Enjoyed a nice fall day up in the hills yesterday, meeting some buddies in Middle Park to fish the Willy's Fork of the Colorado River. Left the house early, so it wasn't until after I turned north on Highway 9 before the sun started to come up over the foggy hills above the Blue River. Headed north past Green Mountain Reservoir, and made my way down into Kremmling before turning back east towards Parshall, and the Williams Fork River.
While not a big river by any means, the Williams Fork was absolutely stunning, with golden Aspen leaves lining the entire river from the dam all the way down to the Confluence with the Colorado River. The fishing was not on fire, but we were able to keep our rods consistently bent, catching many of the rivers wild trout. The Willy truly is one of the states best brown trout fisheries. It's a shame that I never was able to fish the river before Whirling Disease devastated the population of Rainbow Trout, but I am glad that the Rainbows left in the river are big!
I did hook into a few of the big fish, but my rust from a summer of not many fishing outings left with the fish coming unbuttoned. Biggest rush of the day was getting my pheasant tail whacked in the riffle above the confluence to the Raddy, watching the big bow go airborne before screaming all the way across the river. Felt awesome to feel a big fish pulling on the other end of my new Blue Halo, and had the fish under control before the hook worked itself loose and the fish was gone. It's true that the fish that got away are the reason that you come back.
Was able to help a fellow angler out landing, and snapping a few pics of beautiful 22" bow that took a maroon San Juan Worm. I was stoked to be a part of another fly fisherman's biggest fish of the year, and feel the camaraderie amongst anglers that we share in this beautiful state of ours. Everyone on the water, enjoying a perfect fall Colorado day on the Williams Fork, trying to fool some fish.
