Fishin' Williams Fork River 07Jul15

I was jonesin' for bigger prey but the Front Range rivers were still swollen. I stole an afternoon in the Colorado River basin on the Williams Fork River which had lower snowpack. This is a very short tailwater where flows from its reservoir had by this day been reduced to a manageable 270 cfs (though I typically have fished it <150 cfs, but so what). I know that bug juice is vital in this valley and today was no exception... I fought plenty of mosquitoes but only 5 other (unfortunately fishless) fishermen. Undeterred by roadwork, thunderclaps, the 30 min hike in or the real time reports, I arrived and set out from the TH about noon. The pic series is simply the trail... park in lot on W side of #3 after passing through Bar Lazy J Ranch, just off #40, just E of Parshall (I know this as I dabbled elsewhere in the area and my directions are the slunge). Gear up not forgetting insect repellent, get through the gate and head W on the double and triple trail (there may be horse trail rides happening from the Lazy J) till a fork... go left. Cross an arroyo with very little water and take another left at a single track Y; get through a fisherman's gate and descend to the river and then upstream a smidge via double track. You can fish either up to dam or down to mouth with Colorado... I've done better fishing up. I was lucky and did catch a number of nice rainbows and several good browns this day on RS2s and Rainbow Warriors, one on a FBPT. While it was not epic and I only got a couple fish/hr I was excited to be back in the hunt after spring runoff. On this July 4th visit to Silverthorne I've caught brook trout, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and and brown trout. After returning to Silvertorne I was greeted by $2 Tuesdays at Baker's Brewery... Colorado is so cool.