Spring is our favorite time to fish here in Colorado! The fish have woken up after a long winter and are on the feed. Plus the public water guided fly fishing trips have the added bonus of less river traffic as skiers are still out on the slopes. You never know what type of weather we could get this time of year but the fish don’t seem to mind.
South Platte near Deckers Fishing Report
Our home stretch of water has been fishing great. Early March is when the “big spring midges” start to hatch. This is the first reliable hatch of the season and the fish definitely take notice. We like to imitate this bug with a large (relative to Decker’s standards) size #18 black beauty. Tie the thorax large or even put a mercury bead up front and get ready. In a few weeks the Blue Wing Olives will start to consistently hatch as well. This will bring the fish into the riffles and lead to some fantastic sight fishing! This is the public stretch we guide the most, want to up your game on this technical tailwater? Give us a shout and let one of our professional guides help you figure out how to catch fish here!
South Platte Dream Stream Fishing Report
Another stretch of the famous South Platte turns on this time of year and that is the Dream Stream. Located below Spinney Reservoir but above 11 Mile Reservoir, there is the added bonus of migratory fish entering the river. Rainbows, Cuttbows, and Cutthroat have begun to move in. An important reminder to let spawning fish be!!! If you see fish paired up on a spawning bed, please leave them alone. It is extremely unethical to target these fish. The deep pools on bends are fair game and these are the fish to chase. We find it most productive to sight fish which will eliminate stretches of water and allow you to focus on the pools holding the large fish. Another reminder is that this fish do move up into the river, you don’t need to just sit on the lower 2 pools.
You can also have great success heading up higher towards the dam and target resident trout. With the consistent flows coming from Spinney Reservoir, this resident fish are able to feed year around. We did a recent guides day off there and found a few of these nice resident fish and posted the photos below!
North Fork of the South Platte
Our popular private water leases on the North Fork of the South Platte are currently closed. The river is iced over on the surface due to low flows. Once this ice melts up, Denver Water should bump the flows on Robert’s Tunnel and these properties will open. As with all of our private water fisheries, these book up very far in advanced. Give us a call at (303) 325-5515 to book a private water guided fly fishing trip.
