January 1, 2016 Eagles and Fishing
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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
