Guide: Josh Diller

Date: 6/12/22

Location: South Platte River near Deckers

I met James and Lauren at Deckers corner at 8 am. We drove down to the Trumbull section of the South Platte River, geared up, and were on the water shortly. Flows are super low. Dry dropper or double dries was my plan of attack as indicator fishing would spook fish and be a lot of moss or hang-ups. In the early morning, we noticed caddis and fish sporadically rising to them. Elk hair caddis size #18 - #14 on a long 15 ft. 6x leader got the job done! During a slow period, we did try some nymphing and we actually had a fish come up and eat the indicator. At that moment, I said we are done nymphing.

We switch the rig to a caddis and the fish came back and ate the elk hair caddis! We ate lunch around noon and then headed back to the river for the afternoon portion of our day. At first, we noticed a few caddis bouncing around and were able to get a few more eats, but the action came to a halt as the caddis disappeared mid-afternoon. I switched it up from a double dry rig to a dry dropper rig with a size #10 Chubby Chernobyl and a small size #20 tungsten zebra midge. Within the first few casts, we were hooked up, and wouldn't you believe it the fish ate the hopper! We continued to get hopper eats throughout the afternoon.

With the river being low fish were spooky and on edge. Sight fishing was tough, our most productive activity was prospecting for fish further out or casting right at risers! I rated it a 3/5 because it is tough fishing, but 10x rewarding when they eat the dry fly or even more so when they eat the HOPPER!

It was Lauren's first-time fly fishing and she had a blast watching the fish gobble her grasshoppers! As for James, he is a seasoned saltwater guide out of Florida! Capt James Canelos Fishing Charter All Water Expeditions out of St Augustine, FL. He has some pretty sweet content check him out @allwaterexpeditions on Instagram, give him a shout if you find yourself in the area! He enjoyed being able to cast dry flies at trout, it was his first-time freshwater fly fishing! It took a few casts to tame the tiger, but nonetheless, he crushed it! The couple had a blast and if I get the chance I will be taking a trip to Florida for some saltwater action!