South Park - 9/4-9/5/2011

Had a weekend to fish this past week - decided to do some stillwater and some river fishing with my neighbor - give him a taste of both and I finally get to fish a river this year.

Left early Sunday morning - got to Spinney around 6:30am and it was chilly. Suited up, got the yak out, fished off the second lot. First cast we had a hit - then nothing. We fished until noon out by that second lot, then moved to the South boat ramp and fished that area. Bugs every where - midges, chiros, huge callis. The callis were a greyish white color with a hint of olive. Cool looking bugs. The fish were motorboating the surface with their mouths open - we could see them within 20 feet of us. Some would come right by the boat. We tried everything but dries, deep, shallow, weight, no weight, grey, black, hare's ears. Nothing. Water temp was 58 degrees to start and 60 when we left.



Right before we left Tom hooked and landed a 15 inch bow - we tried to get a pic, but he's not used to hooking, landing, fighting or taking pics of trout. Water temp was 61 degrees.

Left and went to Antero (on the way to the Ark). Fished for 2.5 hours - I managed a couple of pigs, but the fishing was still slow. One 18 inch bow and another 17 inch bow - good fighters.



We left around 5:30 and got into Hecla Junction, at the base of Brown's Canyon around 6:30 - found a camping spot and set up. This was the view from our spot.





We tried fishing the area just below the canyon, but the water was up and that damn river is slippery as hell. The light was also low and Tom had problems seeing the flies he was tying on. I didn't want to get him killed, so we retired early. We cooked dinner, made a fire, drank a bunch of beer and went to bed. Got up at 7am and made bacon and eggs for breakfast. Decided to hit hit just below Big Bend - the water looked great, but we couldn't find any fish. I managed one hook up, but he took my fly and was gone.

We decided to call it a trip and make the 3+ hour trip home in holiday traffic. We did great until Fairplay - minor slow down due to the light - then we hit Boxwood Gulch before Bailey and it was dead stop for about an hour. We finally got to CR64 and took that around to Bailey - as we were head up Bailey hill - on the other side we saw a truck with a flatbed trailer - but it wasn't a flat bed, it was a popup camper, but the popup parts were spread down the side of the highway for 150 yards. Imagine a popup camper full, yard saled down the highway. Not sure if it was hit, flipped or what happened - but it was a mess. The ride home after that was smooth.

Shitty fishing, glad to get out. Not a total waste of a trip.

Spinney, Fri & Sat, May 13-14, 2011

I can't even come close to describing our fishing trip to you - lots of inside jokes, 2 cases of beer, tons of bullshitting and fish tales and of course a ton of fish. We got a reputation this weekend, when you see the big red boat with the loud asshole in the Red Sox hat on it - you follow it wherever it goes. We had boats within 100 feet of us all weekend, and one time I counted 5 within range. A couple boats came by to ask what we were using, when we said chironomids they didn't beleive us. We should have said powerbait. The fish were beautiful and we were lucky to have a good couple of days with warm sun and very little wind (for 2 half days at least).

Scott, Werm and myself camped at Chaparral General Store, got to check out the new camper and got the luxury of Scott's boat - thanks man!

Here is some fish porn, enjoy:

First beer of the morning - pwned by Scott!












































It was a great trip, I think we cleared 75 fish total. It took us a while, but we kept moving and found the fish. Once we did we stayed on it and were rewarded. Thanks boys for the great trip. Thanks Scott for letting us use the camper and the boat.

I don't like to kiss and tell, but this is a very large lake and there isn't many secrets on this lake. Plus, the water was so low that our favorite spot could be completely different when the water starts coming into the lake (it was at least 7 feet low). You can't get to this spot on foot, and it would take an Olympic kick swimmer to get there by belly boat.

I will say that although Spinney is a flies and lures only lake and mostly a catch and release (you can keep a 20+ trout or any pike) we as anglers need to respect the regulations and fish in this lake. We did see too many people mishandling fish, horsing in fish on spin rods with 10 lb test and bad boating in general. I ask that if you are fishing with someone who decides to do any of these things that you point out that it is careless and only hurts the experience of others and future fishermen. Let's ensure the future of this (and all) fisheries.

I'm looking forward to a great fishing summer!

Spinney, Saturday, April 23, 2011

Not much to report. My buddy Scott and I hit Spinney on Saturday. Day started nasty in Confier with heavy snow - couldn't see 20 feet in front of the truck, made it slow going. Took 2 hours to get there. Saw a Ford Focus with an elk in it's windshield just outside of Fairplay - scary and sad. The roads were a mess over Kenosha and all the way to Fairplay. Just outside of fairplay it cleared and the roads were dry.

Hiked in from the northwest lot - still a very long walk in - caught 1 fish each all day. Scott nabbed a 15 incher chunky rainbow and I caught a 19 inch solid rainbow. Only had one other hook up the whole day. It was a breezy day - not crazy wind, but still enough to be cold and painful. Blowing snow hit us on and off all day. Walked to the bluffs which were muddy and silty. Left around 1pm, roads were wet most of the way, dry on this side of Kenosha, not a drop of snow in Conifer, home in my house around 4pm.

Crappy day, but hey, at least I got out.

Before Fairplay

After Fairplay - big difference

August 29, 2010 - Sunday - Stillwater Fishing

I'll be honest, I didn't sleep at all - sure I closed my eyes, but I woke up at least a dozen times to glance at the clock, each time it inched closer to when the alarm was set for. But I never made it, I never do - my eyes popped open at 4:15am and I decided that was close enough - turned off the alarm clock and got dressed in the dark. Pretty standard rituals for us guys who want to hit the waters not so close to home. Some of us do this every day just to get to work - I don't know how you do it Darren!

I pulled out of the driveway at 4:35am, the truck already fully packed the night before. Now it was time for the 2 hour journey to South Park. I hate making these trips alone - I usually need a second mate to blame the trip on (you know - "I went because Werms wanted to go"). I tried for about the first hour (almost all the way to Kenosha Pass) to talk myself into turning around, calling Scott and telling him I wasn't going to make it, then crawl back into bed with the wife. I tried, but no success. After Kenosha Pass I had decided that I was past the half way point, and it was going to be dawn soon - so the trip would get easier. It really didn't. Sure, I was awake, awake with anticipation of a good day - but in the back of my mind I was always thinking - what happens if I get skunked? It could happen.

I pulled into the North Boat Ramp at Spin at 6:35 - no sign of Scott and Scotty. Maybe they ain't coming. I'll kill'em. I call Scott's phone, and he answers - finally - bastard didn't pick up all Saturday when I wanted to know how the fishing was with Werm (yeah - where the hell is the report and pics??). He's right behind me - and we are pushing off from South Ramp - so I peel out and head to South. We pull into the lot together. Exchange handshakes and a couple quick barbs at Jr and before I know it we are on the water. It isn't cold, but it isn't warm. Wind is already up a little, not a good sign for the rest of the day.

We head straight to the other side of the lake - into a nice little cove area in the NW corner. Scotty starts dragging a big Club Sandwich trying to imitate a big ugly caddis skittering along the water. He manages one huge hit - but land nothing. We decide to hole up right next to a weed bed. It was quiet for a long time - Scott had two on, but lost them, Scotty had two on but lost them - I managed the only fish of the morning a nice 20 inch rainbow.





We decided to move south along the shoreline, not much to tell for the next couple of hours - lots of misses, no fish in the net. It appeared the fish were not in the shallows and we could see them on the fish finder when we moved from spot to spot in the deeper water. So we decided to hit a huge weed bed out on the middle. We anchored down and Scott hooked up right away - a nice fight, but soon the fish broke him off. It was not a good sign for the day - in fact I could see Scotty and I's day about to head for the shitter if Scott didn't land one of these big hits soon.

The phone rings....Werms! Dude - we got nothing - 1 fish and Scott is pissy, I gotta go. A few minutes later Scott's phone rings - it's the wife, she'd meeting us and is almost there, come pick her......wait, I have a fish, I have to go. Then bang - another fish pops off. We decide to go get Kelly at the dock. A quick trip in and a quick return right to the same spot. We need to get Scott into a fish or we might all die.

About 2 minutes later Scott is hooked up, and as I'm getting the camera ready to film Scott landing the fish I feel a tug and next think I know we have a double. These fish were twins (not technically, Scott's was a 1/2 inch bigger and a lot fatter) - and it was a nice break from losing fish. Maybe we were onto something.





I'm a big fan of harassing Jr, I mean the poor kid better get used to it. The problem is when the kid slams back to back 22 inchers in a matter of 15 minutes it makes it a lot tougher to pick on him. Don't feel too bad for him, the kid can dish out the shit too. Like father, like son.





Although we had some luck, we weren't exactly lighting it up, we spent about an hour and a half in the hole with not a ton more success after the initial few fish - so we decided to move to the bluffs. We never actually made it to the bluffs - Scott was watching the fish finder when we did about 100 mph over a ton of fish, so we scooted back to a nice shelf that looked promising. I don't have a whole lot more to say then WOW. We didn't "kill them" here, but we caught some of the biggest fish we have ever caught in here. Between the 3 of us we fished from about 12:30 to 3:30 and landed about 10 pigs. The largest being a 23 inch almost 5 lber by Scott and I had 23 incher that was slightly skinnier, here are some of the pics:







We lost a ton of good fish - I had on a nice looking colorful pink rainbow that I lost at the net. I missed a pig of Scott's when I hooked the top fly in the net on him (sorry bud). Scott also had a fish sink him - straight into the weeds. It stopped fighting and Scott was still hung up on the bottom - just waiting - he had to break it off. So strange. Lots of other unbuttons, but that is pretty typical day.

Oh, and our last fish of the day - by the pike slayer:



Not a knock'em dead day, but it was pretty damn good. The morning SUCKED! But the afternoon more than made up for it. About 15 fish boated - only 4 were smaller than 18 inches, 5 were at least 22 inches. Unreal.

Flies of the day were size 14 orange scuds and a size 14 damsel. I had some on chiro's but not consistently. Water temp was 62 in the AM and 65 when we left. Lots of big clouds, but partly sunny temps were about 72-75 degrees.

Thanks for the great trip Scott and Scotty and thanks for putting up with all of us Kelly!