Tag Archives: Colorado

Spring Travels

Down by da beach boiiiiiii
Down by da beach boiiiiiii

This spring I’ve been incredibly fortunate to do quite a bit of traveling in a short time.  It all started towards the end of April when my girlfriend I met up with my brother and some of his friends for a double birthday and fishing extravaganza in Florida.  See my brothers blog for his tales of the trip to Sanibel Island.  I had never done any Saltwater fly fishing prior to this journey so I didn’t really know what to expect…it was unbelievable.  Every fish we pulled out, I had no idea what it was, but they put up a hell of a fight.

Dave feeding a bird some bait fish
Dave feeding a bird some bait fish

The flies we used were way less intricate then some of the trout flies that I normally tie, but all you really needed down there was the schwminnow and a glass fish.  Our first day Jourdan ripped the most fish out of the Gulf and I struggled a bit to read the water.  What I learned was there is a lot of waiting for the birds and tides during the day time or just hire a guide and they will take you to where the fishing is on fire.

Celebrating Jourdan's BDAY
Celebrating Jourdan’s BDAY
Jourdan with a Sea Trout
Jourdan with a Sea Trout
Sunset on a boat
Sunset on a boat
Ripping snook up after dark
Ripping snook up after dark

 

Flying back to SLC
Flying back to SLC

Once Jourdan and I arrived back in Salt Lake I had the opportunity to drive the delivery van for the ski shop back to Colorado for the summer.  I brought my fishing and snowboard gear along for the ride.  The snowboarding did not work out, but the fishing did.

Sometimes when you have to drive 500 miles in a day you have to set out at 4 AM to get a half a day of fishing in
Sometimes when you have to drive 500 miles in a day you have to set out at 4 AM to get a half a day of fishing in
Traffic jam in route to the fishing
Traffic jam in route to the fishing

 

The "Gold Ribbon" stretch of the Frying Pan
The “Gold Ribbon” stretch of the Frying Pan

Fishing in Colorado is way different than fishing in Utah.  Stream access is not nearly as good.  There are some assholes in Utah trying to ruin our stream access, but that’s a whole different story.  I stopped by Taylor Creek Flies for some advice before hitting the stream.

There knowledge worked.  There are a ton of fish in that river, but also a ton of people.
Their knowledge worked. There are a ton of fish in that river, but also a ton of people.

After some nymphing and some midge dry fly action I had to pack up and continue on Frisco.

The road to A Basin
The road to A Basin

The next morning I woke up and dressed to go snowboarding up at Arapahoe Basin.  However, my pass that was lined up for me fell through so I had to fall back on my back up play to do some more fishing before catching my ride to Denver International to get back to Salt Lake.

Another small stream with a shit ton of people
Another small Colorado stream with some snow still lingering
However, there were some nice fish to be caught.
However, there were some nice fish to be caught.

Once home, Ted and I went to some more familiar territory for me.

A moose spying on me
A moose spy
Ted with a fat Rainbow
Ted with a healthy Rainbow
Tala and Jefe
Tala and Jefe enjoying the beautiful weather
Healthy Trout
Healthy Trout
This adventure comes to a close, but there will be more.  Fishing and the sites you see is awesome
This adventure comes to a close, but there will be more. Fishing and the sites you see is awesome

One Last Time…

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My time in Colorado is almost done.  Jess and I are starting our drive back east tomorrow, so I decided to get back into the Stagecoach Tailwaters one last time.  With the access road still closed, I borrowed my neighbors bike to cut down the travel time.

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The fishing started slow with temps around 15 degrees when I first arrived.  Nymphing zebra midges was the way to go until about 11 o’clock when more trout heads started to look up towards the surface.  Black and olive size 20 RS2’s were the next flies that took trout.  At about noon, aggressive surface activity picked up and I switched over to Charlie Craven’s size 20 mole fly.  This fly did the most damage and was consistently nailing the fish until about 1:30 when the trout began sipping in more of a rhythm.  When this started, I still got some on the mole fly, but when I tied on a snowshoe spinner it was instant success until I left.  21 trout in total, 4 on nymphs, 17 on dries.  The size range was 8-20″, great colors on the rainbows!  Now back to the New Jersey for a week, some fishing with fellow bloggers Chris, Dave, and Zach, then off to the Bahamas in pursuit of bonefish! Thanks Steamboat Springs for everything these past 6 weeks, it has been amazing.

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Lower Tailwaters

 

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Middle Tailwaters

 

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Size 20 Zebra Midge on the Nose
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A fiesty little guy
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Just over 19″ on the Zebra Midge
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Size 20 Black RS2
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RS2 again

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RS2
Hook: 20
Thread: Black
Tail: Two Split Microfibbets
Wing: Snowshoe Hare Foot
Body: Black Superfine

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This guy was just over 20″, had him on a size 20 mole fly
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Nice hook jaw

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Mole Fly again

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Size 20 Snowshoe Spinner

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Mud on everything!

 

 

Big Fly = Big Fish

Agressive Brown
Agressive Brown

Erik was leaving early today to beat the weather.  We decided that hooking into some of those pike from the other day would be a nice way to finish of the weekend. I tied up two leaders made up of three feet 20lb Maxima blooded knotted to two feet 15lb Maxima.  I also brought along my striper flies to see if we could lure the biggest one of the beat to our lines.  We were all set for pike. Guess what?!?! We both hooked up with two large trout.  I had a 18″ brown on a all black size 2 Half & Half.  Eric had a 18″ rainbow on a Zonker streamer.  Both trout had nice size and colors on them.  We added a few pike into the mix but those trout were the big surprise. Big Fly = Big Fish

Erik's Rainbow
Erik’s Rainbow
This guy nailed the all black Half & Half
This guy nailed the all black Half & Half