Stagecoach Tailwater- 9/11-9/12

Continued on our journey towards Steamboat and the Yampa River below Stagecoach Reservoir.  I've fished the Yampa through the town of Steamboat and below town on some private ranches with great success, so I was really excited to fish another section of this incredible river.  Without a doubt, the river through Stagecoach State Park is one of the prettiest sections of river in the entire state.  There is nice trout water holding some very large, very tough fish.  I would have to say that this river requires the same techniques that we use on another famous tailwater: the San Juan.  6X tippet with miniscule flies were needed to draw very subtle strikes, with annelids and midge the majority of the fishes source of food.

I really enjoyed to continue to fish the Blue Halo glass rod.  After fishing mostly graphite rods for the last couple years, it is such a different feeling to use a slower rod, forcing you to slow down all aspects of your fishing.  When you get a fish on the line, it really enhances the connection you feel to the fish, as you can feel every powerful run and head shake with the sensitive tip.  I need to figure out what color and I'm going to order, and the rod will be making its way from the Blue Halo guys in Salt Lake City.  I'm so pumped up to add this amazing fly rod to my arsenal and continue to fish it across the west.

With every trip, they come to close, and it's time to point the Jeep back home.  This was a great little trip with my Dad, fishing some new water and catching some nice fish.  This trip also continued an ongoing trend that I hope to put to an end soon; my Dad catching the biggest fish of the trip.

Blue River- 9/10/14

After catching a few pike early last week, it was time to head up into the mountains to catch my first love: trout.  I left Denver bright and early to beat all of the rush hour traffic, and almost felt sorry for the people out there heading to work.  Almost.  Pulled into Silverthorne just as the sun was coming up.  I love early mornings on the river, stringing up your rod and pulling your waders on, with the anticipation of the day ahead of you.  You never know if you'll catch the fish of a lifetime, or on the other hand, not catch a fish at all.

Big shout out to Cameron Mortenson (The Fiberglass Manifesto) for hooking me up with a brand new Blue Halo fiberglass fly rod as part of his rod demo program.  I've been looking at these rods for the last couple of months on the internet, and was super excited to find the 5 wt in my hands just days before I was to head out for this trip.  I had casted this thing on my lawn and really liked the feel, and thought it would be just perfect for playing some Blue River monsters on 6X.

Started the day up by the dam, sight fishing to fish in every pool.  With the higher flows all summer, it appears that the fish have been feeding heavily on Mysis Shrimp.  There were fat and healthy fish everywhere, and they were feeding hard.  I wasn't sure how the softer glass rod would perform with a nymph rig compared to my graphite rods, and I was thrilled to find this rod more than capable to do pretty much anything I wanted.  Roll casting this rod was my favorite part, as it was effortless to cast the flies wherever I wanted them to go.  Ultimate test was hooking some big trout, and I just loved the feeling of this rod bending over when a  big trout was on the line.  Even though the rod was softer, it had more than enough backbone to corral in some big fish, and with the supple tip, you knew the fragile tippet was going to be protected throughout the fight.

After spending the day fishing by myself all through town, I was eager for my Dad to make the drive up the hill and meet me.  We had decided to fish some new water, and were headed out of town to see what kind of fish we could find.  More about the trip in the next post.

Lake Ladora- 9/9/14

I have the rest of the week off to chase trout in the mountains, so I started my time off by chasing some toothy critters at the Arsenal this morning.  The best feeling in fly fishing is having a large Pike inhale your fly, and listening to your rod hum as it takes off like a torpedo.  Was able to land three this morning before the lake turned off, giving me the rest of the day to prepare for what is in store the rest of the week.  Gonna load up the Jeep and head west, fishing new water and hopefully catching some nice fish.