May, 1999

4/26 - 5/2: With a pool level of 3677 feet LAKE POWELL for our spring trip was roughly 17 feet down from last fall's.  That was the good news.   The bad news was that our cold spring in the Rockies had not allowed water temperatures to warm enough to activate the fishes desire to feed.

This combination of characteristics prevented us from having any results on bass, panfish, walleyes, or any other species that we normally enjoy catching.  The first day we arrived I landed an unusual bass double on a combo rig of gray lefty's trailed by a black wooly bugger.  The smallmouth was probably a pound & a half in weight and the largemouth a good three to four pounds.  That was it for me for the trip.   My partner had several strikes the same evening but no landings.  We were completely shut out for the next three days.  Hopefully the fall trip will see more success.

On May 3, we leave for a two week expedition to the Laguna Madre - primarily for windsurfing, but always with the annual hope for a redfish or sea trout on a surface fly.

5/4:  No fish today given a murky Colorado River by Glenwood Springs, but it's worth noting that the Mother's Day caddis hatch is already in full bloom.  Did have one strike on a bead head caddis emerger, but in all honesty, I don't have a clue how any fish could have seen the fly in the dark water.

5/20:  AS USUAL I was unsuccessful casting for redfish & sea trout in the Laguna Madre again this year.  Attempted fishing the flats near Bird Island with surface flies only and had no luck at all.  At least the local bait casters were in the same boat.  Normally they do quite well drifting shrimp below a bobber, but this season they weren't taking any fish either.  The windsurfing made up for the lousy fishing as we had wonderful breezes during our stay on the spit.  Now will begin the effort to hook up with some trout locally during the dreaded runoff period.

5/21-22:  A couple of short trips to the Gore & Eagle River by Dowd Junction produced a normal number of strikes and few landings on a standard cone head black wooly bugger.  The fish are very attracted to this fly for some reason but seem to "bat" it instead of taking it hard.  Only one rainbow and a brookie came to hand.  Both rivers are flowing at a low runoff rate and still have good clarity.  Tomorrow we venture over to the Green Mountain Reservoir tailwater for some more brown trout fishing -- and hopefully more success.

5/23:  HOPES DASHED on the Blue below Green Mountain.   This normally benign tailwater in runoff season turned murky this morning with a feeder creek blown out and ruining the best water.  We pulled out of the area after making a few test casts.  Instead of heading back to the Blue above the lake, we turned off to the left and headed up Ute Pass towards the Williams Fork Reservoir.

With high, but clear water and some pretty pools available, again we had hopes of finding a mysterious flat supposedly loaded with large rainbows on the Williams Fork Creek.  That too was not to be.  Even the best pool sections below the Henderson Mine produced only a couple of small fish on - despite a wonderful Mother's Day caddis hatch in progress.  Oh well, we had a great breakfast at the Mountain Lyon Restaurant in Silverthorne before starting the odyssey.

5/26:  With all streams blown out locally it was up to the golf course ponds off Gore Creek to provide a "fishing fix" today - and that they did.  In the half hour before the daily thunderstorm drove me to cover a 14" brown & three smaller brookies all fell prey to a #18 bead head caddis emerger fished a couple feet under the surface.  Interestingly the fish all took it when twitched fairly quickly on a hand twist retrieve as opposed to their normal pursuit of a very slowly moving critter.

Last Logbook Entry  � for previous days.

5/30-31:  Did a driving loop around Williams Fork Reservoir to see out a mysterious stretch of the upper Williams Fork Creek supposedly chock full of big rainbows.  Several side road attempts proved futile, but at least the search may be narrowed down.  Tried a bit of casting along the creek on the way towards Ute Pass without any success.  Pretty water but running very high.  Encountered one of my main pet peeves about people wanting to crowd you off the water.  Had parked along a stretch of road where anyone could see for about three miles, but sure enough, when I clambered up the bank to head on out, a Denver car had parked within a hundred feet of me and two idiots were preparing to fish the same water I just finished with.  There were no other cars visible in this long stretch of back road, so obviously either these guys thought I knew something special about the stream, or they are were simply just plain jerks who have to crowd other fishermen.  Spare us all from people like this.

Today was a bit better.  Fished the wildly flowing Eagle above Dowd Junction and had decent success yanking a brown & black wooly bugger along the bank.  Any place that looked like it might hold a fish did hold one or more.   Only landed a half dozen browns to 12" but had lots of other strikes.   The hookup rate tends to be pretty poor under these conditions, but heck, it's just great to feel a fish on from time to time.

Home, Main Fishing Page, Stream Flows, , 1998 Archives, Eagle River Access,                 Local Ten Commandments, Successful Fly Patterns, Search For Something