Reservoir Hogs
As the year progresses and water temperatures peak in late August, underwater vegetation grows tall, raising the cruising depths of the trout. This makes understanding depth and bottom structure vitally important.
One of the most common—and effective—ways to present mayfly nymphs, emergers, and subsurface midge offerings is to suspend them below a buoyant strike indicator. For South Park reservoirs, I use a 9- to 12-foot, 2X to 4X tapered fluorocarbon leader with an 18- to 24-inch tippet. I attach a second tippet section (same strength) to the hook bend of my lead fly to add a trailing fly. Longer leaders are more versatile, allowing you to adjust to different depths throughout the day by moving your indicator up or down.
This technique works best while fishing from a boat, tube, or pontoon craft: Cast anywhere from 30 to 60 feet out, let your flies sink to their maximum depth, and begin a slow hand-twist retrieve back toward you. The takes are often hard and fast.
The key is finding the correct depth at which fish are actively feeding. Start near the bottom, 6 to 18 inches above it, and work your way up the water column until you find consistent results.
These large reservoirs can seem daunting compared to typical Colorado river-fishing experiences. Thus, it pays to break them down into sections. Instead of wasting time zipping from one end of the lake to the next, concentrate on specific areas with good shoreline structure and natural habitat.
Look for rising fish and bird activity at or near the surface. Mark areas with heavy concentrations of insect emergences, as well as obvious underwater structure such as downed trees, drop-offs from shoals and shallows to about 8 to 15 feet, and varying underwater anomalies, including deep buckets, springs, and channels (a depth finder is a great tool for pinpointing these areas).
When exploring large stillwaters such as Spinney, Antero, and Elevenmile, these indicators are instrumental to finding trout. Be patient, observant, and do your homework.
Another effective way to present your flies is with full-sinking and sinking-tip lines. In shallow-water situations, a clear intermediate-sinking line is great for fishing scud patterns slowly, but in constant motion, just above the reservoir bottom. Midges can also be fished on a full-sinking line, a technique that works especially well in water 15 to 30 feet deep. Use a short, 3- to 6-foot leader, and cast out as much line as you need to reach the bottom. Once you’re there, start a slow hand-twist retrieve, working your fly up through the water column.
I fish 150- to 300-grain sinking-tip lines for delivering streamers, leeches, crayfish, and other large subsurface baitfish patterns in deeper water. The tips get the flies down where they need to be, fast. For this fishing, use the same kinds of retrieves you would for large streamers in rivers. Also experiment with tandem streamer rigs, and try varying your fly colors and sizes.
Pursuing rising trout in stillwaters is most effective when an obvious hatch is on. Unlike dry-fly fishing in a river, stationary feeding behavior is nonexistent. The key is finding consistent riseforms and being able to plot, stalk, and intercept moving trout.
Once you’ve determined a trout’s feeding direction, lead it by 2 to 3 feet. The goal is to avoid spooking the fish, while presenting the fly accurately enough that the fish sees and eats it. If trout are rising scattershot throughout an area, be patient. Cast near the riseforms and wait for the fish to find your fly. An infrequent, slow twitch is an effective way to grab a trout’s attention.
For fishing drys, typically during the Callibaetis hatch, I use a long, 9- to 12-foot monofilament leader with a fluorocarbon tippet tapered down to 4X or 5X. Because these reservoirs are often windy, and the fish large and strong, it’s important to use 5- to 7-weight rods. Longer rods—9½- and 10-footers—are beneficial for lifting line off the water and setting hooks fast and hard while indicator fishing. Longer rods also give you extra height for longer casts from low positions in a float tube or pontoon boat.
Our sport is defined by the areas we visit, the prized catch, and the challenges that go along with the hunt. This is what makes South Park’s “big three” stillwaters great. Antero, Spinney Mountain, and Elevenmile Canyon produce the strongest trout in this vast valley, and it all begins with the promise of spring and another wonderful year of rod-bending madness.
Landon Mayer is a guide and author of How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life (Wild River Press, 2007). He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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