Up until this trip it had been 14 years since I took an
extended vacation to fish on my own time. 14 years of grinding out guide trips
and sharing the wisdom of some 40 years plus of fly fishing knowledge. I guess
you could say it was long overdue. My last trip was in 2005, a yearly pilgrimage that my
dad and I use to make to Montana since 1995, where we would spend 40 days at our
base camp located near West Fork on the banks of the Madison River. This trip
was going to be extra special as I would visit friends I have not seen in
decades, and revisit my old stomping grounds from canyon water to meandering
meadows. I will say that overall the fishing (or catching) is so much easier in
both Colorado and Montana than in California, mostly due to in my opinion to more
trout per mile, and obviously better
fisheries management.
My drive out was pretty straight forward and I banged out 12
hours of scenic driving across Nevada, slept for 4 hours at a rest stop near
the Utah/Colorado border, then continued on for 4 more hours until I reached
Breckenridge. The town itself has exploded with people, buildings, and a
greater infrastructure than I could have possibly imagined. I was blown away.
Breck certainly did not look like the town I left in 1996. I immediately went
to Mountain Angler Fly Shop and met Luke who filled me in on the current
conditions and paid for my fishing license. Then I went over to The Underground Snowboard Shop where I use to be a tech in the evenings after training on the
mountain all day. I was stoked to see that Andy and his wife are back to being
the sole owners again, and with a much better location right on Main Street
offering more services and product for the masses. After that it was lunch with
my long time Pisano brother Nic. We talked about the good old days, moto, and
the latest on where the original crew from some 25 years ago was up to. Next up
was paying a visit to another long time buddy Cory, owner of the Al-Mart General Store in the
town of Alma. Good dude with a long history involvement with the early days of snowboarding
in Summit County. That evening I made my way down to my good friend Cat’s house
in Denver where I would not only make a temporary base camp, but be greeted
with a fishing buddy every morning. So, here is where the adventure begins…
Day 1 – The Blue
River
Driving north on Highway 9 out of Silverthorne
was a real eye opener, more new homes, ranches, and growth. It was
unbelievable. I reminisced about the private land I was fortunate to fish on
within a section of the Blue, and some private ponds that held some monster
trout – Like Don B’s 33 inch brown caught at night using a mouse pattern. I met
up with a longtime friend who worked alongside of myself at the Underground
Snowboard Shop and also slaved with me in the finishing department at Solid
Snowboards MFG. Chris now lives on the flat lands of the Front Range and still
fishes as much as he can. We fished a section way downstream that I have never
been to using an official state access area (there are so many of them
scattered about the state – so cool).
The four of us including Cat and Jen (Chris’s better half)
worked our way upstream, which was not easy. First off the river is slippery
not only with algae, but polished basalt rock. Within the first 5 minutes of
fishing I fell in and was soaked from the chest down while trying to navigate
some swift water to reach a prime lie. Luckily the weather was very hot with
zero precipitation and I dried off quickly through the early part of the day.
Secondly, the riparian habitat and woods surrounding the river was thick as
shit, and if you missed a take on a dry fly presentation it was bound to end up
in the bushes or the trees behind you. Being that it was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend there was SO many anglers out fishing while displaying very poor
etiquette to fellow anglers. The fly fishing industry is apparently in good
shape right now as there are so many new fly anglers out getting some. Just
driving down the highway there were numerous guides spotted heading to work,
some pulling boats, and everybody has a Rod Vault on top of their vehicle like
it’s some kind of status symbol. From what I’m told by my friends who own them,
they work pretty well if you’re in a hurry to get on the water and go fishing. I was not in any hurry on this trip.
I used a North Fork Yuba rig. A Rubber Legged Yellow
Stimulator with a brown #16 Hogan’s Military May for a dropper about 24 inches
below. During the day I hooked 12, landing 5, 8 to 17 inches, mostly browns.
During my session, I quickly learned to fish the fast riffles with a depth of
2-3 feet while dissecting where lanes of slower water flowed downstream of
large submerged boulders that were in the middle of the river. Areas that were hard to get to without using some aggressive wading. Chris hooked into a very fat rainbow at the
most upstream point of our session where a side channel came into the main stem
of the river. I manned the net and got the scoop for a photo op. Day 1 was in
the books and I was really stoked with the results!
Day 2 – Middle Fork
South Platte River
This section of the South Platte is very dear to
me. it’s where I use to fish while living in Breckenridge and the town of Alma
all the time. The Tomahawk Wildlife Area (now called Butterhawk) 24 years ago
was really not too well known, but it sure is now. Imagine if you will a
smaller stream like the Little Truckee special regs section flowing at about 40
cubes in a vast open meadow with undercuts, riffles, deep short pools, slots,
and side channels. Some sections have willows lining the stream and often are over
hanging the cut banks. It is one of the most beautiful valleys I’ve ever laid
eyes on with fourteen thousand foot peaks in the distance like Mt. Bross,
Democrat, Lincoln, and Quandry, rich with wildlife, and raptors circling
overhead. If I spent my last day here on earth it would be just fine by me –
It’s that moving to the soul.
It was another gorgeous day as well with Cat, Chris, and Jen
accompanying me. Being Memorial Day it was busy and even finding a parking spot
was challenging, though once out in the meadow we all had plenty of water to
work. A few anglers raced up to us, made the pass (again poor etiquette, with
no communication), and kept on going. Too fast in my opinion since I know for
at least on this stream, it’s best to hit every square inch of fishable water
methodically. These trout are often found in some skinny water and being stealthy
can pay off in big dividends.
My
first rig was the same as the previous day on the Blue but I trialed a #18
Hogan’s S&M in olive, and it worked quite well. I also had an extra 6
weight rigged with a fast sink tip and a black and purple Pistol Pete (Yep, the
streamer born in Trinidad Colorado with a propeller mounted behind the eye of
the hook) to hopefully lure out a big brown from the undercut banks. There was
a small and short hatch of midge mixed in with some very small PMDs for about
an hour and a half with rising targets. Cat pulled off one of her typical magic
acts and landed a nice toad of a rainbow on a 99 cent special PMD dry fly from
a sporting goods store. That was really awesome to witness!
As the day progressed I switched to a “Jonny B” club
sandwich hopper and with about a zillion hoppers bouncing about in the meadow
it was clear the trout were super keyed in on them. There was one long stretch
with an undercut bank and as I was walking downstream observing, I heard and
saw a big splash next to the bank. At first, I thought someone was playing
games with me by throwing a rock in the river, but it was indeed a large trout.
I ran my hopper down several times and nothing. Then I went upstream and swung
the Pistol Pete into the bank and stripped it back upstream aggressively. It
took 3 times but I was briefly hooked into a 22” brown that made two big leaps
before spitting the fly. Oh well, not the first time, and it won’t be the last
- at least I got to see him and knew where he lived. I hooked 10, landed 6, and
missed some nice ones too. As we walked back to the car I promised myself I
would be back again before this trip was over, and just maybe get another crack
at Father Brown.
Day 3 – The Yampa
River
New water. Though I snowboarded quite frequently
at Steamboat Springs and shredded its famed “Blower Pow”, I never fished the
Yampa River. This tailwater located below Stage Coach Reservoir starts in a
narrow gorge filled with pocket water, and a few long glides and riffles that
eventually broaden out into flatter water downstream. Another fabulous State
Wildlife access area, it too was very busy with anglers and poor stream
etiquette. So poor that other anglers don’t have a problem fishing the same run
you’re on, or even across from you. This river is heavily stocked and these
rubber trout are big and very well educated. They don’t spook very easily as
well, and it was common to have a large trout a few feet away from you just
minding its own business and constantly eating away at food items in the drift.
Perfect
presentations, whether wet or dry with the right pattern would equal success.
Lucky for me this is Cat’s favorite fishery and she knows it well, which
shortened the learning curve for me. The flows were at about 150 cubes and the
smell of the water coming out of the dam was stinky, kind of like urine. Once
you got past the smell though, it’s a very beautiful little gorge with a charm
all its own. It was another fantastic warm and sunny day mixed with a few
clouds, and the thunderous roar of the river in the air. The food base in the
Yampa River consists of scuds, midges, and aquatic worms for the most part.
There was the occasional mayfly, caddis, and a stray yellow sally flying on by
though.
I
finally had time to commit to tight line nymphing, but I also had a rod rigged
just for dry flies, which I was hoping I would be using more of. Cat’s strategy
was a good one. She would fish a dry fly rig to either rising fish, or by sight
fishing and dropping the fly into a lane that drifted to your desired quarry at
the receiving end. Yep, two dry flies, the 99 cent PMD special and a parachute
midge emerger, both a size 18 with a short amount of tippet in-between them. Once
you covered a section on the surface, you would then go back through with a
nymphing set up. On the tight line rig I had a RS2 in brown and a either a
zebra midge, or a black beauty as a dropper. All tied on with 5x. You would
often get more takes on 6x, but you would be hard pressed to land them unless
your rod had a very soft top section to protect light tippets. I didn’t go that
route, and that was just fine. I hooked 10, landed 8, 9 to 18 inches, mostly on
the nymph rig, but also enough on the dry rig to keep me satisfied.
The two 18 inchers I landed were fat and fought very
aggressively with big aerial displays. It was some serious work to get them to
the net, and I must thank Cat for her superior net handling skills to make the
final scoop. After landing the last one, a new to fly fishing angler wanted to
know about my rig, the flies, and basically everything. I looked at his rig and
it was just plain hack, my guide instincts kicked in and I wanted to help the
dude. Here I am 1,200 miles away from home and I’m rigging a rod and guiding
someone. Yeah, you could say guiding anglers is in my blood. I outfitted Ian
with a new leader, indicator, flies, and then coached him for a bit. Minutes
later he landed his biggest trout ever at 19 inches. He was so pumped, yet was
blown away at my generosity. I just can’t resist helping and seeing new anglers
be successful on the water. Overall I was pretty stoked on the day and the
Yampa grew on me to the point where I was anxious to fish it again in the
morning.
Our fearless guide Wendell
Day 4 – Yampa River,
Part 2
I
rented a 2019 Dodge minivan so I could carry all my gear and also to be able to
sleep in it, which was a wise and comfortable choice as we camped out
downstream at a primitive site that evening. The vehicle was loaded with all
the bells and whistles and got good gas mileage. With fuel prices as low as
$2.29 a gallon in the state of Colorado, this road trip was very affordable.
Clouds and partly sunny skies greeted us at daybreak, and once we made it on
the river a few sprinkles came down.
More of the same as the day before but nothing big for me,
I think my largest trout was 15 inches. I hooked 8, landed 8, 7 to 15 inches. It’s
worth noting that the smaller fish are wild, and that also the Yampa has the
occasional Brook Trout, Brown, and the elusive Grayling. They jacked the flows
up a tad during mid-day, but overall it was not as good as the previous day for
whatever reason. That’s fishing, right? We ended our session at around 2pm and
headed back to the flat lands of Denver. It was such an awesome trip with new
sights, and fights with large rubber trout. I’m coming back here for sure.
Day 5 – Back to Butterhawk
Solo
trip back to the upper South Platte River valley and I was greeted by blue bird
skies and very minimal angler traffic. Forecast for the day was thunderstorms
with a 50% chance of rain in the early afternoon, so I got on the water by 9am.
I stared out with a Rubber Leg Yellow Stimi with a #18 Military May dropper in
olive. I hooked a few dinks, both rainbows and browns and kept working up the
meadow. I then put on the “Jonny B.” hopper and the trout were all over it, so
much in fact that I ditched the dropper fly. I hooked 7 decent browns up to 14”
and missed many more. Those brown trout take the fly ever so slowly and one has
to wait until they close their mouth before setting the hook. I paid a visit to
where the big brown lived that I had hooked a few days earlier on the Pistol
Pete. He rose slowly for my hopper on the first drift with a “I don’t think so”
response. He knew better.
Most
of the fish came from fast shallow riffles, and foams lines that flowed right
next to the bank in dark water (shaded water from the high bank). Also areas
your average fly angler would not make a presentation to, like small braided
sections where a short pocket of water was extremely small, yet had all of the
necessary requirements a trout needs to survive. While during my productive
session, bumpers where forming in the sky, and around noon time big black
clouds and lighting bolts dominated the skies to the North West. It was time to
get back to the support vehicle and take cover. After packing the van, I made
my way through Hartsel and over to the town of Lake George where my final
fishing destination was located.
What
an awesome drive it was, the landscape is so open and vast that one can truly
understand the term “Big Sky Country”. Along the way I saw small herds of Elk
and Antelope right next to Highway 24 just munching away on native grasslands –
So Colorado. The rain was pretty intense at times, especially over Badger
Mountain Pass. I reached the gate to 11 mile Canyon, paid my $7 dollar entry
fee and drove up scouting the water I fished decades ago, and also to look for
a camp site for the night. The heavy rain continued into the evening and I
hunkered down in the van and pulled out the laptop and began writing this
report, which was pleasing to end the day as darkness fell.
Day 6 Middle Fork South
Platte River - 11 Mile Canyon
I woke up early at 5am and the rain had stopped, I think it
was sometime after midnight and the surroundings were pretty drenched providing
a soggy camp. One key decision I made for this trip was to bring my Snow Peak
Titanium backpacking stove for REAL coffee. Pete’s French Roast and a Malitta
pour over cone made all the difference on this trip – So thankful for that. I
rigged up the 10.5 foot 4 weight Echo Shadow 2 with a tight line rig under
partly cloudy skies. I like to fish the upper half section of the canyon and at
6:30am I came to “my spot” only to see another angler parked there. F—K! So I
went a little ways downstream and said to myself “OK, I’ll just clean up this guy’s
mess” as I reached the river and began working upstream. 11 Mile canyon reminds
me so much of Northern California, and I must give all the credit to Jackson
Streit, owner of Mountain Angler Fly Shop in Breckenridge for turning me onto
it in 1991. Jackson had fished Nor Cal before, and understood the type of
pocket water I was looking for back then to Tight Line nymph on, and he pointed
me right to the canyon. He even sold me a golden colored webby saddle neck to
tie John Barr’s Golden Stone nymph too. As I remember, the results were
legendary.
For
this session, my final one of my beloved trip, I tied on a custom Hogan Brown’s #14 S&M nymph on a jig style hook with a tungsten bead in a PMD scheme, and
trailed a small olive Military May dropper in a size 18. The water felt really
warm to me so I pulled out the thermometer and recorded a 63 degree water temp
at 7am. The river is fed by 11 Mile Reservoir, and like Lake Tahoe the releases
were coming from the top of the lake’s water column. I knew the fish would be
in the bubbly aerated sections and faster runs and riffles that provided more
oxygen, so that’s where I targeted my presentations. 2nd cast, boom!
I hooked into a nice butter belly brown and it provided me with a vicious fight.
All of the trout I hooked were well fed, plump, and fought extremely hard like
a Lower Yuba River wild trout. So gutty and gritty.
The
wading here is not easy due to being in a canyon, but the rocks below the
surface are very grippy with zero algae – Hero wading at its finest. I felt 30
years younger navigating from pocket to pocket. While standing in the river
next to the bank I was untangling the end of my line, head down with the
readers on and sorting things out when I looked up to see another fly angler. The dude was sporting big black rubber boots and jeans, with some pretty old equipment, then he steps
in the river 25 feet upstream of me and starts fishing. “WTF” I muttered under my breath
and simply asked him out loud “What are you doing?” I tried to explain proper
stream etiquette, but he just didn’t get it and told me I was being rude. He
finally got with the program and gave me about 300 feet of a section to work
upstream, then he simply disappeared. During my trip to Colorado I witnessed
the worst river etiquette I’ve ever seen in my life (and that’s a long ass
time). Way worse than a crowded day on the Little Truckee River. Communication
with other anglers is the key, plain and simple.
This section of the South Platte River gets a lot pressure,
so much there are now well worn trials that border the water’s edge like cattle
paths. Most of those trails were not there 24 years ago, and certainly not
beaten down like they are now. As the
fishing goes, I could do no wrong and was so deeply immersed into my tight line
Zen state of mind nothing could defeat me (except the big one I broke off when
it decided to put on the afterburners to Lake George). A ”boom” here, a “boom”
there and after being on the water for four hours with about 3 hours of actual
fishing time, I hooked 24 and landed 19, 10 to 16”. I ended the session with
one more good brown, and reeled up. Mic drop - and walked away with a huge
smile while heading back to the van. What a killer day!
It
was kind of sad leaving the canyon, I could have spent another 3 days there easy,
but Nor Cal was calling with a reality check of trips to do on the upcoming
guide calendar. As I made my way over Hoosier Pass out of Alma, another big
thunderstorm hit. I dropped into the Breckenridge and the Blue River
valley and there was one promise I needed to fulfill, and that was seeing my buddy
Jay who lives deep in “The Gulch” above Breckenridge in the shadow of Mt. Guyot.
Jay came to Breck a year later than I and for the same
reason, to take his passion of skateboarding to the snow and ride the summit
as a professional snowboarder. He was a good rider back then with a super clean
style, something that is mostly missing in today’s modern era. It was pretty
awesome reminiscing about old times and the characters involved back in the day.
Life in the Gulch is as good as it gets if you appreciate a slower pace, being among nature, and the high peaks of central Colorado.
What a fantastic fishing trip it was! New water, old
friends, fishing buddies, and really productive catch rates that makes it all
the more enjoyable, and so special to be on the water. I learned a few things
on my trip, or more like reminders. First, don’t wait 14 years for the next
trip out, or any multi day trip for that matter. I have already marked off the
calendar to be back out from September 1st to the 15th,
you can bet on that! I may even be hosting 4 anglers on a five day trip if I
can get all the logistics to fall into place for 2020. Keep an eye on my “News”
page on my website, or my blog for all the details, and to sign up.
Secondly, when I can fish day after day and not be involved with instructing other anglers
(guiding), I can slay them like the best of the very best. I’m tooting my horn
here and not the least humble in saying I’ve got some game. My long time
experience shines on trips like these and provides me with the confidence that
spills over in everyday life. Three, Colorado has a special meaning to me. I
have deep roots embedded there and it was so cool to revisit the waters of my
youth and re fish the same runs while admiring the natural wonders that the land provides.
I want to give special thanks to Cat Toy for being an
awesome host and inviting me into her home, and showing me the Yampa River. By
far one of the fishiest gals I know of, sweet too, and the epitome of adventure
and living life to the fullest. To Chris, who showed me another part of the
Blue River and mentioned some other areas in the state to explore. I’ll be
seeing you in a few months for our steelhead trip in November on the Trinity –
Can’t wait pal! Also a shout out to all of my old friends who still make
Colorado their home, and hey Nic, thanks for lunch buddy! Eric, Sandeep, and
Chris at Enterprise Car Rental of Grass Valley, Ca for setting me up with a
sweet minivan that exceeded my expectations.
Vacations cost a lot of money, but the memories and good
times are worth every penny. I can’t wait until next year, see you all in 2020!
