Spring On The Front Range ~ Hiking Blodgett And Fishing Cheeseman Canyon 05Apr26-06Apr26

Kala On Blodgett Open Space... Kala & I hiked around in Blodgett Open Space yesterday. We had a great outing on a nice day. It was an initial decent jaunt of '26 for Kala "Some Knees." We were pleased to be out and high above COS. The pines and firs are dropping mad amounts of cones/seeds this spring, as they do in drought conditions, "c'mon cones make more tiny trees, it's tough right now."

DC Fishing Cheesman Canyon... I headed out to Cheeseman solo today; it wasn't for lack of offering the CoWWs, it just happens that way. Cheeseman Canyon is a notoriously technical section of the S Platte river; it's the effluent of Cheeseman Rez, so a tailwater. I arrived 9:15am and was the 20th car at the Gill Trailhead leading into the canyon. More followed me so that's something. It's a strong 2.5mi hike in to the best fishing.

I fished lower in the canyon but did jack till ~2.2mi in where I could target feeding fish in spite of the flows increasing to 120cfs recently. Most productive was where DD first took me in this canyon years ago... ok, his guide took us. I caught several fish but the great cutbow got off at my net, shitty form DC ~ prob 18'-20" cutbow who then took off again 60 yds upstream and wrapped around a huge rock to break off. Else, 'bows and a brown of lesser stature on Barr's emerger & Cheeseman emerger (in the PM) and Awesome midge and JuJu midge in the late AM. OK outing but plenty of fish blew me off when hitting them on the nose... I used a #18 oil can Perdigon as weight and I sensed they saw me coming. Too, my hip flexors are blowing up this year ~ tire and get sore "quickly" ~ rue the day of the "bowling injury" and ER visit.

Any day catching fish on this tricky tailwater is a good day but they should'a been bigger in the pics.

Fun In The Sun On The Run ~ Couple Of Hours In 11 Mile Canyon 26Mar25

I returned to the Front Range today via Lk George and headed up 11 Mile Canyon to fish the S Platte. It was a gorgeous day and 47 other carloads of fishermen thought so too. I didn't hit the water till about noon and left at 2:30pm. Flows were down to 65cfs, which didn't seem good either. I caught a number of smaller 16"-17" fish including a brown and cutbows. The emerger midge worked best but I actually saw a BWO on the water and added that for a while.

Season Starter In 11 Mile Canyon ~ Huge Fish Day, Almost 13Mar25

I headed out to fish the South Platte in 11 Mile Canyon and arrived @ 10am on a crisp & chilly 45° day. I counted 20 cars on the way up the road to the final bridge. I loaded new Ghost Bomber with money midges and maroon PopTops I tied last night and set off. I could see plenty of fish but didn't even get a strike till afternoon. The water was cold but the fish seemed active; many were doing spawn stuff. Ultimately at 1:30pm, the bite came on as I was making my way back to the car to bail. I started catching fish above the hot corner then did plenty right at the hot corner. I caught a half doz fish in the span of just an hour!

It was a great hour except when I hooked into a huge ~24" 5#er and fought for about 10mins. I had him close to net on several occasions but he'd go on another run. He ultimate got downstream of me, but I kept up, and was headed for a party of fishermen in the hole below the hot corner. All were watching the match between me and the chunkster; a woman from the party chose to "help" with her big net but attempted to scoop from the tail side... when he splashed she hit my line and he and my rig were gone. Bummer. Kind of a reminder to do your own netting, not knowing the skills of others.

Stopped at Trinity on the way home and got a gift for Scott... maybe it was about my lost fish too.

Stellar Day In 11 Mile With Yoho 24Apr24

Jim & I made a mostly last minute fly fishing trip to the S Platte in 11 Mile Canyon. The PT is still raging 700cfs so we altered out target. It was a gorgeous day, though the sun brought the pollen out heavily. We arrived pretty early and were fishing by 9am but the water was cold and fishing was slow till 10:30am or so. Too, despite early arrival, there were already 25 cars in the canyon and key spots up top were already occupied. From 11am to 3pm, when we finally quit, fishing was awesome. We even saw a mayfly hatch about 2pm and we caught our 1st fish of the year on mayflies in the canyon and Jim caught risers on a dry. Else the best bugs for me were the cinnamon colored midges and the bigger slabs hit the milking salmon egg I use as attractor. I even caught a couple on the oil can Perdigon in the faster water in the PM. Whoa what a great day out there. I haven't recently counted so closely but at the end the day I'd landed 20 nice cutbows mostly 16"-18" with the largest just 19", but all were very healthy, including some nice colorful slabs. The Rodfather Diamond Blaze served mightily. No brownies though. Plenty of activity on the spawning redds... I observed one guy looting the redds and while I thought to chastise, I didn't.

We stopped at Red Leg to commemorate, dine, and enjoy the vibe there. The Lobstah Shack dinner was very good. Thanks Jim.

How's The Fishing? What Are The Trends? 17Jan22

I spent some time diving on data from electrofishing sampling done by CPW and their counterparts in Wyoming and Montana. I'm interested in whether the seeming increase in person-fishing-days from the pandemic has impacted fish populations. I also wonder if global warming, which seemingly is forcing lower flows and warmer waters, is impacting fishing in the Rockies. I couldn't get to my pandemic questions because recent data hasn't been posted or analyzed. I was able to understand some longer term trends though. First off, brown trout populations are declining across the Rockies! There may be some bigger fish but the younger populations especially are in decline. I have clearly personally seen this occur on the Arkansas (more later). The head of Montana's FPW Fisheries gave a talk to the Westslope TU chapter HERE and it's concerning.

I am most interested in Colorado conditions and trends and while there's little uniformity in data collection or reporting processes across our drainages, I could dive on information from some of the more popular spots. Before describing declines I should mention that the South Platte seems generally holding strong. It has many impoundments and therefore a lot of tailwaters. Here are snippets from home waters like Deckers, Cheeseman and the Dream Stream. They don't sample in 11 Mile Canyon but I fish it regularly and sense it is relatively similar to these results.

I should also say that the Colorado River, for much of it's length, is still very strong... gotta get there more. Strangely while all of Summit Co drains into the Colorado I don't fish it often due to its size. Also strangely, while I typically will hit the Williams Fk a half dozen times a year, I didn't even go at all in '21 ~ this due to the very low flows for much of the year.

Now for some not-so-good news. The freestone Arkansas fishery is in some decline. It is mainly a wild brown river and the biomass in the river has substantially declined over the past decade - especially below Coaldale. The Big Bend and headwaters sections seem to be holding a bit better. Overall the long term trend is a decline in brown trout.

Further downstream is another home water, the Pueblo Tailwater section. My personal feeling is that the fishing there is not nearly as good as it once was ~ and  the data somewhat bears that out. Note here that the Upper is the Valco Ponds/State Park area, Restricted is the Nature Center run, and that Lower is below the NC toward town. The data is mixed and tough here as population by size/length wasn't provided, nor was biomass, and the Upper is stocked every year. Browns aren't as prevalent in tailwaters, especially here,  so we can't observe that mega-trend.

Finally, the Blue River headwaters above Lake Dillon show a notable decline in brown trout population and biomass. It may be due to the significant building in the Breckenridge area but still... not good.

So, I'm generalizing but strictly as to fishing, our tailwaters are holding stronger as fisheries than our freestones. Unfortunately data from the Taylor River isn't available since 2016 and there's nothing new enough on the Gunny or Pan either but the old data already demonstrated some browns in decline on teh Gunnison. The exceptions might be Clear Ck and the Rio Grande, but again the data is a bit old - gotta get out to Creede and South Fork again this year. I don't know why but CPW has a lot more data on lakes than on our  rivers.

 

 

Middle Fk Of S Platte Above Spinney - New To Me 17May20

On my way back to the Front Range I stopped above Spinney Rez on the Middle Fk of the S Platte to fish. Greg mentioned it was less crowded and it mostly was so. I caught a number of smallish browns like this ~12"er on Iron Sally and BHFBPT. It's a small stream and fishes here much like Tomahawk - also the color was a bit off. I decided not to take the bridge to cross the river. I moved down to the Dream Stream in the PM but it was mobbed so I headed on back to Colo Spgs.

River Basins' Snowpack Update 27Feb18

As to our season's snowpack buildup... while we've gotten a few storms through the northern part of the state recently, the southern counties are still struggling mightily. Now, while this isn't good for skiing or long term health of river systems, sometimes it's not bad for fishing in the given year. I recall fondly 2012's modest snowpack and associated runoff making fishing on the Ark outstanding and wadable almost all year. In the graphs below I show the Ark now and in 2012 as well. Still, all things being considered, one hopes for good snowpack, rational runoff, and enough water for skiing, fishing and children for generations. We are currently well below median snowpack buildup for February in all major river systems though the So Platte is in decent shape. Summit County feeds the Colorado. RMNP has received decent snow and feeds mainly the So Platte. Forecast for achieving the peak is anybody's guess as we still get a lot of snow in March and April - but the early March forecast is not epic.