Tomahawk/63 Ranch/ Knight Immler SWA 26Jul13

Nick and I did well at Tomahawk SWA. little browns were hitting(Hoppers/Stimmy/Adams) drys like crazy, but I couldnt catch anything larger than about 6 inches, so about 10 am I switched to nymph rig and ended up with about 10 in the 10-12 inch range dredging some of the deeper holes and cut banks on a bead head Pheasant Tail. Caught one Rainbow otherwise all Browns.
Nick landed a nice 14in Brown on a stimmy along with a gaggle of 6-8 in browns. Gorgeous meadow fishing if nothing else. And a close encounter with a Red tail hawk who landed on a large rock nest to us and checked out our form.
About noon things really slowed so we  headed to check out the SWAs above Antero for a change and some lunch. After a can of Dales and some grub and washing Rainey up after taking a roll in a large fresh cowpie, yuck,  we got back to some fishing.
Didnt do too well in either 63 Ranch or K/I SWAs. Pretty skinny water and I didnt see a lot of fish, we each probably caught 4-5 browns in each location but was good to check out a couple new places.

'Bows On The PT 28Jul13

I was able to hit the Pueblo tailwater of the Arki with the flows back down (way down!). It was a decent overcast day with temps around 75 during the AM and flows around 100cfs. The tailwater was choked with vegetation however so nymphing required regular attention to clean the flies. The water was pretty warm too so the deeper areas were the ticket for me. I caught lots of good fish like these 16-18 inchers... most on small black mayfly imitations. Photographing with the phone cam remains problematic and most of the pics are way out of focus or don't even fully capture the fish - work to do.

Stumped @ Williams Fk River 22Jul13

I was late to and stumped by the William Fk River tailwater today. My casts, bugs, time of day or something was way off. Decent looking river but the 30 min hike in was interesting with many a horse train seen. Fortunately the "day was saved" by a stop on the Colorado River outside Kremling where I did catch some browns on small stimis or BHPT dropper... they were not big but erased the shutout.

Jurassic Park 21Jul13

Trundled into Jurassic Park on the Blue River. Arrived late ~10am but had a blast all day. I went further (probably >2mi) than previously and enjoyed fruits of the brutal trail downstream. Pools, pockets and runs... with the former being best holding spots. Flow was ~100cfs and the environment sublime. Best performing flies were the green drake #12 dry (woohoo) mid day and the black ice #20 BH mayfly nymph. Landed many fish using the new Sage One 5wt including a number of 16" rainbows and a couple awesome big browns, including the feature 19"er and a smidge smaller brute.

I was fishing and so was the snake, who landed a nice sculpin! I also braved a cliff climb to score a nice net lost by a fisherman earlier... I guess there is conservation of fishing gear in this canyon as I recovered this net but lost all my flourocarbon previously on a visit. Colorado is so cool.

Eagle River & Gore Creek 20Jul13

The Eagle did not land. On this day, near Minturn, at the concrete bridge and downstream at the Whiskey Access I caught only a small brown wading mid-day despite my casting brilliance with the new weapon. Maybe I didn't have the bugs or skills but I did consult Minturn Anglers, who were cool. Hoping for a beer and pizza to blunt the AM's dismal performance, I headed back to Minturn. I wasn't waited on in 15 min despite engaging the waitress with my normal snappy repartee. Cliff bar then off to Gore Ck, a little POed. Ominous beginning and I will eschew further attacks on the Eagle.

Much higher water than when I fished this Gore Ck Gold Medal run last time. I was interrupted with a score of IMs and eMails regarding work but still managed a decent afternoon on Gore Ck (recovering the dismal Eagle experience). I caught a half doz browns with 2 nice ones ~12-14" but no pics of those as I dropped both before getting the evidence; enclosed is a smaller one. Here the ticket was a #14 tan caddis trailing an olive tiny or flashy micro-mayfly. The Winston 4 wt was perfect for flicking the dries to the right spots along shore. The fishing definitely was picky but improved past 5pm.  I will return to Gore Ck in the fall when I can read the holding spots more clearly.

Tomahawk SWA @ Better Flow 19Jul13

Hit the Middle Fk of So Platte on the way to Silverthorne on Fri PM. Flows were strong yet I was able to land many smaller browns and rainbows. The storms were rolling in a spit on me a bit but still the trip was worthwhile.

Tomahawk SWA on Middle Fk of So Platte 03Jul13

The water was raging. My normal tactic using smallish electric stimulator and olive/chartreuse dropper was challenged due to flows. Nonetheless we ultimately turned the corner on this intimate brown trout haven (caught rainbows too). They're tiny but plentiful and fun.

Green Mtn Rez Tailwater of Blue 03Jul13

Till the freestones subside I love tailwaters. When in Silverthorne during summer I don't fight crowds on the Dillon Rez tailwater of the Blue, I head north to the 2nd great tailwater of the Blue... the effluent of the Green Mtn Rez. Mayfly nymphs led by stonefly nymphs were the combo that yielded these 17" trout. The river yields about 1/2 brown and 50% rainbow or so and has great bugs in the afternoon. Most productive fly was a black ice mayfly nymph this day... a number were taken without the spooky indicator. This is a fierce canyon lined by a goat path so get ready to work it if you go... you know from the start as a the entry trail is steep and sketchy. If you find my tippet let me know... jostling around dislodged my holder from my vest and I lost a bunch of fluorocarbon.

Arkansas River BHSC In Summertime 07Jul13

Hit  BHSC of the Arki this morning for several hours and did OK. The "lower" Arkansas is great as you match the fly to  the season... chartreuse in spring, yellow in summer, and orange/red in fall. I was in lower BHSC so landed all 10"-14" browns this day. Deadliest fly was the lead, foam "yellow" stone/sally beast... they all hit it hard. The PMD emerger dropper was a gold BH flashy ice thing which yielded just one. Framing the fish is an issue since going solely to phone's camera.