|
| |
 Yampa River Colorado: Cloud of Tricos And A Sweet Rainbow
Posted by flycaster on October 17, 2005
(7076 reads)
It was a crisp morning early September on the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs.
I've got the river to myself and its the first day of my first trip to Colorado.
I've done my research, purchased the right books, spoken to the local fly-shop
owners and feel like I've got enough know-how to start landing fish immediately.
I'm fishing some fairly technical tail-waters and these waters are known to be highly
pressured by others that share my passion. It's slow going with a few rises
and my choice of fly selections aren't very successful. Around 9:45 I notice a hatch starting to evolve, and by 9:50 I am
making sure I am not breathing with an open mouth as the swarm of insects
massing upstream literally reduces my visibility and I soon realize that I am
standing amidst the heaviest Trico hatch I have ever seen. I don't even
think I threw a cast for at least 10 minutes as I simply stood there in awe as
the hatch flowed around me similar to how a river current flows around
an obstruction. Once the density of Tricos reduced enough for me to
remember why I was standing out there in the first place, I changed my tippet
from a 4 to a 6X and tied on a #22 black Trico, which was near identical in size
to the dozen or so that decided to abandon the group and camp out on my shirt
sleeves.
While I'm setting up my line and tying on the fly, I couldn't help but notice
that the water which was previously calm and showed only minimal signs of active
feeding was suddenly boiling with slurping trout. I had to think about
where to cast as trout were literally rising 2 at a time within a 10 foot radius
of my position. I soon found out that it didn't really matter as I began
to land 10 to 12 inch cutthroats at a rate of one fish for every two casts.
This lasted for perhaps 20 minutes and I was likely laughing aloud in disbelief
after my twentieth plus trout.
The hits slowed down and I
began to take a second now and then to appreciate
the scenery around me; right out of a TU calendar and I'm smack in the
middle of it. Where's my buddy with a camera when I need him? During
one of my 'less attentive' moments as I'm staring off into the mountains, I hear
an aggressive slurp and splash coming from where I remembered my fly to be the
last time I looked. I couldn't find my fly on the water's surface and
immediately realize that if that was a fish taking 'my' fly that he probably had
enough time to realize it was a fake and spit it out by now. At the
end of my second full-arm strip I felt the familiar tug of something at the end
of the line that let me know it wasn't pleased with the current situation.
One leap clearing the surface of the water and I see that I've just hooked into
a rainbow. He fights for a short bit as I lead him into my net and I soon
realize that I just landed a 19" beauty on 'technical waters' while I wasn't
even paying attention. I was fortunate enough to snap a photo of him as I
released him to better preserve my memory of a great morning when luck was on my
side.
|
|
|
| | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
Re: Yampa River Colorado: Cloud of Tricos And A Sweet Rainbow
by waterwhippa on October 17, 2005 | | Very descriptive flycaster. felt like I was there for a moment. I've had the pleasure of being in that monsoon of tricos. It is a little freaky at first for sure. It is very validating to do your homework and be successful in a new location on unfamilliar waters! |
|
|
Re: Yampa River Colorado: Cloud of Tricos And A Sweet Rainbow
by joey on October 17, 2005 http://www.fliesandfins.com | Great read.. Colorado is a magical place isn't it?? I can't wait to get back out there and fish amongst the mountains. Thanks for the post.
j- |
|
|
Re: Yampa River Colorado: Cloud of Tricos And A Sweet Rainbow
by jeremy on October 18, 2005 http://www.fliesandfins.com | | great read and nice photos too.. - i know that headrush makes a trip every year to the yampa - and this year he did really well - he says its his favorite river....i am starting to understand why. |
|
|
Re: Yampa River Colorado: Cloud of Tricos And A Sweet Rainbow
by hedrush999 on October 18, 2005 http://www.worldangling.com | | hey flycaster i spend way too much time on the Yampa every year, but have never spent any time at Stagecoach because there is way too much good private water available. This year I spent most of September in Steamboat and tore it up. Sept. is my favorite month there, you should let me know about next year, I know a bunch of guides out there and have learned that river well, and I would love to show you around. Ill post some photos of my trip in sept. a little later to show you what im talking about. |
|
|
Re: Yampa River Colorado: Cloud of Tricos And A Sweet Rainbow
by hedrush999 on October 18, 2005 http://www.worldangling.com | check out a couple fish from our july trip to the yampa:
http://www.fliesandfins.com/article396.html&mode=&order=0&thold=0 |
|
|
|
| |
|
Post
Tweet
E-mail
Submit Your Fish Tale
