Independence Weekend

July 1, 2016[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”18″ gal_title=”friday 4th of july weekend”]

Happy 4th of July weekend my friends!! Chef Chris here with your morning conditions report.  Woke up this morning with a little fog in the valley with 50% humidity. Temperatures are in the low 70’s already and it’s looking like we’re going to have spotty showers throughout the day. The Trumbull station recorded a flow of 335 (cfs) this morning, and 238 (cfs) at the Cheesman dam. The clarity is a little off this morning below some of the feeder creeks, but clears up nicely as you go a little further downstream.  I walked this morning from Trumbull to Decker’s and along the Y-camp road. I saw several fish rising at the Decker’s bridge area and also by the Lone Rock Campground.  Be sure to make your reservations early for Lone Rock Campground by connecting to the reservations link located on the “things to do page” I fished yesterday between “Hole in the Wall” and the second Decker’s bridge. I was fishing with a friend who pulled a nice 16″ brown on a bead-headed pheasant tail.  As we worked our way from Trumbull to Decker’s we started to see more rising fish and switched over to a dry-dropper pattern using an Amy’s Aunt, trailing a grey/tan stone fly and following up with a Split-case olive midge.  Because I have had so much success with the streamer, I will always toss a Wooley-bugger if all else seems to fail!!

While my internet was being switched over to my new residence yesterday, I took the opportunity to hike in the National Forest on the other side of the river from my house.  As we hiked the ridge about 600 feet or so above the South Platte, we came accross many different plants and wildflowers that seem to have been perfectly landscaped by “Mother Nature” herself.  As we continued on our path towards Decker’s, we came accross a wash-out area, that after further inspection revealed several nice pieces of smoky quartz and a few other gemstones.  The South Platte river valley is a popular area for gemstone hunting along with several areas where gold panning is still a popular activity. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I took yesterday while hiking and I look forward to sharing more of my adventures with you daily.. Have a great day and remember!! Take a kid fishing.

 

Chef Chris