A report by Brendan for mikescatchreport.com
I was out at Beaver Creek last week and had a hell of a time. The temperature was supposed to hit 50 degrees but never made it above 43 degrees on the stream with plenty of snow still on the banks.
I guess they had just done their pre-season stocking because the fish were very concentrated around likely stocking locations and they were not too interested in natural patterns. I switched over to a funky steelhead fly I had tied for a recent trip to Oregon and started pulling them in one after another--a silver bead head with pink chenille and a silver flash tail brought a dozen or so decent fish out in the two hours I fished. A bait guy even asked what I was using so that's normally a good sign.
The fish probably have settled in a little more now so natural patterns should slowly become more effective. Pulling out stockies isn't really my thing, but in the middle of a cold winter it was a nice escape.
Anyway, thought i'd share since you're one of the people who convinced me to try out this stream after years of driving by it.
Also, I've started a new blog. Lot's more coming in the next few weeks.