[epic]

I was suppose to go ice fishing this morning but my friend bailed on me so I thought I would try to hit Spinney Mountain Ranch. I got there about 7:30 this morning it waws 12 degrees out dont know water temp lost my temp gauge. Started out throwing an egg pattern and wasnt getting any hits so I switched to a black wooly worm. 3rd or 4rth cast with that I landed a 10 inch rainbow. Didnt get any bites or nibbles until around 1030 when some dude came down to where I was fishing while I was tying a fly on and casted into my spot and landed a 24 inch rainbow on a leech pattern WOW the fish in this part of the platte are large. I was kinda mad about him fishing my spot but it was still kewl to see that nice of a fish come out of there. Seen about 4 people pull out 20+ inch rainbows today. I found another pod of fish looked even bigger then the one that dude had just caught and there were probably 8 of them in this little bend in the river. But I couldnt even get a bite out of them I dead drifted my fly right by their noses and all they would do is move out of the way. I changed alot of different flies and patterns but all my flies and 3 ft of leader later not one hit. (I dont have many different fly patterns yet) The wind started to pick up around 130 so I packed it in and drove back to the Springs.
Rottal you need to come show me how to catch these monsters.
Spinney was extremely busy for such a little stretch of water, and it was a cold day so I could just image that stretch on a beautiful day thats going to be crazy.

 

[rottal]

Wind? Fishing dodging flies? Other people hogging holes? yup, sounds familiar, but you get used to it if you fish colorado's tailwaters long enough. I used to fish the Spinney/11 Mile stretch quite a bit, but its been pretty crowded the past few years so i decided to give it a break...spring is especially bad, especially when the rainbows and cutts come up out of 11 mile to attempt to spawn. how was the flow Epic? if its up the fish will move in, but if its down not much will happen. i used to walk downstream and look for pods of schooled up fish, when you find them you can generally catch a few if they dont spook...i like catching cutts out of the river, they turn some nice colors this time of year. as far as patterns? mostly the typical small stuff for the South Platte...midge dries and nymphs 18-20s, my favs are brassies, Barr Emergers (olive) and pheasant tails under either a olive or amber scud or San Juan Worm (size 14)... presentation is the key, even more so than the pattern i believe...stay low, use at least 6x flourocarbon, and watch the fish for takes , not your line....

and when all else fails and no one else is near a black wooley bugger will usually turn fish...especially the big ones

but yeah, its easier said than done...ive been skunked there too on occasion lol



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[epic]

Thanks for the advice, my main problem is I dont know what to fish with. I'm pretty good at finding the fish I dont have sunglasses yet so it is sometimes hard to see them take it I rely on the strike indicator alot. I'm saving some money up for a good pair of glasses I want for sight fishing because I can see how important it is especially in the winter months. I'm slowly building up my fly collection, but I'm not the greatest caster either so I lose alot of flies on the sticks behind me, my barrel cast is pathetic to say the least. I've been working on casting alot though and have been getting what I think are good drift lanes infront of the pods and through the pods. But with the fishing pressure the river had today I think they may have been a little spooked and not biting, I'm hoping!

 

[Bronco]

When I was young back in the late 80's i use to guide below spinney and this time of year a small apricot egg would do really well. i would even use another for the dropper. Big wooley buggers work well also, but usually you will only get a few from streamers this time of year., but their almost always big.

 

[epic]

Thanks Tom, I started out with an apricot egg followed by a little prozac, I then switched to a beadhead nymph I'm not sure what its called as the trailer. I switched to a wooly bugger and caught that 10 inch rainbow, then didnt have any hits for a while so I switched back to an egg pattern this time a red one or orange (I'm color blind hard to tell those 2 colors apart) with another nymph trailer. Seen a couple hitting surface so after no hits with any of those combinations I tried some emergers with no luck.
It was still fun, couldnt believe how nice it was until that wind rolled in.