The Colorado Front Range has some great fishing options close to Denver. While visiting my folks in Denver, I made it a mission just to get a few hours on Clear Creek near Golden. I realized that if you were in Denver and didn’t have a car; Clear Creek is accessible by public transportation. You would need to take the light rail to Golden and hoof it to the mouth of the canyon (or bike could be an option). But that is neither here nor there. Clear Creek has a nice population of wild browns, and is full of rugged pocket water. I was there in the middle of April, so the bug activity was minimal. There were also pre run off conditions, and the water was swift (107 cfs) and stained. Not the best fishing conditions, but there I was.
I started off with a bushy dry (wishful thinking) and quickly changed to a small bead head stonefly pattern. I felt one little nibble on that, but changed to a small white zonker streamer. It was on. The streamer produced on a dead drift. I didn’t catch any on the swing or stripping. I had the epiphany that if I am not fishing dries for trout I would rather drift a streamer than fish a nymph. Maybe I have been influenced by all the trout fishing authors who detest fishing nymphs. After a few hours I was back home for breakfast. Clear Creek is technical and if you can deal with the constant hum of traffic; a glorious little trout stream 20 minutes from downtown Denver.
