Posted on Leave a comment

Two Weekends Two Canyons

Cheesman Morning

The last two weekends I have fished the same river but in two different canyons. The first was Eleven Mile Canyon. I had never fished that section of the South Platte before, but wanted to give it a whirl because I had heard the fishing is usually pretty decent there. And what I had heard was correct. The flows were low and the river was crystal clear. I was able to land four nymphing with a size 20 top secret midge in the morning and one with a comparadun dry in the afternoon. The only frustration came when a nice BWO hatch went off and the damn fish were refusing my flies! I saw several fish swim up to my flies and turn away in disgust. I’m not quite sure if it was my line or my fly or what, but it sure was hard to be rejected so many times.

This last weekend we headed to Cheesman Canyon. I have fished here several times and every time I am captivated by the beauty of this fishery. Don’t get me wrong Eleven Mile is also pretty, but there is something about Cheesman. Maybe it’s because there is not a road along the river. Or maybe it’s because you have to hike in and work a little to get to fishing. In any case, it’s a great place to be. As always there were a ton fish to be caught. And as always, they were tough to catch. After hiking around and getting rigged up and fishing a bit with no action I decided to climb up on some boulders and see if I could locate some fish. I happened upon a nice pool with probably ten nicely sized trout. I was able to land one out of that pool and hooked up with four more. Two shook free and two broke off. Not a very good batting average, but it was still a fun time.

For some sweet fishing and amazing scenery I’d definitely recommend checking out one of the canyons of The South Platte. Stay Fly.

Pretty sweet spot next to a canyon wall – Eleven Mile

Esteban with a Colorado shirt and a Colorado brew – Eleven Mile

Slap me some fin – Eleven Mile

Stayin’ fly with a brown trout – Eleven Mile

Sweet view – Cheesman

A great morning in Colorado with one of my brown buddies – Cheesman

Posted on Leave a comment

Pre-Spring Fly Fishing

On Sunday we went out to the only mountain river I have been to this winter, the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon. The good news is that I was able to use my new rod and reel and try out some streamers I tied up. The bad news is that I need to learn how to use these big ole flies. I know that tiny midges are usually the name of the game in this heavily-fished tailwater, but I wanted to try my luck with streamers for a couple of reasons. Number one, I just got a new Redington CPX rod with the Lamson Konic reel and wanted to fish with the new set up. It’s fun using new gear, right?? Number two, the last time I went to Cheesman, I went with my buddies Jason and Esteban and Jason caught a couple using Rapalas. So I thought, “I’ll just tie up some streamers and slay ’em!” WRONG. Those fish saw my streamers and (in an English accent) were like “This old chap has to be mad. We are a civilized bunch. We don’t eat fillet o’ fish. We eat caviar and petite midges.” Needless to say I didn’t have a bite. How did Jason and Esteban do you ask? Esteban also got a case of the skunk flu. And of course Jason, with his trusty Rapala, was able to bring in two nice browns.

My shirt didn’t help my skunk.
Me And My Skunk

Jason likes to show off.
Jason's Brown

Posted on Leave a comment

Ain’t no fun if the homies don’t catch none

I went out to the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon with my buddies Esteban and Jason over the weekend. We chose Cheesman because it’s one of the few places to fish during the winter here in Colorado. It was an abnormally warm January day. The high was in the low 50s! Cheesman is already a tough place to fish, but the winter makes it even tougher because you have to use tiny little midges and if your fly isn’t real close the trout won’t budge. And Sunday was even tougher because the water wasn’t as clear as normal, making it difficult to sight fish. So needless to say, I was skunked. I had one hit, but couldn’t set the hook. And wouldn’t you know, Jason was able to catch two. What was his secret you ask? He was using a Rapala!

On the hike back Jason was drinking a beer and when he got to the last of his it he poured it out and we were like “what the heck are you doing?” He said it was just the foam. Then Esteban said he was pouring it out for his homies who didn’t catch any fish. It reminded me of the Snoop song, “It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.” And even though his homies didn’t catch none, it was still fun being out on the water. Stay fly.

Fly tying the night before.

It looked and felt like spring.

Jason with his second brown.

Posted on 1 Comment

The Fourth Time’s the Charm

There are a few sayings that go along with my fly fishing outing to the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon on Saturday. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” “persistence pays off” and “the third time’s the charm.” It was actually my fourth time to Cheesman and a quite satisfying time it was.

The first few trips to Cheesman Canyon were either alone or with my buddy Esteban. This time Esteban and my other buddy Jason came along for the adventure. All week we explained to Jason how tricky the fishing was and that the trout were very particular in that stretch of the South Platte. We didn’t want him to have high expectations of catching a bunch of the nicely sized trout that call Cheesman their home.

The morning temperature when we arrived was a brisk 21 degrees and surprisingly enough, the parking lot had just one other car in it. We bundled up, grabbed our gear, and headed up over the mountain and down to the river. When we got down to the river Jason went downstream just a little with his spinning gear and lures. Myself and Esteban fished on either side of the river with our fly rods.

Probably not even a half hour in we started seeing just a few fish eating off the top. It was still quite cold and I couldn’t see what they were eating so I switched to a midge pattern, Matt’s Midge. After only a few cast’s, wham fish on!! The previous three times visiting Cheesman I was skunked. This was the first time that I even had a fish on the line and let me tell you I was quite excited! All I had to do was net him. I played him for a little bit and slowly eased him in and when he was about four feet away he got off the hook. So frustrating!!! When you go to Cheesman to fly fish you generally have to use small flies and light tippet. So once you get the fishy to take your fly, the next challenge is netting him. You have to be gentle and take your time, otherwise your line will break or the hook will wiggle free.

There were still fish rising here and there so I dried off my fly and tried again in the same vicinity, but closer to a big boulder. Several casts later I had another one on my line. This one didn’t stay on the line very long because he swam to the other side of the giant rock and when I attempted to guide him back towards me he managed to unhook himself. Two fish on and none landed. I wondered if I would ever catch a fish here.

After the early action we moved upstream a little ways and didn’t have much luck. We met back up with Jason and wouldn’t you know it he caught two nice bows during the same time I lost my two fish. That lucky SOB! First time to Cheesman and he get’s two right off the bat.

We all moved upstream even more to a nice looking spot. The sun had been shining down for a little while now and a hatch was starting to go off. The fish were rising everywhere. I still had my Matt’s Midge on so I tried that for a bit, but that was the wrong fly. I could see the trout weren’t interested. I switched over to a size 22 comparadun and immediately that got the attention of these feasting fish. It took three strikes before I was able to hook one, but when I did I told myself this guy is not getting away! After several minutes of play and slowly bringing this fool in I got my net out and attempted to net him, but I couldn’t quite reach. I didn’t want to risk it so I handed my net over to Jason and quickly got the fish safely in my possession. Finally, I have caught a fish at Cheesman! The saying goes that “If you can catch a fish in Cheesman Canyon, you can catch a fish anywhere.” Looks like my next stop is anywhere.

Posted on Leave a comment

Three Skunks and You’re Out

This past weekend I went to the famed Cheesman Canyon to fly fish the South Platte River. For the third time this year I saw many large trout and also for the third time this year I was skunked in the Canyon! It’s quite frustrating to see so many beautiful fish ignore what you are offering. Even though I didn’t catch anything, it was still nice to be out on the water.

It’s hard to see, but in that clear water there is a fish that was unwilling to cooperate.

The weather was just about perfect on Sunday.

My buddy Esteban before he knew he would have to hold up a giant boulder on the hike back.

That rock is larger than a house.

Check out the close up. He was not really holding up the boulder.

Posted on Leave a comment

Today was a good day

[imagebrowser id=10]

Yesterday a buddy and I headed to the famed South Platte river in Cheesman Canyon. This section of the South Platte is a very popular fishery because of the beautiful scenery, large trout and the proximity to Denver (just an hour drive). The downside to being so popular is the pickiness of the trout. I have read on many fishing websites and blogs that say “if you can catch a trout in Cheesman, you can catch one anywhere.” By using this logic, I cannot state with confidence that I can catch a trout anywhere.

Yesterday I was skunked. No hits, no fish on, no trout breaking off. This was my first trip to the canyon and I learned firsthand how particular these fish are.  Before I went I read all the blogs, all the shop tips, everything I could on how to catch one of these finicky fishies. For the first hour or so I didn’t see any fish, but once the sun peaked over the canyon walls we finally saw a nice looking trout just chillin in a somewhat shallow run. I casted my stonefly with a top secret midge trailing to him several times and he was not interested. I then tried to get a little closer to get some video but that scared him off.

We continued up stream searching for some more fish. We found this deep pool that had two pretty good size trout just hanging out.  I was excited to get another crack. Maybe that previous fish already had breakfast. So I cast my rig right over the top a bunch of times. Nothing. Not even a flinch. I began switching flies to find something they might want. I tried the stonefly, top secret midge, zebra midge, red brassie, rs2, griffith’s gnat. And my buddy, who is not a fly fisherman and just came to hang out, had is spinning rod with him and tried a couple lures just to see if they would even look at it. Nothing. We offered everything but a steak dinner to these trout and they were completely disinterested.  It was a little frustrating to watch fish completely ignore the flies that are put right in front of their faces!

At this point we were getting hungry and decided to call it a day. We hiked back to the car packed up our gear and headed back to town. On the way home we talked about how crazy and frustrating it was to be ignored by those picky little fish! While driving I saw a sign that read “Today is a good day.” And I thought to myself “even though we didn’t catch those fish, today WAS a good day!”