53 entries found
| Name: Bill Stewart |
Date Submitted: 5/23/2013 |
| Email: wjs@centurylink.net |
| Date's Fished: May 21, 2013 |
Commments: |
| Although cold and morning snow showers, we had a great day. Nice property but water was high, fast and slightly discolored. No hatches nor rises seen. We abandoned the lower river (after confluence) and moved to upper boundary where we caught browns and rainbows in the many undercut banks. Copper (copper) Johns ruled. |
| Name: HW |
Date Submitted: 5/19/2013 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: 5/17/13 |
Commments: |
| The ranch is beautiful; if it were not for the pine beetle one might even say gorgeous. There is a lot of fishable water and you could spend a summer trying to master the place. I brought a first time fly fisherman and I was very grateful that he hooked a brown by the upper boundary. I was hoping the fish would be a little more cooperative, but the stream flow and water color were a little less than ideal. A late rise on the pond made for a nice ending with a couple large rainbows. Under the right conditions in the summer this place would be a fisherman’s dream come true. |
| Name: Damon |
Date Submitted: 5/17/2013 |
| Email: damonanderica@comcast.net |
| Date's Fished: May 16, 2013 |
Commments: |
| Awesome late Spring day in the Frasier River Valley with air temps in the 60's, water temps in mid 40's and an abundance of snow still on peaks. 3 of us fished Ranch Creek from 9:00 to 5:00. Started in the Ranch Creek section below Hurd Creek which was off color and high which proved to make the conditions challenging. Lots of debris in this section led to many snags and break offs. We did manage to pull 7 browns in the 8 - 12" range on red sj worms, flashback PT's size 16 and one small brown on a size 12 red copper john. We bailed on this section and fished above the Hurd confluence and below the culvert for the next couple hours mid-day. Water clarity and flow was more desirable and fish were more active. Caught 12 fish in this section, mostly browns and one bow, on sj worms with a few over 18" on black streamers in the beaver pond two sections below culvert. I finished day above culvert and caught 8 browns, two of which topped 16", on pink sj worms and flaskback PT's size 16. Only caught one bow in ponds but saw a few rising. All added up, over 30 fish, mostly browns, and we only covered about 1 mile of Ranch Creek. Really fun property with lots of diversity in structure and many undercut banks and deep channels. |
| Name: Fabrice |
Date Submitted: 5/6/2013 |
| Email: fabrice_fonck@hotmail.com |
| Date's Fished: May 2, 2013 |
Commments: |
| My friend Tim and I fished this property under tough conditions and it was new to us. A massive snow storm had dumped close to a foot of snow the day before and temperatures never exceeded 30 degrees the day we fished. On the plus side, it was sunny all day and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. We started our day fishing near the downstream boundary of Ranch Creek with no success. The water was very cold and off color due to snow melt. We decided to fish the Frasier river portion of the property and we both landed one nice brown on a #8 black woolly bugger. The water was low, mostly clear but also very cold. In the early afternoon we moved to the pond area but unfortunately about 80% of its surface was covered with ice. We decided to fish the creek below the pond but the water was off color as well due to snow melt and we managed only one hookup on a #16 copper john. We decided to try our luck on the pond and my friend Tim landed a nice 20 inch rainbow by casting the same #8 black woolly bugger at the edge of the ice shelf. After about an additional hour without any action on the pond, we decided to call it a day. We will come back at a later time when weather conditions are better as this property looks very promising. Considering the size of the place, I am convinced that many fishable portions of Ranch Creek get very little pressure. |
| Name: bh |
Date Submitted: 10/20/2012 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: Oct. 20, 2012 |
Commments: |
| Flows VERY low, but they're in there, and they are hungry. Hit the trophy pond at 830, which had a film of ice over most of it at the time with no luck. Then worked the creek until lunch downstream from the pond. They are stacked up in the deep pools/beaver ponds or under the cutbanks and they are incredibly spooky- the water is gin clear and on several occasions, staying low, hiding behind the willows, creeping up, I'd see a couple nice fish spook indicating game over for that spot. Long casts and a stealthy approach are required, but another RMAC'er and I managed to pull out 10+ browns and bows- 4 over 16" and 1 20" bow on the creek in the AM. We started with dry-dropper rigs then switched to slinging flash-a-buggers, which was more productive. We fished down to the road and the Beaver pond just above the road at the lower end of the property held some hogs, got a number to turn on the buggers, and landed a nice 18" brown. Then we hitched a ride back up to the ranch and landed beautiful little brookies in the upper pond. After lunch hit the lower trophy pond and hooked some fat, well fed bows. One straightened the 18 BHPT hook due to an impatient retrieve on 4x floro... Then we hit the Fraser where the water was stained and the fish were less spooky. It is also VERY low and they are stacked in the deeper holes. Here we again used both the flashabuggers and dry droppers but had more success on the dry-droppers. The drys were strictly strike-indicators as we caught all fish on the droppers. Landed 25+ between us in the afternoon, 9 over 16" mostly beautiful browns, biggest 19". Hooked a couple bigger but did not seal the deal. There is a lot of water to cover here between the creek and the Fraser and with flows this low, don't bother with anything but the pools. Little browns can be found in the shallow rifles on the Fraser but the big boys are stacked up in the deeper pools. Plenty of decent holding water to choose from both on the creek and the Fraser but separated by long stretches of very low water. Productive patterns today were black and brown #8 flashabuggers, #16 green copper john, #18 two bit hookers and #18/20 BHPT- used 4x floro all day on the dry droppers and 2x on the buggers. All in all another great day on RMAC property, first time here and looking forward to trying it at higher flows. |
| Name: Dan C |
Date Submitted: 5/21/2012 |
| Email: dantcohen@gmail.com |
| Date's Fished: 5/20/2012 |
Commments: |
The Creek:
Arrived around 9am, and didn't have much luck before lunch. Threw just about everything in my fly box, but no luck for me or my fishing buddy. One small fish on a black beauty. There are some BIG fish in this creek. But good luck spotting them - they're hiding under the banks and brush, and in the deeper pools that often tail some faster riffle water. Stealth is key - kneel down low, and walk soft. If they see you, they'll take off.
After lunch (around 12:30) we put on streamers, and things heat up quickly. Out of nowhere the big fellas would appear and chase the streamers, magically appearing out from under the banks. If you get a strike and don't connect, move on - you won't get a second chance. Got about 8 or 9 strikes, and but couldn't close the deal. Each of the fish that hit my streamers were at least 14" - a few 16"+. My buddy landed a nice 16"er on a streamer.
At 2:30pm, the fish seemed done and neither of us were getting any more strikes, so we moved up to the ponds.
The Ponds:
We ran into another angler on the property (RMAC shares the lease with the Hurd Creek Fishing Club, of which there are only 3 members). The guy we ran into fishes the ponds near daily, and after watching him land hog after hog, I peppered him for info, which he happily and kindly shared. (We were throwing streamers in the shallower part of the pond - no luck.)
Forget the small, upper pond. There's no fish in there.
The big pond was stocked with 150 fish on May 10th, and they didn't skimp on the fish. (And they continue to be well fed.) These things are absolute hogs. Landed a couple that were 18" inches and weighed several pounds. And very, very strong.
The fish have gravitated to the deeper section of the pond. Walk around to the far side of the pond (the farthest part from where you park). Walk out a couple feet and pitch your line towards the middle of the pond. We were using a size 18 copper john and a smaller (size 22?) jujubaetis. SLOWLY and patiently you can strip in your line, but BARELY - you don't want to see the indicator leave a wake. Eventually that indicator will get yanked down and put a nice bend in your rod (and a smile on your face).
These are big fish that are new to the pond. Please treat them with respect and get them back into the water quickly or they won't survive. |
| Name: B E |
Date Submitted: 5/17/2012 |
| Email: braianebel@gmail.com |
| Date's Fished: May 13, 2012 |
Commments: |
| Started about 11am and the weather was pretty grim. Low winds but morning thunderstorms and snow then cold rain. Cleared out in the late afternoon. Very little surface activity so mostly nymphing. Caught several smaller fish (12-13") on bh princes (sz 18). Larger fish were caught on olive poison tungs and Dorsey's top secret midges (sz 20). The larger fish (16-19") were all rainbows and caught in deep bends or hiding under cut banks in the part of the stream near the trophy ponds. The fishing did not seem as good further downstream. A stealthy approach was commonly needed to avoid spooking the fish. |
| Name: Vic Walker |
Date Submitted: 5/15/2012 |
| Email: vmwskywalk@yahoo.com |
| Date's Fished: 5/12/2012 |
Commments: |
| I had such a good time last week I thought I'd give this property another try. Early in the week I also had guests coming with me. Unfortunately the weather and an emergency kept them from fishing. I tuned to emergency fill in and friend Matt to go with me. Both of us questioned the weather as we pulled out of Denver on Saturday morning, but were suprised to find clear sunny skies up in the mountains. That is, until the storms moved in later that day. Early in the day the fishing was good. Not nearly as many large fish as the week before, but good action. We caught most fish before the first storm ran us to the car for a late lunch at 2 p.m. We only managed to catch a couple each after that. The same fly worked as last week, a size 20 black or chocolate midge emerger. It caught all but one of my fish. The largest of the 2 of us was an 18 inch brown. I'd say we were close to a dozen fish a piece. The average this time being about 12 inches. We saw many big fish, however the weather had them holding near the undercut banks and out of the feeding lanes. |
| Name: Vic Walker |
Date Submitted: 5/7/2012 |
| Email: vmwskywalk@yahoo.com |
| Date's Fished: 5/5/2012 |
Commments: |
I was on the water fishing by 10:00 a.m left at 5 p.m. The morning was cool and calm. Runoff doesn't appear to have started yet. The river was slightly tea stained and the creek was gin clear. The water temp is still ice cold and it took a little while for the fish to get moving. I'll start by crediting Mr. Helms with some assists. My first four fish came on a size 18 bh prince. I followed the prince with a s20 chocolate midge emerger. After the first four fish on the prince everything else hit the midge. The fish were lying in the deeper runs and riffles. They moved into shallower water as the water warmed, but nevere too far from deep water. I had to work hard not to spook fish, creeping into position and making long casts. If I saw a fish spook, I might as well move on to the next hole. In all I caught 15 fish and lost 3. All the fish except the first four were on a s20 chocolate or black midge emerger. Two thirds of the fish were 16 inches or longer. The longest being a 20" brown. I also had a couple 19" fish with many in the 17 to 18 inch range. Nine browns, five rainbows, and one brookie. Great day and I don't thing I covered half of the water available. I can't believe I haven't fished this property before.
Last, I'd like to make a book recommendation. If you like reading about fishing and also enjoy a good murder mystery, check out "The Royal Wulff Murders". Just finished it the other day and loved it. |
| Name: BH |
Date Submitted: 4/25/2012 |
| Email: helmsb@msn.com |
| Date's Fished: April 21, 2012 |
Commments: |
| This was first trip to C45 but definitely not the last. We fished only the upper third on a warm, sunny, but windy day. #18 BH Prince was the ticket and caught all but 1 of the 2 dozen fish we landed... mostly browns but with rainbows, couple of brookies, and a cutbow mixed in. Highlight of the day was a 19" rainbow that took a green humpy after being seen feeding at the tail end of a run. Plenty of good water here and plenty of nice fish where you'd expect them to be. |
| Name: Randy |
Date Submitted: 4/23/2012 |
| Email: randy@cherrycreekbenefits.com |
| Date's Fished: 4/22/2012 |
Commments: |
| Warm sunny day with a little breeze. Fished the areas north and south of the ponds with no success. Saw a few fish which wasn't hard since the water is pretty low. Flow was disappointing. Had some success in the big pond catching 6 big browns and rainbows. Occaison surface feeding.Used a variety of midges and nymphs on the river, and ants, SJ worms and BWO on the pond. Not very optimistic about things improving as the flow isn't going to get better, but what d i know, first time I've fished it. |
| Name: Ed |
Date Submitted: 7/28/2011 |
| Email: efkeely@aol.com |
| Date's Fished: July 24, 2011 |
Commments: |
| Pretty slow day. Weather was warm (80 degrees) and sunny. Clarity was good. I caught 5 fish over the course of the day. Only one fish of decent size while the other four fish were in the 7 to 10 inch range. I actually saw very few fish and saw absolutely no big fish. There was no surface action at all while hatches were occuring at various times. By the afternoon I was fishing with nymphs exclusively and was most sucessful with red copper johns and BHPT. Almost all of the fish were caught up next to the banks.I focused my efforts on the Ranch Creek beginning near the ponds and upstream to the property boundary. |
| Name: Steve Fitzgerald |
Date Submitted: 6/2/2011 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: May 27, 2011 |
Commments: |
Fished the Fraser portion from 12-3:30. Water was high, slightly tea colored, but fishable. Surprising given it was Memorial Day weekend. Browns were holding where you would expect them, and it took a lot of split shot to get the fly to them given the current. Caught 4 on bhpt and san juan worms, and lost two others that managed to get into the bank or current.
Then went up to Ranch Creek and the ponds and absolutely NOTHING was happening. Water was high but not bad, but the fish were totally gone. Sleeping in the banks I suspect, or were active in the am before I got there. Water temp was 46-49, so not great but also not that cold.
That said, I have always found Ranch Creek to be slow pre-runoff, so this was consistent. I went back to the Fraser for another few hours, caught two more browns with same rig, and headed for home. |
| Name: Jeff Downing |
Date Submitted: 9/27/2010 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: September 25, 26, 2010 |
Commments: |
| 2 of us fished the weekend of 9/25 & 26. Water is pretty low, resulting in long stretches of really flat water, fish that spooked easily, and a fair amount of moss in the shallows on the lower half especially that goobered up the flies. We each had kind of long stretches in the middle of the afternoons that was pretty dead. However, aside from those inconveniences, fishing was good. The fish we didn’t scare off weren’t particularly picky: PMX was the most productive fly, followed by hopper patterns. We also caught fish with Royal Woulf, Parachute Adams, Irresistible. I had success with Wooly Buggers in the beaver ponds. Though we didn't catch huge numbers of fish, we were impressed with the number of big ones we caught – each of us netted a number of fish, mostly Browns, that were at least 16 inches, and I caught an 18-inch rainbow. |
| Name: John Chandler |
Date Submitted: 9/22/2010 |
| Email: johnc@flatironsllc.com |
| Date's Fished: September 4, 2010 |
Commments: |
| This is a property I always enjoy. Was only able to fish about 4 hours and only fished the upper end but had a very productive day. Flow was down which is normal for this time of year. Skipped all the skinny water and hit only the holes or undercut banks and fish were in almost every one of those spots. Picked up over a dozen fish with a couple about 16 inches. Was told by the club that the beaver ponds toward the bluffs held some good fish but didn't make it back there. Nothing fancy for flys, just fished hopper/stimulators. Also, hit the pond for about 30 minutes and landed a couple over 16 and lost one that looked to be about 20 inches. |
| Name: O. J. |
Date Submitted: 8/27/2010 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: Aug. 23, 2010 |
Commments: |
| Despite low flows, this angler had a banner day on the beaver ponds on Ranch Creek. He said they are 4-5 feet deep and hold really big fish. Used brown WB's to catch the big fish, and an Adams or yellow stimmy for the others. Caught browns, 'bows and brookies, from 6"-16"+. |
| Name: Steve Fitzgerald |
Date Submitted: 7/16/2010 |
| Email: sfitz88@comcast.net |
| Date's Fished: July 10, 2010 |
Commments: |
Grand slam day, yahoo! Started my day on the pond at about 8:15 am. Hit two rainbows on a whitish streamer within the first 10 casts, both in the 24-25" range. As the sun rose, I decided to fish the lower part of Ranch Creek.
Worked the bends all morning. The water was low and very clear, so the browns were deep under the banks. Some in the riffles, but not many. Most productive fly in the am was a bhpt swung into the banks, or dangled at the back end of riffles where the choppy water offered the fish protection. I used a dry and dropper because I have an illogical aversion to nymphing, but those not similarly afflicted may find the weighted nymph the trick to getting the browns out from the banks. BTW, they are there: I got in the water from time to time and flushed "em out. Big fat boys. Decent morning, about 8-10 fish, of which some were browns, some small rainbows.
Left and came back to fish the upper part of Ranch Creek from 5-dark. Not much of an evening hatch, so the same tactics (bhpt or dark copper johns swung into the banks) were the best option. Some success on small streamers in the beaver ponds. Was fun watching released fish on the ponds retreat into the smallest holes, indicating how deep they were dug in. No wild evening hatch today (which I have experienced in the past). Usually rusty spinners come off in droves this time of year, but did not see many today. Of the fish I caught, there were a couple of brookies (in the riffles) and a cut....completing the grand slam. Yay.
Hit one more big bow on the Pond at dusk, great sunset reflecting on the lake when he hit a tiny dry. Figured that was the fish god's way of telling me to count my blessings and call it a day. Total of about 17/18 fish for the day, almost all on a dropper nymphs on the river, and three fat bows on white streamers on the big pond. Lots of aggressive brookies in the little pond, by the way. Not epic, but not bad either. DId not fish the Fraser on this trip..... |
| Name: Dave |
Date Submitted: 7/14/2010 |
| Email: dcmiller@gvtc.com |
| Date's Fished: July 12, 2010 |
Commments: |
| Fraser was a little fast but fished very well in AM--several nice browns and rainbows to 19". In PM Ranch Creek was a little tougher , however many small browns with one going about 16'--also one large rainbow--all on small beadheads. I only fished the lower 1/2. Looking at the flow chart it shows that Ranch dropped from 27 CFS to 12 CFS the day I was there--makes sense now when I remember the wet banks. At 12 CFS and very clear water, I would say Ranch is on the low side for optimal fishing. Had to find the deeper holes. |
| Name: Records |
Date Submitted: 8/9/2009 |
| Email: johnworks@hotmail.com |
| Date's Fished: Aug 9, 2009 |
Commments: |
| Delightful little mountain stream. |
| Name: Gary Godden |
Date Submitted: 5/29/2009 |
| Email: goddens2@comcast.net |
| Date's Fished: May 23, 2009 |
Commments: |
| Water levels on the creek were high but clear, with a slight "whisky stain" to the water. Perfect conditions for streamer fishing. Fished a small black conehead Wooly Bugger all day & did well w/ about 20 fish ranging mostly from 14 - 19 inches, 75% rainbows & 25% browns. I tried a light colored sculpin & a small Autumn Splendor, but they seemed to favor the black bugger. The weather was mostly overcasted all day w/ periods of light rain. No hatches. I tried the bugger in the pond for an hour w/ several bumps, but no hook-ups. |
| Name: Brett Valette |
Date Submitted: 8/18/2008 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| 20 inch rainbows in the beaver ponds! Taking adams,large caddis and even large madam X. Very swampy around the outside edge of the stream and ponds due to heavy rain and the water backup from the beavers. Had three very large trout...over 20 inches get away on my 3 weight Sage. Fished all day. |
| Name: Matt |
Date Submitted: 8/10/2008 |
| Email: matt_mcdaniel@absic.com |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| We started off the morning catching pinners on dries. One of the pinners swam into an undercut bank and something big came out to feed. OK, time to switch to streamers. Had a great rest of the day swinging sculpins & muddlers under banks in in deeper holes. Caught a bunch of nice brookies, browns, and bows. Some of the bows went to 18". Great day! |
| Name: Jim Beavers |
Date Submitted: 8/1/2008 |
| Email: jim@arrow-group.com |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Our first trip to this lease. Very nice water. But, we brought warm clear weather from OKlahoma. It was clear and mid 80's, so very few hatches. My partner and I caught close to 50 fish, mostly small( less than 12") bows, browns and Brookies( above the culvert) 14-16 Yellow Stimies w/ 18 BHPT droppers. The Fraser fished very slow. Alsmost stepped on a nice buck mule deer. |
| Name: Jason Kruse |
Date Submitted: 7/2/2008 |
| Email: jason@coloradogroup.com |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Morning fishing was good, caught most fish on a prince and small red or green midge. Good mix of browns and rainbows. Most fish caught above the culvert. Afternoon was a little slow. The fish were concentrated in the deeper water. Tried dries in the afternoon, but only managed one brookie.Bring your mosquito repellant. |
| Name: William |
Date Submitted: 6/18/2008 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Water was at 25-30cfs.Caught 15+ on s18 PT. Had BWO hatch and did well with s16. |
| Name: Mike and Vivian Williams |
Date Submitted: 5/26/2008 |
| Email: m_t_williams@hotmail.com |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| I got stuck working in the morning and we didn't start fishing until 3:30 in the afternoon. We planned to fish the upper portion of the property due to runoff, but there were a lot of people up near the pond fishing, so we headed back to the lower half of the property. Flow was probably 30 cfs, about 2x optimal flow for this creek and 5 cfs more than the last time I fished it. Fishing was slow, thought sky was cloudy and I thought we might see more action on streamers. Caught two small browns between two anglers in four hours. Not good. One 10" brown fell for a black sculpin, and one 8" brown fell for a size 10 black stone. Move one large brown, maybe 17", on a large flash fry pattern. Not much of anything in the way of bugs. Couldn't even gin up a bite with the San Juan hatch. |
| Name: Ken |
Date Submitted: 8/25/2007 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| I parked at the 2 ponds and walked down river for about a mile to start fishing. Started fishing at 10:30 and at 11:00 am there was a great Trico hatch. Lots of rising fish in the slower water. I caught most of my fish on a Griffith Gnat in the morning. All Browns from 6" - 14" on dry's. From 12:00 - 1:30 I changed to a size 16 Para Adams and continued to catch fish in the seams and bubble lines. The river is very low, only 3.6 CFS right now. I ate lunch at 1:30 and after lunch I tried the beaver ponds. Difficult to walk around the river right now. The winds really picked up and my fly actually traveled up stream. I never caught anything in the ponds. I tried the lower section for about 30 minutes and the water was covered with weeds. I did not catch anything in the lower section. |
| Name: William |
Date Submitted: 7/13/2007 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Water low but fishing is good with Adams and Wulffs. Lower end was best. 12"-16" browns and rainbows with smaller brookies thrown in. |
| Name: Mike Williams |
Date Submitted: 6/6/2007 |
| Email: m_t_williams@hotmail.com |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Tough day on C-45 weather-wise--wind, rain, hail, and eventually snow--but managed to land 8 trout, seven browns and one rainbow, four of which were 18-20". Temperature dropped from low 60s to 35 degrees by the time I left at 5:00. On the way home it was snowing in Fraser and a blizzard on Berthoud Pass. Nothing like 26 degrees and accumulating snow in June. Water on the Fraser River was too high to fish, so I moved up to the lower boundary of Ranch Creek and fished up about 2 miles of that. Amazing that you can fish all day and still only cover about half the water, and that's still giving some pools less attention than would otherwise be the case on a smaller property. Didn't see a riser all day, and very few bugs on the water. The water looked perfectly fishable, but I think the trout were hunkered down under relatively heavy flows for this stream. After an hour with no action on a dry-dropper combo with various nymphs fished at various depths with 12"-36" of tippet, I switched to streamers and immediately caught a 20" rainbow--the only rainbow I saw all day. What followed was a pattern--fishing would go dead on that streamer or nymph, so I would change up, immediately catch a nice trout, and then fishing on that fly would go dead again. As to streamers, they were only moving on big meaty flies with eyes--nothing on buggers or small streamers. Enticed some nice browns out from under the banks--including one 20+" monster that took me for a long walk downstream. Very pretty browns in this river. By 2:30, streamer fishing appeared to be useless, so I switched to nymphs. Hooked a few on a size 12 black stone, but only smaller (12-14") browns. The stonefly stopped producing, so I switched to a size 18 blood midge. Immediately landed an acrobatic brown, then the fishing went totally dead again. The water was very cold, and the air temps were dropping rapidly. I headed up to the ponds for a half hour in the late afternoon, but by that time the snowstorm was approaching and nothing was interested in my dry-dropper combo in the ponds. I'm looking forward to returning to this property when the water is lower and a hatch is on. Promises to be something special. |
| Name: PAUL HOOVER |
Date Submitted: 5/27/2007 |
| Email: WESTHOOVER@MSN.COM |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| STILL CAN'T BELIEVE THAT STEVE OWNS 4 1/2 MILES OF THE FRASER ON THIS SWEET PROPERTY. HEAVEN! SEINED THE RIVER THREE TIMES AND EACH TIME CAME UP WITH A MYRIAD OF DIFFERENT BUGS -- ANNELIDS, STONES, CADDIS, BWOS, ETC. RIVER COLD, NO RISERS. ALL BROWNS ON SAN JUANS AND FBPTS. I'LL BE ON THE RIVER THIS SUMMER FOR WHAT SHOULD BE SOME SWEET HATCHES. DIDN'T FISH THE PONDS BUT LOOK FORWARD TO IT ON THE NEXT VISIT. |
| Name: Joe Springer |
Date Submitted: 10/9/2006 |
| Email: jspringer@comcast.net |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Fantastic property!!!! I fished from the parking area near the two ponds upstream to the property boundary in the morning and caught 6 brookies (6-10"), 3 rainbows (6-17") and 6 browns (6-9"). Had lunch and fished the beaver ponds in the afternoon and caught 12+ rainbows (12-18"), 3 brookies (6-9") and 10 browns (8-11"). The two 18" rainbows took about 10 minutes each to land. Needles to say I had a great day of fishing. I started using #18 beadhead nymphs and had only several strikes the first hour. I switched to a olive woolybugger (#12) and beadhead nymph and started to catch fish on the wollybugger. I eventually removed the beadhead nymph and tied on a #16 brown and yellow fly and started to catch rainbows on the attractor fly. The weather was great compared to Denver rain; mostly sunny and windy all afternoon. I fished the two ponds in the early evening and had several strikes before I decided to drive home and listen to the Bronco game. Fantastic property, will come back and fish the other 80% that I didn't fish!!!! |
| Name: Bill Jameson |
Date Submitted: 9/18/2005 |
| Email: billj@wjinterests.com |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| Really enjoyed this property. Flow low on lower end but caught several nice bows ( 11-16") on #16 Adams and para-hopper. 7-8 bows (16-20") on upper end above ponds on para-hopper. This is a nice property on a beautiful day. |
| Name: Mike |
Date Submitted: 9/13/2005 |
| Email: |
| Date's Fished: |
Commments: |
| 1/2 Day. Fishing slow - rain/snow showers all day. Some activity on PMDs in the stream. Lots of beaver dams, very slow flow. A few hits on San Juan worms in the pond. If anyone finds a small white fly box in the general pond/lake area, and would be interested in returning it to it's original owner, please call Mike at 720-220-3103 or 303-841-8847. Mike would be glad to buy you a beer - or two. |
| Name: John |
Date Submitted: 7/10/2005 |
| Email: |
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| Guest and I caught 20 + fish, primarily on beadhead anythings, although blue copper-john worked best! I had a Grand Slam, with a small cut and two brookies above a beaver dam. Lost a couple good sized browns to underwater brush. Lake was fun in the evening with #20 BWO's. Stream should fish better soon as water drops. |
| Name: Jason Price |
Date Submitted: 7/9/2005 |
| Email: jaypee23@holly.colostate.edu |
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| Fished outstanding! Started the day on the small section of the Fraser and hooked into a couple of nice rainbows but only landed a 12 inch brookie and a small brown. Drove up to the lower parking area on Ranch Creek and used standard nymphs to catch many rainbows from 16-20 inches and browns 10-14 inches with one reaching 17 inches. Also went up to the pond parking lot with similar results. Great property, and big fish for this small stream. |
| Name: MIke |
Date Submitted: 7/3/2005 |
| Email: mdixon@listenup.com |
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| Had a very good day in between ducking rain and lighting squalls. Caught 2 nice rainbows in the pond on an olive wooly burger, one on a blue wing olive #20 and another on a # 20 PMD. Missed several other strikes. Had very good luck on the stream. It was high, 120cfs, but clear. Caught a lot of rainbows on a prince and some on a stimulator, which we were using primarily as a strike indicator. Creek is high and it is difficult to get around on the higher end, due to a lot of water in the area surrounding the stream. All rainbows we 15 to 18 inches , heavy and very strong. Great fish. Great place and definitely will return later in the year. |
| Name: Chuck |
Date Submitted: 5/13/2005 |
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| Guest and I had a 30 fish day on red/tan SJW's, all browns and a single rainbow. Water was off-color, flow was 75 cfs on Ranch Creek, and good on the Fraser, all fish were pooled up. Fish ranged from 14-18 inches. |
| Name: Ken |
Date Submitted: 7/8/2004 |
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| Water is low but fishing is good.Be aware of the water temps if you fish it on a hot day. The beaver ponds fished well as did the deeper holes where all the fish were concentrated. Only fished the upper section and caught big rainbows and small browns on attractors and droppers. Lower Section has a little more water in it which might have been a little more productive. |
| Name: John RMAC Member |
Date Submitted: 8/9/2003 |
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| Good fishing. Water a little lower but plenty of fish. The upper end was more productive for larger fish. also took larger fish from the pond. Hopers and a Woolly bugger took fish in the pond and on the creek fished hoppers and a small adams. |
| Name: James Wall |
Date Submitted: 8/8/2003 |
| Email: jwall@freemanwall.com |
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| Creek was way low. Beaver dams had created some deeper holes by the cliffs, but very cloudy water. Caught one 12 inch rainbow on a partridge and green wet fly. I think he thought it was a hopper because he took it with gusto on the surface. Saw another good sized brown feeding on the surface. Lots of spent mayflies on the water and a good hatch -- but only one visible feeder. He went down every time I showed him a fly. Creek will be too low until major rains hit. |
| Name: Aric Greenberg |
Date Submitted: 7/6/2003 |
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| I got there around 10:30 in the morning. Fished above the creek crossing in the upper part of the ranch. Caught a few nice brookies on a tan Caddis. Went below the creek crossing and started to find some nicer runs that looked fishy. By the 'cliffs' I found some deeper holes. That's when the real fun began. I got into three large rainbows that were around 19 or 20 inches in length. They took a chartruse copper john fished under a red quill dry. The fishing died off, so I went down stream for a while but didnt really get into anything to speak of. So I went back to the cliff hole and tried to nymph for the bigger fish on the bottom that I could see swimming there. I used a chartruse copper john below a silver copper john. Caught three fish one after the other. The smallest was 15 inches or so and the largest was around 19 or 20 inches. I dont know if these fish were put there or they are native fish but they were way out of proportion to the other fish I caught in the same stream just yards away from the cliff hole. Didnt even make it to the ponds. |
| Name: Gene & Kris Edwards |
Date Submitted: 6/14/2003 |
| Email: gedwards@tkdistributors.com |
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| The Fraser section was running about 100 cfs because of nightly rains according to Jim Nelson, which made it pretty tough fishing. I think it's back down now and should fish much better. Kris did hook up a huge rainbow in big hole at the lower end, but that was it. Went on up to the ranch caught 4 or 5 nice fish (all rainbows) on the upper part of the creek but it was running real high too. All fish were taken on nymphs(Hares Ears and Copper Johns). So we went to pond, it's kinda nice to have three options on this property. Unfortunately it didn't fish much better today. Kris did take a couple of nice fish on dry flies on the pond. She used a small Stimulator I think. I took one fish on a Black wooly bugger. Not all that bad these days I guess, 8 or 10 fish total. Gene |
| Name: Jason Price |
Date Submitted: 7/2/2002 |
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| Stream is really low. Some areas are still fishable but the pond is hot. Tons of big, uneducated fish in their. Should stay good for the summer. |
| Name: Gene Edwards |
Date Submitted: 8/19/2001 |
| Email: geno2552@home.com |
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| Real tough day, there just isn't much water in the creek or the river. I should have heeded my own advice from the report above. The flow today was 66 CFS and I couldn't even spook a fish up on one trip down the Fraser and one trip up the upper part of Ranch Creek. But it's always fun to go to the big pond and watch the big 30" or so Brown cruising around, I wonder if anybody has ever caught him. Tried small Stimulators, HL Varient, Hoppers and Elk Hair Caddis and some little grey thing on him and his smaller cousins but I'm still skunked 4 hours into the day. This has never happened to me before....... really. At least not on an RMAC property. I'll try the Fraser again on my way out. I still can't find enough water to cover the back of some of the slabs I've caught in the Fraser this year. Finally as I crouch part way under the bridge at the upper end of the property a 15" Brown(a Fraser Brown, they're different than other fish the same size, fatter, prettier and fiestier) on a #16 BHPT. Same hole 3 cast later a 17 inch Rainbow( a Fraser Rainbow, they're different.... see above). One more fish in this little hole it's a big 19" Rainbow slab (see description above) that takes me on a 200 yard joy ride downstream before I can net him. It was probably more fun for me than him. 2 more big fish on before I leave but they self released which is really the best way as long as it's not too early. Well a couple of big fish will always save the day, but technically I think I caught these fish outside the RMAC boundery, probably on public water???? I don't know and I really don't care, because the 50 dollar parking spot was a really good one and it's only 10 bucks more than Bronco's parking this year and it's much prettier up there and I never could of found the fish without it. |
| Name: Gene & Kris Edwards |
Date Submitted: 7/29/2001 |
| Email: geno2552@home.com |
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| Difficult fishing on the creek and the Fraser section. Water is very low. Hopefully this is temporary but when the flow on the Fraser is in the 60's the fish are hard to find. No guages on the Ranch Creek I guess but it's very low too and Fish are very difficult to approach. One nice Brookie on a Hopper on creek near the bluffs accross from ponds. Three nice fish on but not landed on the pond. Two took #14 Stimulators and one took a #16 FBPT 3 feet below the Stimulator. Four nice fish on the Fraser on upper part not the lower holes as you might think. Prince and PT in 16# size under Hoppers took all 4 Fraser fish. One 14" Brown and 3 fat bright colored Fraser Rainbows. 14", 16", and 20". Now that we're RMAC members it's just an OK day. Two years ago it would have been a best ever! |
| Name: Walt Jaakkola |
Date Submitted: 7/26/2001 |
| Email: docjaakkola@aol.com |
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| Started fishing by the weekday parking site by the road. Caught one Rainbow about12" and two small browns. Rained hard all morning. The water in this area was low and muddy/weedy as we worked further upstream. Fished the ponds later in the afternoon when the rain cleared. Got one brook trout but had "jaws" cousin come up and bump the fly a couple time. Beavers have a lot of the creek backed up by the ponds and we fished these deep areas of the creek in the afternoon. Caught 3 nice fat 12-14" Rainbows on a #14 Matthews caddis. They were fighters. |
| Name: Nick Toussaint |
Date Submitted: 6/30/2001 |
| Email: ntoussaint@qwest.net |
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| After the Edwards logs I had to see for myself, and yes the small section of the frasier lease does hold some nice fish below the bridge(parking lot hole). From 8-11am there was a lot of caddis hatching and there was a nice Green Drake hatch happpening sporadically. We caught several fish, the largest fish caught was an 18" Brown, on a elk hair caddis. We also fished Ranch creek-the water is very low above the culvert at the ranch, but the brookies are plentiful. The lower section of the creek is fishing well on dries, but access is difficult due to busywokr of the beavers. |
| Name: Kris & Gene Edwards |
Date Submitted: 6/8/2001 |
| Email: geno2552@home.com |
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| Fished Friday PM from 1:30 on. Didn't really fish Ranch Creek(it was a lot lower than a few weeks ago) only spent 30 minutes on the ponds, caught several small brookies and browns on BWO size 20, small fish(6 to 10") but its always a kick to cast to a riser and watch them attack your fly. We spent most of the afternoon on the small section of the Fraser that comes with C45. This might be the best kept secret in the club. We caught 18 fish(9 each, a ties as good as a win) and had at least 25 more unsuccessful hits. Kris fished the deep hole at the far end of the property and got 3 out of 4 needed for the Grand Slam in the first 30 minutes. She caught a 19" Rainbow, 14 " Brown and a nice 14" Brookie all on #14 Copper John. If she gets the Cut Throat next trip we'll call it a Tiger Slam. I caught some nice fish just upstream on a large stimulator dry. Rainbows, Browns and Brooks. Took a fat 16" Brook on the stimulator,(and retreived my Hares Ear from his lip from an earlier break off) I've never seen a Brookie that big, it was great. What a great afternoon, 7 Rainbows(15 to 19"), 6 Brooks (12 to 16" -nice suprise-) and 5 Browns (12 to 19"!) All fish on #14/16 Copper Johns, Hares ears nymphs. And most larger fish on a Large Stimulator during a late afternoon Caddis hatch that even the Arkansas River would be proud of. |
| Name: Kris and Gene Edwards |
Date Submitted: 5/28/2001 |
| Email: geno2552@home.com |
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| Fished C45 with 3 guests from 10 til 4. Kris(The Trout Slayer) won as usual (11 fish) I had 7 one guest had 10. All together 32 fish between 5 rods so a pretty good day. No dry fly activity today mostly because of the thunder showers. Most fish were 12 to 14 inch browns on Nelson's fly shop BH Hares ears and Princes in the 16 and 18 sizes. Two larger Rainbows(15 & 16) near the bluffs on upper part of property on Red Analids. Kris and guest caught several 12" browns in beaver pond upstream from the last parking area. Copper John #16 and BH Hares ears again produced a few 15 to 16" Browns, and one really big break off, (nice fat fish on the Fraser) on one late trip down the small section of the Fraser available to C45ers. Didn't fish the ponds very much. Every time we met back at the Parking area near the ponds it was for a rain break. We fished some, but mostly waited for the rain to stop and swapped fishing lies I mean stories. |
| Name: eben grace |
Date Submitted: 9/2/2000 |
| Email: egrace@gracedesign.com |
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| The creek was very low and the fish were spooky. I pulled one beast out of the pond with a wooly bugger. Yehaa. Later, we hit the little stretch of the Frasier which is included. Landed one beautiful 18" rainbow and had another on. The biomass in that stretch is incredible. Another member caught lots on the upper part of the creek, he must have been invisible. The pond were a blast as the sun went down. I'd go back in July. |
| Name: Ted Simendinger |
Date Submitted: 7/13/2000 |
| Email: nobatsbbc@aol.com |
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| The creek fished extraordinarily well on dries (size #16). Best action on stimulator wulff's and stimulator tan, #16, both available at Jim Nelson's shop in Tabernash. Outperformed any other dry I threw. The deer flies were awful -- take repellent and use liberally. Pond trout too wary on windless morning. Got 3 swirls on Chernobyl in small pond. One swirl in big pond. No takes. Educated fish in those clear ponds. Caught browns, rainbows, and brookies in the creek. Steady action all day. Biggest fish went 16 inches or so. |
| Name: Jason Price |
Date Submitted: 6/30/2000 |
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| Nice properety. No fish in the pond but the river was awesome.Got around 30. At the upper end bigger browns and the lower end of the property nice brookies. Got em all on a dry and a dropper combonation. |
| Name: Micohiba |
Date Submitted: 6/18/2000 |
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| 06/18/00 Caught quite a few rainbows, browns and brookies in the creek using a Platte River Special with splitshot. Caught 2 - 21" rainbows in the larger pond around 8:30 pm on green beadhead. Broke off two nice fish earlier in the day on green damsel fly nymphs. Katya saw a REALLY LARGE FISH jump and went running over to catch it....I knew then and there that she was hooked on fishing. A great day was had by all. |
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