Colorado River Outing 03Sep19

Well it sure isn't fall yet - it's still really hot even in the mountains. Standing in the cooler water of the Colorado River was better - especially when it comes with catching nice brown trout. I caught a number of fish between the Pumphouse put in and Gore Canyon... most were ~15" and on mayfly imitations and the 20" fish was caught during an afternoon BWO hatch where #22 Destiny's Child (Dave's FOD) did the most damage. The Colorado is wadeable even at 1200cfs in this section - but it is still very big water.

Sailing & Visitng With Odell 02Sep19

It'd been a while since we'd last seen Chris and Molly so on Labor Day we all went sailing on Dillon Rez and then dined at Aurum. It was great to catch up.

Into The Gore - Upper Cataract Lk 01Sep19

Sure there were concerts and events all around Summit Co over Labor Day WE but we wanted to hike and set out from the Surprise Lk TH with Steve & Donna Brown on a gorgeous day for Upper Cataract Lake 6mi and 2400ft up in the Gore Range in the shadow of the Eagle Nest peak. I didn't take the fishing gear in deference to my friends but I did see folks fly fishing and catching cutthroats. I was a great if not a smidge tough hike with good friends.

Williams Fork With Kala - Flowed Out 31Aug19

We took a risk and drove to Williams Fork on  a weekend but fishing was reported decent at 100cfs flows last week. I should've done more homework as flows had doubled yesterday and were again on the rise as we arrived. Grrr... It was a nice outing if not a little buggy; I'd just wished Kala had been able to catch fish on this typically strong fishery.

Arkansas River Headwaters With Kala 29Aug19

Kala and I went fishing today! We jumped Fremont Pass into Lake County and hit the headwaters of the Arkansas River @ Hayden Meadows. We got a late start but were undaunted after a blackout in the AM and returned to the water upstream from the bridge in the PM. We saw precious little bug sign and fewer fish - but persisted and found a fruitful run where I caught some browns and Kala scored the big fish of the day with a 12" rainbow. Fun to be out together. We rambled into Leadville and shared a beer at Periodic.

Clear Ck On The Run 28Aug19

I'd gone down to Den to meet Paul Caragher and visit Matt and on the way back out to Summit I stopped very briefly on a very warm mid-day just in Clear Ck Canyon below the quarry. I caught one tiny fish and turned some others over with a little green Chubby Chernobyl but ultimately packed up and headed through the tunnel to dine with Kala.

Climbing To Lost Lk In The EN Wild 26Aug19

Kala and I took out from Wheeler Jct parking near the SR91 bridge over I70 on a stout climb into the EN Wild of the Gore Range - yet another entrance trail to our awesome home wilderness. We started late but headed out at 11:15am or so out 5.2 mi from parking, and up 2300 ft to Lost Lk. We passed the Wheeler Lks folks (and junction), oversaw Copper and the 10 Mile Range and even peaked over past Leadville. We slowed as we reached our objective below Uneva Pk, but made it a bit after 2pm. I laced the rod while Kala explored the Gore Trail. I turned over some nice cutthroats with ants, Adams and smaller but I either didn't close or they didn't... rejections were clear. I stalked along the  lakeshore watching the drop-off for cruisers and Kala and I both saw this orangish and largish cutty every 15 min or so on this decently deep but small lake. I saw ~6 cruisers on my observations. There was a guy across the lake who could cast and had a cool dog who'd been there since 8am and was totally frustrated but pleased as he finally caught a fish as I observed. I made my way to the inlet streams and saw the bigger cruiser again. I tied on red - a royal coachman dry and dropped a red-headed nymph (as the guy just caught his on a reddish Amy's Ant), as I didn't want to go too big for the brute. It worked! I landed the biggest fish I saw cruising - he gobbled the coachman; it's ~20" and I handed it without a net. This made the extra effort on the trail worth it for me and I was stoked Kala made the full trek as I would not have left her if we needed to bail. We had lunch after my flies flew in a tree from another strike. And then we got back down, but it's not easy. Celebration at ORB with a nice new Stray IPA and the venerable Steezy DDH. Fabulous hike, spectacular weather, wondrous hiking buddy, gr8 20" CO cutthroat (perhaps the biggest of these I've caught but I did larger at 11 Mile - I'm just unsure of the exact cutty sub-species).