Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

Rocky Mountain Nat Park Trip

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Seawolf 
#1 ·
Hi,

I took a trip to Boulder/Longmont Colorado for a Company meeting last week and took couple of extra days for fishing. After a 1 1/2 days of extremely painful meetings I set off to fish the Big Thompson below Estes Park. I fished about 3 hours in the late afternoon at several spots about 3 miles below the dam. I was skunked and saw no fish due to the water level being 280 ccf which is very high for this river. I ran into a couple of locals who did OK with small black beadhead nymphs. They told me that there has been high water for a week+ due to the need for increased water for irrigation down stream. I stayed at a cabin in Estes Park just outside RMNP. The next day I drove into RMNP and checked out the Morraine Park section of the Big Thompson and saw that there were already 4 people fishing the section by 8:00 AM. I skipped it and fished Glacier Creek which was running low and clear. I was overjoyed to find no one else fishing on the creek so I spent the day wading and walking several miles up the watershed. Since the water was low and clear the fish were very spooky so most of the fishing was ambush style upsteam casting. The creek was highly vegitated and tight so I struggled with my 9 ft 6 wt which is my smallest travel rod. I caught a number for Browns and Cutts from 6-9 inches mostly on small bead head and copper john nymphs. The biggest fish I caught was a 12" Brown. As it warmed up I saw a variety of hatches which to the best of my knowledge looked like Midges, PMDs and Caddis. I tried dries on and off all day and got some rises and a grab or two but no joy. I was hoping to fish some of the lakes in the park but ran out of time so I will have to save that for the next trip.

Cheers,

Thomas
 

Attachments

See less See more
7
#2 ·
Nice report. I spent a little over a week at Estes Park in late Sept (family trip) and enjoyed the sites in the RNMP. Unfortunately, the park is so easily accessible that it seemed like there was an angler at every bend in the streams. However, I was able to go to the backside of the NP and fish some quieter waters for cutts and brookies. I did fish the Big Thompson below the dam, but it was running high at that time as well. My daughter (4) caught her first fish, a brookie, out of RMNP, so I'll always hold that park special to me.
 
#3 ·
Lakes and Greenback cutts are whats happenin' in the park. Like people have said, lots of people on easily accessible streams. Lace up the boots and put some miles on for the real quality fishing. Country you won't see anywhere else as well. And, one of the few places you can still catch native Greenbacks in their historic range.
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Thomas,

Thanks for the report. I had been looking forward to it. Interesting that the Big T was still running high. I don't know what they would be irrigating in late September, but suppose it's possible. I see that there was still some color in the leaves in town, but the trees higher up were getting bare. We've had the best fall colors I've seen in many years. Winter arrived in the high country yesterday. We even had 3" of snow here in the foothills. You came at a good time.
 
#5 ·
Dan,

You are right on I feel very lucky visiting when I did as the weather and scenery was close to ideal. I just wished I had a day or two more but with a 2 yr old at home my barganing power is limited these days. I agree with CoastalCut that catching some greenback cutts is one of the real highlights of this area. I had brought my Curtis Packraft in anticipation of fishing some lakes for Greenbacks but I enjoyed myself too much just fishing Glacier Creek. Incidentaly I did hook but lost a couple of fish that seemed to have the coloration typical of Greenbacks but can't say for sure. Next time I will definitely have to fish the Fall River and the Alluvian Fan area for Greenbacks.

Thomas
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top