Birthday / Spring Fishing

It has been a long, although mild, winter for me and I am ready for some fishing.  Over the past few months, I hit a tail water once and hit a local stream once with limited success.  But Spring is starting to get some momentum here on the Front Range of Colorado.  In our yard, the grape hyacinths and periwinkle (some of our earliest spring flowers) are blooming.  I had faith that the longer, sunny days would soon warm our streams, the insects would start to hatch and the fish would return to more confident and consistent feeding.

This past weekend was my birthday weekend and I had the opportunity find out.

On Friday, I visited a Front Range creek that I have had success on and was excited to fish again.  The incredibly blue skies and warm weather along with a bump in flows due to the sunny day seemed to keep the fish interested in things other than my flies.  All I caught was a buzz and a sunburn, but what a gorgeous day.  I did check out some new water that looks like some fun pocket water for later in the summer.

Saturday started overcast and I was hopeful the change in weather and incoming cold front would have a positive impact on the fishing.  I also chose a different Front Range creek at a lower altitude.  Both the insects and the fish were more active.  Midges and blue winged olives hatched and danced along the surface of the water, as trout made splashy rises.

It took more fly changes than I would have liked, but I was able to land fish on a pheasant's tail (size 18), a red zebra midge (size 20), an adams (size 20) and an extended body mayfly (Size 18).  The dries did not work until there were a few mayflies on the surface.  It seemed like the trout were targeting emergers and I was unable to figure out the pattern.  I had changed to the dries just to see if they wanted them and they worked as the naturals were present on the water.

The fish in this creek are typically not very big, but they can sometimes be very picky and give a fairly nice fight for their size and the size of the creek.  Fishing this creek is definitely satisfying when you are able to figure it out.

It seems to me that fishing has been a little slower to get going this year compared to last year.  However, it also seems like the fishing is just starting to get going, so I guess I haven't missed anything so far.  And no one else has either.  I look forward to getting out again.  It is time to start thinking about getting out to your favorite streams.  Have a great day on the water when you can!