Tag Archives: winter fly

Colorado

Labor of Love

Today was a go for fishing.  After skiing the past two days, it was time to wet a line.  The temperature was around 15 degrees and the sky was overcast: perfect winter fishing conditions.  I made the two mile walk from the parking lot to the tailwater section of the Stagecoach.  It was truly a labor of love; the access road had about 1 fresh inch of snow on it.  By the time I remembered that I had snow shoes in the car, it was too late to turn around.  I pushed on through.

Trout Nirvana!
Trout Nirvana!

After the last bend, I finally hit the tailwater.  The water had a lot of structure: pools, pockets, and slicks.  It was perfect trout habitat.  I setup my rig for standard indi-nymphing.  I used two flies that I designed last year winter fishing the San Miguel outside of Telluride, CO.  A 8 Simple Stonefly at the end of the leader.  Off the eye of the stonefly, I tied a size 20 variation of an Al’s Rat (red wire body and dubbing on the thorax).  All using 6.5x TroutHunter Fluoro.

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I worked my upstream, nymphing for about 200 yards.  The fish were scattered everywhere.  I had to keep adjusting my split shot and indicator for the different conditions for each pocket or pool or slow riffle.  The adjustments paid off.  I pulled out 8 nice rainbows, indi-nymphing my way up.  Two on the stone and six on the midge nymph.

He wanted the midge nymph
He wanted the midge nymph
Sweet colors
Sweet colors
He wanted the stone
He wanted the stone
Back to the midge
Back to the midge
Ready to be landed
Ready to be landed
Fishy Looking
Fishy Looking
Yes it was!
Yes it was!
This guy was 20 inches and fought me through three different pools
This guy was 20 inches and fought me through three different pools

The beat that I worked had a decent amount of surface activity from the fish.  After I pulled out that 20 incher, I wanted to try some dry flies.  After re-rigging, I had a size 18 Grey Comparadun attached by 7x TroutHunter mono.  I worked two medium size slicks, and stuck two and lost two others.  It was surreal casting dries while it was snowing.

Al Caucci's Comparadun worked here
Al Caucci’s Comparadun worked here

It was an amazing day, but it was a haul to get back there in the winter.  10 bows in total and some dry fly action to boot!

 

Colorado

Go West Young Man!

Finally Here!
Finally Here!

I have been a follower of Moose Knuckle Fly Fishing since its inception. I really love the material that is offered and decided that I want to offer my insights, knowledge, and adventures to the blog. So here I am.

Over the past week, my wife and I have taken an opportunity to go out to Colorado and stay for over a month. Last weekend, we packed the car, dropped off our two cats at my in-laws and headed west. It took about 1800 miles, the majority on Interstate 80, for us to arrive at our destination, Steamboat Springs, CO.  In order to make it here, it took two hard days of driving and every effort of my self restraint to not stop at the 3 Cabelas and 2 Bass Pro Shops that we passed along the way.  All in all it was pleasantly uneventful getting out to Colorado.

One of many amazing views!
One of many amazing views in Colorado!

Steamboat Springs

Steamboat Springs is located in northwest Colorado, about a 3 hour drive from Denver.  It is closer to Wyoming than the any of other major Colorado ski resorts.  Steamboat has a history based not only in mining but also cattle ranching.  The vibe of the town is definitely cowboy-ish.  I have seen more people wearing Stetsons in the past couple of days than over the past year.

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Steamboat Springs Ski Resort has over 3000 acres of skiable terrain with an average annual snowfall of over 350 inches.  The town is deserving of its nick name, Ski Town USA.  The town is also host to some of the best winter fly fishing in the country.

A rite of passage that every local child particpates in during the Winter Carnival.
A rite of passage that local children participate in during the Winter Carnival.

Yampa River

The Yampa River runs 250 miles through Northwest Colorado into Utah, where it joins up with the Green River.  It holds all four major trout species as well as Pike and Smallmouth in its lower sections.  The tailwater section below the Stagecoach Reservoir is the part where you can truly catch a trophy winter trout.  This tailwater section is about a 30 minute drive outside of Steamboat.  Usually one can drive the access road along the tailwater section; however, in the winter, this road is closed for elk migration.  So one either has to hike or snowmobile to reach the tailwater section.  Like all great Colorado tailwaters, the water temperature is stable, the insect activity is vast, and the fishing is super hard!  The Yampa also runs through downtown Steamboat.  This is a great section to try and catch a Colorado Grand Slam (cutthroat, rainbow, brown, and brookie).

The subsurface arsenal ready to go
The subsurface arsenal ready to go

Going Forward

This is the setting for my next two months.  I will be exploring all the local waters and skiing as much as I can.  In the next few months I will not only be fly fishing in Colorado but also the  Bahamas, Central America, the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the New England coast.  I look forward to sharing all these adventures with the Moose Knuckle Fishing readers.

My wife Jess enjoying her first Fat Tire in Steamboat
My wife Jess enjoying her first Fat Tire in Steamboat
Southern Utah

Best Water in the USA

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It’s been a warm and dry winter out here in Utah this year to say the least.  Last year, I was hunting powder day in and out in March.  This year, I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to get a change of scenery.  For the past couple of weeks I’d been dabbling on the Weber and Provo and getting the itch to get out to the more remote streams that make fishing in Utah so great.  Daylight savings time hit, the days instantly got longer, and it was time to pack the car and get away with the lady and the dogs.

Bandito was pretty excited to be on the road

Ever since Eagle Point opened up last year, I’ve been wanting to go.  Being only three hours from Salt Lake City, it makes it the perfect distance for a weekend getaway.

Wide open highways and 80mph speed limits make for a quick drive

To get up to the mountains, you have to drive through Beaver and with a billboard like that you have to find a local restaurant to give the water a try.  Right off the main road we found a diner that had been in existence since the mid 1900’s and I understood why as soon as I drank the best damn water I’d ever had.

The food was pretty delicious as well
After breakfast it was time to get up into the mountains
Boardin' the point
Snowcat instead of chairlifts? Fuck Yea
Unhappy puppies

I’ll keep my banter on the riding to a minimum since this is a fishing blog; but the resort was empty, the weather was perfect for untouched spring-time groomers, the service was awesome, pets are allowed,  the condo was really nice, and the Outpost Grill needs a special shout out.  The brand new lodge had a great mountain atmosphere with excellent food and drinks.

Day two, was fishing day.  I’m never one to give up my locations, but if you know the area or looked at a map you probably could figure out the stream we fished.  A lot of the river was still iced over, but the lower sections of the canyon opened up nicely for some great pocket water.

One of many zones throughout the canyon

I think we hit up the zone in the canyon a little bit too early in the day because the fishing was a little slow.  I almost had to forgo this entry because of a skunking, but after we went into town to refuel the vehicle we found a section on the stream about one or two thousand feet lower where the fish were quite active and more that willing to take the fly.

Walk of shame
Zone 2

As soon as we saw the stream we saw fish rising to a BWO hatch that was going off. The only problem with fishing tiny flies in the wind is when you’re blind you can’t see the fly. I tried my luck with some size twenties to start, but every hook set was a little late.  After this I tied on a size 16 Renegade with a size 18 Zebra Midge below.  The fish weren’t going for the top fly, but they sure were excited about the dropper.  No trophies were pulled out of the water on this journey, but it sure was nice to get out there.

Tala examining the catch

The itch to get back to Southern Utah to fish has been reignited as I am finishing up this post.  To everyone out there, keep on hunting for that tug.