The higher in elevation you go, the more cutthroat you will find, which is good because brook trout will take over and over populate a water habitat, leaving the other fish to struggle for food and places to lay. Even though the brook trout are very colorful, and fun to catch, they are not so welcomed here in Colorado because they are forcing the cutthroat out, and it's the Greenback Cutthroat Trout that's our only native fish, and has been on the endangered species list for many, many years. Good thing is because of the Fish & Game, the Greenbacks are making progress in coming back. Slow progress, but progress non the less.
Near the end of the day I found a stretch where there was a log jam creating a small semi deep pool. I was thinking a spider would be the choice fly for this spot. I casted in and on the first drift a lovely cutty of 10 inches came out to say hello. I quickly put him back into the pool and began casting away again to find a brookie that must have wanted some attention as well. So I obliged. I was slowly moving downstream getting closer to the log jam. I didn't want to get too close because if a fish were to take my fly, I'd lose it quickly.
But I pushed it.
I found myself getting closer to the jam with my fly as though I was challenging anything that may have been in there. It didn't take long to find that there was a fish, but it was slapping at my spider wanting nothing to do with it. I kept casting and drifting and watching, and I could see the fish come out of the depths and hit my spider like it wanted it out of there, and the fish looked to be of decent size for this creek. So I changed flies to a dry fly, and casted upstream from where I was at and continued to catch other fish while giving this one trout a break.
So now I'm allowing my fly to drift a little below me. I thought if I did catch this fish, I may be able to keep it out of the logs by staying upstream a little. The fly past me, and it was a perfect drift. It was about to get right up against the logs when all of a sudden I saw the flash and my fly was gone. The fish hit with authority and was trying to get to the logs, but I was able to keep it out of the wooden jungle. This fish kept taking line every time I was close to bringing it in. What a fight I had on my hands. When it finally showed itself, I was in dis belief. This was one of the jewels of the creek. What a gorgeous fat buttery colored brown tipping at 46 centimeters.
A wonderful prize for a day of fishing.
), we don't tend to describe our fish by length but that is becoming more popular in trout fishing circles.
