South Platte River this past weekend...

[CoMtFishing]

Wanted to go up and check on the dream stream to see the status of the kokanee run. Well the kokanee havent started running up the river yet... the DOW havent even put up nets which last year were up on the 15th. We started at the first hole as always and after a little bit of fishing and the parking lot filling up and only one bite we thought it was time to start walking down stream to look for kokes. After walking and checking the usual deep holes all the way down past the 2nd fence we decided to start working back. Cody had another make up baseball game today so it was going to be a fast day on the water anyways. While working our way back I spotted a decent fish sitting in one of the deeper bends (theres always a fish there) I put the san juan worm past him and it was fish on.
It was a decent enough cutbow.

The kids caught a bunch of small bows but not the fish we were looking for, I will check again in a couple weeks.

 

[liv2fish]

Hello COmt fishing, glad to see a new member from CO. Where abouts in the state are you? I'm always up for fishing and only work 3 nights a week so have plenty of time to fish. If you're looking for kokes, go fish the East outside Almont (Gunnison area). I was there last weekend and they are crazy thick in the deep holes. They are literally stacked on top of one another. It gets a little old after a while so I spent most of it trout fishing and helping some beginner friends hook up with the salmon. I'm headed down again the first weekend of Oct. to help CU's fly fishing club. If you've got kids its a great place to let them fight big fish in a river too.

 

[CoMtFishing]

Yeah I was at Almont 2 weeks ago caught plenty of kokes and some great trout as always there... one of my favorite places to fish. However if you've never fished the dream stream run I highly recommend doing it so far my biggest koke is 26" from there... maybe because its a shorter run, not all the way up the gunnison river then the east rive but a short mile or two up the south platte these fish are bigger and fight alot better.

Here are a couple pics from 2 weeks ago at Almont:

btw... Im in Colorado Springs.

 

[liv2fish]

Yea, I fished the dream stream run once but went a little too early in the season and ended up trying to sight fish to some of the larger trout instead. Nice pics, looks like you had a good weekend. I assume that brown is from the C&R section. I landed my first fish over 20" there last weekend which I was real excited about. Hooked into a fish that was easily over 25" that ran all the way across the river and upstream before shaking me loose too. It was the best fight I've ever had from a trout. I'll try and post some pics at the end of the week.

 

[CoMtFishing]

Yeah that one was from the hog trough I got 2 over 2ft that night, great times the fish there are amazing but its combat fishing during the day so I usually fish it at night... I catch alot of nice fish on the Taylor below that area but never anything over 20".

 

[jkratty]

Hey Rick,

I will be in CO Springs tomorrow through the weekend and am planning to try out South Platte and the Arkansas. I've never been to the area before, so any tips you could share on points of entry/parking that don't have too much pressure would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Jason

 

[BigCliff]

Hell of a nice selection of rivers to have in your backyard. That Dream Stream section is aptly named.

 

[liv2fish]

The Ark. should fish well but never really prodcues any fish of size. A lot between 10-15". As far as the Dream Stream section of the S. Platte, looking for an area that doesn't get much pressure is kinda comical. No offense (you would have no way of knowing) but its possible someone is fishing that short stretch of river every day of the year, even more so in the fall looking for big browns to move up into the river. I may be headed there this Sat. with a friend as well. Best of luck, I'm hoping for less than 15 people on the the dream stream section. The Ark won't be anywhere near as crowded.

 

[CoMtFishing]

The Ark. should fish well but never really prodcues any fish of size. A lot between 10-15". As far as the Dream Stream section of the S. Platte, looking for an area that doesn't get much pressure is kinda comical. No offense (you would have no way of knowing) but its possible someone is fishing that short stretch of river every day of the year, even more so in the fall looking for big browns to move up into the river. I may be headed there this Sat. with a friend as well. Best of luck, I'm hoping for less than 15 people on the the dream stream section. The Ark won't be anywhere near as crowded.

I try to stay away from the river on the weekends, the only time I dont is when the kid wants to go... let me know if you see any kokes in the river yet. The Ark has had alot of heavy metals in the water from mines and miners over the years, this has been the historic reason the trout do not tend to get over 18" there as their lifespan is cut short. I love fishing the dream stream in snow or bad weather the fishing is always good and no one is around.

Side note: I was there the other day to check out if the kokes had moved up, take tricos... there was a huge hatch every time the sun came out thousands on the water.

 

[liv2fish]

Anyone fish the Dream Stream or the Blue recently. I've heard the big browns from the res. have moved up into the platte but wasn't sure what exactly they take. My guess would be streamer fishing this time of year but not entirely sure. Possibly salmon eggs? Also curious on any reports from the Blue. Thanks

 

[liv2fish]

CoMtFishing, just heard there will be no nets put up by the DOW this year for the salmon. Apparently the run was poor because of a gill lice issue so they decided not to use the nets this year.

 

[yatahey]

Liv2fish
I'm going up there in about an hour.
Take eggs and streamers yes. Also, large attractors dropped with flashback pheasant tails. Maybe I'll see ya up there. I'll be working from the middle lot up toward the dam.
Yat

 

[Coloradokid]

Wow, Comtfishing!! All i can say is it looks "EPIC".

 

[CoMtFishing]

Wow, Comtfishing!! All i can say is it looks "EPIC".

Haha... nice. :icon_mrgr