I'm playing a bit of catch-up from a spring trip to one of my favorite spots in Colorado as we all know how busy summer can be with trips, fishing and mowing the yard. In late June, I had the chance to make it back to the Grand Mesa in Colorado with friends, the wife and our dog. The fly fishing wasn't the best as it was a bit early up there and it is always hard to fit in your fishing on a trip with non-fishers. I did get some time on the water and got into some brookies and stocked rainbows. I also had time to enjoy some canoeing, camping, exploring and relaxing around the fire. Hope you enjoy my edit from a spring trip out to the Grand Mesa of Colorado, one of my favorite locations in the state.
We hadn't been out to this area since 2010 and had only made one trip before that, but I loved it and had been planning our return ever since. Below is an edit from our 2010 fall canoeing and fishing trip which had me hooked.
Enjoy everyone! There is plenty of summer fishing yet to be had. I'm getting out tomorrow for some high country cutty's.
I caught a quick afternoon fly fishing session after a brief rain shower moved through. Had to wait it out at the car due to lightening, but that gave me plenty of time to rig up and enjoy a beer. Pretty good dry fly action followed with a few landed on a beatis emerger. I love this section of creek, but water temperatures are starting to push maximum levels for trout fishing. Daily air temperatures did drop a few days later and continued afternoon rain showers brought temperatures back down to the mid 60's. I'm heading for the east coast this weekend so I won't be able to make it out for a while, but am hoping I can get back on the water here at least once more before it's too warm to fish. Enjoy your days over the weekend if you can get out on the water.
Temperatures are heating up along the front range of Colorado. It's still 85 degrees at our house in Denver and its 10:00 at night. Last weekend was the same, hot, sunny, leaving you not wanting to do anything but lounge inside in the air conditioning. Or....go hit the local creek to see how she was holding up. And since I cant stand cabin fever, winter or summer, I had to get out.
Flows were down and insect activity was up. Mostly smaller bugs with just a few mayflies and caddis around. However, a parachute adams and yellow mayfly produced on top for a few hours in the afternoon and evening. This creek heats up in the summer so there might only be a few weekends left to fish it responsibly before the water temps are too high to risk stressing the fishy inhabitants. Hope you enjoy a view of my relaxing evening out on the creek.
Got out last weekend and found a muskie hanging out in a small creek with some brown trout. Didn't catch the muskie, but it was fun to see it in there. Should be hot here in Denver this weekend and I'm excited to get out of the city and onto some water. Have a good one everyone.
Youtube recently changed their channel format and now require a channel trailer for unsubscribed users which prompted me to go back through my footage to pull together some of my favorite fish shots. I wanted to share them here as it makes a decent, short fish highlight reel. I hope it helps brighten your day and motivates you to get after the fish you love.
If you haven't visited my youtube channel, I am starting to have a decent collection of videos over there you might enjoy. Take a look and explore if you have the chance, just follow the link below.
It looks like runoff has finally hit based on the gages. I'm going to have to check for myself soon. But after the dreadful snowpack forecasts we had at the beginning of April, I'm glad we got some storms. It looks like the recent warmer weather is finally starting to bring all the moisture down the hills.
My friend and I had one more chance to hit Clear Creek before that though. We were excited to visit a stretch of water we love, but it was still a bit early. With water temperatures in the mid 30's, the resident cutbows and cutthroats were still a bit lethargic. It looks like we will have to wait until later this summer to hit it now.
I was able to pull together another quick edit to show how things were doing up there. For the next few weeks though, it looks like I'll be trying to go with stonefly nymphs along the edges and slower water. Good luck out there.
I'm glad to get off of the ranting and into some more peaceful and productive fishing. I have had a few better days out on Clear Creek and Bear Creek which have been fishing pretty well this spring. Zebra midges in red and brown have
been the big winners for me. I have even seen a few sail boating mayflies out there as well. I was able to capture a bit of footage of my time out on the water and wanted to share it as motivation and as a quick conditions report. If your Internet connection supports it or if you are patient, please remember to increase the video quality, as it is much better at higher quality. Thanks.
I have run into friendlier and more polite fishermen over the last few outings which has renewed my faith in fishing humanity. See you next time on the water.
