Hot Day @ Rainbow Falls With Andy 13Jun24

With most rivers raging Andy invited me out to Rainbow Falls. We knew the day'd be hot and departed at 6:15am for the spring-fed paradise. Even arriving that early we needed to move on to spot #2 on Andy's list of favs. NP, the whole stream is teaming with fish... or so we thought. Oddly it was 90 min before we hooked up in earnest. There were some faint passes at Griffith's Gnats prior but no subsurface strikes! It was very surprising for Rainbow Falls. Undeterred we swapped bugs, stayed top surface and ultimately broke through. Me with a brown on the chubby and Any with a decent 'bow. Ultimately we caught a couple dozen or so ~ a far cry from some 100 fish days here. It wasn't really and issue as we had a blast; this despite a Healing Waters mentor dropping right in on top of us. Hard to complain exactly as their doing strong work with vets, but yeah...

As mentioned, nothing worked early, but then the gnat worked a bit. I used a micro-caddis dry on RF Endless Wisdom, which got fish to look up but didn't fool any. Ultimately midges and mayflies and even the Perdigon took fish when flung on the Rodfather True 3. RF is a cool spot in a nice canyon with rampart cliffs, willing fish, but especially with a good friend.

 

I didn't eat out on the stream as we did depart early given the early arrival and the heat building, even @ 8Kft elevation so was famished when arriving back in COS.

CoWWBoyz Spring Fly Fishing ~ Upper Ark, 11 Mile Canyon, Trout Ck & More 14Apr24-17Apr24

Rockin' The Upper Ark On Day 1... We first hit the upper Arkansas River near Salida at Rincon & the Chaffe Co line. We crushed it around Rincon with many fish caught on many different bugs in the morning. Rob was into fish and farmed the lower corner. For me the black ice Perdigon, MHFBPT, and Wired Up Ice caddis were the main producers. For most, the mayflies, whatever color, were the main producers. It was a completely gorgeous 65° day in the banana belt, with flows bumped a smidge over 250cfs and the water murky just a bit. Here are some CoWWBoyz (GL, Poop, Rob, & me) in their element on the river and the Murk Brothers (Rick, Matt, Rob & me) on the tailgate of MdB's new tricked Taco.

I caught some 15"-16" browns, one a decent Scottish looking guy, and even scored a rarer rainbow out here. Nice. A good time was had by all.

I was pleased to vacate "Matt's spot" when he rambled down to the upstream section at Salida East with Rob to catch him some more. The freestone Ark is a very cool river, especially when fished with friends.

Slaying It In The Wind On S Platte In 11 Mile Canyon On Day 2... fishing was good despite the cold wind; we slayed many fish today in 11 Mile. There were not even many fishermen ~ the weather forecast likely held many back. We arrived at the last bridge in the canyon at 9am and quickly hit the water to assure decent spots, including "the hot corner." No bug sign but the fish were feeding on our imitations. We even had a couple of doubles for Matt & me and Rick & me. Best bugs were eggs and midges still: money, maroon pop top, purple Manhattan, top secret, etc.

Matt & I hit a double as shown below. Strangely Matt twice hooked into a pike in the depths with a streamer. I wasn't there but hear-tell it was a monster torpedo >27". Thankfully Matt's streamer dislodged before he had to deal with it in earnest. Matt & Rick also did a little comedy act one fish caught.

I roamed the river more than most of the CoWWBoyz, but that's the norm. I caught a number of good fish using the Rodfather Bombadeer and the bugs mentioned above. The browns really liked the egg.

90 Fish Day With Andy @ Rainbow Falls On Day 3... Just wow; we availed ourselves of Mr Holley's generosity and skills (fishing & cooking) today by heading out to Trout Ck & Big Springs. The awful weather forecast and 2" of new snow in Woodland Pk scared most folks away. We were the smart ones ultimately as we threw caution to the wind and were served with an actually gorgeous day of weather and fun. We went early to secure the waterfall spot but the lack of fishermen allowed us to roam all around the bests spots on the property ~ it was amazing.

We all landed fish from our 1st casts, and mostly thereafter to boot! We changed bug strategy as the day and bug activity moved along. Midges in the morning, mayflies mid-day, and a mix in the afternoon. Andy regularly scored nicer fish from holes recently abandoned... impressive. He used the Rodfather Bombadeer all morning (till rigging a dry fly rod). Rob too landed big fish, including the largest trout of his life; on top of the most fish in a day in his life, he scored some nice PRs this day.

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I on the other had kept my catch small & tasteful using the Rodfather Diamond Blaze, while I spent considerable time re-rigging. I capped my incompetence with plenty of failed camera work too this day.

Andy grabbed some keen drone footage. I don't have one so was impressed with it's stability in filming us and the grounds. I caught a pair of eagles circling overhead of the pond where we dined on Andy's fine veggie-free lunch. What a great spot to inhabit given the plethora of their prey... the palominos seem especially easy targets.

At the end of the day Andy took us on a quick tour of facilities including the fish hatchery runs full of trout of all sizes... released on one Saturday per month throughout summer, beginning next weekend! We also stopped at the source of a lot of the water for this private water; "Big Spring" is just that at the base of a ridge on the edge of the property.

It was a remarkable day for many reasons ~ thanks so much Andy. Thanks everyone for coming out for HaineoRADo.

Eighty Fish Day On Trout Creek With Andy ~ May Day 01May23

Wow that was a complete blast. I was invited by Master Fisherman Andy Holley to partake of Trout Ck private water today. He awoke me at 6:30am for a ride north of Woodland Pk to spring fed Trout Ck. Even with our chilly 33° and very early arrival at 7:15am, we weren't the first and could not fish Andy's fav spot all day as it was occupied. No matter though as we had a blast on a gorgeous day slaying fish all day everywhere else on the property. Andy caught some 20"ers but I stayed devoid of that size; I did catch a  triple when I spied and caught a palomino to match up with my several browns and a slew of rainbows, mostly 14"-19". The fish were eating all day with a good midge hatch early and then a full day of mayflies. The MHFBPT caught the most for me but Destiny's Child also took plenty; Andy wants cobalt beads  too now. We celebrated with some nice brisket items at Cerberus. Never a dull moment... thanks Andy.

3 X >20 Trout @ Rainbow Falls 13Aug21

Andy Holley, Yoho and I hit the spring-fed waters of Rainbow Falls today. It was a great outing on a warm but glorious late summer day - no dog days here as we all scored many strong browns and rainbows and Andy scored a double triple with 2 palominos and many more browns & rainbows. Andy was "calling his fish" and landed most of them. Jim & I were stumped on the triple. It was unlike our last outing though as we did best on double dries and many fewer on nymphs. Best rig was a smallish elk hair caddis tailed by a trico spinner, Griffith's gnat or other tiny dry. I did catch one on a chubby early though. The water was teeming with trout as we parked in Andy's fav spot at the effluent of the ponds. I didn't catch fish as big as prior on this day, and the water was a little lower and murky, but the fish were mostly ~18" and plenty healthy. Amazing spot. Ultimately I futilely strictly targeted the palominos in attempt to score the triple - when else would I say "grrr - another big brown took it." Too, here, the browns were beginning to get pretty randy already. It warmed steadily and we left at mid-afternoon to let them rest. Thanks Andy for your generous outing with the exec membership!

And with a little help from my friend here are the Crusher forging, the reason it's called Rainbow Falls and one of Jim's nice rainbows.