Tag: south platte river

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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

Canyon Wall

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

Colorado Shirt with Beer

Slap me some fin – Eleven Mile

Slap me some fin

Stayin’ fly with a brown trout – Eleven Mile

Stay Fly with Brown

Sweet view – Cheesman

Cheesman Morning

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

Colorado Shirt with Brown

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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

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

Cheesman

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.

Matt's Midge

It looked and felt like spring.

Cheesman

Jason with his second brown.

Jason with his Brown

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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.

Crystal Clear Water

The weather was just about perfect on Sunday.

South Platter River

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

Esteban

That rock is larger than a house.

Giant Boulder

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

Giant Boulder Closeup
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Today was a good day

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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!”