9-8-2014 Brush Creek Report

The Town of Eagle’s gem, Brush Creek, is beginning to accept its yearly influx of fall browns from the Eagle River and the rainbows that follow them for the egg feast they expect.  For a small tributary, it can produce surprisingly large trout in the fall.

Temps are up as the flow has finally become the usual late-season low-and-clear standard.  Recent rain has popped up streamflows significantly (see those on the Eagle in Gypsum for a reference point and in Wolcott for local water temps not too far off from Brush’s).  Now that they have come down to about normal, the cooler nights have set in, leaving a healthy stream that rarely exceeds the mid-60s, but it’s still worth bringing the thermometer for the afternoons: heated fish are already running a marathon, so it isn’t healthy to ask them to run the “sprint” of being caught.  It also means that the early risers are not going to experience the full bug bloom until around 10:00 AM.

Caddis hatches are still around, though they’re not the thick, mid-summer, windshield-splatter variety.  On the lower section, PMDs, yellow sallies, and occasional red quill hatches are coming off, especially in the evening.  Morning flies have been mostly smaller mayfly imitations and caddis, with terrestrials always present.  The grasshoppers are beginning to huddle down near the river as the nighttime temps have dipped into the upper 30s.  Expect more action on them with Eagle’s upcoming first frost.

Bugs for Brush Creek

PMX or other small attractor near the banks (#14-16)

Elk hair, pear-and-elk, cdc-and-elk caddis (tan, peacock, black, #14-16)

Dry ant, tung ant (both in #18-20), olive and natural PT(#16-18), Z-wing (#14-18), LaFontaine’s emergent sparkle pupa (#16-18), Barr’s graphic caddis (#16-18)

Schroeder’s hopper (#10-14), Dave’s hopper, Amy’s ant