Grand County "Drive," Tomahawk Stop, F2F CoWW HH & My Iron Sallies 03May20-05May20

Well as a friend said, "I can't wait for when work and movies and dining out restarts so our guests will leave 'our' backcountry." I headed to Williams Fk in Grand Co but arrived to see ~24 cars in the lot - this for ~2 miles of water... I left. I headed up to Muddy Ck, also in Grand Co, and again I faced more cars than I ever have for this small stretch of tailwater. I headed to the river but did nothing and saw many folks. At least the drive back provided a keen image of the Gore Range & Green Mtn.

Given the crowds I headed back to COS the back way and stopped at lower Tomahawk where again I faced big crowds, often dominated by new fisher-persons. Wow. I fished a hour and did nothing and then left... there was little fish-sign or bug-sign anyway.

We held the weekly CoWW VHH actually F2F with a Huckleberry Sour chosen excellently by VeloFishMan Greg. No pics but we had a blast socially distanced on my deck. I did received Iron Sally materials and tied some. Gr8 pattern for the Ark and possibly downstream on the Blue. I used the Hopper Juan variant with scud back - gotta love those legs no matter what.

Get Wrecked You Crazy Fish - Hangin' With Haine 07Jun19-09Jun19

Rob & I headed to Summit after a night in COS and a re-plan searching for non-raging rivers in which to fish. We first hit Beasts & Brews for a fine meal and selfie beneath the rainbows we were seeking.

After Rob's work-day we hit 11 Mile mid-afternoon on Friday on the way to Summit - low 80cfs flows (with other rivers raging) and the start of a weekend made it pretty crowded but we caught some fish like these amongst the families at the upper campground. Of course I exposed Rob to ORB brews and Sauce On The Blue pasta on the way.

We came to Summit to hit the tailwaters here, which seemed more stable that Front Range offers. Awakening Saturday I noted the Williams Fork was bumped from 250cfs to over 700cfrs, so that was out. We chose Muddy Ck which was still running just 80cfs at the dam - very manageable. Rob caught a couple browns in the AM session near the dam and I mustered one rainbow in the PM at the downstream access. It was crowded, again likely due to the weekend and it being one of the only rationally flowing rivers right now. The fields of crocus were beautiful.

After a night with Kala at the pho restaurant, Rob & decided to hit the Blue tailwater in town rather to jump the pass to Vail for the festival. I dunno about that decision as we were skunked on the very crowded, pretty cold, high-flowing >400cfs river. We dined at Baker's and tasted Cory's latest brews.

It was great to spend some time with my friend Rob between his efforts to save the world, one network at a time. What did we learn? - Fishing in June in Colorado is tough.

Muddy Ck - New Grand Co Tailwater 05Sep16

Back fishing hard after a great Labor Day WE of concerts. It was a clear, warm but windy day in the mountains as I headed a smidge north of Kremmling to try a new tailwater named Muddy Ck, a tributary of the Colorado, not unlike Williams Fk or the Blue. Muddy Ck is a the effluent of Wolford Rez. Not a pretty name and not really a pretty place - though a decent fishery. The name came before the reservoir, which might've cleaned the stream, but still this day recent rains stained the river. There are two public access points and I fished both - immediately below the dam first. I hiked down to the private boundary and fished back upstream a mile or so. The river here is slow, choked with growth, but cold. It's not abundant with fish biomass though I caught some great fish among a bounty of 3 fish/hour and mostly 14" rainbows. However I caught a pretty big and strong rainbow and nice 16" german brown too - on purple midge and rainbow warrior.

Then I moved down to the downstream access (off #227 dirt road) and had lunch before reengaging. Here I was hoping to call up migrating big browns from the Colorado. I again hiked down a mile and fished back up. The complexion of this section was about the same as to flow & flatness but seemingly had some deeper sections. I was armed again with the Winston 4 weight for flinging dries - and a nice foam hopper (a number of which I encountered on the hike in). I didn't catch anything but lost two 30" giants ~ my heart is OK. The other dozen or so similar prehistoric beasts I spied, I'd spooked. Bummer the place is kind of ugly, slow and flat (not covering up my crap casts). Good day on new water though.