June 2009
Delaney June 2008
Delaney Fall 2008
Summer 2007
Fall 2006
Summer 2006
North Park Anglers Fly Shop
Click Here
Scott and Jason are great guys up there so make sure to stop by and ask what flies to use!
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Various Patterns to use
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Lakes: South Lake, North Lake and East Lakes
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Total Distance: 180 miles from Denver
I usually get to Walden in about 2:30 and Delaney another 10-15 minutes
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Lake Report
CHIRONOMIDS!!!!! and signs of Calibaetis on the Way!!
Chironomids have been hatching like crazy throuhgout the day at all the lakes. Look for surface feeding fish in calm water. For those dry fly fishers, try small midge patterns on the surface like Griffiths Gnats or Birtchells Hatching Midge in sz. 16-20. Also throw chironomid pupa 8-12 inches below an attractor dry to fish cruising near surface.
Most chironomid success is either near surface or deeper water (6-10 feet). For deeper water suspend midges under an indicator and adjust your depth until you locate fish.
Reports of good Calibetis hatches are coming in daily. The fish have yet to make the switch to them but look for that to happen soon. For now try Gilled Nymphs, BH Anatomical Callibaetis Nymphs, and rubber legged Copper Johns in 14's and 16's in Gold or Red.
The other alternative is stripping big streamers, try Olive, Black, Orange, Brown.
Delaney Butte Trip June 2008
Brian North Lake Fishing for any wind driven trout willing to bite!
Was it the perfect weekend, no not really, was it crowded, yep especially on Friday...was it worth it, Absolutely! Anytime you fish the Delaney's you deal with Rain, wind, snow, mosquitos, sometimes crowds and a little drive. Than again might you ask? Where else am I going to catch a beast of a trout in Colorado....this place is much better than Spinney, it just doesn't have the hyped name "Spinney" to most. Does it have big fish...YES, I met a guy last year that was fishing next to me in my pontoon that the weekend prior he hooked and landed a 31" 18lb Bow out of South lake so yes there are big fish there.....I did see the massive beast in North Park anglers fly shop so I believe it.
When my first cast of the trip netted a good size cutthroat, I knew things were looking up. Nice Cutty's were around for a bit off and on all weekend but they weren't easy to come by. I got lucky on Friday when I arrived with a few. Slight wind, a few clouds, bugs and more bugs seemed to turn on the fish before dark. They seemed to be keyed in on
my size #12 Griffeth gnat on top and a size #14 blood red Chironomid dropped below.
What's a Delaney trip without Troutdawg Jr. Zeke! This is his favorite place and once he found out where I was going it didn't take much for me to convince him to go!
Did I make it out for some night fishing, you better believe it, I never pass up an opportunity to fish this place at night. I didn't get a big one on tandem mice patterns liek Junes prior but I did enjoy a few nights out with the lake to myself. Todd and Brian went out for awhile on Sat night but it takes that serious person to stay out to wee hours like I do. Last June I hit the 11pm-3am mark and got lucky, this year I was "winded" by 1am on Friday night due to the Makers Mark I had earlier and Sat ended abruptly at midnight due to rain and all of my stuff layed out to get wet so all I got this year was a bump and a few nice fish on my fish finder to gleem at. Maybe next Fall, than I will be prepared to stay out all night again in pursuit of that big fish.
CAN'T BREATHE!! So many bugs there it was insane, I had to leave my 1st campsite due to the infestation of billions of midges everywhere.....hey they're much better than the Squitos and the fish love em so no complaints.
Brian with a fish on! Brian is always the Stillwater King so where he is I'm usually not far behind picking up a few tips. Denny Rickards flies seemed to be his favorites and after catching 5 on Saturday it must have been working well. Our buddy Todd also showed up on Saturday after I arrived on Friday to get on some fish. He had a little luck as well but was a little perplexed as to how the weekend went. With wind, little snow, cooler temps and not much fish activity it definitely was a challenging weekend.
Another fish netted by Zeke and after a quick examination for taste, she was quickly released to live another day. He really wanted one for dinner but we were unsuccessful this year at keeping a few for dinner, maybe next time.
Birds, Birds, Birds and more birds!! All you had to do was wait for the thousand or so birds to launch from the trees down to the water to know that it was bug time and to duck! You can't really see it that well but at any given time there were close to 300 birds flying over us......Brian had one run into him, Todd almost hooked one in his backcast and I slapped one in mid air with with my backcast, CRAZY! Brian did manage to catch a brown out of South lake, which is not known for them or suppose to have any in there so that's a first for us!
The Chironomid ranges in length from five to twenty-five millimetres in the larva, pupa, and adult stage. The most prominent colors of the chironomid in the larva stage are yellow, tan, red, maroon, and brown. Best flies to represent the chironomid larva are thin and in sizes 16-8, in the colors mentioned. The pupa and adults come in a wide variety of colors including black, brown, olive, green, lime, red, maroon, gray, and orange. Pupa patterns should be thin and segmented, with white acrylic, white ostrich herl, white Z-lon or some other white material at the head to represent the gills.
Chironomids are available to trout throughout the open water season, and make up about 40% of a trouts diet. Any fly fisher who does not learn how to fish chironomids effectively will be severely limited in his/her possibilities.
Another nice Cutthroat taken on top, Griffeth Gnats definitely seemed to be working well on Friday night and after having a few #12's munched on I had to drive around the lakes to get coverage areas to tell the boys to get me more Griffeths or dead chickens!
