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One of my favorite hobbies besides Triathlons is to fly fish. Now, I am by no means an expert fisherman; but I have a good working knowledge from my years of fly fishing! That being said, I decided to try a new fishing spot on my latest fishing adventure. I had never been to Sylvan Lake and decided to spend a Saturday there. Sylvan Lake is located about 20 minutes south of Eagle, CO on a nice one lane road that changes to dirt about 5 miles from the lake. Since it is a State Park it does cost $9.00 to use the lake for the day. The lake is nestled into the mountains, so it’s not too hot out on the lake. A nice feature of this park is that Brush Creek starts to flow from the lake down through Eagle into the Eagle River, so the creek provides an additional nice area for you to fish throughout the whole park area!
I decided to start my adventure at the main lake. I brought along, Dixie (my dog), my 12-foot ducky boat, and a fly rod. A nice feature of this boat is that I can inflate it with a portable inflator and my truck battery. Once, I paid my park admission, I headed the 5 miles down the dirt road and pulled off at the lake by the boat ramp. I filled my boat with air and started to fish. Since, it was midday when I started I decided to fish the center of the lake first. My reasoning was that it was warmer outside, so the fish would be in deeper water. I used some deep-water flies and I found decent success — I then moved over to the dam area. This area is not more than 100 yards long, but fish like to eat here before the water flows into the creek. Well, this day they stymied me from catching them, alas another day I will win!
To end the day, I decided to head over to the banks on the South side of the lake where there was a tiny creek and a bunch of brush piled up. I was able to catch a couple of fish on dry files there. The water was very clear in this area, so I was able to spot fish, by trying to place the fly near the fish I saw. They would then come up and eat the fly. I found great success doing this and that helped to conclude a fun day of fishing. However, before heading back to the boat ramp, Dixie, and I decided to take a quick hike on the far side of the lake.
This hike was in nice, shaded areas that included cool water and wonderful little waterfalls! If you are looking for a nice easy day hike, I would recommend doing a hike around the whole lake which is only about a mile or so. The park has even setup a nice nature hike that provides entertainment to both old and young alike! Well, I hope you enjoyed my review of Sylvan Lake and happy fishing – Where should I go next?!
