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“Hey buddy,” I said to my friend Aron over the phone, “want to go to Colorado for a week? Tomorrow! ” I thought the chances were slim that he would be able to go, but I was wrong and we were off for 5 full days of wild brown, rainbow, cutthroat, and cutbow trout fishing. Our plan was simple, fly to Denver, rent a truck, and head to my favorite place on earth, Steamboat Springs, test the waters, and decide if we wanted to go anywhere else. We arrived in Steamboat late the next afternoon, geared up, and hooked up with my good friend graffiti Pete, for a few libations. For those who know me, I actually had 1 beer! (that’s like binge drinking for me) We had made arrangements to spend our first day on some of Straightline Outfitters private water on the Yampa River 15 miles west of town. I fished this piece of water last year and all I can remember is huge wild angry cutbows feeding aggressively on the surface. My experiences fishing this area all included some hiking in and out of spots, so we figured we should rest up. So off to our room we went at 2:00 am, for a 5:30 am wake up call. Our guide Dylan picked us up at sunrise, and we were off. Nymphing was the order, unless we saw fish feeding on the surface, which of course we did not. The water level was perfect, but the air temperature was up and it limited the bug activity during the day. We worked hard, hooked a few fish, but got nothing to hand. Dylan seemed a little disappointed and encouraged us to come out with him again for an evening trip a couple days later, as he guaranteed us a phenomenal evening hatch under a full moon. That being said, we were excited to see what the evening had in store, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed to a stretch of public water that Dylan had recommended we check out. Thirty minutes before sunset, it happened. A cloud of size 14 caddis had come off and the fish responded, and we each landed our first few fish of the trip. Day two began a little later, when I brought Aron to my favorite spot on the Yampa. I call it my ten o’clock spot, because every trip I have made out to it, I always

land the fish of the trip at ten o’clock in the morning. This day was no exception when I hooked and landed a fat 22 inch brown, two 18 inch rainbows, and lost a couple more nice ones. It was Aron’s turn for a nice fish so we alternated drifts. Wham! His indicator went down and his line screamed off the reel. I saw the flash of a nice fish as it ran from one end of the pool to the other. But it wasn’t meant to be, Aron would have to wait to land his monster. An afternoon nap, some dinner, and we were positioned for the evening hatch. Hold on a second, where were the caddis? On the menu for this evening was a green drake special. I gave Aron a size 12 green drake parachute and let him get to work. I was impressed when he tangled with and landed a pair of beautiful native rainbows that came out of the fast water to mangle his dry fly. The third day of our adventure started with a round of golf. What the hell were we doing playing golf you ask. The thin air and firm turf brought out my golf professional side, as I really wanted to pound some of those drives that fly 30% further then they do down here in south Florida. I got my fix and we were off to redeem ourselves with that evening trip with our guide friend Dylan. What an evening, numerous large fish lost and landed, dries under the moonlight, and a mile long hike through the woods in the pitch black using our cameras as flashlights. A great end to our visit to ski country. We had decided that we would head back east for the last two days and fish the Blue river in Silverthorne, and the Colorado river outside of Kremmling. Aron’s friend Eric used to guide out of Silverthorne, and had tipped us off on a few must fish spots on the Blue river. We spent the good part of our fourth day scouting the river, and even got into a few fish. Eric also gave us the name of a guide named Shane who works for Cutthroat Anglers, and we scheduled a trip to the Colorado river for our last day on the water. Cross a hippie with a world class angler, put him behind the wheel of a Subaru and you have just described 60% of the population of Colorado, as well as our guide for our last day, Shane. He took us to a public stretch of the Colorado that was surrounded by private areas known for large fish not large numbers. Small nymphs, size 22 and smaller, were rigged up and Aron proceeded to hook almost every nice fish in the area. At least he saved me one at the end of the day that ended up being a beautiful hen rainbow that was estimated at 5 or 6 pounds. Our last minute trip ended up being one of my most memorable angling adventures ever. Thanks for tagging along Aron.

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