Cheesman Canyon- 7/21/13

I love early mornings on the river, and today was one of those absolutely perfect mornings fishing Cheesman Canyon.  Perfect sunrise. Perfect company. Perfect river. Perfect fish.  One of those trips where it's just easier to let the pictures do the talking.  Huge shout out to Lacey and Mikey for all of these absolutely stunning photos, and for getting their first Cheesman fish under their belts. Made it look easy!  Looking at these pictures makes me feel that I really need to step up my photography game!  Thanks guys!!

Dream Stream- 7/13/13

It has been very seldom that I've been able to get my wife to go to the river with me, so when a group of friends planned a weekend at a cabin in South Park, I was so excited to take my wife to the Dream Stream with me to show her one of my favorite places.  The previous times I've taken her, either the fish or me (probably me) had not been cooperative.  During our honeymoon in Steamboat, I fished the Yampa through town by myself and hooked rising fish all afternoon, but the next day when I took her, I could not buy a fish.  I'm not saying I felt a lot of added pressure to actually hook some fish, but I really wanted to show her why I love this sport so much.

The Spinney Mountain section of the South Platte was looking absolutely amazing.  There were crazy amounts of insect activity around the river, with PMD's, Tricos, Midges, and Caddis flying everywhere.  I was mostly fishing a drowned Trico spinner below a Annelid, and the fish seemed to like it.  They were absolutely crushing the Trico.  You know those strikes where they take you fly with so much purpose that the strike indicator is 5 feet upstream before you even have time to set the hook.  With the higher flows, the fish seemed to be extremely healthy and powerful.  Caught two beautiful Cutthroats that were extremely feisty to get to the net.  It was nice to have a camera woman to take some action shots of me for once, and even better that I got to enjoy the day with my wife.  So in one trip, my wife went from my bad luck charm to my good luck charm, and I'm really looking forward to the next time I can get her on the river with me.

Deckers- 7/5/13

Bend Hole at Sunrise

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky.  Our "home" river is the South Platte below Cheesman Canyon through Deckers.  No matter the new rivers I fish, I will always be drawn back to these Gold Medal waters.  There's just something about the drive down into Deckers that feels special.  Maybe it's because of the rich history of these fabled water that make you feel closer to this sport.  You know a river is special if it helped to create flies like the RS-2 and Brassie.  Whatever it is, I'm glad this river is coming back strong after the Heyman Fire.

Explored a few more areas on the South Platte today.  Early morning yielded the best results, but the fish seemed healthy and active all day.  The river looks absolutely amazing, with cold, clear water and green plants everywhere.  There were a lot of other outdoor entusiastists out today, making sharing the river a little more challenging, but it was a great day on the Platte.  No specific flies were the key, the fish seemed willing to move for any well presented nymph.

The "Rock Garden" above Deckers 

Nice Rainbow from Midge Pool

Brown in the "Rock Garden"

Blue River- 6/30/13

Headed north on Highway 9 to fish the Blue near Green Mountain Reservoir today.  The fishing wasn't incredible, but there was enough action to keep it interesting.  There were lots of caddis in the air, causing some splashy rises, but not a lot of consistent surface action.  Managed to fool one nice bow on an Elk Hair Caddis, while the rest of the fish were taken on caddis and stonefly nymphs.  Again, I tried real hard to slow down and just enjoy being out on the water, taking in the beauty of this amazing Gold Medal Water.

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

Grey Reef- 5/18/13

Even though the float trip part of our trip to the Reef was an epic fail, not all was lost on my first Grey Reef trip.  We fished a full day on Saturday, exploring a few different spots on the river, and all hooking into some very nice fish.  We fished the morning right out back of the camper, with lots of access to some very nice riffles and seams.  The North Platte is a lot bigger than any other river I've fished, but we still managed to find some nice fish in the seams along the edges.  Started off the morning strong, landing some nice fish on some small annedlid patterns.  Continued exploring close to the camp spot until lunch, with the highlight being a very strong baetis hatch that kept the trout rising for hours.  I was able to fool a few trout on small BWO dry flies, but I wasn't able to get any to the net. Still was real cool watching these trout rise to imitation bug.  Enjoyed some brats for lunch, before we packed up our rods and headed up river to fish some of the public water closer to the dam.  We fished a section called the Redds, which they close at certain times of the year to allow for more productive spawning.  The size of the fish in this section were much bigger than downstream, and they willingly were taking midge and baetis patterns.  Landed my nicest fish of the trip up here, a very feisty and beautiful Cuttbow that made many acrobatic jumps out of the water before surrendering.  We headed back to the campground to fish some streamers while dinner was getting made.  Stripping a small, black  Bunny Leach slowly netted a few more fish.

All in all, I would call this trip a success.  Even though I continue to be very bummed about missing out on the float trip, I am thrilled to have fished another amazing river.  The float trip will be planned for another time, and the lessons of what not to do will continue with us on our next adventure to the Reef. At least this makes for one hell of a story!!

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

0-2 at Grey Reef

Had a crazy weekend up on the North Platte this weekend.  We camped at a campground 4.5 miles off the road at a campground called Buffaloberry.  The spot was amazing!! On a bluff right on the river with some great fishing right out the back door of the trailer.  Had a killer day on Saturday, hitting up a few spots, and still had the best day of the trip lined up for Sunday.  A full day float trip with Krayfish of Wyoming Fly Fishing.  That's when the weekend went south!!  It poured rain Saturday night, making the roads back to highway 220 literally impassable.  By the time we found out the roads were that bad, it was to late to turn around.  Got three 4x4's stuck, and had no hope of meeting our guides at Gov. Bridge.  The younger guys had to be at work today, so we grabbed our packs and wearing waders and full rain gear, started the trek out to the road.  We met a shefiff about halfway back to the bridge that was nice enough to get us to the Gov. Bridge parking lot.  A friend from Casper picked us up, drove us to the Natrona County Airport to pick up a rental car, and we drove the 4+ hours back to Denver, leaving our cars back up at Grey Reef.

It's starting to feel like this float trip is cursed!  We were supposed to do it in March, but the Front Range got hammered with snow, and I-25 North was shut down.  It still was really fun weekend, fishing a new river but I am super bummed out the guide trip didn't happen!  Hopefully, the third times the charm, and we can finally float this legendary section water and try to fool some of those monster trout.

**The "fishing" report of this trip will be done when I finally get my car (and camera) back from Alcova.

Trouts Fly Shop- Deadly Streamer Class

I joined Trouts Fly Shop for a night of tying some some big, nasty streamers last night.  I have tied some articulated streamers in the past, but I really wanted to learn from someone much better than myself.  David Luna fit the bill perfectly, showing us the ins and outs of tying articulated streamers, and taught us how to spin deer hair.  We tied both a Sex Dungeon and a Peanut Envy, two very large streamers that I can't wait to throw up on the Reef next weekend.  I look forward to using these skills to pack my streamer full of nasty streamers.

My modest attempt at a Sex Dungeon

Blue River- 4/29/13

Had the day off from work on Monday, so I took advantage and headed up to Silverthorne to fish the Blue for a while.  I slept in, make breakfast for my wife before she went to work, and then had a leisurely drive up the hill, just enjoying the Rockies after being in Houston for a while.  I started fishing right at the top boundary fence near the dam, and made it all the way under Highway 9, fishing each pool down close to the police station.  Even though the river had a lot of angling traffic (crazy how hard this river gets pounded), I was able to pick up a few nice fish.  The trout seemed to be on midge patterns, as I hooked most on small Juju's or WD-40's.  Highlight of the trip was hooking a 25" beast underneath the pedestrian bridge near the outlets.  The fish took me underneath the bridge twice before I was able to wrestle him into my net, all while a nice crown cheered on from the bridge.  I asked a nice man to take a picture for me with the fish, but he accidentally took a video instead, so I only have the memory of the fish in my brain.  Most of my fishing buddies are not very fond of the Blue, be it for the amount of pressure, the difficult fish, or the spotty hatches, but I have always enjoyed fishing though Silverthorne, and have found it to be one of my more productive rivers.  I know that this relationship with the river can change without any notice, but I will continue to enjoy my time spent on this Colorado Gold Medal Water.

Can only dream of monsters above this fence... 

View upstream from the pedestrian bridge

Downstream below Highway 9