 Cold In Colorado: Had The River To Myself
Posted by bwallace44 on October 20, 2006
I made the call to my friend at 4:30am, to let him know I would pick him up in 15 minutes. This was the reply, “it’s going to be 30 degrees and might be snowing, I don’t want to go.” So, I took off alone, as usual. The traffic was light on I-70, the main Colorado highway that winds itself through the mountains. The forecast was cloudy and cold, it had been snowing in Vail for the past two days. If it stayed cold, the water would be clear and the fishing would be good. If it warmed up, cloudy and slow fishing would dominate this trip. My river parallels I-70 and is often over looked as one of Colorado’s premier trout streams.
I stepped out of my truck at 6:50am, easily the first to arrive (I would later learn the only one to arrive) and had my line wet by 7:10am. After I geared up and shoveled down some cheap food that I really shouldn’t be eating, I was no longer worried about the water going off-color. The thermometer in my truck read 26 degrees, but the slight breeze made it feel much colder. After two casts, my guides froze solid and I spent more time de-icing then I did fly fishing. Frustrated (as well as numb), I grabbed
some coffee from the truck, let the sun come up a bit and applied some chap-stick to my frozen guides. Anyone who lives or has spent time in Colorado knows about the sudden and drastic weather shifts. Well, today was one of those day. The temperature started rising, the clouds burned off, and I had a cool, crisp and sunny day of fly fishing.
Due to the still low temperature, surface activity was minimal and I used the standard two fly nymph rig, with nothing bigger than a size 20. This day, the dropper flies of choice were Jujubees, RS-2’s, Zebra Midges and Barr’s emergers, about 18 inches behind a beadhead of some kind. The action started around 9:00am, with three fish in six casts on a grey RS2. The action continued all day. To make it even better, because the weather was supposed to be nasty, I was alone on a stretch of river that has 9-10 very good pockets and four very good deep runs. I would start at the bottom and fish my way up. Then walk back to the bottom and do the same again. After catching more than my share, I tried a #24-26 griffiths gnat in the early afternoon and was able to raise three or four decent sized trout.
Overall, it was an excellent day, made even better because everyone else decided to stay home.
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Re: Cold In Colorado: Had The River To Myself
by jeremy on October 20, 2006 http://www.ineedasimplesolution.com | "Overall, it was an excellent day, made even better because everyone else decided to stay home. "
nice work man ... i have had some of my best days on the worst days and some of my worst days on what was "supposed to be" the best days .... usually, it takes that kind of spirit .. "So, I took off alone, as usual."
great read .. thanks.
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Re: Cold In Colorado: Had The River To Myself
by joey on October 20, 2006 http://www.fliesandfinseast.com | Nice fish!! I love those grey RS-2's they hammer the fish. The black ones are not as great but man what a good fly. I have some relatives that live in edwards, so I fish around there often when I go out. What a beauitful place to fish. Way to stick to your plan and not let the cold keep you in.
j- |
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Re: Cold In Colorado: Had The River To Myself
by Shaq on October 20, 2006 http://www.theanglersnet.com | | Sounds like heaven to me! Great job...whatta fish! |
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