Early Season on Bear Creek

My wife's weekend work schedule opened up a bit this last Sunday so I was able to sneak out for a few hours and check out how Bear Creek is doing. Bear Creek, although a tailwater (flowing out of Evergreen Lake) is frozen solid regularly during Winter with only a few ice free spots (which are typically void of trout). Since we started to have some decent weather here on the Front Range lately I thought I would see how things are.

Well, things are still a mixed bag. There are sections that are iced-over, some of them have a 3 feet thick layer of ice and snow, namely the section in the canyon upstream of Lair of the Bear. Downstsream though, you can find sections that are ice free and fishable. I did not venture further upstream closer to the dam, but I would imagine that water that is not in the shade all day will be open.

I started out with a Killer Kebari on a red hook with not much luck. The water is very clear and still cold and I spooked a few nice trout that were holding in slower water. I was able to observe a nice rainbow, maybe 14", moving around and feeding quite actively, including the occasional rise to what must have been a midge. I tried my luck with a small dry and a midge dropper, but some kids from the picnic area next to the creek came running and the bow got spooked.

Red Hook Killer Kebari

I moved further downstream and fished the stretch above the Beaver Pond where hooked into two trout (finally!), both were long distance released. Moving around a bit more, I got two more hook-ups which were also long distance released. All four took the midge dropper behind the dry...

River Statistics:
Weather: overcast, with some sun mixed in. some wind.
Air Temp: 42F at 10am, in the high 50ies/low 609ies in the afternoon
Water Temp: 40F at 10am
Flow: 22cfs, clear water with very little discoloration from run-off later in the day. 
Day on the water in 2012: 4
Fish: 4 hooked, landed 0


PS: don't forget the "Your Tenkara Story" contest, submission deadline is March 31st. 


Tight Lines, -K