Elevenmile means many more winter fish!

Driving out of Elevenmile Canyon

I finally made the trek down to the famous Elevenmile Canyon this past Sunday, 2/12/12, which turned out to be a great decision.  After talking with Dave and Greg over at Charlie's Fly Box for some advice, as well as pouring over as many (nearly) up to date fishing reports from various shops, guide services, and online forums, I thought I had it all dialed in for some success.

Rigging up next to the river

The weather was also going to be great, hovering in the mid-30's with occasional snow showers throughout the day.  The best part, wind was supposed to stay below 8-9 mph, making it ideal for sight fishing for these picky trout.  After the nice drive down there in the new truck, I drove into the canyon around 10am to find only one other car at the pullout closest to the spillway.  I stopped and talked to the gentleman as he was rigging up, and gathered a little more intel before I drove down to the next bridge and rigged up.

First fish!  Nice bow on a red midge larva

Using all of the info I was able to hear/read, I knew nymphing was going to be key early on, but if the sun opened up, there would be great chances with some dry adult midges.  I started using a small, size 20 beadhead pheasant tail, trailed by a size 24 red midge larva with a black head.  Within 5 minutes I missed one take, and landed one nice 14" rainbow on the midge larva.  I was in heaven, thinking to myself the day was going to be amazing, losing count of fish since I was off to a great start.  Rookie mistake.  Just as it seems to be bad luck when you hook into a fish at the boat launch, this little spur of action turned out to be just that, a little, random spike in activity.  For about an hour, I moved stealthily through the flats, attempting to send splash-less casts to the visible trout.  I continued to get attention, but the refusals were adding up so I continued to change my tactics.

Another nice bow

As I slowly moved upstream, I continued to change my flies and change the depth of my strike indicator (I was using the smallest white thingamabobber).  Finally I found some actively feeding fish which also enjoyed my flies.  Using a black/gray jujubee midge #22, with a small cream/tan colored midge larva with a clear glass bead, I was finally back on the fish.  Even though some adult midges were beginning to show us as the sun was coming over the canyon wall, the fish was actively feeding on the emerging insects and they were clearly interested in these flies.

Fishing the flat section

I was quickly reminded just how fun a tricky tail water can be when you finally figure out the right combo.  I meticulously worked my way up the run, casting in front of feeding fish.  The combo of their comfort with anglers in close proximity, as well as their current feeding frenzy, I was having a blast high-sticking to them merely 10 feet away from me.  It was difficult not to lose focus, and try casting further upstream as I was witnessing many fish zigzagging back and forth as they were gorging.  I needed to remind myself that I needed to pick the fish from the back first, and slowly work upstream, or I risk spooking all of the fish and losing out entirely.

Eager Cuttie

The highlight came when a nice 16" cutthroat moved out from the deep section, about 8 feet in front of me and was chasing food like crazy.  I watched him for a minute or two, to determine how exact my drift needed to be.  I cast about 5 feet ahead of him, and the single split dropped the flies right in front of him and started to take them about a foot to his side.  Right when I thought they had drifted past him, he turned abruptly and I saw the classic wink, his mouth open and shut.  Without feeling any tension, I set the hook and he bolted upstream.  Awesome!

This frenzy lasted for about an hour and a half, and slowly tapered off.  By this point, the sun had disappeared, and my feet were frozen so I walked back to the truck to eat some snacks and warm up a bit. Once I made it back on the water, I saw some nice sections of water, but could not see through the glare.  For the first time of the day, I tried blind casting into some nice looking runs, just as they spilled out from some larger boulders in the middle of the stream.  Second cast, I thought I hooked into a monster, as the indicator stopped in its tracks.  I set hard, only to find that I did hook a monster, a nice ~40lb boulder.  Snap went the 6x flouro, and I figured I would completely change up some flies.  I tied on a fly I had picked up last year at Cutthroat Anglers, a somewhat combination of a short/stout hares ear with a flashwing prince.  This thing is pretty heavy, so I removed the split shot and tied on a red sparkly midge larva.  First cast with the rig, the indicator stopped again, and I had hooked into a nice energetic rainbow.  For the next 40 or so minutes, I continued up the section, blind casting into the glare, and hooking into many fish between 13-16".

Overall a great day on the water!  I am now a big fan of Elevenmile Canyon and recommend you get out there if you can!  Visitors to the net included many rainbows, a few cutties, and one fat brown.

Fatty brown... Probably a larger circumference than length

Flies and Setups to Use: SMALL!  Size 22-24 midge larva, especially in grey, black, tan and cream tied onto 6x flouro.  Combos of those colors also worked really well!     When the adults were flying, and there were sporadic risers, I made sure my nymphs had small wing cases which worked out well.  In the late afternoon, the fish really liked the slightly more flashy beadhead options, size 18-20.

Leader, Strike Indicator and Split Shot: I had about 6' to the strike indicator, which was consistently above water as I high-sticked.    For my leader, I used a very long leader, which I typically do while fishing heavily pressured tail waters.  I tied on a 9' 5x leader, and attached about 4' of 6x flouro.  From there I tied my first fly, and trailed the second about 20" behind the first.  Water was not rushing, and the fish were in the slower water, so a beadhead was sufficient to get the nymphs down.  When I used two small midges, I pinched on a small splitshot about 16-20" above the lead fly.