Fishing Williams Fk With Bro Brown ~ Big Fish Day! 30Aug24

Steve drove the 4Runner out to Grand Co for us to fish the Williams Fk. Flows were a stellar ~115cfs and the temp and weather were great too. It was Steve's first outing to this tiny tailwater and after arriving with 6 cars in the lot we hiked right to the confluence with the Colorado. Soon enough I was into some fish on the oil can Perdigon. Other mayfly imitations worked too like red CJs (when a red quill hatch was coming off) and the gold ribbed hare's ear (when the final vestiges of the drakes were hatching). Too, the yellow-orange #14 chubby caught some and turned up others. Ultimately I caught quite a few strong ~17" browns, and some similarly sized rainbows. I had forgotten my net at home so I was using a beach landing approach that was working ok.

Yet, happily, Steve found a net while resting on shore and gave it to me for the afternoon.

It turned out very important as soon after the loaner I hooked into a very strong, big mama holdover 'bow. She took me >300yds downstrean precariously through multiple rapids and runs but the Rodfather Bombadeer kept her out of breakoff spots as I danced down the river. She finally tired and I landed her (using the lucky and fortuitous net) to discover a 21" 4+ pound lady 'bow! My hand couldn't even reach half way around, very satisfying; again the Perdigon worked and, given the big fight and multiple jumps, I was lucky she didn't throw the barbless fly.

 

Great day with my buddy on Bill's ~ sorry it wasn't better for ya bro.  Thanks for coming out and driving.

Jim & Dave On Bill's ~ Nice, Strong Browns 11Jul24

Jim chose the Williams Fk over hiking to Mohawk so we headed up north to Grand County... It's Jim's first time to fish tiny tailwater; flows were a strong 180cfs We weren't the only ones choosing this river... there were lots of cars and lots of fishermen on the river, even down toward the confluence with the Colorado. Unfortunately Jim snagged and lost the tip section of his rod on the final down hike section to the river ~ tried as he did to fish without it he ultimately made the trek back to the car to replace the rod. He was back in a <2 hours and we actually met up about halfway up the river. We saw lots of bug sign including red quills, BWOs and ultimately huge grey drakes. Jim caught some 14"-16" browns on a red copper john (likely during the red quill hatch) and I caught quite a few fish 14"- 18", all of them nice & strong. The small browns from the last several years have grown well. My first fish though was a very big holdover rainbow that unfortunately took the chubby hard, and my whole rig with it. I was pushing use of the leader and it broke at the knot to the 1st tippet ~ after the incidence, I replaced it, and landed the rest. The Rodfathery Cutty 4wt worked great.  No more holdovers for the day but plenty of nice browns with 60% on the UV chubby (worked very well during the drake hatch), 20% on the weighted rainbow warrior (reasonable PMD), and 20% on BHFBPT. With Jim hiking back to the car I neglected to get our team selfie and didn't get my selfie either. They would have been cool as Jim wet-wated and I went with Chota hip waders (bad choice as I danced on the slick rocks just wearing my ultralight boots). I did get pics of most of the fish (but won't show them all) and ran out of battery on the GoPro. As usual on the Williams Fk, there were plenty of mosquitos, but I had deet for us.

I did get the pic of one brown eating a nearby fisherman.

We had a good time and then picked up Kala for an evening at Cove & Craft for Last Chance Pizza and some brews.

Fishing With Greg ~ OMG 22Oct23 & 24Oct23

Greg said "let's plan on fishing in the spring," and we left it there... I decided "heck no" and called him for a fish day out his way on the Ark for Sunday. We fished Rincon on a nice day. Black mayfly emerger was the best bug for me though the Perdigon scored too. The fishing was an odd on-and-off day but we caught some and then headed to Salida for some food and beers at the new-to-me Moonlight brewery. Nice. Good to see GL again and we laid plans for another fall outing.

I convinced GL to come up to Summit for a trip to the Williams Fork ~ ok it didn't take too much convincing as he'd not been to this fine tailwater. I was hoping conditions had improved since my last trip there a couple weeks ago - maybe even some big browns migrating up from the Colorado to spawn. The weather was gorgeous though cool to start ~ we were hiking in, so not felt really. Flows too were a perfect 123cfs and steady for 8 days and the water was fairly clear. We caught a dozen or so fish each, most in the 16"-17" range. Greg caught the only rainbow even though I was tossing an egg in hopes of enticing a larger leftover 'bow chasing spawning browns. But we didn't see many redds or spawning action actually. All the bugs seemed to work ok ~ GL's fav was a hot spot BHPT and I succeeded with a black ice Perdigon, several kinds of mayflies and a couple of dark midges. The fish we caught were in great shape. It was a good day. We closed out with tunes on the NestMT while enjoying take out dinner and some ORB brew. A good day on Bill's with our 4 weights, and a decent intro to this water for Greg... thanks for coming up!

Riding The Lake; City Park Golfing; Bad Fishing On Bill's 30Sep23-02Oct23

Kala & I rode the lake rec path to the top of the ridge toward Breck. Good day but a breeze kept us busy cutting through on the way out and dusted with leaves on the return. Nice 18 mile outing with 600 ft of vert. I got a pan of our home hill, Buffalo Mtn, and the lake, in fall colors.

We caught another round of golf with Matt at the keen Denver City Park course. Our 2pm tee time had us playing 18 at sunset. Great view of the Denver skyline.

I fished William's Fork today and didn't even get a strike. This outcome is rare indeed. Sure there were a dozen cars in the lot, and sure I arrived late on the water @ 11:15am, and sure there were high gusty winds in the afternoon, and sure the wind blew a myriad of cottonwood leaves into the water messin' with the fish eyesight, and sure the flows were high at 225cfs but c'mon man, nothing worked. I left early. That's the confluence of the William's Fk with the Colorado.

Brantley's are inbound for some days in Summit. I wish the weather was gonna be better.

West Grand's Tiny Tailwater: Williams Fork 17Jul23

I braved the drive and hike and heat to hit Bill's Fork in western Grand Co today. The ~150cfs flows here are finally about perfect IMO. It was a hot and buggy but decent outing. Though, CO #9 to Kremmling is being chip-sealed and was one lane from Green Mtn Rez damn exit to Spring Ck exit ... about 35 cars and 20min delay each way. I arrived at the hike in parking and it was pretty crowded with six cars at 9am. I wasn't deterred and moved quickly to the confluence with the Colorado below all other parties. The hike in past ranch ruins is 20 min but worth it. Nothing really happened till about 10:15am after passing two of the teams. I caught ~2 fish per hour over the 5.5 hrs on the river and late AM was the best bug sign ~ amber, BWO and some larger (green drake?) mayflies started hatching and my BHFBPT was working as was the trailer RS2 ~ caddis and worm did jack. I was totally subsurface all day as I saw no rising on wave-riding bugs of which to speak. I am basically out of mayflies due to the biff on the Eagle a couple days ago so was drawing from my vest patches. I caught lots of 13"-16" German browns on BH mayflies. I lost my PT and switched to a BH Black Ice I found and it fooled the largest fish, an 18" cutbow caught after moving past most of the teams seemingly. I'm a hunter, not a farmer. Lots of sweat; lots of deet... and while I danced, I stayed on my feet with the Rodfather Diamond Blaze 4wt shooting great. I made a full pass of this 1.5mi tailwater and was pretty pooped by 2:30pm and climbed back out to head to Summit. Unfortunately my dining at Last Chance in Keystone would've placed me in a 3 mile queue to I70 with a car on fire in the tunnel ~ but I knew the Dillon Valley cutoff and saved a lot of time on the return to the Nest.... from the church to the Shell station baby.

 

I don't know why but the Hero cam has some ethereal effect on the images today... work to do.

Wet Wading Williams ~ For 30 Minutes 17Aug22

The rains came hard in Summit for the last two days and most of the creeks and freestones swelled and stained. I noted Williams Fk, while high at ~225cfs, would be doable and was fairly unaffected by the rain. I headed up to Grand Co for my first outing to Bill's this season (it had either been too low or too high thus far). Unfortunately repaving forced single lane traffic along Green Mtn rez on the way out (note to self, go through Heeney on the way back). Arriving a smidge later than hoped I was greeted by lots of folks with the same knowledge at the trailhead. Some set out together on the 30 min hike to the river. Despite the flows I decided to wet wade and it felt fine. I was wielding the Rodfather Diamond Blaze, an ultralight 8.5' 4wt which is very target savvy. I made my way to the mouth of the WFk with the Colorado as I wanted to make a full pass from there to (nearly) the dam on this fine but short tailwater. Unfortunately after only 30 minutes the tip snapped off as I was moving through bushes streamside - I don't really know what happened; I just heard a snap. Grrr... I've already written Mudhole/MHX to see if I can get a new tip section for this $150 blank; extras were not offered upon initial purchase. I hiked out to the car and decided against rearming and rehiking - I headed back to the Nest.

UPDATE 25Aug22... The good news is that after assessing me as a customer, Mud Hole is comping me a new tip for the RFDB. It should be here soon and I'll be able to wrap another one. Further, MHX, the blank manufacturer will do the same for just $25 in the future.

UPDATE 13Sep22... Guides & tiptop were removed from broken section. An all new tip section is wrapped up to match the rod. The "new" section fits perfectly and the rod again tosses like a dream.