In Part two Joel looks back to where the craving for altitude fishing started – patterns and presentation as well as the magic of the Native Cutthroat.
That trip to the Weminuche last summer really brought small stream fishing back for me. In the past few years, my trips to the Rockies had involved big rods, long casts, drift boats and huge streamers. While I caught some NICE fish (read that BIG fish) something was missing. You spend six hours in a drift boat and you won’t see much scenery. Cast here, cast there, strip fast and all of a sudden, the day is over and you’re drinking beer at the take out. Headed into DIA after my last trip to North Park, I realized that I had not caught a cutthroat during the whole weekend.
Cutthroats are what really got me into small stream fishing. There was just something about catching a fish that I knew was native to the area. Many people still do not realize that rainbows, browns and brookies are not native to the Rockies. Rainbows are only native to Pacific coast streams, Browns are from Europe and Brookies are native to the East Coast of the US. Brook trout stocking in the Rockies has really harmed the native populations of cutthroats. The brookies will out eat and out reproduce the cuts – pushing them into higher stretches of streams were the brooks cannot survive. A version of this story is true for the East Coast as well. The introduction of rainbows and browns almost destroyed the native Eastern Brook trout in all but a few drainages. Now efforts are under way to remove non-native species from several streams in the Carolinas and Virginia and restore brookie populations.
One of the best aspects of this fishing is the simplicity of tackle selection. Everything you need for a day of fishing can fit into a shirt pocket. Add some necessary gear to a day pack and you’re ready to go. Many small streams are also more accessible than most people realize – more on that later.
Fly selections can be as basic or personal as you want. The aforementioned “handful of Humpies” is a pretty good place to start. Most of the small streams I fish in Colorado can be covered with a dry fly. Some #14 Humpies, Irresistibles, Elk-hair caddis, any of the Wulff family of attractors; you get the idea. Every once in awhile I’ll come across a deep pool or undercut bank that begs for a nymph or wooly bugger; but that’s rare. The key to fly selection is this: (1) it has to float well, (2) be durable, and (3) it must have at least a passing resemblance to natural food sources. Two or three savage brookie strikes and your elegant Adams will look like something you pulled out of your belly button. Stimulators are a wonderful pattern but very intricate. Below is the recipe for a great small stream pattern that fits all the qualifications. It’s tough, floats all day, and looks like a small hopper or a large caddis.
I’m not much on “My Top 12 Patterns for . . .” stories, so I’ll just leave this piece of advice. Stop by the local fly shop and ask which patterns would work. They’ll direct you to the small, out-of-the-way spots because they don’t make money guiding people to these areas or have leases there. If you plunk down the money for a dozen flies and a new leader, the quality of the information increases dramatically. Part of the fun of this is picking up great little local patterns. One of the old favorites in Central Colorado was an Orange Asher. It was nothing but an orange floss underbelly on a hook and a grizzly hackle palmered all the way up. Simple, quick to tie, and cuts loved it. I still have no idea what they thought it was but it worked. I tie a few every summer out of nostalgia (and also because it turns out to be a KILLER bluegill fly).
Presentation and strategy are much more important on these waters than fly selection. This is another place where hiring a guide for a day can DRASTICALLY cut down your learning curve. Anyone can walk to a small stream that doesn’t receive much pressure and catch a bunch of little brookies. They’re hungry and not that bright. You can line them, crash your leader into the surface, wade right into the stream – they won’t care much and there’s always another pool right upstream. I’ve seen guys wade right into a stream that was 6-8 feet across and fish all the way up without leaving the water. And I can guarantee they didn’t catch the GOOD fish.
To be continued …
