cheesman. The front is moving in tomorrow, but I’m thinking it’s going to be a good day nymphing in the shallows! Wind is going to be blowing tomorrow at 20mph+, so my dry fly fishing is going to be put on hold for a few days! That’s all for now my friends! Enjoy my “shocking” photos from today’s event and I’ll see you next time, or hopefully on the river soon! Have a great evening!Chris
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Nov.14 & 15, 2016 Decker’s Fishing Report
fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”100″ gal_title=”Nov.15 flow drop from 65 to 51 cfs bens big ass bow”]
Greetings my friends!
Just when you think you’ve seen the river at it’s lowest, we’ve seen a decrease in the flows in the last 24 hours. Right now we’ve got 51 (cfs) below the dam, maybe about 57 through Decker’s/Trumbull. The USGS station in Trumbull is reporting 82, but let me tell you my friends, I live about 200 yards downstream from this station, and I can tell you right now, it’s not 82! Today’s picture gallery will highlight the areas around the Decker’s bridge, up the Y-camp road, and towards the Lone Rock Campground. I tried to shoot some of the popular areas to show you the lower flows, hope you recognize the spots I photographed along the river. It’s looking like we’ve got one more day of warm temperatures before the cold front arrives on Thursday, giving us our first real chance at some snow! As we are still in the fall spawn of the brown trout, be aware of paired up fish and stay clear. We’re still seeing the Blue-wings coming off around 11am and throughout the day, but the nymphing technique still proves to be more productive. I say this, even after my buddy Ben caught one of the biggest rainbow’s I’ve seen caught in three years on a parachute adams. It’s in today’s picture gallery as well! When I have been nymphing, I’ve been throwing a three-fly pattern with an egg or worm, followed with an attracting nymph, and trailing with a smaller midge. Most of the fish that I have caught nymphing have been in the shallower, faster moving water, but I have taken a few fish with this rig by site fishing for feeding fish in slower moving water. If you’re up for covering lots of water and wanting to cover some ground, try your luck on a streamer, my favorite is the Olive Wooley-Bugger.
Alright folks! More on what’s happening to the fish tomorrow, after a morning out on the South Platte! Until then, have a great evening and I hope to see you on the river soon!
Chris
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Nov.13, 2016 Decker’s, Colorado Fishing Report!
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”99″ gal_title=”nov.13 big rainbow on double dry/emerger flow 68″]
Welcome back fishing friends!
A Broncos win and another day of fly-fishing on the South Platte River! If you ask ME, Not a bad way to spend a Sunday in Colorado! Getting into the river conditions first, not much new to report. Flows remain in the upper 60’s(cfs), clarity is good, but there is a considerable amount of moss present in most areas of the river around Decker’s/Trumbull. Continuing with the theme of warm and dry, the bugs are hatching left and right, the fish are sipping from mid-morning until dusk, and the underneath activity is getting pretty hot during the mid-afternoon. For me, the last two days have been a solid mix of nymphing and throwing dries! The Blue Winged Olive
and the Parachute Adams have certainly been the two bugs of late that have been working for me. However, today was a little bit trickier, as the fish were a bit selective, and I did better today with a double-dry/emerger set-up. Watching the pattern of sipping fish along a bubble line this morning around 11, I decided I would throw the single Parachute Adams, in hope of taking a fish early with my newest offering to the insect buffet! As the case can be more times than not, and this is why you should always be anticipating a strike, when my new arrival entered the feeding zone, I was on to a fish in a flash! A nice sized brown took the size#24 Parachute Adams, gave a valiant effort to release himself from my impostor, but after a few runs upstream and back down, followed with a with a leap or two, I was ultimately able to gain control of the fish by turning it’s head sideways and upwards, then putting it into the net! THAT WAS IT! FOR ANOTHER HOUR! It was like my Parachute Adam
s
had some sort of “fish away” applied to it, because I could not catch another fish! I took a little break, played with Bailey and noticed that the rise wasn’t really a rise, but just more of a soft sipping of the surface. Yes, occasionally a fish would really break the surface and create a stir, but for the most part it’s just casual surface feeding. I decided that I would put on a second fly, which was a grey, Sparkle-Wing RS-2, in hope that this would perhaps float just a little bit below the surface, just in the feeding column of the fish. This really seemed to work well, as I caught three nice sized rainbows, and only about 5 minutes between fish! Today’s picture gallery will show you one of the bigger rainbows I caught today. Looking at tomorrow, we’re going to have another big day of sipping fish! I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow doesn’t turn into a real feeding frenzy with another bug-filled day on tap. Just a feeling, but these weird weather days have proven to be great fishing days in the past. Monday is also a great day to have your pick of spots along the river. As I’ve been saying for over a week now, don’t forget to spend some time away from the usual spots around the Decker’s Bridge and Y-Camp Road. Get on downstream and explore the great water and solitude that awaits! That’s all I’ve got for today my friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with another update and hopefully some fish tales to tell! Have a great Monday folks! These bugs are just a few example of what’s been working for me!
Chris
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Nov.12, 2016 Live Update from Decker’s, Colorado
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”98″ gal_title=”Nov.12 fishing with dub and jerry”]
Happy Saturday night my friends!
Finally getting into a nice groove of writing my blog at the end of the day. It’s not that I underestimated what it would take to blog daily on a particular topic, but I did underestimate how long it would take to actually produce the end product, when you include picture editing, video uploads, content writing, jumping fish to distract you! The list goes on and on. In no way does this reflect any sort of complaining what so ever. My life has truly changed since the first day I started writing this daily blog. I spend my days fishing, observing, shooting pictures, watching wildlife, and best of all, meeting wonderful people from all over the world in one of the best places to fly-fish for Trophy Trout, in the State of Colorado! I had one of the best experiences to date just the other day. A young gentleman who happened to be fishing in the hole behind our house introduced himself . After I returned the pleasantry and told him that I had this website, he excused himself, interrupted me, and told me that he came to Colorado a month and a half ago. He had been following my blog for three months, while living in Minnessota. He then told me that the reason he was standing and fishing in the South Platte River, in Decker’s that day, was because of following my blog! That was a great feeling, knowing that someone has read enough of my, sometimes poorly written daily fishing report, and decided to come up and give us a try! Made my day! Now that I’m six months into this new life, I’m happy to report that the intention of losing the 100 pounds has almost come to fruition! I’m down from 289 pounds in October of 2015, to 209 pounds currently. As I have spoken earlier about finding a groove to write about the daily fishing, I’m also trying to implement a writing schedule/platform, to incorporate my nutritional and life-style transformation into the blog. Until I can get it all figured out, I’ll keep you updated on my progress! Thanks again for all the support for the website and daily blog. My ultimate goal of this is to continue to provide reliable, current, and accurate information to make your Decker’s, Colorado experience and safe and happy one! Please enjoy the entire website!
Getting you up to speed on the real reason you came, the FISHING!! Alright, flows haven’t changed a hair in a almost a month! We’re still sitting around 68-70 (cfs) in both Decker’s and Trumbull, pretty much all the way down Platte River Road to the Confluence. Canyon sitting at 65.5 (cfs), and haven’t personally been up there since mid-September, nor have I heard much since the flows were dropped on the 19th of October. Talking about the clarity again, as I only seem to do when the moss becomes a big pain in the you know where! It’s not that bad, especially if you’re nymphing in the faster, somewhat deeper runs along the river. Yes, deeper runs do exist during these low flow periods, that’s why getting away from the main bridge area and upstream will expose you to brand new places to find fish holding during these periods. There are several great spots to fish right now between the Sugar Creek Rd. turnoff and Scraggy view. This stretch of river has several spots where the channel repeatedly narrows, followed with several run-offs, that drop into deeper pools. This is where I’ve been picking up fish early, exclusively nymphing with a three-fly rig of an egg
or worm
, followed with a pheasant tail
or even sometimes another egg, trailing a few different successful bugs like the red zebra
, fire midge, olive midge, purple juju, clear-bead head black beauty. When I returned from fishing downstream, I returned to my yard, where I found Jerry, my buddy I met on the river, was fishing with his buddy “Dub” to some rising fish along the ever-present bubble line that has been occupying this section of river for weeks! Starting out with a Parachute Adams by itself, I threw what seemed to be 500 casts, before finally giving up on that bug and put on a two-fly rig with a BWO, size#22, and trailed it with another one! simply a size down, #24. Two casts later, I caught a small brown, satisfied my need to catch a fish on a dry and decided to go nymphing in an area we like to call the “land of the Giants.” When the fish aren’t rising on the dry’s, or I’m after bigger fish, because let’s face it, you generally catch bigger fish down deep, or at least I do on the South Platte, I’ll nymph! I was using the pole from this morning, set up with that double-egg deal and trailing the olive midge. I threw this trio into a run no wider than 3 feet, but slightly deeper, and when the trail bug hit the water, even before the strike indicator had touch the water, I was hooked up on a nice brown! My two friends, Jerry and Dub were both spin fishing today, and I must say folks, I was rather impressed with both my friends, who I witnessed personally remove barb-crimped hooks from all of their fish, leaving no fish injured or in distress for prolong periods at any time. I know this is a touchy subject of some of the naturalist, but that’ not what my blog or website is all about. As long as you are not using live bait, or snaring fish, I don’t have the right to say anything about your choice of equipment or tactics to catch fish. Today’s picture gallery has a few shots of Dub and the nice fish he was able to net while fishing the “hole.” Looking like another dry, but warm and beautiful day here in the valley. Forecast is for high temperature of 63 degrees, with 5-10 mph winds. Look for that mid-morning midge and BWO hatches around 10:30/11:00. That’s all for today my friends, looking forward to sharing more with you tomorrow! Take care and have a great evening!
Chris
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Nov.10/11, 2016 Fishing Update from Decker’s
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”95″ gal_title=”nov.11 deb and richard visit 68 cfs”]
Hi Folks!
Good evening and welcome back to the river report from Decker’s/Trumbull, Colorado! We’ve been at the same flows now since Oct.19, with the canyon at 65-70(cfs), with similar flows through Decker’s and Trumbull. Moss continues to be somewhat of a hassle, but oh well! Price you pay to fish! The weather forecast for the weekend looks great, so look for more people fishing around the Decker’s Resort area, and upstream to the “wire” Take advantage of the plentiful fishing spots downstream from the resort, by following Platte river road downstream, where you’ll find several areas to pull off the road and park. Just be sure to park in designated areas. You’ll spot these areas with a brown sign, with the letter “P”. There are simply pull-outs along the road, but be sure to park your vehicle a safe distance off the road, as to not impede traffic or cyclist. Alright, here’s the deal on the bugs and the fish, as I had two guests fish with me today in Trumbull. We got in the river around 10am, after having some fantastic Monkey Bread, purchased at the Decker’s Country Store. If you stop in to see Phyllis or Bob, let them know you heard it here, “the monkey bread rocks” Not seeing the rise to my liking, I decided to head to some shallower, faster water and drop a nymph rig in the hopes of pulling one of the bigger trout that tend to to like this particular drop-off. With my egg/purple juju/olive flashback midge, I made two casts and hooked up on a nice 15-16 Brown, just as the lead bug dropped over the ridge to the suspecting trout. Trying to work the fish through a deeper pool and into a shallower area, with hopes of netting the fish, it ran deeper an towards me, creating some slack in my line and allowed for a relatively easy departure for my newly hooked adversary. Feeling good about what I was presenting the trout, I walked back upstream to where I had previously hooked up, made another two casts and was once again on a larger fish, this time a nice 16″+Rainbow! I could feel that the fish was most likely foul-hooked, so I didn’t apply ample pressure and the fish either spit or broke free from the bug. My friends Deb and Richard, at this point, were trying their luck on a few fish that were rising along a bubble line, on what appeared to be an emerger of some kind. Their was a hatch occurring, but the bugs had not worked their way down, so the fish were really just sipping below the surface. Much to liking of both Deb and Richard, they both got on some fish, Deb with the dries and Richard went back to the nymph rig. Today’s picture gallery shows a few of the fish they caught while spending their day here with me and Bailey! Also in today’s picture gallery, is a few shots of what I believe is an Eagle, perched high above the South Platte River, behind my house. Be sure to check out the pretty cool Orvis video about nymphing, located right after the USGS Graph on the opening of the blog page. That’s all for now folks, have a great evening and I hope to see you on the river this weekend!
Chris
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