Fishing The Middle Fk Of SPLatte @ Tomahawk ~ Windy & Chilly But Effective 23Apr26

I hit the Middle Fk of the South Platte above Hartsel today as I passed by on my way to Summit. No one else was at the Tomahawk pull out, for good reason. Flows were low; temp was 41°; winds were high and gusty. Undeterred I suited up and grabbed my new v2 version of the 8' Rodfather True 3 and Lamson reel for its maiden field trial on this small river. My first hour at 10:15am was nothing caught or seen. In my 2nd hour though I began to see some small fish in shallow warming water and I was encouraged to keep going, but I did change rigs to include a #22 glass head tan midge. Then, I began to catch a number of 10"-14" rainbows and a couple of 10" browns ~ all on the tan midge. All the pics were taken via my still fish camera, which ultimately wasn't really storing them as the card wasn't recognized... I hadn't noticed; oh well. The selfie is the only thing captured as it was done with the Hero cam. Fishing wasn't off the hook but it was sufficient and I headed on to the Nest at 12:15pm as I was done with the chill and the wind. The new True 3 was fun for this size of fish, and was even pretty effective in the wind.

Tomahawk Section Of Middle Fork ~ And Joking Around With The Browns 27Jun25

I stopped at the Tomahawk section of the Middle Fk to fish for the 1st time in a while. Flows were pretty high @130cfs but the day was nice and the stream was in good shape, except there were already 7 cars near where I parked when I arrived at 11am. NP, we were pretty spread out and catching small browns and rainbows was pretty easy. Most took my #18 UV chubby toss from the Rodfather True 3 but some were on the droppers of rainbow warrior Perdigon or a small BH gold ribbed hares ear. The browns were tiny and fewer on this outing. It was fun with 20 fish in 2 hours but I was done and hungry and hiked back to the car to head over Hoosier.

I stopped at ORB/Bird Cafe for a brew and Thai chix. Nice view from the deck. I picked up Steve's June 4 pack while there.

I hung out with the Brown's for a while with Molly and her kid James and Derrick and Steve all into the Lodge to hike Quandary on Saturday. We had a rousing game of cornhole and then played wiffleball. I didn't play but called the game and kept score.

Fun Springtime Weekend On The Front Range ~ Golf, Red Leg, Ute Mtb, Golf With MLC, Stop @ Tomahawk 01May24 - 05May24

First up was Kala on Wednesday wanting to hit some gold balls! We headed over to Patty Jewitt, a great COS muni. It was a smidge breezy but we won't blame that. Best practice areas and putting green in the state ~ GR8 in the shadow of Pike's Peak. Kala was hitting well.

Of course we hit Red Leg on the way home and sat in our fav CO Adirondack ski chairs. My suggestion of lobster rolls was summarily rejected @ $28 each. That night we caught the latest from Elizabeth Moss and we fully approve of the The Veil... surely reminded us of Homeland with Claire Danes.

Thursday I cajoled Jim to head out for a ride before enduring my 3rd unsatisfying call with CO agencies, insurance support persons, and an appeals board ~ where all three said "I can't help you" ~ I bailed for the time being and we had some more fun.

Friday I hit the Atlantic Sun Conf lacrosse championships hosted this year @ Falcon stadium in COS. The host Falcons were 7-1 in the league and decent overall; they were seeded 2nd behind the Utah Utes. Both these teams are affiliate members of ASUN (playing just lax in the league). Awesome; one would've thought... the 1st game saw the Ute slaughter Cleveland St. And, the 2nd game with a rematch between the Falcons and Jacksonville U had the bolts down quickly and really never in it well enough. How can JU play that hard (great energy from them) at 7Kft elevation when they live at 56ft? AFA lost by 4 goals despite being tied on tow occasions.

Oh well, there are many more great league championships this weekend before we pick the sweetest 16 next week. Bittersweet... as that includes my old team, the mighty Mountain Hawks of Lehigh, who handled Navy in their semi game, and faces BU in the championship of the Patriot league today... which they won and will be in the NCAA tourney. Woohoo.

So, Saturday was qualifying for the Miami F1 race AND it was qualifying for the Coffin-Marietta 3-some at Patty Jewitt Prarie course. We had a blast with Derrick, a para-olympian coach with 6 going to Paris. I played well through 6 as did Kala with her improved ball-striking. Matt wasn't with us but on occasion as yesterday's poke bowl got him on the run. None the less, it as nice but windy and a blast being with the kid for nine and dine. Too, we got the kid an early bday gift of a MLC-colored 4# walking bag; his current bag leaks balls and fails to stand well from some fails.

I recorded the lax league championship games and headed to Summit. Kala got to play another round of golf with her friend Gail ~ nice. Matt @ CO Lumber had completed some tough cuts on 18mm birch plywood for me for a new set of speakers I'm building; assembly and use are in the NestMT. I went the back way on #24/#9 and stopped at Tomahawk for my 1st effort of the year on the Middle Fk. Decent but weird... I wielded the fun RFT3 loaded with a chubby and trailing egg and caddis weighted by Perdigon. I did catch a half doz rainbows! ~ in several hours. The 'bows hit the Perdigon and egg and some small browns hit the caddis on the swing. Water is stained but at perfect pre-melt flows at 90cfs... pretty fun but weird. I'd arrived early and appraised normal attendees of the sitch on departure ~ some think is unwarranted; it won't hold me back. Cool meadow.

PM Stop @ Tomahawk 13Jul23

I headed to Summit to fish before departing for Ireland. The snowmelt is on the last half but the streams are still flowing hard; I stopped at Tomahawk with the Middle Fork rolling ~115cfs still. A walk to the water revewaled many tan grasshoppers and I tied on a tan & UV #14 and it immeadiately fooled a nice 15" brown I lost when I was remote lifting it to the bank and my rig broke off. I discovered then I had just one more chubby as I forgot my chubby box. at the car. It was a nice but pretty windy day throwing just the RFT3. Decent couple of hours getting 12" 'bows & browns along a stretch I don't usually fish. Stopped at ORB/Bird for a bowl and beer on the way to the Nest of course.

Smalls On The Middle Fork 09Oct22

Well it's the time of year to possibly catch the big migrating browns on the hunt for spawning mates on the Middle Fk of the S Platte. Despite the chance at bigs I chose to throw the Rodfather Endless Wisdom, a 8'6" 2.8wt rod. The rod threw my chubby + double beadhead dropper rig well to 35ft or so; It landed the small fish I caught without issue. Unfortunately all I could do was spook the big browns mostly, but I did turn one over on a rejected gold chubby. I fished the Tomahawk section on the way from Summit to COS today. Flows are super low @ ~30cfs, making the fishing pretty technical. I did manage to catch some small browns and 'bows on the dropper and the chubby but I left after just a couple hours of fishing. Hey, anytime a 1wk old rod gains experience, it's a good day.

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.

Browns With Brown & Hubbs 10Aug20

Took Da Boyz, Brown & Hubbs, down to the Tomahawk section of the Middle Fork of the S Platte in the AM. Water looked great and flows were right but fishing was not as expected - except the 2wt was again fun. We caught some small browns but the big one kicked my chubby bug out of the water - and I just plain scared the rest.

After lunch we headed back to Summit Co and fished the Blue River Steps Section in Breck. Again, not epic. For me small browns on BHEZWD40 during a brief PM BWO hatch, but Richard caught a rainbow.