Ragin' Blue River Yields A Few With Daryle 02Sep14

Daryle and I took our AM leadership call and then convened strategy discussion on the drive up #6 and hike into the Jurassic period. It was a nice if not a bit windy afternoon but the flows were up (now I see ~620cfs vs 450cfs) since my last visit. Experienced fishermen we passed were having zero to modest luck on the river. Undeterred we pressed downstream till we could go no further at a fine but now unpassable turn in the river. Fishing was slow and while no rises were visible the only other fishermen we saw got a nice rainbow near them on a medium sized reddish mayfly. I tried for 30 min or so on something proximate but didn't have the same luck. We went back to fishing below the surface, and working our way back upstream but did zilch for another hour or more. I swam... grrr. Finally in a deep run I caught a couple of big healthy browns probably 19" or more. That did not start a torrent of catching but we did catch a number more browns in the 10"-14" range on black ice nymphs and rainbow warriors. As always a day on the river with DD was awesome and a smidge of solace for having missed planned days on the Arki with GL.

Bounty of Browns & 'Bows on Gore Ck 01Sep14

I fished the confluence of Gore Ck & Eagle River right off I70 at the turn at Minturn, CO. I worked a bit in the morning at the condo and got on the water at about 10:15am. My first pass on this ~1 mile stretch was with hoppers and stimis as I saw some nice dark hoppers on the way down to the river and had done well with these in the past here. The water was very  cold and I only mustered one rise and nothing on the dropper. I finally switched to a triple nymph rig at the end of water and quickly brought in several 10" rainbows on a black flash wing WD40. Heartened, I climbed out of the ravine and headed to the car for lunch. At about 1:30pm I hit the water for a 2nd pass - loaded with the nymphing rig dragging the black WD40. I landed many more 12", 14" and a really nice 17" brown (surprising fish for this water) on this pass; I also caught a gob more of the 10-12" rainbows. All fish were on the trailing black midge except three later in the day were on the beadhead, flashback pheasant tail, including the big one.

PT Nearing Prime 24Aug14

Greg and I hit the PT after seeing that flows had dropped substantially again to about 380 cfs. Fishing was excellent and we caught many big fish despite visibility still being a challenge. My nymphing rig was consistent on the day and all but the weight delivered rainbows to net... weight fly was a flashy tung head mayfly nymph followed by #20 flashback pheasant tail, #20 rainbow warrior and finally a #22 cool matte black glass head - black/blue/green ice flash wing silver wire midge with peacock colors metal thorax. I didn't see dry fly action and didn't float anything; I was long line nymphing all day. I was near two younger fishermen when my first cast near the diamond right at Valco parking yielded a decent 15" rainbow. Over the next hour I managed to catch nine fish from about the same spot including much bigger fish - the 20-somethings were amazed and moved within five feet of me to hopefully raise their chances, as if that was the issue. "Seems you know what your doing," - "I make some luck." The day included many big fish breaking off my line too unfortunately - while I did catch two ~20" ones, I think bigger tore me off; at least that's what it felt like. Almost every weir and diamond cover headed upstream had something for me with the weirs proving a smidge better. The fish are very strong and fighting always took a while before the tiring and included some long crazy runs for cover. The day was very warm and mid-day fishing slowed as tubers and kayaks took over the river - there were very few fly fishermen but some bait and spin guys - we had plenty of water. We went back out after lunch and did about half as well in the PM but landed big fish none the less... you know it's a good day when you laugh as a 20+ incher jumps out of your hands before the pic (with CO Fish & Game watching) or when a rainbow jumps multiple times 4 feet in the air to shake you or when you need to hold the catch at such an oblique angle to assure it gets in the frame. Here's a small sample. Colorado is so cool.

I need to add that we wrapped the excellent day with a stop at Fieldhouse, a new microbrewery in town, and tried their immature IPA. We dined on chicken Katsu from the Asian food truck. We followed up at Red Leg and enjoyed their IPA and red.

Decent Day @ Chaffe Co Line on Arkansas River 17Aug14

The Arki is still off color considerably. I had to go all the way to the Chaffe Co line for 12" of viz seemingly. All the feeder creeks are still coming in and the daily rains continue to dirty the river. I did fish right at the campground all the way up the near bank and caught nine fish in several hours. I stopped briefly at Rincon for 30 min on the way back and caught another. Only 14" or less this time. I was nymphing the entire time and all the chosen bugs seemed to work to some degree. With the murkiness I went with flash (wait a minute, I always go with flash) and did well with the silver headed rainbow warrior. My pheasant tail-alike weight with red wire wrap worked too as did a couple of pale mayfly emergers (Barr's, WD40). Nothing hit the lead stone/sally. It was great to be back out on the river - plenty of rubber floaters but few fisherman except floater there too. It felt kind of slow despite decent production for me... all the fish were near shore but for one spot; all were kindof skinny too IMO; I pumped one stomache and go nothing - weird. I used the Winston #4 and the smaller fish were fun. It was a great lunch spot overlooking the river. I'm looking forward to even lower flows and greater clarity as we reach into September... and of course I look forward to tossing big hoppers again.

Quick Rain Stop @ 11 Mile 11Aug14

I stopped briefly before the storm and "burning rock syndrome" at 11 Mile. I caught one and headed home.

Once Again Into the Blue River Breach 10Aug14

I was able to hike into the canyon below Green Mtn Rez dam again today. Green drakes and the like were still emerging and I exploited that situation. While the hike remains a challenge and the knee aches, the fish are strong here. It was pretty crowded, but I guess that's a Sunday. I missed several nice fish with break offs or shake offs (one rainbow jumped twice and I still had her but then she did this weird surface wiggling and somehow she shook free) during the afternoon mayfly hatch which seemingly included PMDs, small BWOs and huge green drakes! I was flingin' the big one and a number of fish embarrassed me as mentioned. I caught the football girth 18" rainbow shown below though on my green vinyl flashy mayfly "weight." After fishing 5 hours I headed to the lake for a spin on Mon Ami with a pending storm - I was glad it wasn't like the day prior when a micro-burst blew over 6 boats during a race on Dillon! Still,  I scored a decent sail and sunset over Buffalo Mtn before dining with Kala at Murphy's Pub. Colorado is so cool.

Riding the Lake 09Aug14

Kala and I again circumnavigated Lake Dillon. It was a gorgeous day. Kala was up to her riding togs' brand SheBeast as she topped Swan Mtn in a single push. The Auger ran smooth too and the Wilier was fine after I field fixed the chain that broke on the first mash-down.