Early Spring Fishing

The fishing is finally heating up as the weather slowly warms. I don't have quite as much time to fish this year because I'm actually selling real estate! But that makes the trips I do take twice as sweet. Here's a few pictures from the first outings of the year.

See what I mean, even on the way to the river I had to work! This is me installing a freshly minted Greyrock yardsign on of my listings which conveniently has river frontage. If I were to take 20 steps backward from where I'm standing in the picture below I would fall about 300 feet down a cliff into the river.

The Moose and I got caught in an un-forecasted spring snowstorm on our last fishing trip. It snowed 3 inches in about 15 minutes and then blue skies appeared.

The scenery in this spectacular canyon is almost enough to take your attention away from the fishing...
I said ALMOST!
The fish below and one of his friends followed a big streamer right up to the bank so I got a great visual, they swirled around the fly repeatedly, trying to decide if they wanted to eat it. Then one of them chomped and I got a little excited, set the hook too early and pulled it out of his mouth. I slammed it down in front of them once more and he ate again! This time I waited a bit longer and it was game on...
A pretty little rainbow
Gonna be a good year!

Brett & Brandi Visit

Ryan's cousin Brett & his wife Brandi stopped through and stayed with us for a couple days. We enjoy their company so much! We all went down to the North Fork and the boys fished while Brandi & I chilled... literally. (I know, I know.. dorky joke!) Brett & Brandi are expecting a baby boy at the end of June. We are excited to meet the little tyke... whom we refer to as Brettrick 2.

Visit from Steve Bell

Last weekend, Ryan's good friend Stephen came up to visit from St. Louis. The ranch was "joke central" for 3 days. I honestly think that they speak their own language. Here are some pictures from their trip up the canyon to Longdraw Reservior. The final fish count... Stephen - 4, Ryan -3. It was "the best day ever."

Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park

We went up to Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park with Greg and Libby to enjoy the fall colors. We drove up Trailridge Road to take in all of the views and fed some chipmunks.

The boys fished for a bit while Libby & I relaxed.
On the way out we saw hundreds of elk. These below are the "outcast" males.

The dominant male in the center back is bugling to his harem of 50-75 ladies.

A Summer's Worth of Fishing

It's been a fine summer of fishing in some gorgeous locales around Colorado. Here's a sort of picture journal of my favorite trips. I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what's available; water I used to only read about is now just a couple hours away! Of course, this first brown was taken on the Poudre right in town; it's a great stretch of water...shhhh. The Roaring Fork is home to some of the most beautiful rainbows in the state...

Jon's mom has a fancy condo on Roaring Fork so we spent a few days roughing it...thanks Janice!

Started throwing a lot more dry flies this year

Below is a pic of Jon after losing a brown over 20" on the Platte. It took him a while to shake it off. The fish took him a hundred yards down stream and he ended up swimming during the battle; he actually had the presence of mind to throw his camera on the bank before he swam! Sadly the camera did not survive the throw. That's why we call him the Moose.
Jon and Nick trying some spooky fish on the Platte...

This was one of my favorite fish of the summer: a cutthroat-rainbow hybrid. A very rare fish on the Platte and this one was hefty! He ate a big green hares ear nymph.

My buddy Scott came to visit and we fished North Park, one of the more beautiful places I've been. He took some great pics.

Can't believe summer is over.

Fishing the Salmon Fly Hatch

The salmon fly hatch of the Black Canyon is the biggest & most infamous hatch in Colorado... Experienced fishermen floating the river during the hatch can catch 50+ trout. Of course we just happened to be in the area at the start of the hatch and decided to check it out.

The sunset from our campsite.

Below is a picture of a salmon fly. They are 2-3in long and were EVERYWHERE!! I counted nearly 20 crawling on Ryan at once. I got used to them crawling up my legs, but from time to time one flew right into my face and I couldn't help but shreek!

Sadly, we were just a couple days too early and the trout weren't rising to eat the salmon flies yet. Ryan caught one small brown trout. It was well worth the hike to see the feeding frenzy on the shore. The garter snakes, skinks, & lizards were out in full force!

Fishing the Tundra

Jon's brother, who lives in Seattle, came for a visit this week and wanted to do some fishing. We decided to get out of town and try a new spot so we drove up and over Cameron Pass to try a river we've never fished. A couple thousand more feet of elevation makes a lot of difference. Sustained 30mph winds, snow still on the ground and the water we fished had been frozen just the week before. Fishing was slow because the water was so cold but the scenery and wild country was worth the drive...

We were using huge flies hoping a big meal would rouse the sluggish fish out of hibernation. A couple hours of fishing and we didn't see or feel a single fish.

Finally...


I had to pass the rod to Jon who was standing on the other side of this willow bush because the water was too deep to wade around it and the fish was bolting downstream.

Finally caught up to him...

Saw a few dead cows; must have been a hard winter up there...