Kerry Caraghar has seen the signs of the times: the growing numbers of vehicles in the parking areas, increasingly well-worn paths to his favorite runs.
If he looked more deeply into the eyes of these people he now finds in greater profusion on these small urban streams, he might even see wildly spinning numbers like on the face of a gasoline pump.
There can be little doubt that people are fishing closer to home. You’ll find them crowding the banks of local lakes and ponds in pursuit of bass, panfish or anything that will bring a jiggle on the line without assuming a bank loan.
For Denver-area residents who want to catch a trout in running water, the close-in choices are three. You’ll find them in Clear Creek, on the South Platte River above Cheesman Reservoir and in Bear Creek.
The last of those is where we find Caraghar on a sunny Sunday afternoon, casting from a kneeling position at a place where a trout makes splashy rises beneath an overhanging limb.
As manager of the fishing department at Orvis Cherry Creek, Caraghar can scrape together enough coin to visit more distant locations. There’s just something captivating about this intimate little stream where it tumbles through the canyon between Morrison and Evergreen.
“This is just a fun place,” Cara-ghar said between casts. “Besides, it teaches you where and how to fish.”
The tutorial, he says, comes in learning how to read water, in spotting the places where fish are holding.
“A larger river such as the Colorado is just four or five Bear Creeks put together. You learn to break up the river into manageable parts.”
Yet another lesson comes from casting accuracy. Small streams where trout locate in narrow, well-defined slots and pockets demand the sort of precision that, when applied to larger venues, translates to greater overall success.
“It’s just so cool to have these places within an hour of Denver,” Caraghar said, sweeping his arm down a tree-lined reach of creek where a hummingbird hangs over sparkling water like a Christmas tree ornament.
“I come here after work to get rid of the stress, and lately I’ve been bringing my 9-year-old daughter. Last Wednesday she caught her first trout all by herself. It made me want to cry.”
The fact that the fish are universally on the small size troubles him not in the least.
“I’d rather catch these wild fish than the 5-pound pelletheads you find on a lot of streams,” he said. “These are real fish here, and the stream will test you.”
While Caraghar finds a greater number of anglers in these close-to-home places, he isn’t disturbed by any increase in notoriety.
“If we get good fishermen here, there’s just more eyes to police things,” he says of what, if abused, can be a fragile environment.
Regulations are for flies and lures only and all rainbow trout must be released. Two brown trout are allowed, but anyone who would kill a fish in Bear Creek might also steal cookies from Girl Scouts.
Here’s a rundown on the other local streams:
Waterton Canyon
A population density of more than 7,500 trout per mile has prompted Division of Wildlife biologist Jeff Spohn to remove the previous 16-inch size limit above the Marston Diversion.
“In five years I’ve never seen a trout over 13 or 14 inches,” he said of new regulation that allows two fish any size.
The new rules are aimed at reducing density while raising the average size of a stunted, cookie-cutter population mostly less than 12 inches. The regular four-fish limit applies below the diversion, where fish are fewer, but generally larger.
Clear Creek
The mystery here is why the dominant brown trout rarely grow past 10 inches long, despite successful efforts to reduce heavy metal in the extended reach upstream from the North Fork confluence. The puzzle deepens when one considers that the brook trout population supplanted by the browns reached good size a couple of decades ago.
On a positive note, the West Denver Trout Unlimited restoration project is progressing well in the reach above Golden, in part from a $10,000 donation provided by the Orvis Co.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
