Mtn Stream Fishing: Six Spots In Three Days: Gore, Ark, 10 Mile, Blue, & Middle Fk SPlatte 26Jul22-28Jul22

July 26 @ Gore Creek @ Confluence ~ I jumped Vail Pass this morning and hit the Gore Ck in my usual spots. I started at the mouth but the construction of a replacement sewer pipe over the Eagle and Gore has put a lot of construction traffic and vehicles right on the Gore at it's confluence with the Eagle. This used to be a solid fishery but today I caught just one brown at the upper end and I didn't even see or spook any others. The construction has taken it's toll for now IMO and I won't return till they are completed. Flows @ 40cfs and color & temps were great - It's just the construction.

July 26 @ Gore Creek @ West Vail ~ I cut my pass of the confluence/construction section short by a smidge and headed to VBC, but they didn't open till 11:30am and I wasn't gonna wait the 30 min. I drove to the West Vail section (go west on frontage till the end). Fishing was much better here between the townhomes. It's a sketch dance on the river, but the fishing was very good - I caught a dozen 12"-14" browns and one rainbow on caddis larva, Chubby, DCEZWD40, and rainbow warrior weight.. I chose the Rodfather Diamond Blaze 4wt as it was assembled but this creek really could use the Lightning Rod 3wt. Too bad about the lower section; I haven't tried Stephens Park (Dawg Park) yet.

July 27 @ Arkansas River Headwaters ~ With Williams Fork flows just bumped 3X I decided to try the Ark Headwaters and started by moving upstream from the bridge above Hayden Meadows. Ther were quite a few folks on the river but the flows and color were good. I turned over a number on the Chubby and caught several on it or the BHFBPT dropper. Small fish and far from epic catch pace. I moved down to Hayden Meadows and hiked in an fished back to the car. Similar smaller browns all looking like this 12"er. Fishing was not good enough so I left and grabbed tacos at the food truck in Leadville, they were excellent but the service time was long with a decent crowd. I wielded the Lightning Rod today - super lightweight but shoots a good distance accurately. I did have to trim down the leader some to get to line more quickly.

July 27 @ 10 Mile Creek @ Copper ~ I hopped over Freemont Pass and stopped near Copper to fish the 10 Mile Ck there. I caught a couple small browns but really saw many fewer fish than I have in past years... I made my normal pass in this section and scared up precious few fish. Something has happened at this fishery as flows and clarity were stellar.

July 28 @ Blue In Breck ~ I was headed home so went the back way and stopped at the 4 Mile bridge to fish the headwaters of the Blue just downstream of Breck. Meh. I caught some small ones (8" rainbow and 6" brown - no pics) on rainbow warrior and tan chubby but the flows were a smidge faster than I prefer for this section and I frankly feel the Breck construction edging further downstream has put pressure on this once prolific brown trout section. I just spent 90 minutes there and saw 5 other fishermen! Shot the Lightning Rod again.

July 28 @ Middle Fk SPlatte @ Tomahawk ~ Sprinkles and traffic followed me from Breck through Fairplay but I still jumped off Rt 9 to try the Tomahawk section. I waited out the sprinkles over lunch and then headed out on the Middle Fk. Total overcast day with good flows and visibility. Modest bug sign. I caught a number of small 'bows and browns on the tiny chubby and turned over others. Then, I did well for this section and got a couple of nicer browns. I landed the biggest brown I've ever caught here ~ a nice 19" Scottish brown! She took 7 min to land on the Rodfather Lightning Rod. Fooled her with black ice trailer. That made the day a wrap for me; I  hiked back to the car and drove to COS. It was a good end to the "6 Spots" effort, which ran very hot & cold.