Why We Fish

Sure, we like catching fish when we go out, but that is not why fishermen are drawn to the water.  We go to get away.  To turn off our phone and leave our hectic lives behind, if only for a few hours.  We go to enjoy the beautiful surroundings, standing among tall pines, Rocky Mountain peaks, and wild flowered meadows.  We go to enjoy the cool mountain water on a hot summer day.  We go for the adventure, to see new places that we've never been.  We go to enjoy time with our fishing buddies, where the most important thing discussed is if the fish are taking nymphs or emergers.  We go to fly fish, because we love it.

Fished the local creek again last night, and really took some time to enjoy the surroundings.  Slowing down to take in the blooming flowers and the mule deer.  Nice change of pace from everyday life, and it makes me so thankful for what I have.

Beautiful Bear Creek

Another spider web 

Mule deer didn't even spook from me

Bear Creek- 6/21/13

Finally I kicked off my summer fishing today, spending a perfect afternoon on Bear Creek, cooling off in the nice, cool mountain water.  With starting my new job recently, more time has been devoted to work, and the fly fishing was put on the back burner.  After almost a month of no fishing, I decided that an afternoon wet wading was exactly what I needed.

With the drought year of 2012, I only fished Bear Creek early season last year.  I have always enjoyed this little gem that is so close to home.  I was afraid that with last years low flows and high water temperatures, this fishery would take a beating.  But it just goes to prove how resilient these trout were. I found eager fish in every pool, willing to chase large foam hopper patterns.  I tied on a Fat Albert at the car, and only changed out a few droppers.  Skating the hopper across the water would cause the trout to go crazy, chasing the fly down from all the way across the pool.  It was almost as fun watching these fish react to the fly as it was having them hook up.

It felt good to be back on the water, and this made me super excited for some awesome Colorado summer fishing.  I am planning some fun trips to some new water, and am hoping that this summer turns out perfect!!

Cool spider web

2012 in Review

Spent the last hour looking through the last years fishing pictures, thinking back on all the great adventures that I had.  Whether it was fishing for trout in the Rockies, or bait fishing for Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, 2012 was a great year, and makes me even more excited to see what 2013 has in store.

Frustration on Bear Creek

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

That's how I feel after fishing Bear Creek twice this week.  Despite seeing lots of trout rising everywhere in the river, I could not catch a one.  I tried everything that I could think.  Started with a dry/dropper rig with a small Elk Hair Caddis as the dry.  Tried everything I could think of on the bottom.  Pheasant Tail, Prince Nymph, Black Beauty, Two Bit Hooker, Cased Caddis, and San Juan Worm.  Nothing!  Moved onto a double dry rig, putting what felt like every dry fly in my box on the end of the line.  Still nothing.  I finally put on a Woolly Bugger.  I was fishing it downstream and slowly stipping through the deepest pools I could find.  Still Nothing.  I moved onto another deep pool, and finally, a strike.  But I lost him.  That's pretty much all the action I had on the two days I spent on Bear Creek above Morrison.

My attempt at an artistic photo

A pool full of stubborn trout

But I'm still happy.  It just feels good to cool off in the mountain water. The highlight of the trips was seeing two mule deer across the river from me.  They walked down in the river, not realizing I was there.  Finally they spotted me and took off up the mountain, but not before I snapped a picture.  Hopefully one of these days, I will figure out how to catch fish here.