Hittin' The Blue North Of Town 17Jun21

I fish the Blue River N of Silverthorne a couple of times a year. I am always amazed at the excellent water that flows from Dillon Rez to Green Mtn Rez but how much smaller the fish are there (at least that I catch). I did OK today as to quantity but the fish I catch here are just much smaller - than even other "freestones" like the upper Arkansas or the Taylor in Taylor Canyon or the Roaring Fk downstream or others. It's weird to me 'cause there were plenty of deep spots I could not cross and plenty of great holding areas and the PMD and red quill bug sign was abundant. I'm not a fish biologist but something is weird. I went mainly below the campground several miles in a challenging to access area. I did best on a PMD rig (#18 rainbow warrior wight, #18 red BHFBPT with cream ostrich thorax, and #20 MHFBPT), noticing the mayflies hatching, though I caught some on a more BWO-ish looking flies too, before I got with the program. The brown with the tree behind ran downstream quickly and I had to vault the tree to control the fish (strong despite size). I used the RF 5wt All Blacks today but forgot the fighting butt at the car - a mistake as the rod is then a smidge tip-heavy.