You can contact Dennis at: DSmith7136@msn.com

 

       

    Here it is barely June and our freestone creeks and streams are already gushing with above normal, chocolate-colored flows. Early spring rains and a few record breaking warm days in succession brought on an earlier-than-usual snow melt and the resultant high water. The Poudre was raging along at an impressive 1600 cfs in late May while the Big T was reporting flows topping 350 cfs. That has since dropped to 175 cfs, still a bit rough for delicate dry fly fishing or drifting tiny nymphs, but right where I like it for banging the banks with the big hairy stuff - sculpin patterns and oversized dry flies. 

     Runoff usually triggers a sudden interest in stillwater fly fishing too. In the past few weeks my friends and I managed to float both warm and cold water lakes chucking leeches, midges and various wet flies for - well, anything with fins. A day on Dixon Reservoir produced some fair action for bluegills, pumpkinseeds, largemouth bass and crappies - which is to say we caught some of each, but none with any real consistency. The ‘gills weren’t on their beds yet, but we did find some staging on the deep-water side of the weed lines. That pattern held pretty much the same for the crappies and bass. We caught most of them on small rabbit-hair leeches trailed by red midge larvae imitations. I suspect that by the time this hits print, you’ll be able to take them on top water flies and lures.

     I also caught a few carp on leech patterns while patrolling the banks of a local farm pond, a 17-inch sucker on a deeply-twitched nymph in a mountain lake, a nice, fat rainbow on a crawdad pattern in South Delaney, and had a golden day (well, actually a golden hour-and-a-half) on Parvin lake when a hatch came off late in the afternoon and the fly I was fishing turned out to be a pretty good match for the rust colored midges that were popping up.

    I’m delighted to say the “magic” fly was a little (size 16) soft hackled wet of my own design tied with a dyed turkey biot body and cock bobwhite breast hackle. The fish took it aggressively and repeatedly. I fished it just below the surface, so I assume they took it for the emerging pupae.

     Swallows and dragonflys had a field day skimming adult midges from the surface and, in turn, a pair of ospreys used the occasion to snatch trout that were gorging on the insects from below. I was capitalizing on the situation for the same reason.

    I guess I hadn’t given it much thought before, but it dawned on me while casting to those rising trout that I was suddenly a chance participant in a life and death drama that’s played out in the wild on an almost daily basis: dragonflys and swallows prey on emerging insects from above while trout attack them from below; ospreys kill and eat the trout attracted by the hatching insects, and fishermen try to catch those same feeding trout by casting flies to them that mimic the emerging bugs.

     It cost me - and millions of others like me  - a lot of money  in rods, reels, lines, belly boats, waders, flies, fly tying  materials, fishing licenses, vehicles, fuel and so on, to fish for those trout - all of which goes to help feed, clothe and house designers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers,  oil field workers, government employees, etc., etc. It occurred to me that, in the grand scheme of things, these silly little bugs are worth a fortune. But then, you probably already knew that.

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- Dennis

Dennis Smith is an Outdoor Writer and Photographer. His articles and photos have appeared in numerous outdoor publications, catalogs and newspapers. Dennis can be reached at (970) 669-6074. Want to know more about Dennis?

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