Blue River Gold Medal- 9/19/15

Everything you read these days about the Blue River is that it is no longer in the elite class of the other Colorado Gold Medal waters, and while I tend to agree with this, I still really enjoy fishing this river.  It's a very unique fishery as it flows through the Silverthorne Outlet Mall, and there are people everywhere watching you fish.  Definitely does not give you the solitude that can be found on other water around the state, but even though the stream may not be in the Gold Medal class, there are still plenty of educated fish that test the skills of any fly fisherman.

Felt really good to get back into the waders, and enjoy the quickly changing Colorado seasons.  Life has been moving at the speed of light since Brody was born, and it felt good to get out and focus on fly fishing for a few hours.  The morning started out great, hooking a little Brown on my very first drift.  While the Blue might not be sustaining the trout life like it once did, it still is producing some wild fish, as I was able to hook into a number of small Browns throughout the day.  Hopefully the river is healthy enough that these little guys will be able to hold on and grow into the giant Mysis eating fish that the Blue is known for.

Best part of the day was being able to use my new Blue Halo fiberglass rod.  So fun hooking into fish with these glass rods.  The fish feel so much bigger than they are, yet they still have the backbone when you do hook a larger fish and need to lean into it to turn their heads.  So excited to add this rod to the quiver, and jump on the glass train.

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.

Blue River- 4/13/14

"There's no such thing as bad days, just bad gear."
             -Radar

Blue River- 12/6/13

Colorado is blessed with so many great tailwaters, which means the fishing season never really needs to end. If you are up to fishing in the snow and wind of winter, then there are plenty of trout feeding actively feeding in tailwaters all across the state.  Sure, winter fishing is not as comfortable as fishing during the other seasons, but it is so refreshing to have such a heavily pressured river to yourself, not seeing another angler all day.

Spent the last day of my vacation in the mountains today, skiing frigid Copper Mountain in the morning for a few hours, and then heading back to Silverthorne to try to warm up a little on the Blue in the afternoon.  There were lots of active trout in the river, but I only managed to hook a few of them using small midge and mysis patterns.  The flows on the Blue are currently at an impressive 132 CFS, and the river is in prime winter condition for peace and solitude.  While the rest of the state is heading to the mountains to ski or board, us diehard fly fishermen get the rivers to ourselves until the spring thaw.

By morning

By afternoon

Blue River- 9/7/13

I've only done it a few times, but night fishing is something that I really enjoy doing.  We headed up to Silverthorne to fish the Blue last night, and enjoyed a beautiful star lit night, chasing those legendary, monster trout.  Fishing the Blue at night is literally night and day from fishing during the sunlight hours.  This tailwater gets absolutely hammered by day, but the crowds disperse at night, giving you nothing but cold water and solitude.  Just because there is no one fishing, these trout are no less hard to hook.  Even though you can see fish everywhere, your flies and presentation still need to be perfect.  Looking out into each pool, it's a crazy sight to see glowing eyes everywhere,  trout still feeding on all those small shrimp and midges throughout the night.  I hooked a hog on the first couple of drifts that I tried to chase downstream, but he was too big and the current was too strong, and he came unbuttoned after a brief fight.  Landed a series of smaller fish the remainder of the night, but not the monsters we were after.  Started raining after midnight which sent us back to Denver, but it was a very nice couple hours on the river.

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.

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

Lower Blue River

Nice pocket water on the Lower Blue

Another Blue River beauty!!!

Had another great day on the Blue.  Started on the Blue River in town just before sunrise.  Hooked my first fish about 5 minutes after the sun hit the water.  It was an amazing rainbow trout.  Fished for about a half hour longer until my buddy made his way up from Denver.  Hit the lower Blue the rest of the day just above Green Mountain Reservoir.  Lost count of how many fish we caught.  The patterns of the day were PMD Barr Emergers and gray RS2's.  Not much else to say, so here's some pictures of the day.

Upstream view of the Blue from an old bridge.

Huge Golden Stoneflys.  2" Long!!

Blue River through Silverthorne

So this past weekend, I was playing in a golf tournament at the Raven at Three Peaks in Silverthorne, teeing off around noon.  So I figured this was a great opportunity to fish the Blue River for the first time.  I had heard about the horrific crowds, and figured that if I got up there as early as possible, I would be able to enjoy a few hours of solitude by myself, and see if I could catch any of those fabled Mysis Shrimp eating trout!

I pulled into the parking lot around 6:30 AM, just as the sun was starting to rise over the mountains to the east.  I was the lone car in the lot, and my plan was to fish from close to the dam down to underneath the interstate.  I rigged up my 4 weight TFO rod, tying on a black Copper John, and dropping a Mysis Shrimp from that.  I had never fished any Mysis Shrimp patterns, but knew they were the fly of choice for this stretch of water.  I had five shrimp patterns in my box, and was hoping they would last long enough.

Fishing was slow for the first 45 minutes or so, until the sun rose high enough in the sky to light up the river.  I was walking along the river's edge, trying to keep my balance on the slick river rocks, when the the first Rainbow tried to rip my fly from the line.  I was not expecting a strike in the riffle I was in, as the trout was holding in water no deeper than 6 inches deep.  I heard my reel screeching as he tore across the river, trying to free itself from the fly.  I continued to stumble down the river edge, until I was close enough to net him.  Sure enough, he had taken the Mysis Shrimp pattern.  I was very proud of the first fish that I caught on the Blue River, and was not surprised to find the stories I had heard were true!!  He was a stocky little fish with amazing coloring!!

First Blue River rainbow!

I continued to catch fish after fish, working my way down towards town.  The fished seem to be keying in on the shrimp patterns, as I only hooked one on the Copper John.  I finally lost my last Mysis Shrimp pattern in the hole directly underneath the highway, but not after I had brought around 10 to the net.  I figured it was good timing, as I had to run along to make my tee time.  Not gonne lie, fishing the Blue in the morning, and golfing the Raven in the afternoon is not a bad way to spend a day in the Rockies!!

Nice view of the Blue looking back towards Dillon Dam