Delaney Buttes 5/15 & 5/16

Made the trip up to Delaney Buttes last weekend to fish with Dave, Wade, and Jeff hoping to hook into some hot Spring action. We had contemplated hitting up Antero or Spinney but had heard such mixed reports we decided Delaney was the way to go.

I arrived at South lake about 8am to the scene above looking north from the south side of South Delaney. It was snowing off and on with some serious gusts of wind, shocking, and got quite cold. The sideways snow proved too much for my "waterproof" jacket, but it wasn't too bad if you took a few breaks out of the water.

On my second cast I landed a decent sized Cutt on a grey chironomid. A few casts later I caught what turned out to be my biggest fish of the day, above, on the same fly, the fish weighed in at about 4 lbs and 20". As tough as the weather was it allowed for a little chop on the water which helped the fishing. When the wind died down at times it was tough to hookup.

Dave and Wade showed up about 9am or so. Wade was able to land a nice Cuttbow on the grey Chiro.

Here's Dave with a yellow Bow that looked like it had been in a few fights. It was a pretty fish, but scratched up presumably from the spawn. He jizzed all over Dave while Wade took the picture. Nice hook jaw though. Overall, the fishing on Saturday was a little slow but we all got well into double digit fish and each netted a 4-5 lbs trout. Most of the fish landed were taken from the north cove of South Delaney on grey Chiro's and were all about 12-14" Cutts. We must have gotten into a year class as it was pretty consistent for a while. A few bigger Cutts took egg patterns, but most on the Chiro.

This was the hot pattern, though a grey version. It's Craven's Jumbo Juju Chiro. Dave and I tied it a little differently as we didn't epoxy (used Hard as Nails) and didn't include the gill tuft. It's an easy tie and was quite productive in size 12-14.

Jeff made it up just in time to strip streamers on North Delaney. Here's the group shot, not sure what my problem is, perhaps I was upset that I drank all my homebrew? North Delaney was dead. In fact I cannot confirm that there are any fish still alive in this lake the action was so slow. Hopefully it heats up soon. Everyone we talked to had the same response. Therefore we spent most of our time at South.

A little dark, but it was quite peaceful tubing North at night. After zero success on a variety of streamers I threw some mouse patterns hoping to entice a huge brown, no luck. The calm water did allow for a nice Cuban cigar though!

I had to take off home early Sunday morning but the other 3 fished all day with better luck, Dave thought everyone caught about 20 or so in similar size and fashion to Saturday's fishing.

As you can see the weather improved considerably, sorry I missed it!Dave with a solid fish from the tube!

From the "WTF is That!?" Department...

Anyhow, we had a good time, even if the fishing was a little slow. It was nice to meet Wade and Jeff, thanks for the photos Wade! I look forward to getting out to Delaney soon again, hopefully the fishing picks up a bit. After hearing Darren's report of South Park it sounds like we made the right decision.

Lincoln Hills - South Boulder Creek

I was fortunate enough to tag along with my friend Tyson up to Lincoln Hills Fly Fishing Club yesterday. In case you aren’t familiar with it Lincoln Hills is a 2.5 mile private stretch of South Boulder Creek between Pinecliffe and Rollinsville and owned and maintained by Matthew Burkett and The Fly Fisher LTD http://www.theflyfisher.com/ and chuck full of wild trout. It’s also extremely convenient in that it’s less than an hour from downtown.
Tyson and I know Matt from the downtown YMCA playing basketball and it was truly a pleasure to be included on the trip.

That’s the largest fish I landed all day, a 4 lbs Bow. Black Stones were the key all day, the fish just hammered them, tons of nymphs in the river .The Black Stone > Black Stone combo was deadly! Overall Tyson and I landed about 20 fish each in about 5 hours. I easily lost the same amount, a little rusty on my timing. Guess I need to get out more!

Here’s Tyson’s largest of the day, nice 5 lbs beauty!

Apparently being 7 feet tall allows you to maintain a perfect drift as Tyson was slaying them! Not bad for a guy who hasn’t fished since high school.
They have done a fantastic job maintaining a powerhouse of a fishery. They amount of food available to these trout was unreal. They grow some pigs as you can see by this fish Matt landed which weighed in at just over 12 lbs and 30”:

If you’re able to hook up with Matt or The Fly Fisher I’d highly recommend it. They offer first class services and we had a great time. Easily the best food I’ve have been served on a guided trip, hands down! I can still taste the smoked brisket. The fishing at Lincoln Hills is fantastic as well especially considering it’s only an hour from downtown!
Oh yeah, Matt’s famous!