Ark Headwaters & Brew 03Aug17

With 12" of rain on Front Range counties and Freemont recently, down-mountain rivers have been swollen despite it being August. I was headed to Summit and went the long way over Freemont Pass in order to fish the truest headwaters of the Arkansas River - where it initially collects and trickles past Mt Elbert and Leadville. Fishing was very good for me but I think I was setting a standard with my yellow sally dry fly, beaded green caddis dropper and trailing Barr's Emerger PMD. I stuck with it all day (10:30am-1:30pm) and caught 15 or so browns in this 185cfs (smidge high) flow at Kobe (just downstream of Hayden Meadows)... while somewhat crowded and fast flowing, I found some soft spots. I turned over several with the stimi/sally but scored best with the PMD nymph. Both Loch Leven and German browns roam these waters and the Scottish were bigger - the nicest landed being a 15"er on my 4 wt Winston (which was a bit shy in heavy down-valley winds, but plenty for the fish).

Clouds gathered, hunger stirred and the back tired at ~1:30p so I headed to Leadville for brew and lunch @ Periodic Brewery. This is a keen place and I sat at the bar with the owner Aussie (probably, note the burnt orange of UT, or Ozzie) and Leadville's greeter, Jim, with a 3ft white beard and serious getup... both were preparing for Boom Days, a big pending festival for this 3K person town. Aussie has a strong vibe and clever brand borne from his TX roots... get it? He's a finance softie drop out, plus his dad is mayor. I tried his 4 IPAs and chose Hope Pass - it was NOT 105 IBUs, he went in the back and scored me a better (citrusy & flowery) DIPA but commented his experimental pilot batches tended to clog and he couldn't pour me a full pint. All were very good and I gotta say that this is a special place worth the travel to Leadville.

I headed home in a rain storm over Freemont Pass with some slower traffic leading my way. Once stocking up and cleaning up, I cracked a nice IPA from Fort Collins' Nowhere In Particular. Their Batch #12 was crackerjack and never to be repeated - love that.