Blue River at the Outlets - March 25, 2012

Had a couple of hours to kill this afternoon and figured I'd try the Blue river at the Outlets in Silverthorne. A couple weeks ago I was there and saw a huge 15# fish feeding right at the bridge. I watched as a redneck tried to hook him with 6 feet of tippet between indicator and flies. I knew I could do better.

I took Cabo and was at the Outlets around 12:30 - beautiful day, around 54* at the summit of Eisenhower Pass and about 68* in Silverthorne. I was lucky to find the spot empty, so I jumped in. It is a little weird being in a fish bowl with people walking above you and making comments, asking questions and throwing rocks. I should have started throwing rocks back - but I figured these fish have been through this 365 days a year for many years, a few rocks aren't going to slow their feeding down.

It took about 20 minutes, but I hooked a pig, fought him nice and landed him - got him on a size 22 red midge with gold ribbing - don't remember the name of the fly. He was a nice fish - probably 4 or 5 lbs and about 18+ inches - very health and very colorful. I held him up for Cabo to "kiss" and the crowd of onlookers gave an "AHHHHHH!" and then I released the fish to an applause. I felt like a stud.

I managed to hook another big fella in the pool and he literally ran a 100 yard dash around the pool and the spit the hook - he was a biggie too. I moved down the watefalls to each pool - finally the one right above the tunnels I saw a fish dancing in the faster water and slammed him - he was a fun fight too - but he was only about 15 inches.

I walked back all the way up to above the highway and saw some sketchy characters sitting on the rocks ahead smoking something and decided I was done. Man, that river has changed SOOOO much. I don't even know where to fish that river any more - its a mystery to me. The hole under the highway (Asbestos Alley) is about ankle deep. Sad.

I did see this HUGE cuttbow dead on the river - made me sad. He was easily a 6 lber and looked pretty healthy, except for the fact the he was, errr, dead and all. I saw another large fish that was dead as well - looked to be about the same size - he was on the other side of the river and I didn't get a look.



Cabo and I stopped at Good Times to get spoonbenders - she loves her custard. She's knocked out on her bed snoring now - poor mutt can't take the abuse of fishing any more. Good day - glad I got out and glad I didn't get skunked.

Aurora Res

I fished Aurora with some buddies today - not a place I would go to wet a line, but my buddy wanted to give it a try and it is close to home. We found some nice looking water, but no luck. The water was cold cold cold and the wind was up - but it was relatively warm. No luck though, but then again, we are rookies there. It was nice to see my buddies and get out on the water and wet a line.

Colorado FF Photographer - Angus Drummond

Being a Colorado guy and loving great fly fishing related photographs of Colorado, it was nice to see a new site with lots of Colorado photography - plus, I recognize a few of these places. I have taken pics of some of these places as well and they never seem to do their beauty justice (ie, my pics suck) - Angus' photos on the other hand, do a great job of showing these amazing places in a photograph (although nothing is as good as actually being there - but these photos are pretty close).

Check him out:

GlobalFlyFisher article

www.angusdrummond.com