Fremont Co Rod & Ride ~ One Weight Fun On Grape Ck & Cholla Attack On Temple Canyon Trails 24Jun21

Yoho and I headed to Grape Ck today for some fishing for mostly small browns on this fine Arkansas River tributary. We first hit the creek after plunging down the West Bear gulch access. The Crusher Too navigated the 4WD road with skill. Fortunately we both caught gobs of fish, mostly browns yet some rainbows too, but we also attracted many little brown gnats seeking every orifice.  Some deet offered a bit of respite but you still knew they were there. Flows of ~85cfs seemed perfect for this stretch, which we hit when other rivers are raging from runoff. We were wading light today and we were both wielding ultralight 1 wt Rodfather gear for extra fun - rigged dry dropper with a cream UV chubby Chernobyl on top and various caddis or mayfly BH droppers. I did manage one larger stronger 14" Scottish brown which took me 200ft downstream on the 1 wt - I finally landed him right near Jim who snapped the pic.

 

After lunch we chose to try another section of Grape Ck of which I knew, which was closer to some new MTB trails in Temple Canyon Park we intended to try. The bridge over Grape Ck at the west end of the park had good parking and easy access to the creek but it was more overgrown with willows here than @ West Bear ~ same damn brown gnats though. We again caught many fish on the same rigs, mostly browns. The 1st field trial of the Rodfather SB1, an 8'4" 4pc 1wt, was successful ~ I quickly learned I needed less leader in order to load the rod properly on a smallish stream. The rod is a lot like the Sage and is a lot lighter and less powerful than the Rodfather #1.

We wrapped up fishing at 5pm or so and headed over to the upper parking lot of the Temple Canyon MTB trails. We took Great Escape, Hard Times, Shivs, Redemption and the Road. Great ride but for the attack of an unseen cholla which rendered my right leg and butt numb for a bit... I'm still removing the needles.