October, 1999
10/6-10/11: Click here to review a bass trip to Lake Powell and some trout casting in Southern Colorado - or try here to review September's Log.
10/13: For the first 20 casts today on the Eagle that brought five fish to hand I thought I was a genius. But after that rapid success it took at least 400 more casts to get the next half dozen fish. Such is life on the river. Beautiful sunny day and no wind made for a wonderful outing. The same rig we used near Durango started out working great here as well. (It's that dry yellow terrestrial trailed by a small bead head caddis emerger). All but one of the first few fish took the bead head.
Upstream after no further success, I changed to a #20 RS-2 trailer fished four feet sunk behind the dry fly and had several strikes by nice fish but missed all of them. It's interesting that the fish seem to more aggressively take the bead head fly, but are much more subtle with their takes of the mayfly simulation. If the weather holds, we'll have to try the Eagle again tomorrow.
10/15: With six inches of snow scheduled for the area tonight, common sense suggested making at least a few last casts prior to that enforced temporary hibernation. So on the way back from Wal-Mart, I stopped at a nice big pool below Dowd Junction on the Eagle. Went back to the original double fly rig of a #14 terrestrial trailed four feet by a little bead head caddis.
It worked wonderfully well. The first six browns were split evenly between the surface fly and the nymph and all the later fish took the surface fly. Somewhat surprising that situation - since the wind was howling and cottonwood leaves littered the water. Ordinarily you would suspect that grasshoppers were being blown into the water, but that was not the case today. The fish simply were looking around for anything they could find to eat. Finished the hour & a half of casting by landing a beautiful 14" cutthroat. It will be a few days before things warm up again.
10/17: Fishing's getting very tough. A quick trip to Glenwood and an hour of casting at one of our favorite runs on the Roaring Fork brought only two fish to hand - one three pound whitey and a nice 14" rainbow. Not much to show for that much work. Both fish took a tiny #20 BWO RS-2 fished right on the bottom. Suspect we're getting near fake egg time too.
10/21: Happily the stupidity of one fifteen inch rainbow helped me avoid a skunk today on the Eagle. That's not much success for two hours of casting however. Clearly the fish are going through the late fall transition period. Nighttime temperatures are in the teens which is causing a steep slowdown in the fish's bodily functions - including feeding. Unless we get a prolonged warm spell, the deep holes & runs will be where our friends are hiding until spring runoff.
I wasted most of my time throwing a gold bead head generic caddis through the medium depth runs & riffles which was all wrong. After shifting to a couple of bottom riding red midge/egg type patterns there were a few tentative, but decent strikes before this sluggish rainbow came to hand. May try to get over on the middle Colorado before the weekend.
10/22: Some comments on a drive to the Upper Colorado can be found here. It's not worth reading if you're looking for a fish story.
10/23: Slightly better luck on the Eagle on another gorgeous day. It took a couple of stops at favorite runs, but I finally got to touch four rainbows and one nice cutthroat. Not even a midge was visible in the air, but a combination nymph rig of tiny scintilla egg fly trailed by a #20 black winged RS-2 did the trick. It's tough fishing.
10/26: The fishing isn't getting any easier, although the weather is fabulous. All four fish today on the Eagle took one or the other of the same combination of flies as above. Actually I went with a three fly setup for a while, using a large green buggy fly as a strike indicator, and I did miss one strike late in the afternoon. Tomorrow hope to try that nice stretch near the Gypsum Ponds.
10/27: Found a couple of nice new runs to try - next summer - just above the Ponds stretch of the Eagle, but fishing was pretty much a disaster again. Hooked only one fish, albeit a very large one. He or she just got into my backing and I finally brought this large (est. 20-22 inches) within the leader from the tip of my rod before it released from one of those tiny barbless egg flies.
Last Logbook Entry � for previous days.
10/31: Sue & I gave it the old college try again on the Eagle before the Bronco's game today. Across from the Diamond S ranch house we found nice water but neither of us had so much as a strike. On the way back to Vail we stopped below Dowd Junction and there the activity was a bit better. Had on or released a half dozen smallish browns. One actually took the dry fly that was acting as a strike indicator, and the others preferred the #20 scintilla egg fly.
Home, Main Fishing Page, Stream Flows, , 1998 Archives, Eagle River Access, Local Ten Commandments, Successful Fly Patterns, Search For Something