September 29, 2006 Colorado Fly Fishing for Kokanee Salmon

Date: September 29, 2006

Location: South Platte River (Dream Stream)

Weather: Very nice, sunny day, not much wind!

Stream Condition: Water temps around 54 degrees.  Visibility very good.

Report:
Today was a fun fish day with my wife, Katie.  It was a beautiful day!  We took a few hours off and decided to give fly fishing for Colorado Kokanee salmon a try.  The fish have moved into the Dream Stream section of the South Platte River from Eleven Mile Reservoir.  The DOW is currently trapping the Kokanee salmon to harvest eggs and sperm for their hatchery program.  There were still plenty of salmon to go around.

Simple nymph rigs with indicators seemed to be the ticket with 90-95% of fish being caught in the mouth.  Small egg patterns with #18 nymph dropper caught lots of Kokanee Salmon and several bonus trout including a nice 17 inch brown trout.

Colorado DOW agents involved in the salmon collection indicated that no large brown trout have shown up yet, but should start showing themselves in the next couple of weeks.

Kokanee salmon are the landlocked cousin of the Sockeye salmon, which is well known in Alaska.  A few hours fly fishing for Kokanee salmon is a nice change for a day, so go give them a try.  Good numbers have been reported in the East River, and a few have shown up in the Blue River as well.

Our fall trout fishing has been spectacular so give us a call 303-325-5515 and get out on a Colorado fly fishing trip before winter sets in!