Tarryall Creek A-8 : Log Book Entries


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112 entries found

Name: John C Date Submitted: 10/19/2012
Email:
Date's Fished: October 16, 2012

Commments:
Knew that the flow was low, but they were able to catch 30 fish. Fished the deeper pools and near the structure near the dam. Used dries and droppers. His friend used streamers. Caught an 18" rainbow, also 2 that were 16". Saw a 30" pike in a pool with shallow water, tried to get him, but couldn't. Also fished the bottom section. Caught smaller fish in the pocket water. His friend looked for deeper pools using a woolly bugger. They were surprised they did as well as they did.



Name: Damon S Date Submitted: 7/27/2012
Email:
Date's Fished: July 19, 2012

Commments:
Warm day in lower 80's so water was quite warm as well. Water is released from top of Tarryall so it does not keep temps down. Water temp was 62 when we started at 8:30 and quickly warmed above 65 around 11 and later peaked around 70. We fished the upper half until the water warmed past 65. Observed one brief feeding frenzy below one of the structures in some riffles around 9 but couldn't match hatch while throwing Royal Wulff 18, EH Caddis 18-20 and some yellow and red stimulators. Did get two browns 12" on BHPT and one 16" whitefish on Red Copper before we stopped around 11. We fished lower half in mid afternoon which was very different from upper as it's more technical and challenging but with better flows and slightly colder water temps. Caught about 14 total on lower half, mostly browns about 10" or smaller, with a variety of dries including Royal Wulffs 18, yellow stimulators, beetles, ants, and parachute hoppers. Big and ugly seemed to motivate them to eat. Despite warm water temps, fish were healthy when in hand and swam away energetically and easily. For the most part, fish were not very active between 9 and 5 so I would suggest you fish early before 9 and later after 5 until the hot weather subsides.



Name: Joe Bo Date Submitted: 7/23/2012
Email: joseph.bobinis@lmco.com
Date's Fished: July 23, 2012

Commments:
George (another member) and I fished the lower section in the morning and the upper section in the afternoon. Water was low and off colored. All the larger fish are in the plunge pools or under the Banks in the larger pools.

Lower section fished slow - Fished hopper, dropper rigs. Caught a couple bows and browns on both prince dropper and hopper dries in the faster water where we could find it. Fished back downstream with streamers and moved several very large trout that were under the banks - hooked one 20" plus brown on #4 black bugger, but quickly shaked off the hook.

Upper section had more structure and caught several 14" browns on #16 blue quill - this was all spot fishing to rising trout in low and clear water. Dry -dropper rigs was uneffective in the structure water and runs - again moved several large trout using steamers on fishing downstream at the end of the day. Difficult fishing in the low waters.

Joe Bo



Name: Steve Fitz Date Submitted: 7/18/2012
Email: sfitz88@comcast.net
Date's Fished: July 15

Commments:
A good day despite moderate flows. Sunny, 75 degrees. 27 fish to hand, missed another 3 or 4. Best fishing was at the north end of the property like usual, from the last rock outcropping to the boundary below the reservoir (state land). Simple fishing too: Royal Wulff in 18 and 16, with a bhpt or prince nymph dropper. Put that into the riffles and into the pockets behind the stream improvements, and the fish are there. Browns along the banks where they are supposed to be, Rainbows in the riffles. Many in the 18-20" range, but some small ones too (which is good to see, reproduction clearly happening and small one surviving despite the heat).

On that point, while the water was somewhat low (but quite fishable) and a bit warm, it certainly did not seem to (a) impact the feeding by the fish or (b) make it hard for them to recover when caught. All burst away with vigor when released, and many were quite jumpy/vigorous when caught. I was prepared to walk away if it got too hot or they got too lethargic, but that never happened.

If you find a nice net there, it's mine. Fell off somewhere along the stream on the N end. :)



Name: kennyb Date Submitted: 6/7/2012
Email: kenandmargo@msn.com
Date's Fished: june 1, 2012

Commments:
I had not been to A-8 in a very long time but it was just as I had remebered- less the water. This is obviously a condition we will all be dealing with this summer. Since the reclamation of Tarryall Res. I had been wondering about this place. The upper section is very low and slow - a beaver has taken up residence impeding the flow even more. For those not familiar with this stretch here's a hint skip the top altogether and park AT THE DOWNSTREAM parking area. The only other help you may need is possibly a chainsaw. Why you may ask? Because two very large evergreens( not sure species ) have been blow down and need to be considered for relocation. In 5 hrs. of power fishing 2 anglers managed well over 30 fish ranging in size from 7-18 inches. the largest being a plump rainbow which fell prey to a rubber legged stimulator. Great day, its nice when some things stay the same.



Name: Hood Date Submitted: 5/23/2012
Email: coloradohoods@centurylink.net
Date's Fished: 5/18/2012

Commments:
I fished from 8:30 – 5. Flows are not currently being measured but I would guess they were around 40 cfs and clear. Skinnier water than I would prefer. I spent the majority of the day on the upper stretch. Day started off sunny with my first 4 or 5 fish being suckers? Not what I came for but things picked up by lunch. I fished a 50/50 mix of nymphs and streamers. A few fish were sporadically rising to caddis but I never really switched to anything on the surface. The afternoon really picked up with more overcast skies. I probably landed 25+ fish, mostly rainbows from 12 -18”. I caught one really chunky rainbow but nothing off the charts. Overall a great day but I would imagine higher flows could be even more productive.



Name: Dave Myers Date Submitted: 4/30/2012
Email: 1davidmyers@comcast.net
Date's Fished: April 26th 2012

Commments:
fished the southend with a parachute PMD caought 2 brightly colored rainbows8 and10 inches and one 8 incher with washed out colors.
Fished the northends deeper pools with a green wholly bugger, caught a 16 inch Rainbow and to my surprise 2 18 inch white fish. Will Be Back



Name: Chef Date Submitted: 4/29/2012
Email:
Date's Fished: April 23 20112

Commments:
Great day fishing some clouds helped a lot, fished the lower half first. Arrived to see fish rising to midges and olives. I switched back and forth from Adams # 18 to black and purple streamers. The top half was really good with the dry fly fished the dry up and the bugger on the way down, on my way back the wind was strong so I just used the streamer. In the deepest pool, you know the one, some kind of River Monster just sliced my 1x like it was 8x I am going to guess it was a large pike. Super fun day one of the reasons I am a member of R.M.A.C..



Name: Mike63 Date Submitted: 4/23/2012
Email: mbm135@comcast.net
Date's Fished: April 22, 2012

Commments:
Was my first time out this year and my first excursion with RMAC. Nice property and great scenery.

I am still a beginner and have only been into the sport for about a year and found this a bit of a challenge. Fish were very spooky and with the low water level it was tough to dial in. I found some larger fish suspended in a deep pool between the North parking are and the dam and finally found some sucess with a Wolly Bugger, landed a nice rainbow and a couple of small browns. At my skill level I'll call it a success, especially given the wind and conditions. I look forward to going back and trying the southern end of the ranch next time.



Name: Todd Date Submitted: 4/13/2012
Email: tdhellings@msn.com
Date's Fished: 04/11/2012

Commments:
Fished 9AM-7PM. Started at upper lot and fished up to the bridge. This section had the most and biggest fish. Used various nymphs and dries. The most important thing seemed to be to avoid spooking them. The water was low and the bigger fish were in the deeper holes. There was a nice pod rising in the beaver pond. Then fished from the upper lot down to second fence. Mostly slow water with some deep bends. Caught fish on a black wooly bugger. Some big pike in this section. Overall caught 30-35 total. Mostly bows with some browns. Largest was 20".



Name: Chad Z. Date Submitted: 4/13/2012
Email: chad.zechiel@yahoo.com
Date's Fished: April 7, 2012

Commments:
Great day at A-8. It was my first time at this site and I loved it. It took a while to adjust to creek stealth fishing, but it paid off.

Weather: sunny and 45 degress early then got up to about 54 degress in the afternoon. 15 mph wind with gusts.
I started fishing around 9am. The fish are pretty spooky and flee at the sight of any movement on the bank. After 1.5 hrs of fishing a dry dropper rig (14 royal wolf w/20 mercury midge), I gave up the dream due to the wind. Switched to red SJ worm and 16 beadhead psycho prince nymph and caught a 14" brown taking the psycho prince. Around 11:30am I switched to a #12 black wolly bugger to hit the pools (above the upper lot) where the fish seemed to be concentrated. I caught 6 nice rainbows ranging from 12" to 18", with 3 or so around 15". Around 2pm I spotted a 16" bow taking bugs off the surface in a bigger pool. It took a 14 Royal Wolf. Great day. Caught nice fish on 3 diff't rigs in fantastic weather.



Name: Mountain Moose Date Submitted: 4/2/2012
Email: jpmousseau@msn.com
Date's Fished: April 1, 2012

Commments:
A great day on the stream! Weather was a little chilly (34 degrees) to start but weather with not a cloud in the sky had warmed it up to 62 by the time I left. Parked in the 1st lot and fished up to the dam. Landed 10 rainbows and 1 brown - ten of which had to be netted. Brown was about 12 inches but all the rainbows were between 15" and 20" and with the exception of one skinny male were extremely well fed! Caught them on a size 20 copper john dropper over a red san juan worm in the am and drug a black wooly bugger around in the afternoon. Flow was a little low so the fish were a bit spooky. The big rainbows were laying up in the big holes which seemed like they were on every oxbow. As an added bonus I was surrounded by a herd of about 20 big horn sheep ewes and lambs all day. Truly a memorable fish!



Name: BillJ Date Submitted: 10/1/2011
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished: Sept 29, 2011

Commments:
Beautiful day on Tarryall- the weather and the fishing. Decided to use streamers and try to scare up a big brown. 20+ fish all on streamers- mostly brown & gold with cone head and sinker eyes( don't know the name). No fish smaller than 15". Several bows in 17-19" size and Fat great fish. About 40% browns and 60% bows. One beautiful 19" brown who shot after streamer, saw a small fish go by and went after him but missed and came back to streamer! That was worth the whole day. Fished both the upper and lower parking areas. 3x snapped off twice by big ones. There is ( I guess 25") beauty just above the beaver dam on left corner facing up stream. Would love to be there when he is hungry but he is pretty particular.



Name: Jeff Stang Date Submitted: 9/17/2011
Email: drjstang@mac.com
Date's Fished: September 16,2011

Commments:
A good day. Fished the upper section for the majority of the day. Dry/dropper rigs. Black foam/Deer hair/Rubber leg pattern was effective. The fish were definitely "looking up" as long as you were within 12 inches of the bank. Only one take more than a foot from the bank and many after the fly dropped off the shore(not always intentional!). Typical, beautiful Tarryall browns, 12-16 inches, that were very spooky to movement along the bank



Name: Billj Date Submitted: 9/14/2011
Email: Billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished: Sept 3 ,Sept 13

Commments:
Good fish in am on small (16,18) brown caddis-some hopper action with fish in 10-16" range - good action on wooley bugger with bows to 19"- several in pond above beaver dam. Lower section needs more water so hope they start releasing from reservoir which is full



Name: Gary Godden Date Submitted: 8/25/2011
Email: gwgodden@comcast.net
Date's Fished: August 14, 2011

Commments:
Had to leave early, so fished from 9-2 and fished through lunch. Fished the upper section only, with cloudy and cool weather. Thankfully, not many mosquitoes around. Lots of hoppers present in the meadows but not very active till later, as usual. Settled on a small green foam hopper with a Prince nymph dropper. Fish were on the nymph in the morning and started looking up to the hopper after a couple of hours. Caught several of the ever-present 12-14" brownies, but did hook an exceptionally fat 20" female rainbow in one of the deeper runs that took me about 10 minutes to land on my 4 wt. She ran all over the place and just wouldn't give it up. Also, landed a beautiful 18" male brown with spots as big as dimes, on the hopper.



Name: Gary Godden Date Submitted: 8/15/2011
Email: gwgodden@comcast.net
Date's Fished: August 6, 2011

Commments:
Fished the upper section from 9-5 with sunny and warm weather. Flows still a bit high with tea-stained water but good visibity. Tried dry/dropper & hopper/dropper combinations first, but the fish didn't seem to be looking up then, so went to a triple nymph rig with Blood Prince, Salvation Nymph & Lightning Bug. Had fairly consistent action for 12-15" resident browns with some larger rainbows in the deeper runs, including a nice 19"er. Good Trico hatch started at 9:30, but only noticed a few dinks rising, so I didn't switch to dries. Bighorn sheep herd showed up at 11:00 to graze by the creek for an hour. Took a late lunch at 2:00 and decide to spend the afternoon fishing just a Charlie Boy hopper. Had several "toilet flush" rises resulting in a couple of nice 16" browns. The gentle South Park "breeze" kept the mosquitoes away as long as you stayed in the water and used some DEET. However, they would ambush you on the hike back to the car, and were particularly obnoxious when I spent an hour at the end of the day trying the lower section of the lease.



Name: Steve Fitzgerald Date Submitted: 8/8/2011
Email: sfitz88@comcast.net
Date's Fished: 8/7/11

Commments:
25th Anniversary weekend, and what better way to spend it than fishing this beautiful property together. And the fishing gods smiled on us with a perfect day and active fishing.

Diana and I found that, unlike the past, the best fishing was not at the foot of each stream improvement at the upper end. Instead, the larger, more active fish seemed to be a bit further downstream, holding deep and in the cuts. Of course, the water was higher than I remember if being at this time of the year, so that may be it.

We had the most activity on the northernmost end, right below the bridge.

Between us, around 35 fish landed (or darn close!), and more lost. Largest was about 18. Ample hatches in the air, but we found 75% taking the 2-4' suspended nymph, usually dark copper johns or bhpts. I did get some on the top with a caddis, a stimi, and later several on a white Turek's Tarantula.

Fishing slowed around 6, and mosquitoes were actually bearable.



Name: Bill Kraft Date Submitted: 7/20/2011
Email: billkraft@evcohs.com
Date's Fished: July 20, 2011

Commments:
My wife and I returned to A-8 today after a few years hiatus. The stream remains beautiful but the water is still pretty high. We only fished from about 8 to noon and then were forced to leave by the heavy, heavy mosquito population. The mosquitos were as bad as they were in the Florida Keys back in the '50's. In fact, I think I saw them carrying off a cow.
Anyway, saw very few rising and only a tiny PMD hatch but did manage some success with a Royal Wulff. The fish seem relatively widely dispersed with the continuing high water.
One caution in addition to the mosquitos and that is that County Rd 77 out of Jefferson is torn up almost all the way to the property. We experienced several long waits since traffic is led through the construction by a pilot car. Signs indicate ongoing construction until November and I have little doubt that is true. It is a big project.
In any event, it was a day on the water and, small irritants aside, it was a great day.



Name: Jack Kruse Date Submitted: 7/18/2011
Email: jack@coloradogroup.com
Date's Fished: July 18, 2011

Commments:
Flow was around 140cfs. Fished half day on the upper section. There is road construction about 5 miles out of Jefferson all the way to the stream, so plan a little delay time. When you get there you will be welcomed by swarms of skeeters, but pay no mind. Rig up with a tan hopper and drop off a red CJ size 18 and go to it. Also did well with a yellow stimulator and a gold ribbed hare's ear. I just think they were tired of the high flows and finally they came to the table. Good mix of bows and browns with the average going 14-15". No dinks. Great flow, great fish even with no hatch to speak of. Can't wait for the tricos to begin. A8 is money, baby.



Name: Gary Godden Date Submitted: 6/6/2011
Email: gwgodden@comcast.net
Date's Fished: June 5, 2011

Commments:
What a difference a week makes! Since my last post, flows on A-8 have quadrupled from 32cfs to over 120cfs, making it fish like a whole different stream. With the higher flows, the fish are more evenly distributed through the stream, which gives you more water to prospect, but you have to hunt more for the fish, as they are not as concentrated as they previously were w/ the lower flows. Water quality has suffered a bit with some cloudiness and tea-stain to the water, but still plenty fiahable w/ about 3 feet of visibilty. I fished the upper half using a triple nymph rig w/ weight to get the flies on the bottom. Using bright & flashy patterns to get their attention, I caught mostly rainbows w/ a few browns from 12 - 16" on a Psycho Prince, Copper John & Lightning Bug.



Name: Gene & Kris Edwards Date Submitted: 5/30/2011
Email: genoedwards@comcast.net
Date's Fished: May 26, 2011

Commments:
At the time of year that we usually look for a still water or tailwater to avoid being swept away, we actually dealt with very skinny water today on A8. I think the flow was about 40 which is definately fishable, just a little better at 75+ in my opinion. That and of course the wind, which was a doable 15 mph most of the day but about 3:00 it picked up to a brisk 50mph or so, which of course is time to go home. Anyway, we did catch some fish! Around 20 between the two of us, an even mixture of rainbows and browns. The fish went from 10" to 17" with the rainbows being the larger of the two species. I threw meat all day which is pretty much what I do these days so half the fish on streamers(black and or green) with the best luck on the upper part of the property around the beaver pond area that other posters have mentioned. Kris caught the other half mostly fishing a dry dropper rig with a small stimmy on top and standard droppers like copper johns in various colors, hares ears and BHPT. About half on top and half on the droppers. It's still a great property that is one of our favorites these days. More water and less wind will definately produce more and larger fish here.

Geno



Name: Gary Godden Date Submitted: 5/30/2011
Email: gwgodden@comcast.net
Date's Fished: May 28, 2011

Commments:
A great day on old A-8, one of my favorite properties. Fished the upper half all day from 9-5. I wanted to fish a dry / dropper rig, but the wind made that proposition difficult, so I resorted to a lightly weighted double nymph rig. With the flows from the reservoir low (32 cfs) most of the fish were found to be holding in the deeper runs, with some real fat & strong lake-bred rainbows in there. I took two that pushed 20" w/ several in the 16 - 18" range, along w/ some of the smaller resident browns. A Blood Prince and a small rubber-legged Copper John worked best. Not much action in the riffled runs which were too shallow & lacked holding water. So after a late lunch I went back and hit the deeper spots w/ a black Slumpbuster & olive Crystal Bugger, and collected a few more of the fatties while the sky darkened & clouds started to move in.



Name: Drew Date Submitted: 4/12/2011
Email: drewa@reconstructionexperts.net
Date's Fished: April 8, 2011

Commments:
Arrived early and started at the lower parking lot. An "okay" warm up, a couple of smaller bows down in the pocket water, but nothing happening moving up toward the cabins in the flat water.
Drove to upper lot, river holding more & more fish as we moved toward the reservoir. A couple of "Honey Holes" that seemed to hold endless amounts of bows & browns. Bows in the 18"-21" range, browns a bit smaller at 14"-18". Basically, if it is deep and dark, there's fish in there - LOTS! Killer day, total about 25 fish each.
Flies: Morning it's medium sized streamers, brown/gold/green. Late morning to afternoon, size 18 - 22 black juju b's, two bit hooker, anything black with a little green/purple.



Name: Walt Jaakkola Date Submitted: 4/11/2011
Email:
Date's Fished: April 11, 2011

Commments:
Fished from the upstream parking lot to the beaver dam from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Fairly chilly at the beginning of the day but got really nice with little wind and blue skies the rest of the afternoon. The water was clear and low but the deep pools held a lot of fish. I tried several different nymph combinations for the first couple hours with no luck. I saw a lot of fish but they wouldn't bite on anything.
I had read a comment from the log book from Russ dated October 2010 and remembered he had some success using a green wooley bugger. I tried a BH Green wooley bugger and caught a 20" Rainbow on the first cast. I had multiple strikes and saw schools of fish in the neighborhood of 10-15 fish at a time. It was incredible to watch. I caught another 22" big fat rainbow right below the beaver dam and a 14" brown with a minnow streamer. I missed several more. Great day to start the fishing season.



Name: Russ Lofquist Date Submitted: 10/29/2010
Email: rglofquist@hotmail.com
Date's Fished: October 28, 2010

Commments:
Headed out to the property a little too early since it had snowed two days earlier and there was no cloud cover. When I got to the upstream parking lot at 8:00 the temperature was 2 degrees. The wind was blowing so I didn’t want to know what the wind chill might have been.
Tarryall Creek looked low to me but I hadn’t fished this property since 2004. I started out with a Zebra Prince Nymph, then a Red San Juan Worm and then Copper Johns in copper and red with no luck. I fished all these patterns until 1:30. By then I had seen a lot of fish in the water but none would take my fly. Just downstream from the beaver damn I switched to a green Woolly Bugger cone head. I landed one 12” Brown, lost two others and eventually the fly.
Moving down river I found a deep trough where I could see trout schooling. Since I had good luck with the streamer and was out of the green, I tried a cone head brown and orange Wooly Bugger with yellow rubber legs. The pattern looks like an Orange Blossom Special. I cast the streamer to the far side of the creek and pulled it across the nose of the lead fish in the school. Using this technique I caught two very nice Rainbows. The first was about 18” and the second one was maybe 20”. Eventually the word got out about my streamer and the school started to ignore my best efforts. While it lasted it was very exciting to watch the streamer swim through the water and then be engulfed by the trout torpedo.



Name: billj Date Submitted: 9/29/2010
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished: Sept 28, 2010

Commments:
Decided to park at lower area and fish down stream. This is really pretty section. Caught several small (8-10") browns on hopper. At about 10:30 the stream started to change color. In 30 minutes it was chocolate brown. Went back to car and drove to upper parking area. At the head of the lower section a backhoe and other equipment were working near the stream and obvioulsy dumping silt in river. Upper section fished good eventhough water very low. Deeper pools hold large fish. Caught 8 fish -4 bows 14-16" and 4 bows 18-20" . Hopper /dropper (red copper john) brought 5 fish about even on hopper and dropper. 3 nice bows on orange/yellow bugger. These are fat strong bows and take a lot of time on 6x which is necessary due to low water. Really enjoy the upper end stream improvements.



Name: billj Date Submitted: 9/19/2010
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished: sept 18,2010

Commments:
Fairly tough day on A-8 at least compared to previous trips. Water very low and the big fish are sticking to the deeper pools and are very wary. Caught 5,mix of bows and browns in am (8-12") with small (#18) tan caddis and small parchute adams -must use 6-7x tippet. Morning was made with 18" beautiful cutbow on black wolly bugger. Played with a BIG pike for 45 minutes, got him to strike yellow streamer but could not land him. Lots of nice fish in A-8- just needs a little more water.



Name: colobobj Date Submitted: 9/13/2010
Email:
Date's Fished: sept. 12

Commments:
Checked flow after returning, 20 cfs, rather than before leaving. Still managed 8 browns - 13 to 15 in., black wooly bugger and flash back p.t. also 4 bows 16 to 20 in. compara dun and spent wing. A small trico hatch under way in morning and best dry fly between 12:30 and 1:30. at spinner fall time.



Name: John Monckton Date Submitted: 8/27/2010
Email: john.monckton@bowne.com
Date's Fished: August 20th

Commments:
Just what you would expect from the Terryall in August! We landed around 100 fish divided between the four anglers. The size ranged from 5 to 20 inches - 75% Browns – 20% Rainbows – 5% Cuttbows.
We split the property with two guys fishing the upper boundary and the other two the lower. The lower property was great for a dry and dropper set up. Everything we threw seemed to work with Bead Headed Prince patterns being the most successful. The upper stretches in the morning were much more technical and the fish were extremely spooky. Long light leaders with a Parachute Adams and a stealthy approach seemed to be the ticket. After lunch the lower stretches continued to produce a good bit of action and the upper stretches produced three fish nearing the 20 inch mark. Be sure to fish below the beaver pond about a quarter mile down from the upper boundary. This is where all three of the days big fish came from. *** My favorite part of the day may have been the loud knocking sound, which I finally realized were two Bighorn Sheep sparing only 40 feet away. The heard was visible all day and gave an extra bonus to a great day of fishing.



Name: Kelly Date Submitted: 7/29/2010
Email: kmc1928@comcast.net
Date's Fished: 7/28/2010

Commments:
It was a hard fishing day on the Tarryall...Through every dry fly we could think of but did not get a bite. The fish won, we were skunked. But it was a beautiful day and I got to teach my niece and her boyfriend how to fly fish...they will be back...



Name: Bill Wildhaber Date Submitted: 7/20/2010
Email:
Date's Fished: July 17, 2010

Commments:
A beautiful day on A-8. Water level about normal for this time of year, after some higher water a week or so earlier. The water was very clear, and long and fine leaders were the order of the day. There was a small, short PMD hatch in the mid-morning that brought the fish up to the surface. Royal Wulffs, Adams and Stimulators found favor with the fish. The fish were mostly Browns of a very nice, above average size. There was the occasional bruiser which fought with the head-shaking style of bigger fish. Later in the day hoppers worked well. As the day heated up to 88 degrees(unusually warm up there), the small hoppers were everywhere in the grass near the river. Toward evening, a large rainbow (better than 20 inches) took a hopper eagerly and gave two excellent jumps. All in all an excellent day of many large fish under somewhat challenging conditions. And yes, there were mosquitoes. Take the heavy duty repellant and keep it with you.



Name: Rob Date Submitted: 6/24/2010
Email: coloradohoods@msn.com
Date's Fished: June 18 2010

Commments:
Flows had dropped back down to around 100cfs after being up for a while. Fished from 8:30 to 5:30 throughout the property. Caddis were coming off throughout the day with a few risers. My experience on many of the clubs properties is to stay deep for bigger fish. I stuck with streamers and nymphing. Black wooly buggers, san juan worms and beadhead sparkle pupae. Landed 25-30 fish with 2 nice 18" browns and a half dozen 15-20" rainbows. Light breeze most of the day until evening when the breeze stopped and mosquitoes were brutal! No bug spray, bummer. Great day.



Name: Russ Date Submitted: 6/24/2010
Email: williamlaurier@aol.com
Date's Fished: June 23, 2010

Commments:
Another great day on A-8. Fished lower section late morning and early afternoon--lots of fish, all browns. Success on black wollybugger with fish in the 12 to 18" range. Fished upper section 3pm to 7:30pm excellant results. Big bows became active late afternoon on yellow and green rubber legs stone fly imitation size 10--largest 21" in the 4# range with others 16 to 19 inches. BWO hatch late afternoon but saw no rizers. Fantastic stretch of water with many big fish. Thanks RMAC for making my day.



Name: Todd Decker Date Submitted: 6/22/2010
Email:
Date's Fished: June 21, 2010

Commments:
Caught a dozen or so in an afternoon visit. Fished the lower section, finding most of the fish in the riffles or tail outs. Once I dialed in the rig to a Copper John and Olive Hares Ear there was no reason to change. Tried some big brown mayflies to match what was hatching, but never got a rise.



Name: Kathy Date Submitted: 6/22/2010
Email: kkanda@mcgeadysisneros.com
Date's Fished: June 20, 2010

Commments:
Fished the lower section in the morning -- caught 2 on chartreuse copper John and 4 on olive wooly bugger, including one pushing 18 inches. Less good fortune and many mosquitoes on the upper section. A few chased the WB and a couple nipped at the copper John, but patience was rewarded with one on the surface who took a caddis. All browns. Water was warm enough to wet wade.



Name: Rich Arnett Date Submitted: 6/6/2010
Email: rich@rnet-inc.com
Date's Fished: June 5, 2010

Commments:
Parked at upper lot and got on the water at 9:00am. A little breezy but not too bad. Picked up several fish using a stimulator on top with a chartreuse Copper John dropper. FIshed seem to come in bunches, nothing then 4 or 5 in a few minutes then nothing again. Caught all of the fish in the upper section where stream work has been done, almost all right in the riffle water or on the seams. Also caught a nice rainbow just below the beaver dam area. This fish was about 18 inches long and was caught while stripping a bead head olive wooly bugger through the run below the dam. Most of the fish were browns 10-12 inches long, a couple were 12-13. Caught at least 6 rainbows in the 15 inch range in addition to the larger one at the dam.
After lunch the wind picked up so we moved to the lower section. Caught a nice 12 inch brown straight out from the car on the Copper John. Worked downstream towards the bottom of the property and only caught one more fish, a nice 16 inch rainbow. Caught it on the bead head wooly stripping through a big hole near the bottom of the property.
Between my friend and I, we figured we caught and released 25 fish and had several more takes that were not landed.



Name: David Date Submitted: 5/31/2010
Email:
Date's Fished: May 29, 2010

Commments:
Beautiful day; breezy, with wind picking up late afternoon. Flow and clarity ideal. Did best with hoppers; small adams and pheasant tails also worked.



Name: Vic Walker Date Submitted: 5/17/2010
Email: vmwskywalk@yahoo.com
Date's Fished: 5/15/2010

Commments:
Every spring we try to fish A-8, and every year we've moved this trip later and later. We started fishing in April, now here we are in May! The recent weather has really played havoc with the fish. We arrived with snow on the ground and clearing skies. It was a VERY rare day in the Tarryall valley...not much wind. It took a couple of hours of fishing to catch a fish between three of us. Just needed the day to warm up a little bit. We started seeing some activity after lunch. We fished the bottom half early w/ minimal success. I caught one nice 16" rainbow in the pool directly below the parking area. We move to the top half after lunch and zero'd in on what they wanted. Black wooly boogers of any size. Olive was ok, but black was the ticket. Some fish wanted a dead drift, others a little twitch. We worked the holes and that is where we caught most our fish. I did see a few holding up against the cut banks in shallower water. Big fish of the day was probably the most obese fish I've seen. It was a 19" rainbow that I would estimate weighed 6 pounds. It was caught by my guest John Warner. Our group landed about 15 fish total on the day. Everyone had a big fish hooked. Only John could seal the deal. Seemed like an even mix between browns and rainbows.



Name: Chef Date Submitted: 4/27/2010
Email: epferncreek8@aol.com
Date's Fished: april 26 2010

Commments:
Wind, wind & more wind. Fished the top half in the morning saw one rise. there was no hatches to speak of, kept waiting for the baetis. After lunch moved to the bottom half, then it was on, switched to a black wolley bugger. I caught several nice fish 16''-20'', tons of fun. Great section of river can't wait to go back.



Name: gerry Date Submitted: 4/18/2010
Email: ctchnlego@aol.com
Date's Fished: April 16, 2010

Commments:
It was cloudy and spitting snow going over Kenosha, a perfect BWO day. The flow was 54 cfs, the water clear with a slight tea stain, temps 45 air, 41 water at 9am to start-- a perfect BWO day. But.. it wasn't. Never saw an olive all day. A few midges here and there, but that was the only surface insect activity. Not a single nose up all day. Fished upper lot to the upper boundry methodically. It was a day of singles. Didn't catch a fish on the same fly twice all day. One on a Hare's ear, one on a Red CJ, one on a PT, one on a Black Slumpbuster, one on a Rust Slumpbustter,one on an olive Slumpbuster, one on a SJ, ... well you get the picture. Tied a lot of knots changing size, color, pattern, and they would eat one and then quit. One Quality Bow midway up (18""-Thick!). The rest 12-14"" mix of browns/bows. Maybe next time!



Name: Stephen Sparks Date Submitted: 4/4/2010
Email: stephenrsparks@gmail.com
Date's Fished: April 3, 2010

Commments:
The area had ice shelves from the banks but the water was clear and very fishable, except for the fish hiding under the shelves. Had some limited success with black/green foil wolly bugger but generally fishing was slow as it never warmed up and, in-fact, got colder as strong winds starting to make casting very difficult. Fish were somewhat lethargic. Best fishing in pools higher up stream where sight fishing was good.



Name: Bill J. Date Submitted: 9/28/2009
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished: 9/26/2009

Commments:
Started at upper parking at 8:30. Water very low and fish spooky. 3 bows on #18caddis which were about the only risers I saw. Before started fishing there was a herd (probably 30+) mountain sheep on the hill side on other side of river. While on river they came down, crossed the river and were within a 100 feet. Some small, some with small horns and several big males with big horns. Neat to see them, they kept their eye on me the whole time while moving across the field to other hill. It was pretty neat. Moved to lower parking area at ll:30 where there is a little more water (not so wide). Used streamer WB (black and olive) and caught 10 plus bows up to 20". Great fish and in fine form. One Pike (27") who was mean as hell -they are tough fish.

Windy but a great day on Tarryall.



Name: Bill J. Date Submitted: 9/20/2009
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished: 9/3/2009

Commments:
nice day in South Park. fished upstream from lower parking area. About 15 fish to 19". About equal with small #18 tan caddis in am. Para hopper and Wolly Bugger in afternoon. good heatlthy RB -one 16" Brown.



Name: A-8 Date Submitted: 7/30/2009
Email:
Date's Fished: 7-29-09

Commments:
arrived on the river around 9-sporadic risers but a little slow. A lot of bugs hatching BWO, caddis, trico, larger mayflies. Around 10:30 fish keyed in on BWO but were very pattern specific- a 22 olive sparkle dun was the ticket and we picked off fish after fish in the upper section, rainbows browns and a couple of cutthroats to 16". We hooked two giants 20+below the beaver dam/falls that broke off our 6 and 7x. Very difficult to land these fish but heavier tippet would not bring them up.We got chased off the river around noon by lightening and hail, returned to the upper section around 1:30 and concentrated on the risers on the flat water. Had a ball cathing 10-15 inchers on BWO emergers fished as a dry. Finished the day on the lower section still catching risers on small caddis til 6(lots of mosquitos on lower section). All in all a great day fishing top water !



Name: Gary Date Submitted: 7/7/2009
Email: gary@evcohs.com
Date's Fished: July 5th 2009

Commments:
I and a guest fished the lower section of the river as the upper was occupied by another RMAC member. We did not start fishing until 10 am. The day started beautiful, sunny with some cloud cover. We did not see many fish and we nymphed for about an hour, using stone flies, Prince nymphs, pheasant tails, emergers and did not see a fish. I switched to a pink San Juan Worm and caught a very nice rainbow.

At about 11 am the sky got cloudy and the river came alive with one of the most amazing hatches I had ever seen. Bugs (PMDs)everywhere. Weirdly, hardly any fish were feeding. In a 100 foot stretch you might see one fish rising. In that hour I switched to a dry and caught 4 of the nicest fish you could imagine, one a brown of real beauty but it was stealth fishing, walking way away from the bank and hoping to spot a riser and them sneaking up on hands and knees and fishing from a kneel or crouch. With a hatch like that I might have expected risers everywhere but that was not the case.

About 2:30 the skies unleashed a torrential rain that we hoped to wait out but for an hour it was a monsoon and we decided to head home as 285 was a parking lot. A quality day but not a quantity day.

Bring a nice supply repellant, the skeeters were thick as you can imagine. I actually breathed in a couple. Use 6x tippet for your dry too.



Name: John Date Submitted: 7/4/2009
Email: jgunn@isgtech.com
Date's Fished: july 4, 2009

Commments:
Got to the property around 8:00 a.m., we fished nymphs until mid-morning and caught some fish, then fished dry/dropper until 3:00 p.m. landed around 40 fish between my wife and I. Mosquitoes were bad, but the fishing made up for it. We fished the entire time in the upper stretch and there were fish rising everywhere.



Name: Mike Vineyard Date Submitted: 6/22/2009
Email:
Date's Fished: June 19, 2009

Commments:
Bright day with no wind. Fished the lower stretch in the morning with good luck in the deep, shaded, slower holes. Upper section in the afternoon with the two biggest holes producing the most fish. Probably 30 overall between 4 of us with 3 in the 20+ range. A lot of smaller fish this time. in the 12-14 inch range. Probably spooked 100 fish in the shallows due to high water and bright sun. Fish caught on red SJ worms, phesant tails, copper johns, and WBs.



Name: Mike Williams Date Submitted: 5/24/2009
Email: m_t_williams@hotmail.com
Date's Fished: May 16, 2009

Commments:
I fished the property with two guests last Saturday. Forecast called for cloudy and rain or snow. Turned out to be mostly sunny and 65--beautiful day, but it made the fish spooky, especially in the long slow sections in the middle of the property, which were like glass. Only 16 fish among the three of us, and one of my guests caught 13 of them. He caught 10 in the last hole of the day--the deep hole beneath the beaver ponds that has chair next to it. I believe he was using caddis pupa, and a few caddis were fluttering around in the afternoon. I managed two fish--a 20" rainbow on a purple zonker, first cast of the day, and an 8" brown on a San Juan worm. Nothing feeding on the surface, and nothing happening on the various nymphs I tried. On a sunny day, I would focus on the extreme upstream section that has the stream improvements, and the downstream section that has some fast runs, cut banks, and tree cover. That's where all our fish were taken. If you like crawling into position like a sniper and having one shot at 16-18" rainbows you can sight-fish to, the slow, meadow stretches are for you. Technically, I'm not good enough to cast from my knees and hit my target on my first or second attempt. There also are a fair number of 30"+ pike prowling the shallows, if that's your thing. They tend to be in the slower sections, and you need to be stealthy.



Name: Vic Walker Date Submitted: 4/28/2009
Email: vmwskywalk@yahoo.com
Date's Fished: April 25th, 2009

Commments:
Typical early spring day in South Park, however the weather was better there than in Denver. Driving to the creek on Saturday morning, the weather looked awful. The clouds hung low reducing visability to almost zero heading southwest on 285. I figured we were in for a very cold day. Miraculously as I reached the summit of Kenosha Pass the clouds parted and the temperature rose to 50 degrees. The day was to be partly cloudy and windy with temps pushing 55 degrees. Three of us fished the bottom section first with modest success. I picked up a couple very snaky looking 16" rainbows on wooly buggers below the rapids and trees. After lunch we moved to the upper portion of the creek. From about 11:30 to 1:30 the fishing was non-stop. By about 2 p.m. everything slowed down considerably. In all, 3 of us caught about 15 each. 16" to 18" being the rule for rainbows, 12" to 14" for browns. We had one fish that topped 19". It seemed like we threw about everything in the box at them. The fish would hit a red san juan worm for a while and then you would have to switch. As the fishing became more difficult later in the day we switched and had success on several small midge patterns. In all we caught fish on wooly buggers, san juan worms, red copper johns, and three or four different midge patterns.



Name: Steve Sparks Date Submitted: 4/13/2009
Email: stephenrsparks@gmail.com
Date's Fished: April 12, 2009

Commments:
Although the weather turned cold and it started snowing, the fishing was great in at least one location. There is a nice deep pool about 300 yards past the second rock outcropping heading toward the reservoir itself and before the beaver dam. The water levels were low but in this hole you could, for the most part, sight fish some of the fish. I caught a total of 12 fish, all but two from this one location. (2 browns, 2 small rainbows, and 8 very nice rainbows - all from the deep pool) The only fly I used was a krystal bugger black with "green" flash. A great time, even with the weather.



Name: Kip Price Date Submitted: 3/20/2009
Email: kprice@yahoo.com
Date's Fished: Mar 20, 2009

Commments:
Fun 1/2 day on A-8. There is no ice and only a few very small snow drifts left. Typical day in South Park...lots of wind, 1 min. of rain, and 2 min. of huge snow flakes, then 60 degrees 10 min. later. I made my way up to the North end of the property trying to sight fish along the way. However, the fish were really spooky (sound familiar?!) so I didn't have much luck. The best fishing by far was near the very North end of the property, just above and below the beaver dam. Red/orange eggs and red SJW (RMAC staff suggestion) were the preferred fish diet of the day. There was a brief midge hatch going on so I tried a few various dries and emerger patterns, but no luck. In the short time I was near the beaver dam I landed four Rainbows, and lost three. I caught a few more on red egg patterns walking back down to the car. Would definitely go back.



Name: John Date Submitted: 9/30/2008
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Great day fishing on A-8. We caught four fish over 18 inches, my wife caught her first rainbow on a dry that was 18" and now she is "hooked". We used a guide from the Blue Quill



Name: Bill J Date Submitted: 9/20/2008
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished only the lower section. Decided to try and get fish to come up even though no visible risers. After an hour about to give up when nice bow hit hopper. Stayed with hopper and landed 10+fish over the next 5 hours. All nice fish 14-18" -primarily bows with 3-14"-16" browns. One really nice 21" bow. Fished with streamer (WB) on way down stream in afternoon, 3 nice bows 18-20". Fish spooky as normal in Tarryall but along the banks where you would expect them



Name: Bill J Date Submitted: 9/5/2008
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
fished the upper section in AM. 12-15 bows and browns to 15". caddis and hopper. Fished lower section in PM. Lots of fish but not rising. Went to streamers gold and green. 6 great RB to 20" including a fat 23" bow. Water low and fish spooky. Under banks and slow deep water- where you would expect them. Also 25" mean Pike- Properly disposed of.



Name: Jim Pyeatte Date Submitted: 8/22/2008
Email: pyeatte@mac.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Today the fish were erratic, not consistent. Caught several 14-inchers on Copper Johns, then they quit hitting it; a couple (12-14-inchers)on a Black Stone,again they quite taking it and then really had some fun catching 4 on Grasshoppers, the largest 16 -incher. Water was clear - might be reason for not being consistent. A good day, I will return



Name: Jason Date Submitted: 8/3/2008
Email: mlafond35@yahoo.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Tough day, water was about 2 feet low and river was running at about 50 to 60 cfs. The fish are very spooky, but we caught about 12 fish total the biggest was about 18" bow. I did catch a 28" musky on a woolly bugger..very fun fight! The flies we used..Stimulator, BWO, Trico, RS2, beadhead, adams and prince nymphs. Long leader and tippet a must 5x to 6x.



Name: Gary Weihrauch Date Submitted: 8/3/2008
Email: gsweihrauch@comcast.net
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Great day fishing the upper section of water. The flow rate was perfect and a couple different hatches were going on but caught the majority of the fish on a large yellow grass hopper pattern and the cutts on #18 copper johns. The rainbows ranged from 14 to 18 inches and the cutthroats were 12 to 14. Stealth was the answer.



Name: Ed Barnes Date Submitted: 7/15/2008
Email: enbarnes@tds.net
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Good day...trico spinners in the slower meadow water. Above that it was midge and caddis droppers size 18 to 20. However it seemed necessary to change flys after each fish. 12+ fish day, cuts, browns, and rainbows. 12" to 18" with a 20"+ lost when it went airborn.



Name: Gary Godden Date Submitted: 7/6/2008
Email: goddens2@comcast.net
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Three words...Black Wooley Bugger. That's all I fished all day, & the fish were on it like candy. Big or small, they all wanted it! The water levels are a bit high w/ a slight tea-colored stain, but it made for great streamer fishing. An honest 50 fish day, ranging from 12" to 18" rainbows, cutts & browns, w/ 3-20" rainbows that variously snapped my tippet, threw the hook or snagged me off. Also, no mosquitos! Go figure.



Name: Jim Pyeatte Date Submitted: 7/3/2008
Email: pyeatte@mac.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Guest and I began fishing around 9:30 am and did not have much success. We caught a few Browns on Copper Johns (green). About noon we swished to Red bead heads and began to catch more browns and a few rainbows. later we switched to San Juan Worm and the fun began. Large Rainbows 18 & 20 inch came alive and we landed several, until the Grandmother of Rainbows decided to get a bit of a HOT PINK San Juan Worm, what a battle and a catch 24 inches long - caught and released back to catch another day.



Name: Bruce Kautz Date Submitted: 6/29/2008
Email: blkautz@yahoo.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished the upper section from 9am to 1 pm. It was so bad that I only caught 3 cuts, 2 browns and 1 rainbow in one pool! Joking aside, the fish were taking size 16 Elk hair caddis, 16 Adams, 16 Royal Wulff, 16 Yellow humpy and I quit counting fish after 20. Closer to noon the fish were hitting a small emerger, so added a 2 1/2 ft dropper with 18 beadhead Prince and caught a lot of cuts on the dropper. Don't forget Mosquito repellent!



Name: Harry Date Submitted: 6/20/2008
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
BANNER DAY! Water still high and tea-colored. It was windy too. Three rods caught over 40 fish. Red CJ and gold ribbed hare's ears worked quite well. Riffles were the best area and 40 percent of the fish were rainbows.



Name: Andy Textoris Date Submitted: 5/31/2008
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Great weather at A-8. No clouds and the usual wind. Water was high but only slightly off color. Two people fished the upper section and caught 18 fish. Only two fish under 16 inches. Both were browns at 12 inches. Largest fish just topped 18 inches. Al were healthy andstrong.Fish were cayght on wooly buggers, black stone fly nymphs, SJ worms,and egg patterns. A very good day.



Name: Alan Robinson Date Submitted: 5/10/2008
Email: robin80004@aol.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Snow, wind, and temperatures in the high 20's greeted four of us as we arrived at the river around 9:30 am. As the sky appeared to be clearing to the west, we geared up and began fishing the lower section, hoping we would be somewhat sheltered from the wind. Fortunately, the sun broke throught the clouds raising the temerature into the 30's, but the wind did not subside. The four of us managed about 10 fish on the lower section by noon, 10"-14", mostly on black Wooley Buggers. The highlight of the morning was a big rainbow hooked in the fast water just below the beaver dam about 100 yards downstream of the lower parking area on a #16 FB pheasant tail. After fighting the fish for a few minutes and almost getting it in the net, my rod snapped just above the connecton of the 2-piece outfit. While the fish remained hooked initially, it pulled away as we attempted the get it to the net by hand. My dad was there assisting, and we both got several good looks at the fish which we estimate between 16"-18", but who knows. It was a nice fish, but not big enough to break a rod. I'm guessing a weak spot that had developed somehow over time that was looking for a good reason to break. We fished the upper section in the wind in the afternoon; the sun was out sporatically, but the temerature never got out of the high 30's. We again used mostly Wooley Buggers which were easiest to deal with in the wind, and landed another dozen or so fish in the ten to twelve inch range, with two going 16". The wind finally drove us off the water around 5:00 pm. This is great looking water at which our same group has had better success. We are all hoping to come back when it is a little warmer, and the wind a lot calmer. We happened to hit it on the wrong day weather wise, but this is a tremendous stretch of water. We'll be back.



Name: vinnie rigatti Date Submitted: 5/8/2008
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Got to the upper parking lot by 8AM with 2 guests. The day started off clear and sunny and we fished the lower portion of the upper stretch first and caught some nice fish, mostly on black wooly buggers and san juan worms, but action was generally slow. The weather gradually got worse and we saw rain, snow, sleet, and thunder throughout the day. Not to mention the wind which was ripping out of the north all afternoon. However the fishing was great in the upper stretches where the stream improvements are. The water is very clear and we each caught between 20-30 fish with a mix of rainbows, browns and cutts (which I think are stockers). The best flys were black wooly buggers, blood nymphs and red san juan worms. Caught several rainbows in the 16-20 inch range. There was even a small mayfly hatch late in the day when the wind let up for 20 minutes or so. Also be aware to have your license up to date. We had a DOW ranger ask for ours about midday.



Name: Joseph Radecki Date Submitted: 5/4/2008
Email: joseph.radecki@rbccm.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
On the water at 8:15 and had landed four nice rainbows by 9AM. The rest of the day followed suit. What a terrific stretch of water! - and I only covered about half of the upper section. The day started sunny, with increasing cloud cover by midday. Flows appeared to be average for this time of year and the water was a bit brownish, limiting visibility to three to four feet . In the AM the fish were hitting red San Juan Worms and red Copper Johns (sz 16). With the afternoon cloud, BH FB PT and RS2s (sz 16 -18) worked well. Mostly rainbows ranging from 16" to 18". Several browns, which were smaller (12 -14), but each one of them jumped several times. The fish were all in the deep corners and deep holes in areas with structure, although they are very jumpy and would dart out of their holds at the slightest indication of my approach. Stealth was key it helped to stay low, walk softly and be mindful of where the sun is.



Name: Vic Walker Date Submitted: 4/27/2008
Email: vmwskywalk@yahoo.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Had a hard freeze over night. Wind was blowing hard and it was pretty chilly. That was the bad news. Good news is the fish didn't seem to care. It took a little while for the fishing to warm up, but once it did...wow! We caught fish on BH flash back PTs, Woolly Buggers, San Juan worms, and s16 red copper johns. Between two of us we landed about 15 fish each, and hooked many more. For the most part fish ranged from 12 to 16 inches. We landed three that were well outside of that range, 19", 22", and a fat 23" rainbow.



Name: JWE Date Submitted: 4/20/2008
Email: everett802@hotmail.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
My second trip to a RMAC property and I am very pleased...what a beatiful site! The wind made things very tough but well worth the struggle. We fished the upper section and had fairly consistent luck throughout the day with several nice rainbows averaging ~ 14"-16" and a few browns. Things started slow until we reached the areas where structure had been added to provide holding areas for the fish. Working these would always lead to several takes. Staying low (to not spook fish and avoid getting blown into the river)and presenting well-mended drifts at just the right depth were the ticket. The water was a little cloudy so we used rigs with an attractor nymph up top and found that a flashback hare's ear size 16 to be what they were keying in on. A couple big ones hooked and lost in the deeper pools....don't let them go under the bank!!! The highlight of the day came when a Golden Eagle came swooping in on us as we took a break for lunch on the bank.



Name: Gary Date Submitted: 4/6/2008
Email: gary@evcohs.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
The stream is open, with only small areas of ice on the edges. It was freezing cold but the fishing was excellent. In 5 hours of fishing, from 12 noon to 5 PM caught over 20 fish in the 10-15 inch range, browns and rainbows. 60/40 ratio on nuclear eggs and any small black midge patterns.



Name: Mike Williams Date Submitted: 11/9/2007
Email: m_t_williams@hotmail.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Spring creek-like conditions and cold water kicked our butts on Friday. We only fished the upper half of the property, and the fish were holding in the deeper, winter lies. Started at the lower boundary fence and worked our way up. The water was slow, smooth, and clear, with some ice on the sides of the river from very low overnight temperatures. We saw many large fish, but only landed two all day--one 16" brown on a red and black bugger and one 14" rainbow on a small white and tan hopper. We had a couple of more strikes on the bugger in the morning and missed a few more trout in the late afternoon on green copper john droppers. Most of the fish were hiding in weed beds and channels. We didn't see a riser all day. The only technique that effectively gave us a chance to get the flies in front of the trout was dry-dropper or hopper-dropper, but you end up with your dropper hung up on the weeds more often than not. To say these fish are spooky is an understatement. I have never seen anything like it. I would be walking 10-20 feet back from the bank and see fish moving away from the banks 100 feet ahead of me as I approached cautiously and with a low profile, even if the fish were on the other side of a large water feature, and even if I was not casting, and even if my shadow was not on the water. There is no way they could see me from so far away, while facing upstream, so they must have sensed the slight vibrations as I moved up the creek. The only thing that helped conceal ourselves was moving extremely slowly up the center of the creek, but even then we spooked most of the fish well before we had a chance to cast for them. You better be a brown trout and spring creek pro, or the fish will clean your clock. Beautiful property, beautiful water, and a huge herd of bighorn sheep between the parking area and the water made for a very nice, if somewhat frustrating, day



Name: Zach Broyles Date Submitted: 11/4/2007
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
The water is clear and smooth, which made the trout easily spooked.



Name: Harry Briscoe Date Submitted: 10/27/2007
Email: hjbris@embarqmail.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Arrived to a cold fog, fearful the day would be difficult. By the time I made the river bank, the fog had lifted and the sun was peeking through. A great brisk late Fall day. Made the creek near the upstream parking area and saw it low and slow. Immediately began spooking fish in every hole and wondered if there was a solution at all. I worked downstream to the cross-fence (this has a misleading sign on it now causing me, in correctly I think, to turn back upstream. That was a good move. I got into the stream mid-way and waded very, very slowly up. A few very slight rises started by about 11:00. I tried several choices but nothing until I swithched to a BWO emerger (about sz. 18) fished in or just below the film. Ouila!! Things remained fairly steady until about 3:30 pm ... I had I think 14 nice strikes and landed 9 fish.... all on the emerger and 6x, and all requiring extreme stealth (the Hexagraph provided that). Smallest fish was just under 15" and the largest was just at 19" - browns and rainbows both ..... what a great day!



Name: Richard Feist Date Submitted: 10/26/2007
Email: rfeist@grout-tek.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
There are some submarines in this water! It's almost November and the browns & bows were still hitting hoppers - small hoppers and BWO's on top. Small BHPTs & RS2's below. Great fishing, weather perfect, very nice property. Upper end is nicely improved habitat - stealth is require below structure area. Long slow glides - and the fish can see you 10 yards before you can see them. Wait to see riser forms and then give them a cast, don't walk and look - they will spook and leave their holds. Very good population of large fish. Enjoy!



Name: Bill J. Date Submitted: 9/17/2007
Email: billj@wjinterests.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished in the rain in the AM but got better. Fish were actively feeding from 9am-3pm. #18 Adams and Caddis brought 15+ fish -bows and browns 12-16"-healthy fish all. After 3pm several nice 15"+ Bows on streamers.



Name: Bill Farnum Date Submitted: 9/14/2007
Email: bbfarnum@comcast.net
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Great day on this property. Took a guest and he landed his largets fish ever, a fat 23" rainbow. We only fished the upper 1/2 mile of the property and hit the same holes a few times. Fish seem to be stacked up in a few holes. Weather was perfect and we landed 13-14 fish between us, about half over 16". Mainly on buckskin nymphs under a SJ worm



Name: Tom Battaglia Date Submitted: 9/2/2007
Email: battagliat@gmail.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
My wife and I fished the upper section exclusively, and it fished about the same as everyone else has described for this time of year. The flow was down significantly when compared to just a month ago. Stalking the fish was very difficult at this flow. There were clouds of tricos from ~9 - 10:30, but they weren't falling to the water while I was watching. Concurrently, there was a thin BWO hatch, and a size 20 CDC pattern brought a few 14-16s up. The rest of the day produced a few fish, mostly on hoppers and ants. We fished droppers too, but more strikes were had on the surface. In the "money-hole" my wife caught three > 16" on a BTS baetis below a red San Juan. Last, it also appeared that the suckers out-numbered the trout 3:1!



Name: Rik Christiansen Date Submitted: 8/25/2007
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Awesome scenery to start the morning with!! Fished the upper part first (below the bridge). Very slow but plenty of swirls around. Finally took one on a bead headed PT below a Stimulator. Trico hatch was amazing but short. Thank God for the Deepwoods Off as the bugs were a plenty! After a mid-morning snack fished the lower part....much better! Tan Parahoppers were the slayers here. Several fish hooked and a few landed. Average 14 ish. Had a few smaller takers on the Stimmy - BeadHead PT tandem (Hit the PT). If I had to do it over again I would have started at the lower section and fished all the property there but for a first time it was as advertised and I will be back!



Name: Joe Date Submitted: 8/9/2007
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An unbelievable hopper day! Caught several rainbows in excess of 20", plus all the other fish were from 14"-18". The Tarryall looked great and the fishing was good on a bright, sunny day.



Name: Robert Date Submitted: 8/3/2007
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The stream was high today due to monsoon rains. Still managed to land 15 fish, both browns and rainbows, from 12"-15". Used hoppers and stimmy's w/prince nymph droppers.



Name: Joe-RMAC Member Date Submitted: 7/24/2007
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Fished the lower section all day. There were some fish rising to caddis. There were lots of fish, caught on a Para. hopper, some fish over 20".



Name: Steve Fitzgerald Date Submitted: 6/30/2007
Email: sfitz88@comcast.net
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In the immortal words of Valley girls everywhere, "Ohmygosh"! Rarely in life does the hype match expectations, but A-8 appears to be the exception. Somewhere around 40 fish to net, many between 16 and 20 inches (browns and bows) in about 7 hours of fishing. Nothing fancy...anything big with rubber legs on top, with a dropper (b. head p.t. or copper john) 2-3 feet below it. Wierdly, the big fish hit the dry, and the smaller ones the dropper. Even better, lots of jumpers, making the trip to the net exciting. The fish are exactly where the textbook says they should be, in the seams and along the banks. I fished the upper section, and found the part to the south of the parking area to be best, followed by the areas with structure north of the area all the way up to the end of the property. To top it off, a golden eagle joined the fishing, and was a sight to behold.



Name: Steve Fitzgerald Date Submitted: 6/30/2007
Email: sfitz88@comcast.net
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In the immortal words of Valley girls everywhere, "Ohmygosh"! Rarely in life does the hype match expectations, but A-8 appears to be the exception. Somewhere around 40 fish to net, many between 16 and 20 inches (browns and bows) in about 7 hours of fishing. Nothing fancy...anything big with rubber legs on top, with a dropper (b. head p.t. or copper john) 2-3 feet below it. Wierdly, the big fish hit the dry, and the smaller ones the dropper. Even better, lots of jumpers, making the trip to the net exciting. The fish are exactly where the textbook says they should be, in the seams and along the banks. I fished the upper section, and found the part to the south of the parking area to be best, followed by the areas with structure north of the area all the way up to the end of the property. To top it off, a golden eagle joined the fishing, and was a sight to behold.



Name: Matt Vineyard Date Submitted: 4/22/2007
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Beautiful stream, especially the downstream mile. 3 of us had around 60 hook ups. Largest 20" with numerous 17-18. 11" was the exception with 15" being the rule. Red copper johns, San Juans, Flashback PT, Olive Buggers.



Name: Joe Springer Date Submitted: 10/1/2006
Email: jspringer@comcast.net
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I fished the upstream section in the morning and the downstream section in the afternoon. The stream improvements on the upper section provide excellent fish habitat. The water was to low to fish the middle section - I spooked the fish before I could get close enough to cast (breezy). It was very quite until the blue dune hatch occured between 10 and 1. Caught about 6 browns and rainbows (6-10") on the upper section on a #16 blue dune dry fly; two broke my line after several minutes. The fish spook really easily, ususally had to move to the next hole after catching one fish. Caught about 5 browns (6-10") and 1 rainbow (12") on the downstream section in the afternoon. Had only strikes on #18 pheasant tail; eventually tied on a #14 renegade wet fly and started to catch fish. The fish weren't as spooky on the downstream section. Beautiful stretch of water; will return but earlier in the year when the water is deeper.



Name: Gene Edwards Date Submitted: 8/30/2006
Email: gedwards@tkdistributors.com
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It's been a while since I fished this great property. Well it's everything I remember and "MORE". I'm talking about the stream improvments of course. I took a couple of guests who just couldn't believe how lucky we are to have access to property like A8. I agree. Possible future members I'd say. Oh BTW the fishing was great on hopper dropper, stimmies and droppers. We caught probably 40 or so between the three of us, an even mix of browns an rainbows 10 to 18 inches!



Name: David and Tyler Koets Date Submitted: 8/11/2006
Email: DKOETS@aol.com
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This is our favorite property so far. We had a great day. We caught 34 fish total all on a yellow stimulator with a flashback beadhead pheasant tail dropper. Lots of small stocker fish on the upper portion but we caught 4 10-16" on the lower portion. We will be back next year.



Name: Sally Fant Date Submitted: 7/22/2006
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Another exceptional day on our favorite lease - A-8. This property never fails to deliver consistently healthy and strong rainbows and browns - mostly in the 13-18" category. A combination of Hoppers, Caddis', Copper Johns and Flashbacks worked well all day.



Name: Jason Price Date Submitted: 7/15/2006
Email: jaypee23@holly.colostate.edu
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Fished better than I have ever experienced on this property. Mosquitos were present but not bad on the upper section. Rainbows and browns were slamming chernobyl ants, hoppers, and stimmy's. Bigger fish seemed to like the ant the best. Biggest fish was 19 inches and most were 12-15 inches.



Name: Daryl Mechem Date Submitted: 7/2/2006
Email: dmechem@dividendcapital.com
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All expectations met. Fished the upper portion from 9:00am to lunch and had plenty of opportunity but landed few. A hatch was occuring until about 11:00 but neither my friend or myself had the knowledge to identify it. Caught five rainbows in the 14" to 18" range with twice as many lost. Fished the lower section after lunch and caught six smaller browns on the hopper dropper combo but the mesquito's were truely unbelievable and we headed back to the upper section and caught three good size rainbows in an hour or so. Used a hopper/copper john set-up. Beautiful water and will be going back.



Name: Leigh Gardner Date Submitted: 4/11/2006
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We were on the stream around 9 and the fishing picked up around 10. Little black midges worked very well untill just after noon when we switched over to streamers. We fished mostly buggers with and without beadheads, a conehead in green gave multiple 20+ inchers. Stick to the deeper pools and deep runs and stay away from the banks when walking upstream.



Name: Bill Farnum Date Submitted: 4/2/2006
Email: bbfarnum@comcast.net
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Started out a very cold and WINDY day on A-8. Fished the lower section of the property in the AM until about 12:30 battling 30 mph winds. Didn't move or see any fish. Moved up to the upper section in the PM and had a great 2 hours once the wind died down and I could put a cast where it needed to be. Red and maroon copper johns trailing a Red San Juan was the ticket. The fish were stacked up in a few holes, but were tough to find. But it was worth it as one hole relinquished 5 fish ranging from a 10" Rainbow to an 18" Brown and a monster 23" 'bow on the worm. Too bad I was by msyelf I really wish I had gotten a picture of this hook jawed rainbow...Well maybe next time...I would definitely concetrate on the upper 1 mile of the stream where the improvements were made a few years ago. Looks like those improvements have really taken hold and big fish are thriving there.



Name: John Gabriele Date Submitted: 3/30/2006
Email: jmgabriele@rmi.net
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There were a ton of fish in the open meadow, the key was figuring out how to sneak up on them with very little cover. Even some dry fly activity in the late morning with the sun out. We had a great day there, my largest was an 18" rainbow, though also had 3 or 4 12-14" on. An excellent first property for a new RMAC member!



Name: Ted Lenz Date Submitted: 8/27/2005
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Arrived at the bottom section around 10:00 am and fished nymphs with good luck, mostly rainbows. Went to the upper section around noon and started sight fishing in the slow water with hoppers. Caught several rainbows and browns in the 12-18 inch range. Fish were aggresive but very wary in the slow water. Had a great time.



Name: Dan Date Submitted: 8/10/2005
Email: dkf23@aol.com
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We got there about 9:30am. Overcast skies with a light breeze. Not too hot. Tricos on the upper section of the property. Stealth a must. Red copper john also produced. Fished stims and trudes on the lower section in the afternoon. Rain around 3pm. I had to get back early so we left. We worked for them. My first time there. Spectacular. And the fishing wasn't bad either.



Name: Bill Farnum Date Submitted: 8/6/2005
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Weather was perfect 70- and sunny. Great fishing about 1/3 of a mile below the upper property boundary to the boundary. I didn't fish the lower part of the proprty but plan to next time as I saw some nice fish down there. I caught 3 Rainbows and 4 browns over 17" all on size 18 green CDC Emergers. All fish were very close to the banks sipping the emergers. Very strong fish great fighters with lots of jumps! They all hit on the 1st cast and disappeared if I missed the strike so be ready...Nothing on hoppers and/or droppers. Will be back in a few weeks.



Name: T. Curtis Date Submitted: 7/9/2005
Email: tscurtis64@comcast.net
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My guests and I fished the whole lease, all 4 miles of it. What a terrific lease for the club. The stream improvements really are great and Jim from Ute Creek River Ranch oversees this property very well and knows the water - good tips! We had about 69 cfs. We fished the upper in the morning (8am - noon) using stimulators, hoppers, madam x, humpies - to very active trout and a bh pt as a dropper also helped. Mainly rainbows caught. Many of the stream improvements are now holding fishing. We fished the lower in the afternoon (1pm - 7pm) using humpies, adams, trudes and nymphing - to very active trout. A mix of rainbows and browns caught. Pocket water was a good bet. The low end of the lease (beaver ponds) we awesome for browns). It was a very good day, with many many rises to drys and many fished hooked and landed. The big fish of the day was a nearly 20" rainbow and an 18" brown. Many other nice fish hooked but not landed. BUGS terrible! no matter what section of the stream you were on. Mosquitoes, horseflys, spiders. Bring quality bug spray and apply it hourly. Perhaps a mesh headnet? Overall a very good day. I recommend this lease for introducing beginners or novice fly fishers into the sport!



Name: Sally Date Submitted: 7/4/2005
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Incredible day even if it was very windy. Fish were hitting Hoppers HARD and fast and later in the day, foam bodied caddis! We only fished the section between the first parking spot to and above the cabin and my fishing buddy caught a 22" rainbow (measured it 3 times), a 20" Brown, plus 4 or 5 over 16" as well as numerous 12-14 inchers. I landed 5 over 16", lost more than that as the hits broke off my 6X tippet before I changed over to 5X and countless fish 12-15". The fish were all very, very healthy and strong with the bigger ones making us run up and down the banks frequently. This was my 2nd time fishing this beautiful piece of water & the size and consitency of the fish amaze me. We also saw 2 bald eagles, a coyote on a rock howling, elk, and a water snake (yuk!).



Name: Sally Fant Date Submitted: 6/19/2005
Email: sallyfant@hotmail.com
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The day was perfect, nice breeze and the flow was perfect. The morning and midday was very active with PMD,s, Caddis pupae and caddis dries getting good hits with an equal balance of sub-surface and surface action. It slowed down mid-afternoon and we took a break until 5:00 or so after which we caught more in the last 3 hours than the rest of the day altogether. My fishing buddy caught at least 30+ fish, all over 12" and the average being 14-16" but she caught 4 or 5 18-19 inchers. I landed at least 15 or so, some really, really nice ones, and lost some even bigger ones. We aw some real hogs in a few pools but they were smarter than we were. Great property! We're headed back early July again! Thanks RMAC!



Name: Gary Ewen Date Submitted: 6/11/2005
Email: gewen@ccu.edu
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We fished hard all day and were skunked! Thats the first time in many years The property is gorgeous and the stream looks superb. The top portion of the upper section still has a fair amount of sediment but the stream improvements will make this an incredible fishery over time. The water was pretty high as the spillway for the dam was over-flowing quite hard. The lower section was pretty well flooded with the stream pouring over its banks and through the willows putting much debris (and many fly-catching snags) in the water. Though we fished hard, we did not see many fish at all. The people on the pubblic sections also were not catching (or seeing) any fish. I suspect the fish are holding deep and waiting out the flood. Nonetheless, this is truly a gorgeous stream!



Name: Wally Date Submitted: 5/16/2005
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Fished great on streamers. Anything purple seemed to be very productive- like a purple zonker. Also fished well with a green egg sucking leech. All rainbows and biggest as around 20 inches. Only fished the upper section.



Name: Wes Date Submitted: 5/12/2005
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Upper section was slow in a.m. but lower section was really hot in the afternoon. Best flies were a Red Copper John, a Flashback Pheasant Tail and a tan Wooly Bugger



Name: Jason Price Date Submitted: 2/3/2005
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Just wanted to let everyone know that stream improvements have been made on the far upper end of the property in response to all the silt that had been washed down from the dam. The future looks favorable for the property!



Name: Lyn Lampert Date Submitted: 9/4/2004
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Cool drizzly day with clear water. Really nice Blue wing Olive hatch (heavy) and did quite well with Parachute Blue Wing Olives s18. Had better fishing on the lower section. Saw fish on the upper section but it was harder to fish to them in the slow water. The fish were in great shape, big fat rainbows and browns. One large rainbow broke me off.



Name: Michael Brod Date Submitted: 8/15/2004
Email: mbrod@cwrpda.com
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I got there early and it was a bit cold to start off. It was a bit of a difficult day as the stream flow was down. I only fished the lower stretch of the property. It is a nice property, but I didn't have much luck. Tried just about every dry in my box and had a couple of lookers on my hoppers. Lost a really nice brown on a #16 BWO but lost him as I got him to me. I'm sure the property will fish better with more water! My first time out on a RMAC property. I'm sure I will be back to A-8 when there is more water!



Name: Will Chester Date Submitted: 7/30/2004
Email: wchester@evcohs.com
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Good day with a friend. Quiet water, probably 90cfs. Mostly sunny but some storms in the afternoon. Used small to medium hoppers most of the day. Tried other patterns, but hoppers most productive. Prolific PMD hatch around noon.



Name: Bob Date Submitted: 7/17/2004
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Had a wonderful day-even though it was raining. Caught plenty of fish 8 or so were browns in the 12-14 inch range. The dam is working well.



Name: Gene Edwards Date Submitted: 6/18/2004
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Fished the afternoon only(1:30 to 4:30) and the fishing was suprisingly good. The first hour produced only two nice browns 13 and 14". One on the black copper john dropper and one on a red copper john. No hits on the #18 elk hair caddis. Thunderstorm were building, it was getting very dark and my 52 yo eyes quit working. So I swapped the caddis for a big old "Hopper Dropper". Have you seen these they are very cool, very bouyant and a lime green parachute makes them very visable. Hey, I actually saw a hopper on the bank, it was only one and it was very small, but I don't need much of an opening. In the next hour I landed 13 more fish, all browns between 11 and 16", on the hopper. Hopper fishing in June.....this may be my new favorite property. One quick trip to the lower area produced 2 more 12" browns. Curiously only browns today, not a single rainbow. I had a simular fish count last Fall and caught all rainbows. One tip on the upper end. Don't walk straight to the river, walk downstream a ways before you start back up. The closer you get to the dam the slower the fishing is. Probably has something to do with the resevoir silt washing down.



Name: Gene Edwards Date Submitted: 9/28/2003
Email: gedwards@tkdistributors.com
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I got a little bummed out when I saw how thin the water was. It had to be a foot lower than last month when I was here. I decided to call Lowell and see if A12 was still available, maybe there is more water down stream. Well I am happy to report my cell phone wouldn't work so I decided to walk down and give it a try. This turned out to be one of my best days ever, considering fish count, size, time fished and most fish were taken on hoppers and small adams and hares ear dry patterns. Every bend still has deep pools, but the flow was moving so slow a traditional nymph rig probably wouldn't work. I coaxed a few up on hoppers and chartreuse copper droppers before a midge hatch started about 11:00. The next two hours produced fish, mostly rainbows in the 16" range, every couple of casts. You do have to practice a lot of stealth and make long accurate casts and watch out for the quick sand like mud. Each bend(pool) would have 2 or 3 risers(sippers) spaced out up the pool and if you were careful and landed the fish downstream you could pick off one right after another. It was a beautiful thing until 2 when the wind chased them down and me home.



Name: Gene & Kris Edwards Date Submitted: 8/2/2003
Email: gedwards@tkdistributors.com
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Kris 13...Geno 10. I thought we'd get that out of the way up front and I'd feel better.I was wrong. The upper part of the creek that has fished very well for us in the past(2 years ago) produced no fish in the first hour. We gave up quickly and went to the lower 1/3 of the property. The few fish I caught and the several Kris caught were all on standard nymphs in size 16. Prince, Green Copper John, BHPT, Lightning Bug and Cream scuds all fooled fish. One 15" Rainbow and about a dozen 11 to 13" Browns. Surprisingly no fish took my Hopper just the dropper and Kris fished a standard nymph rig and as I said caught the most fish. We moved on to the middle parking lot and caught another dozen fish, this section was mostly Rainbows from 12 to 16" and most of these boys opted for my Hopper and kris' #16 Stimulator. The real hoppers on this section were plentiful but very small. Thunder storms chased us home at 5 before we could give the upper section one last try. Lots of silt on the upper part which I suppose has negatively effected the bug and fish life. By the way be careful the silt can be just like quick sand and when you weigh as much as I do you can sink pretty deep!



Name: RMAC Member Date Submitted: 7/24/2003
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Great Day. Caught all fish on top with hopper and yellow humpy.



Name: Jason Price Date Submitted: 7/15/2003
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water is fairly clear and it looks really good!