There is nothing more disheartening for a Rocky Mountain angler than to drive over a favorite creek or river in late May or early June and discover overnight it’s transformed from a clear rushing stream into a churning chocolate brown runaway torrent. It’s a sure sign that the snow-fueled runoff is underway and with the high-elevation lakes still iced in, that the fly rods will be mothballed till July.
HEARTBREAKER!
But wait!! It does not have to be. With a little sleuthing there are almost always some waters that are fishable. Here are some tips on how to find them and a list of likely candidates in my neck of the woods—south central Colorado.
A week after my foray up Silver Creek above Poncha Springs, Colorado, in search of fishable waters, the sun has been shining brightly and everything has busted loose.
The Big Ark stands at 2,500 CFS near Salida and even the South Fork, normally a quiet little gem near my cabin, has jumped its banks.
South Fork Jumping Its Banks
To make matters worse, the high country lakes are still locked up with ice thanks to a cold May in this neck of the woods. What to do to remedy this angling fever? I check the water level on Poncha Creek (which Silver Creek drains into) and am surprised to find it still stands at about 100 cfs, just a tad more than last week. That might mean Silver Creek is still fishable, and I only fished the middle section below Sheep Mountain and the Gates. So I go prospecting with my GPS and just above the guardian Gates palisades, beyond the short canyon stretch, I see lots of beaver ponds and a winding creek in what looks to be a series of wide meadows. Now sometimes what shows on the satellite view is much different when you put boots on the ground, but there really aren’t any options. So I load my daypack up for a little hike, stuffing it to the gills with fly fishing paraphernalia, waders, etc. and set the alarm at 5:30 a.m., images of icthylogical pleasures dancing in my head.
