February, 2005

2/2:  A short break between ski school bookings allowed the dog & I a quick trip to Glenwood for a few hours on the water today.  Our timing, as seems to constantly be the case, was not great again.  Bitterly cold overnight temperatures made even a late morning setup on the Frying Pan almost more painful than is worth describing.  Despite being a tailwater stream flow ice was everywhere on the lower river until well after the noon hour.

We continued driving towards the dam in hopes of finding somewhat warmer water conditions and finally found a short stretch that was sunny & pretty much ice free.  It didn't matter much as only a single dumb eight inch rainbow came to the #20 red serendipity.  

Downstream as the air warmed somewhat pickings did improve a bit, and each hole we tried gave up 2-3 rainbows and browns - nothing big - all in the 12 inch +/- range.  Fish seemed to prefer the little red larva fly, but a #22 RS-2 and #24 glass bead black larva brought some strikes as well.

Best fishing of the day was a long pool on the Roaring Fork just below Basalt where a handful of browns & rainbows took advantage of the little RS-2 and a gold bead head red larva.  Same size range, but I did hook & lose a couple of 14-15 inch fish in the same area.  Last catch of the day was a similar sized brown from the big hole above the Sunlight Bridge just after the sun left the water and the hands froze to the point that further casting became impossible.

Last Logbook Entry  � for previous days.

2/24:  Too much ski teaching and too few days off have made for a long, dry fishing spell this month.  But with a day off and decent weather in the offing, the dog suggested we try a bit of casting on the Colorado near State Bridge.  As the Eagle was running quite free of ice, we hoped the Colorado would be in similar condition - but unfortunately that turned out not to be the case.

A fierce downstream wind was howling and flow ice was everywhere when we hit the water.  Even the stream was completely iced over in several places.  Changing to a bugger setup I walked downstream casting for a half mile or so with zero results.  Rather than continue this wasted time we drove back to Wolcott and then down to the Eagle lease water.  What a difference 20 miles makes.  The sun was out, temperature was pleasant, and the wind was neutral or slightly upstream.

We walked downstream a half mile still casting the bugger and had not a hint of a strike.  Visions of skunks danced through my head as we turned around at the bottom of the hike and changed rigs.

Although the flow is quite low now, the water was slightly off color which allowed for 5X tippet.  Tied on a #18 prince at the end and a weighted # 12 stone up above and used that setup the rest of the afternoon on the way back upstream.

No strikes whatsoever for the first 400 yards.  Then about two thirds of the way up a long, medium depth run, I finally caught a nice rainbow on the prince.  Then another and another and another.  The fishing actually was crazy.  For whatever reason the trout had gathered in a narrow band no more than ten feet long in this part of the pool and were hitting anything that came by them.

In no more than fifteen minutes I'd released eight or nine rainbows between 10-15 inches and played or lost an equal number.

The next and last pool above here was more of a struggle as I missed a good half dozen strikes before releasing a bedraggled seven inch brown and then his brighter, thirteen inch older brother.  At the end I played and "long released" a rainbow that was well North of sixteen inches.

It turned out to be a decent day overall.  The fish are clearly getting more in a spring feeding mode, so March should be a great month to get out on the water.

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