South Platte River: Dream Stream

Weekly Report

Conditions on the Dream Stream have been favorable and that has led to some great days on the river. Keep in mind though, this river is seeing an incredible amount of angling pressure, so don’t be surprised if you come across highly selective trout. Experimenting with pattern size and type and focusing on drag free drifts will help you fool selective trout. Leech, egg, red searchers/attractors, midge and baetis patterns are receiving the most love. Depth is a key right now, so frequently experiment with your weight and indicator placement until you find the right depth. For protection, trout will hold deep in the water column, particularly during the morning. Large, lake run rainbows notoriously favor the deepest portion of the water column, even during the afternoon. If you’re not snagging the bottom every few casts, odds are you need to add more split shot to your line. If you don’t see results, drop some weight and fish the middle water column. During the afternoon, trout typically move up in the water column in pronounced sections or slide into slow riffles, transitions, pockets or seams to feed. Eggs, leeches, San Juan Worms, Pheasant Tails, JuJu Baetis, red Copper Johns and Rainbow Warriors are great lead patterns right now. Below one of those patterns, trail a midge pupa or baetis emerger. When wind is minimal, we’ve seen decent surface activity during the late morning and evening midge hatches, so keep an eye out for that. Either fish a Griffiths Gnat or Parachute Adams on its own or as a dry dropper with a Chocolate Foam Back Emerger or RS2. With the rainbow spawn underway, walk along the bank whenever possible and if you need to wade through the water, avoid stepping on redds.

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