You can contact Dennis at: DSmith7136@msn.com
May is here and like everyone else I’m looking forward to dry fly fishing on the Big T and the Poudre, but my interest has also been spiked by a number of trout tales coming out of North Park - Lake John and The Delaney Buttes Lakes to be precise.
The tales center around a late season ice fisherman pulling 18 to 20-inch rainbows with a fair amount of regularity through what remains of the ice pack on those sagebrush lakes. He also reports a four-pound plus rainbow and a 26-inch Snake River cutt that weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces. The interesting part is that he’s catching these fish on tiny scud patterns, immature damsel fly nymphs, midge larvae and sundry other fly fishing minutia; not Power Bait, airplane jigs, Kastmaster spoons or Jake’s Spin-a-lures tipped with meal worms, bacon fat or a six-inch slab of frozen sucker meat.
Neither are these your typical, Oh-My-God fish stories from some over-enthusiastic hard-water shop rat who lucked into a couple of random pigs; they’re legitimate, hands-on reports from a man I know to be an accomplished angler, fly tier and citizen of unquestionable integrity - one of the few I know who still ties his own Breadcrust nymphs from red phase Ruffed Grouse tails he collects, splits and cures himself. In short, he’s no bull thrower, and - having fished the high sagebrush lakes for longer than some of us have been alive - he knows whereof he speaks. His word is Golden.
He’s also willing to share his knowledge - or at least some of it - with fellow anglers, though I’ve noticed many are skeptical that he actually catches monster trout through the ice on fly-fishing gear, which is understandable. They must think he chain saws a forty-foot slot in the ice and fishes his nymphs on a sink tip line trolled through the crevice or some such, but of course that’s foolish. He’s simply extremely familiar with the bottom structure of the lakes, and positively anal about matching the size, color and behavior of the insects he mimics with his carefully tied flies. Naturally, he also spends an inordinate amount of time on the water (and ice).
The encouraging thing is that he consistently hooks trout up there all year long - big trout, on flies, rain or shine, on ice or open water. And if you learn to read the lakes, pay strict attention to the insects and put your time in, you can do it too. Just don’t bring a chain saw.
- 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?