09-08-2004, 02:15 PM
South Platte River - Cheesman Canyon - September 4th, 2004
supplied by: [url "http://www.fisheyesoup.com/redir.php?recKey=92,re"]Blue Quill Angler[/url]
FISHING: Fair
River Flow and Gage Height [[url "http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/current?type=flow&group_key=huc_cd&search_site_no_station_nm=south+platte"]click here[/url]]
Flow: 216
Clarity: Fair
Water Temperature: High 40’s to low 50’s
Major Food Organisms: Midges, baetis, pmds, yellow sallies, and caddis
Hatches: Midges, baetis, pmds, yellow sallies, and caddis
14 Day Forecast: Now that Cheesman Reservoir is nearly full, expect average flows (around the 250 cfs) for the remainder of the summer. Look for the flow to vary depending on rain-fall. If conditions are wet, Denver Water will back the flow off. To the contrary, if things dry out, look for flows between 200-400 cfs.
Tips and Other Information: Things are beginning to shape up in Cheesman Canyon once again after several severe rain showers. To my surprise, I have not spotted, or heard of, any dead fish from the last three recent flash floods in the canyon. The canyon was hit-hard again on Monday as nearly 1.5 inches of rain fell in just one hour. To cap it off, it rained on Tuesday, again very hard. Every time this happens, I just cringe, hoping for the best. Sight fishing has been almost impossible, as the fish are “hunkered down”, and the clarity has been fair to poor. I have found the vast majority of the fish in shallow riffles as of late, and have been “blind fishing” for them. The catch has been a mixture of rainbows and browns, but overall the fishing has been quite tough. As I mentioned earlier, there is evidence of flow increases (from debris along the edges of the stream) as much as four feet, in fact, the water has left logs and smaller twigs on rocks that is simply mind boggling. There is a tremendous amount of sediment along the edges of the stream, but for the most part the center channel looks great! During the first flood, water came over the top of the rock (Peanut Rock) in the head of Rainbow Pool. That means flows near 1000 cfs! This is downright spooky to think about this type of flow increase. I “sweat” the rains every afternoon and wonder what will happen next. The fish have somehow survived just fine—I’m truly amazed by the strength of these large rainbows and browns. It’s now apparent, you cannot keep Mother Nature pinned in the corner, she’ll keep bouncing back. Let keep our fingers crossed that things will dry out, and flows will bounce back to the 250-cfs range. Currently a Micro San Juan Worm dropped with a #20 Sparkle Wings RS II is the ticket. The hatches have been very sporadic, a few midges, bwo’s and no tricos! I have observed several skinny browns, but for the most part all the fish look great, especially the rainbows. For now, fishing remains challenging, and you’ll work hard for a hand full of nice trout.
Effective Patterns: #14 Pink San Juan Worms, #14 Nuclear Eggs, #20-22 Mercury Midges, #22 Mercury Baetis, #18 Mercury PMD’s, #22 Black Beauty, #20-22 Churchill’s Sparkle Wing RS II’s, #18 Micro San Juan Worms, #22-26 Parachute Adams, #20-22 Mathew’s Sparkle Dun, #24 Top Secret Midge, #20-24 Hi-Vis Baetis, #20-22 Matt’s Midge, #16 Sparkle Dun, #22 Cannon’s Suspender Midge, #22-24 Z-Lon Midges, #22-26 Griffith Gnats.