Cochetopa state wildlife area

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Day 2:  The Hidden Stretches Of Archuleta Creek Near Gunnison, CO

August 23, 2016

Earlier this week I had a delightful day on the lower section of little Archuleta Creek just above where it joins with Cochetopa Creek 20 miles or so southeast of Gunnison. (See my article titled Day 1 on Archuleta Creek.).  Yesterday I drove over the Continental Divide to beautiful Saguache Park and fished the headwaters of Saguache Creek.  The brown trout and brookies were ravenous.  So after a long day of fishing and driving over rough backcountry roads, I

Dome Lake
Upper Dome Lake

am lollygagging about and staying close to camp on Upper Dome Lake.  Around 10 a.m. I decide to take a stroll out on the rock-faced earthen dam to see if any fish are rising in the lake….and they are!  But even more intriguing, I see dimples on the surface of the water below the spillway, a very short section of Archuleta Creek that flows into Lower Dome Lake.  In all my times fishing and camping up here, I have never seen anyone fish this stretch below the lake, hidden in plain sight!  I retreat post haste to the mobile fish camp and rig up my fly rod with a tiny #20 black midge dry fly that has done well for me in the lake and the creek.  I double-time it back to the dam and creep down the rocky slope towards the lake, not wanting to spook the rainbow trout that are rising all along the shoreline.  A good-sized one cruises insouciantly in front of me, picking off small bugs on the surface, apparently oblivious to my presence above.  I carefully loft a cast so that the microscopic fly alights gently five feet in front of him.  He spots it, jets forward, and WHAM, he’s on!!

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Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun–Day 1 On Archuleta Creek Near Gunnison, CO

“Walk Softly And Carry A Big Fish”….Anon

August 21, 2016

When fly fishing, nothing is more fun than watching a hungry trout zip from a hiding place to nail a dry fly with a showy splash on the surface—except maybe if you are using TWO dry flies, and the fish is in trouble from seeing double which means double the fun for the angler!

Arculeta Creek To The Right Of Cochetopa Creekl
Archuleta To The Right Of Cochetopa Creek

But there aren’t many times when double dries really work, one tied to the other, trailing behind a couple of feet.  On bigger waters, the current will inevitably mess things up, dragging one fly too fast or dunking the other.  Which is a sure sign to the trout of a fraudulent bug!  But I discovered it’s the perfect technique on Archuleta Creek, a little sister tributary to Cochetopa Creek, high in a mountain valley 20 miles southeast of Gunnison, Colorado.  (See my earlier articles about Cochetopa creek in 2015.)

The stretch of Archuleta Creek I have my sights on today is a tailwater below Lower Dome Lake, a

Dome Lake
Upper Dome Lake

state wildlife area with primitive camping facilities.  Being a tailwater that draws its flow from the surface of the lake, the creek’s temperature is warmer and fairly constant, and the water very fertile.  It has an abundance of aquatic vegetation, which is good for growing bugs and for hiding trout, but not so good for the typical rig I and most trout anglers use these days—a dry fly on top with a nymph tied onto the dry that sinks and trails behind.  It’s a deadly combo that gets fish on top and down below (where  fish feed most of the time)…except in places like Archuleta Creek which is shallow and where a sinking nymph will pick up a lot of moss and other detritus or just plain snag on streambed rocks.  Which can lead to extreme consternation and blue language against a blue sky.

imageArchuleta Creek trout are partial to very small flies, feasting on tiny mayflies, caddis, and midges that hatch throughout the summer on most days.  I’m talking microscopic—size 20-24.  Flies this small are extremely hard to see, especially if floating against the bank in a foam line, if you are looking into the sun in the afternoon, or it’s cloudy.  In other words, most of the time.  For me, the savior on Archuleta Creek and others like it has been to tie aimage bright yellow strike indicator—a piece of yellow yarn—a couple of feet above the fly so I have a general idea where the little thing is which allows me to set the hook more quickly when a trout sucks in the dry fly.  Sometimes the trout will even strike the yarn!!  Which got me to thinking, why not use a larger dry fly as a strike indicator, in this case a size 16 green parachute grasshopper pattern to imitate one of the hordes of hoppers buzzing about the meadow here in August.  It would be easy to see with that big white parachute top and floats like a battleship.

Now I am off to test my new rig and theory on Day 1 of a five-day stay in my mobile fish camp parked at Upper Dome Lake, formed by a big rock and earth dam across Archuleta Creek.  Let the experiment begin!!

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Three Perfect Days On Cochetopa Creek–Day One

Dome Lake
Dome Lake

August 20, 2015

Day One:  I’m in my little travel trailer a.k.a mobile fishing camp parked next to Dome Lake located in a high country state park near the Continental Divide, not too far from Gunnison, Colorado.  I drove up early this morning, sorely in need of a multi-day injection of nature and zen trout fishing time on one of my favorite waters—Cochetopa Creek.  It’s mid-August, the rain has finally stopped, and the streams are clearing and fishable.

Cochetopa CreekMaybe 15 feet at its widest, Cochetopa Creek arises at the foot of an imposing 14,000 foot+ mountain, San Luis Peak, in the La Garita Wilderness area south of Gunnison.  Miles below, the creek squeezes out of a canyon stretch into a vast open sagebrush and grass valley called Cochetopa Park.  There it meanders for a good 10 miles with gentle runs and S-curves before plunging into another canyon and joining Tomichi Creek which flows into the big Gunnison River, a fabled trout water.  Cochetopa Creek is loaded with healthy, eager fish and steeped in history.  In other words, my kinda place!

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