I was watched the snow flurries falling for a couple of minutes, then returned to quickly to the task of gathering all my fishing gear and making sure I had all the layered clothing, gloves and extra pair of socks to be able to withstand the bite of winter on the river.  Bob would be picking me up any minute.

Robert  Province and I met in December at a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing meeting I had set up through Facebook and a forum on ColoradoFishermen.com.  We both hit it off and are both retired.  At this past weeks Fly Tying class, teaching disabled veterans how to tie some basic flies at the Denver VA hospital, I told Bob I was planning to go down to the South Platte near Deckers, for a couple of hours, the next morning.  He said, “Why don’t I pick you up at 8:15 and we can be on the water by 10.”  I said “I’ll be waiting”.

The Deckers area of the South Platte is in recovery mode since whirling disease and the Hayman fire in 2002 and subsequent snow melt and severe rainstorms.  Most of the deep holes that once held two to five hundred trout per hole were filled in with ash and silt.  The whirling disease, a brain parasite that started in the Division of Wildlife hatcheries, spread through the rainbow trout and brook trout, killing most of those fish in many Colorado Rivers and streams, has been reversed by stocking a new, disease resistant, strain.

I had the garage door open and was laying out my extra clothes on the bed of you pickup when Bob’s F150 pulled in a few minutes early.  I threw my gear in his camper in the back jumped in and we were off.  A quick stop for some coffee and we were heading to the South Platte.  We continued getting to know each other on the drive to Deckers.  We talked about our tours in Vietnam, some of our favorite fishing streams and, of course, how we can help our soldiers through PHWFF.  As we drove through Sedalia, the snow has stopped and the sky is clearing ahead.  Colorado is amazing!  You almost never cancel a fishing trip based on the weather at your house.  Bob remarked “I hope we don’t meet too many people on Nighthawk Hill”, a 15% grade on the dirt road down to the river.

If you’ve never been down Nighthawk, the first time is an experience and only with repeated descents does your panic wane.  You’re driving down a twisty narrow dirt road and at one particular bend to the right, you see the sign that says “15 % Grade” with a huge rock on the right side of the bend.  As you drive around the rock the road almost drops out of site and soon your looking down, what appears to be, a ski slope… nope, it’s the road. The first hundred yards is the worst with a couple of slight bends then it gradually starts to level off over the next mile. It’s not so bad in the summer, but it can get your blood pumping with winter snow packed roads.  Nighthawk Hill, and the road leading to it, is actually maintained as a postal and school bus route.  I’m glad my grandkids don’t have to ride that bus.

We reached the bottom of Nighthawk and see the river.  No ice!  Not even a slush flow!  Bob remarks that they must be letting water out of Cheeseman Reservoir.  As we turn up stream along the river, I’m thinking “this is going be a great day”.  We drive several miles up river to Scraggy View and pulled of into a parking area.  The sky was blue with few wispy clouds and the sun was starting to take the chill out of the canyon.  No need for all the extra clothes I brought, just shirt sleeve, polar vest and a wool cap.  I had never stopped at this section of the river before, so after rigging up the fly rods and putting on waders and vests, Bob suggested we head down stream a couple hundred yards.  He pointed out a hole down below by a bend and suggested I start down there.  I made a couple of casts and my strike indicator hesitated and I lifted my rod and saw the fish roll under the surface.  Missed it!  I continued casting through the hole from side to side and top to bottom to no avail.  Moving down river, I fished through shallow riffles that definitely will hold trout as the springtime warms the water a little more, until I spotted another fisherman a couple hundred yards below.  I worked my way back up to the hole I started at and after a half dozen casts, hooked and landed an eleven inch rainbow on a size 18 buckskin nymph.  As it turned out, this was my only fish of the day.  Bob didn’t fare much better.

We decided to try a spot about 5 miles upstream.  This was my old stomping grounds.  Familiar water had to produce more fish, right?  As I prospected about a mile of once familiar waters that 15 years ago would produce 30 to 50 fish mornings, with deep sorrow, I realized that the river has not recovered much from the 2002 fire and flooding.  All of the, once deep holes, are either just shallow runs or much narrower holes, still filled in with ash and silt.  I met up with Bob at the truck and started preparing for the drive home.  I told Bob that, in my opinion, what the river needs is for the Denver Water Board to open the gates of Cheesman Dam and blow that river out.  A couple of years of that would wash the sediment silt out of the holes, giving them more width and depth again.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying there aren’t fish to be caught in that part of the South Platte.  To the contrary, guides tell me that there is a healthy population returning and some very nice fish over 15 inches.  Using the right flies and tactics, you can have great fishing.  But on that given day, I tried to fish it like I used to in the “Glory Days” and it didn’t work.  I thought I knew that river and what works.  Next time, I’ll adapt!

Bob and I drove home and discussed more trips.  Different waters, different fish, different outcome.  It was a clear warm day and great day to be on the water.

Tight Lines————-<*))))><
Larry Snyder
FlyFishingCrazy.com
Phone: 303-755-2105
email: larry@flyfishingcrazy.com