WINTER TROUT

After waiting and waiting for the flows to increase and the ice to melt off the rivers. I decided I needed to do something with my life, so I tried a little ice fishing.

 

 

I caught quite a few trout this one was the biggest, check out the wounds on this fish. As far as I know there are no pike in this lake so maybe it was attacked by a walleye or a bird. Ice fishing was entertaining, but not a substitute for fly fishing. So I decided to try the one place in town where the river wasn't iced over, below the water sanitation plant. They told me that the fishing would be crappy, but ironically I was able to fool this brown trout with a size 20 grey RS2. It was the only fish I saw all day and after an epic battle that involved my line being tangled in a log jam I managed to wrangle this winter trout.  



RED FEATHER LAKES

Red Feather was amazing yesterday, I had my best day of the year. My friend and I caught fish constantly for hours and hours, we had at least six doubles, it was crazy out there. We where fishing dry droppers in the high winds and the average fish was around fifteen inches. I caught four species cutbows, rainbows, browns and even one brook trout mostly on this top secret dropper my friend has been tying.

 A couple shots of the largest fish of the day.

I was surprised to see a brookie come out of this lake, never seen one in it before. 

 

JOE WRIGHT

I caught my first couple grayling at Joe Wright this past summer and forgot to post pictures. Looking through my photos I noticed that you can only see the bright indigo and pink colors when they are under the water, I wonder why that is. Anyways they were hanging out in the inlet rising and I was able to get a few on a parachute caddis.

Out of the water no blue no pink?

In the water bright pink bright blue?

 



AUGUST FISHING

Fly Fishing Northern Colorado in the month of August is my favorite. The fish are eager to take large dry flies in every part of the river. I find casting caddis or hoppers close to the bank where the current is slowed by rocks, logs or other obstacles can lead to explosive takes all day long. I've had few great days out on the river lately and wanted to share some photos and tips.



UPPER POUDRE

Due to the runoff from the wildfires the Poudre river looks like dark coffee up until a few miles past the narrows then it becomes crystal clear like it should be this time of year. It takes about an hour to get to the clean water from Fort Collins, but the fishing is really good up there right now. My brother and I made the trip yesterday and had a a lot of fun. The trout were eating everything caddis, drakes, terrestrials and nymphs.

Jake started things off with a nice rainbow

Then we saw a moose

I even caught some fish.

SURE, I'LL GO SHOPPING

I was up in summit county the past couple of days escaping the smoke that has been hovering over Fort Collins recently. Knowing that my girlfriend likes to shop and that I like to fish the perfect place for us to go was the the outlet malls in Silverthorne. The Blue River flows right through the shops and is gold medal water all the way through town. Much like bargain hunting the fishing was challenging, but my girlfriend and I both left satisfied. She got new clothes and I have a few new fish stories to tell.

My beautiful, wonderful fisherwoman girlfriend beat me at fishing today. She caught an 8lbs Perch. She is such an inspiration to me. I love her so much and want to learn her techniques. I caught a small little guy, that is not worthy of a picture. 

GREY REEF

I had a great time fishing earlier this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. My brother and I fished the North Platte in Wyoming. The first day we just fished from shore and did pretty well, considering the extremely high winds. The next day we floated the river on a inflatable raft and caught some more nice trout. It was my first time on really big water so I was pleased to get into some larger fish. Here are a few pictures of our catches.

FIRST BOAT OUTING OF THE YEAR

It finally got warm enough for some boat fishing, with water temperature hovering around 50 degrees I didn't expect too much. Hoping for bass I threw crankbaits into the shallows most of the day with no luck. After failing to catch anything or get any bites, I decided to troll a spinner for trout they like it cold I guess. Managed to land two fish on the spinner first a 15 inch white bass then an 18 inch trout. I heard its gonna be warm all weak so hopefully things pick up soon.



CHILLY NORTHFORK

I had a little free time today, so i decided to do some fishing. I went to Lyons Park here in Fort Collins, it was packed at least ten fisherman visible from the road. That wasn't happening so I decided to go up river to Watson Lake, the river was dry there. Looked like some construction by the hatchery or something. With no other options I made my way up the canyon to look for open water, the lower canyon still had a lot of ice. Just when I was about to give up I saw the turn off for the North Fork. It was my last hope, I thought it would be iced over for sure.It wasn't though, the warm water from Seaman Reservoir must have melted it all off, and there was only one other car in the parking lot! Five cast in I caught this bug eyed little rainbow it was my only action of the day, but it beats fighting the crouds in town.