Looking for New Places - 5/1/2010

Alyssa, Matt and I decided that it was time to explore some new fly fishing territories this weekend. While reading the book "Fly Fishing Colorado's Front Range" by Todd Hosman, we selected two locations, Middle Boulder Creek and St Vrain Creek.

Canyon Blvd follows Middle Boulder Creek relatively close making this destination very accessible. However, we ended up passing on this spot due to the low water conditions and the crowds surrounding the only viable fishing areas. We started at noon which is really what created this problem for us.

Second was Vrain Creek. This is a great spot. This is a very beautiful location and camping areas are closed currently adding to the seclusion of the stream. The only problem was that there were no fish. This is a higher elevation and casting is very challenging due to low hanging brush and trees. I searched the local bug life and discovered lots of midge and caddis under nearly every rock. I feel that the water temperatures and the recent flow in this area have not allowed sufficient enough time for fish populations to return after the winter.  We will revisit this location in another month.

Well, so much for new locations!  We realized that we were very close to Estes Park so made our way to a nice pool that I discovered last week.  Fishing was still a little slow due to the fact that water temperatures were very low, but after some trial and error, I discovered the right pattern combination and water level and started to pull in some nice trout.