Colorado 2011 - Part 2 - Cuthroat Heaven

Well it's been a while since my last entry on my 2011 Colorado adventure, ttransferring back to West Virginia has been very time consuming - but worth every minute.

I was disappointed after stopping at a stream that I had good luck on in 2006. The tail water stream was nearly dry and the reservoir above was only half full. After waiting out a massive storm we headed further south to a Rio Grande cutthroat stream that I had fished in 2008. I did not do well in 2008 but later learned I had fished it too high. I fished in the high meadow section when I should have went lower, into the canyon section.

Arriving late, we found a hotel room in Alamosa, had dinner and early to bed again. We were up and on the road before daylight, but thirty miles of gut-busting gravel roads made for slow travel.

Once at the destination, we set up camp, and made the mile or so hike down into the canyon. The canyon was absolutely amazing and we were quickly into fish. As normal, I let my partner catch the Rio Grande cutthroat, and thus completing his Colorado Cuttslam.

After watching him catch a few more, I jumped in and was quickly into cutties.

I picked up several cutties in the 10" - 12" class and thought this was just another typical cutthroat stream, until we got deep into the canyon. Moving up into the canyon meant larger, deeper pools.

Deeper pools meant larger fish, and they were plentiful.



At one point in the canyon we had to backtrack as there was no (safe) way to progress upstream....

...but before we turned around my partner landed this very nice cutthroat!

As we returned to the stream, it was more of the same - high walls and deep pools....

...and better than average Rio Grande cutthroat!

There were plenty of nice cutthroat landed, including my partner's 18" and one I caught that was 20"+. Neither of us had a net (we didn't expect this!) so there were no pictures of either large fish. We were separated when he caught his and I couldn't hold on to the big hen long enough to get a photo. I tailed my big fish and could not wrap my hand around the base of my big fish's tail.

It was an incredible day: large cutthroat, large foam flies (size 12 Chernobyl hopper), and bamboo!

After waiting out the typical afternoon thunderstorm and an early dinner it was another early evening. The night was a bit chilly and I slept in multiple layers and completely utilizing my mummy bag. When I woke the next morning the thermometer in the vehicle registered 38 degrees...great wet wading weather.

We decided to hike into the canyon again this morning, but not so deep. It took quite a while this morning for the sun to make it into the canyon.

The cold air temperatures made wet-wading a challenge but we braved it. The fishing started out slow but when I finally landed my first fish, it was another beautiful 14" Rio Grande cutt.



My second fish of the day was a 16" cutty....

...and finally, the third fish of the day, an amazing 18" male Rio Grande cutthroat!

With this series of fish, and the final being the most amazing cutthroat I have ever caught, I decided to call it an early day. I figured I couldn't top it so I turned the water over to my partner and I just took photos.



This entry is not my typical entry, more photos and less writing, but I figured I couldn't describe the fish or the scenery any better. Other than Golden Trout Creek in Big Whitney Meadow, I have not fished a better native salmonid stream anywhere! AMAZING!!

Chris

Colorado 2011 - Part 1 - The Normal Haunts

It's been over a month since I returned from my trip to Colorado and it has been the most devastating month in my entire life! I won't go into details (this is a fishing blog) but I am just now getting into feeling normal. I have been working on photos of my trip to keep my mind busy....on to the report.

I took another "newbie" with me again this year, as I have done every year. I love to be the guide when my friends get their first Rocky Mountain adventure and this year would be no different.

The plan was to start out at a lower elevation stream with easy access and little hiking. I had never fished it and I love to explore, so I chose the Middle Fork of the St. Vrain.

The stream was beautiful unfortunately, with the large amount of snow they received in the high country, the stream was still in runoff on July 30! You can see by the small tree on the right side of the pool my younger brother is fishing that is was quite high.

With the raging currents the fishing was tough but I still managed a couple of brookies in the dead water.

It was a beautiful stream and a beautiful area (could have done without the heavy off-road vehicles) but I don't know if I will ever make it back to fish it during normal flows....there's just too much water to fish.

After 18 hours of driving through the night and a full day of fishing, it was an early dinner and early to bed.

After seeing no ill effects of the altitude, the plan for the next day would be RMNP and the easy hike into Roaring River. As usual on the east side of the park there is always some type of welcoming committee. This year would be no different as our committee consisted of four very nice mulies.

I like this stream to put the newbies on greenbacks because after the first half-mile of the hike it is a very gentle trail....and the fish are plentiful and willing.

As I always do, I put my guests on the first fish. This stream lived up to it's name, with runoff it was roaring! We would need to target the dead water again this day and it didn't take long for my partner to land his first greenback in the first pocket.

After watching him catch a couple of cutties, and knowing my brother knows his way around this stream too, I was off on my own. The fishing was still outstanding, even with the raging conditions, and I was able to pick up greenbacks in every "fishy" looking pocket.

Again, we fished the better part of the day and we all landed several beautiful greenbacks but my brother had to get back home this evening, so we called it an early day.

I love the view at the trailhead, up the Fall River valley.

We dropped my brother off at his vehicle in Estes Park, then we headed to Kirks Fly Shop in search of a new pair of wading shoes. I found the shoes I had been looking for - Simms Rip Rap. They turned out to be an incredible shoe and if I find time I will write a review on them.

From Estes Park it was across the divide to Timber Creek campground, where we would set up camp for the next two nights. On the way across the divide we ran into what appeared to be the entire RMNP elk herd. I'm not sure how many elk were in this group but they were on both sides of the road -it looked like some of the bison herds I have seen in Yellowstone.

After setting up camp and dodging a rain shower, it was time to put my partner on his first Colorado River cutthroat, and we would do this directly across the road from the campground. It didn't take long for him to add his second species of cutthroat in this small, high gradient section of stream.

As with the greenbacks, after he caught a couple of these cutties I picked up a couple of little guys myself.

I also picked up a couple more cutties and a couple of brookies in the large culvert pool below the road.

Another early evening (we had been hitting the sack about 7:00 PM every day), the next day would be a longer hike into another must fish stream that I affectionately call "brookie heaven".

With an early evening it is always an early morning - usually sunrise. This morning would be a foggy one on the Colorado River and Neversummer Range.



After a cup of java and a granola bar it was off to the Green Mountain trailhead and the hike into Big Meadow. This would be my first outing in my Simms Rip Raps and they did not disappoint - they felt more like a hiking shoe than a wading shoe.

The early morning lighting in Big Meadow was amazing!

This stream would be up and ripping just as all of the others. The long, slow pools that usually produce several brookies produced nada. We would have to target back eddies and dead spots caused by braided currents - also big, heavy nymphs (for brookies?).

Once we patterned the brookies, it was incredible fishing.



At one point I found a large back eddy that had an incredible pod of fish. I was fishing my a stimulator downstream and stripping it back to me and I landed 16 brookies out of this pool. What does a stimulator look like after catching 16 brookies out of one pool?

My partner said he could stay in Big Meadows the rest of our trip and be completely satisfied!

With the population of brookies in this stream it only made sense to have this for dinner that evening.

Sunflower oil, cornbread mix, and Cajun seasoning made for one of the best meals I had eaten in a very long time.

Day four of our trip would find us hooking up with my younger brother again then heading north in search of grayling. He has caught all of the native cutthroat species in Colorado but has yet to catch a grayling. I wanted to be with him when he caught his (and my partner's) first grayling.

We found a KOA, set up camp, then headed across the divide in search of the grayling.

We prospected the entire stream but could not locate a single grayling. Apparently the runoff had also delayed the grayling migration from the lake. Disappointed, we headed back across the divide to fish the extreme headwaters of the North Platte.

Having never fished this stream and fishing heavy runoff, I had no idea what to expect. We split up and fished for a couple of hours. All I landed was two small cutts - no photos.

Checking the topos again, we found a high lake nearby to check out.

The hike in was only about a mile but it was straight up. Once at the lake everyone forgot about the hike as the lake was absolutely amazing!

The scenery was amazing but the fishing not so much. There were plenty of cutthroat in the lake, and plenty of large cutthroat, but they were all in spawn mode.

These guys were all in the 16"-18" range, with some larger, but they only had one thing on their mind!

With everyone dealing with the skunk, it didn't feel so bad to leave this beautiful location empty handed.

Once back at camp we actually lasted past 7:00 PM. It felt nice to take a hot shower and do some laundry so we celebrated the trip so far with a nice campfire. We also had a visitor join us around the fire when a coyote decided he wanted to check out my chair - a close encounter for sure.

The next morning we would pack in camp and head back south to drop off my younger brother so my partner and I could head to the bottom of the state for his Rio Grande cutthroat.

We stopped by a roadside stream but again, with runoff we all struck out again. The remainder of the day would be spent in the vehicle driving but the next entry will be one of the most amazing yet...stay tuned.

Chris

Day Trippin'

When people ask me why I don't like Kentucky or why I want to return home to West Virginia, my answer is always the same: "It's a long ways from a wild trout stream".

One of the things I miss most about West Virginia (other than family and friends) is the fact that I can take off early in the AM, fish all day, then return home the same day - a day trip. This particular weekend I would find myself home in West Virginia again, so I made plans for my first day trip in quite some time.

I would be fishing with a former co-worker who I taught to fly fish three years earlier. I fished with him two years ago where I taught him to fish a dry/dropper rig but, with my transfer, last year we weren't able to hook up. We were also supposed to connect while I was camped out for the WVAngler campout earlier in the month. He drove within 20 feet of where I was sitting in the campground but I did not see him and he went on to another nearby campground. We shored things up for this day and at 4:00 AM I met him at our typical rendezvous location.

Three hours later we were rigging up our rods on the upper end of my favorite limestone fines brookie stream. He had never fished it but I had been on it exactly three weeks earlier as I started my 9-day brookie bum adventure. This was the last weekend in June, which last time I checked was still in the season of summer, but when we stepped out of the vehicle the thermometer read 54 degrees....still summer, correct?

From where we parked we had two options: upstream through a small canyon or downstream and fish back to the vehicle. If you choose the small canyon you are committed to a good 4-5 hour adventure, otherwise you will find yourself scrambling up a VERY steep hillside.

I've never been in a hurry to get started on this stream because it typically doesn't "wake up" until mid-morning. This was not the case on this day, it was lights out from the time we hit the water! The only problem was it was overcast and dark under the heavy canopy. I had to use the flash for some of the photos - I prefer natural lighting for taking photos of brookies.

The first of many fish on the day, from one of the first pools.

Shortly after this first photo a small rain shower started and I was forced to put away my DSLR and break out the waterproof video camera. The low light conditions remained and I was still forced to use the flash on the smaller camera. This little camera is functional in a pinch for still photography but I don't think the DSLR will even do these brookies justice. That's another reason I love this stream, the brookies hold their color year-round.

Not that I count, but I've always had better numbers on the upper end, but nothing like this day. Between the two of us, we were catching brookies in every likely spot.

Like I said, I'm not a numbers guy, and I am usually quickly satisfied to know the brookies are doing well. As was the case this day and I soon found myself watching how my pupil from three years earlier had developed into quite the fly fisherman.

I watched how well he managed his line and his drift - I was quite impressed! That is one of the things I tried to stress early on: stealth and distance is secondary to a good drift. I've caught more fish within a few, short feet of my own feet than I could even begin to count, all by minding my line and drift.

I watched him land fish after fish and I was quite content with this but he insisted I share the pockets with him - there were plenty of brookies to go around.

We soon found our self within sight of the vehicle and the rain had stopped, so I was able to put away the rain jacket and break out the DSLR again.

Just before I stepped out of the stream I saw one more good looking pocket against the bank. Sure enough, there was a good brookie in the small pocket - not much of a photo (he did have a head on him). This photo reminds me of some of those old family album photos where your mom or your aunt cuts off somebody's head. Everybody has one of those somewhere.

As I leaned my rod against the truck, I stood high above my partner and watched him pull one more brookie out of this nice, deep pool.

After a tailgate lunch we made the decision to off the mountain toward the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area and another new stream for him. I had fished this stream briefly one snowy, October day in 2009 and not again since.

This stream is another limestone fines brookie stream that, up until October of 2009, I thought was dead. We fished through the camps and we didn't pick up anything of any size until we got above the camps. What we did catch though had a very unique hue to them. For some unknown reason this stream has a yellow tint to it. The first stream had a "tea-colored tint" and I joked that this stream had a "lemon aide-colored" tint.

The brookies have apparently adapted to the stream and have developed a yellow tint to them. I joked that this is what happens when brookies and golden trout breed.

As I mentioned, once we got above the camps we started picking up some nicer brookies - with the unusual yellow tint on them.

My partner's tail-out brookie:

This nice brookie came out of a nice pool that my partner had already landed one from the tail-out.

The fishing on this stream was just as good as the stream we fished earlier in the day. Every likely looking pocket/pool produced one of these guys.

As I sat at this small pool waiting on my partner to tie on another fly, I took this shot that shows the unusual color of the stream.

We fished about a half-mile of stream before deciding it was time to call it a day. This would be my last fish of the day and really shows yellow hues of the brookies in this stream.

For some unknown reason this guy was in no hurry to return to his home, so I snapped off a few shots of him saying goodbye.

The fishing was good all day, considering this time the previous year all of these waters were near bone-dry. What a difference a year makes!

We stopped by another stream while taking the long way home. My partner missed a couple of brookies in the short, fifty yards or so, of stream we fished. It was hard to put a damper on this day.

On the way home we talked about going to Colorado and Wyoming. He said he hated to waste money by going out there and not being able to catch any fish. I re-assured him that the way he fished that day he would have no problem catching fish out west.

I got a text from him yesterday - he had just purchased his Colorado fishing license for his first trip to the Rockies. Another success from the day trip: a new partner for my trip out west.

Chris