Nate Sipples: Meandering Trickle Blog

Just a quick note.  I wanted to encourage you guys to check out a buddies blog back in the Midwest. Nate has been fishing and guiding these waters for years and offers very practical and beneficial information. Take a look and make sure you check out Tight Lines Fly Fishing CO. as well. Meandering Trickle
Tight Lines Fly Fishing CO.

One of Nate's clients with a beautiful Wisconsin late season brown!

Tight Lines,

A.J.

South Platte: Patience Pays Off By: Zac Hill

The South Platte River provides some of the most accessible, and beautiful trout habitat in all of Colorado.  This river excites, and frustrates beginners and pros alike.  I have found that this treasure does give up big fish in the winter months.  Your effectiveness is going to be based on the details of tail water fishing.  These reminders will help you get started, or challenge you to tighten up your game. Remember fish don’t want to be caught.

     First, pick a stretch of water that you can fish for 4 hours.  This does not require a mile of stream.  Fifty, to sixty yards of water should suffice.  The purpose of this is to locate fish in this section, and work the water thoroughly.  Too many fishers rush from run to run and then wonder why the results are mixed.  Slow and steady is the key to the Platte.   Fish are going to hold in water that is deeper than the normal bottom.  The old freestone runs still exist and fish prefer to use them where available.  You can get away with bigger flies in these sections.  Rubber legged hare’s ears and small stone nymphs in fourteens are great lead flies. Dropping flies like RS-2’s and Ju Ju midges or baetis are also great.  Many flies will do.  If you have fish in your run and they are not taking your flies, change them!  Variety is the spice of fishing.

     The real key is to achieve a dead drift scenario to help these flies work.  Practice your drifting techniques by mending your line behind a strike indicator to match the speed of the water.  I have seen countless fisher man standing in prime water wasting that spot by poor drifting.  If you need help contact any fly shop, they are here to help.  Working a good stretch of water should take you hours.  Fish can be anywhere.  Take the time to fish the water that isn’t your favorite.  Even, if you get out of your comfort zone.  Learn by doing. 

     Watch for fish visually.  Take a slow walk along the waters edge and observe trout.  I catch a lot of fish that I have scared first.  When you spook a fish from its feeding spot remember where it was.  Better yet, just stand still and wait patiently.  It will surprise you how fast they come back to where they just were!  Fish have favorite spots.  When they feel it is safe, they will come right back to that spot.  You can scare all the fish in the run, if you want.  Just remember where they were! 

     Finally just get out there and try.  The Platte is not magical and it doesn’t hate you.  It has been expertly fished by the whole world.  A few shaky outings is just the learning curve on a tough stream.  The rewards can be awesome.  This stream does hold big fish.  I recently went to fish the Platte a few weeks ago on a whim.  I caught five fish in about five hours.  Doesn’t seem great, until I tell you four of them were over twenty inches.  The best a twenty two inch rainbow, calmly took a size twenty RS-2 drifted perfectly by his nose.  Oh, and by the way, it was drift thirty three I think it was.  Good things come to those who put the work in.  Trial and error is a fine way to learn. 

Tight Lines,

Zac

Challenge Accepted

Releasing a great Blue River rainbow!

This rainbow ate a size 24 blue poison tongue variation that I tie.

Greg with the nicest fish of the day!

As most western anglers know, the true challenge of trout fishing can come in the dead of winter. Due to colder water temps and unpredictable weather in the Front Range of Colorado, the available tail-water fisheries can challenge any angler. Greg and I spent a cold December day chasing some beautiful tail-water rainbows.
The Blue River in Silverthorne, CO offers some of the most challenging trout fishing in Colorado. With water becoming limited due to low flows, we hoped to apply our site fishing techniques that naturally develop while guiding in R.M.N.P.  The drive from Estes to Silverthorne gives you enough time to drink plenty of coffee, while discussing the days tactics and game plan pursuit of these "highly fished" waters.
I like to be one of the first anglers on the river. Although temps can rarely enter the double digits before 9 a.m., its always beneficial to get the polarized glasses on with hopes of spotting some nice red-sided rainbows. At this point in the year, the hope is that we can truly "hunt" some of these big fish. We rarely blind cast, and often we work a spotted fish until we dial in what their eating on.  I'm a firm believer in setting yourself up for success. Many anglers don't have the patience to work a fish for 20-40 minutes.  That being said, our patience truly allowed for us to have  a great day on the water. Having fished the Blue over the last five years, I've had some high number days, but never hooked and landed as many big fish as we did. Before the regular lunch break at a local burrito joint, we both had landed about three fish that were considered "above average" for the Blue.

These fish were found in groups of 2-4, sitting in slightly faster water, while feeding about 6-8 inches from the bottom of the river bed. Using a tungsten lead fly, with a #6 non-toxic split truly got the flies down quick. Without a strong midge hatch occurring its always important to get the flies down fast and in line with where the fish are holding.  Strong movement towards flies can be limited this time of year due to water temps and low flows. The 7X fluoro did its job, and we were encouraged that these trout were willing to eat our bugs. From dead drift streamers, to sz. 26 midge pupas, we felt very encouraged with our results.  As fly anglers, the joy of getting out should precede the amount of hook-ups, but once in a while you just stick em!

Getting to fish with a fellow guide is always a positive experience.  We always learn something new, with the hopes of getting to come back and try it all over again! Thanks Greg for a great day of fishing and friendship.

Tight Lines,

A.J.