When I arrived you could see your breath in the air and I found it amazing that half way up Boulder Canyon the temp dropped 15* quickly. It was 52*F when I arrived. I quickly got my 4wt rod rigged up with a Colorado classic fly, the Rio Grande King Trude, and started hiking to the creek.
It must have rained last night there because everything was wet. And as the sun was rising the silvery mist was rising off the creek over the trees. Just spectacular.
As I found my way through the thick woods, and this place is so thick, the sunlight doesn't hit the ground in many areas. There are so many trees and the canopy just shades the ground. I do have to admit, this place sometimes raises the hair on the back of my neck because you can't see through the trees half the time so I don't know if a bear is coming up on me. I did have my bear spray and I did hear snapping in the woods, but I'm sure it was just deer.
As I stepped into the creek I knew I made a mistake. I should have brought my waders because I was wet wading in my quick dry wading pants and wading boots. As soon as the water seeped into my boots my feet just froze. But having British blood in me, I carried on.
At first I caught one small brookie right off, but after that I couldn't find a fish to save my life. However, after the sun rose over the trees and shown on the water, it must have woken the fish up and the game was on. I only used one fly so I don't know why I had my fishing satchel with me. I should have just brought a small box filled with the Rio Grande King Trudes, but it's a habit I guess to have my satchel.
As the sunlight got on the water the game was on. The fish became active and it was like I couldn't keep them off. This section was particularly good to me.
I was hoping to hook into some cutthroat, but when brookies and cutties co-exist in the same waters, brookies win every time for some reason. I haven't seen a cuttie in two years in this creek, but it's filled with so many small brookies. The biggest you may find is about ten inches, but most are about six to eight inches. Not big, but more fun than 100 renegade little people professional wrestlers. ( trying to be PC here )
I must have caught near twenty to twenty five fish this morning and all in soft areas between the fast water. I even fished the faster water to see if I could find a cuttie, but nothing happened. I have some photos.
All in all, I caught around 20 to 25 fish until about 11:00. Then I saw two other fishermen approach the creek. They were in their early 20's, and were properly dressed for the cold water with waders. They probably looked at me and thought I was the toughest man in the world wet wading in such cold water.
We exchanged friendly words and I told them the brookies are very active. They asked what they were keying in on and I gave them each a Rio Grande King Trude. And of course they had to ask what fly it was. So I shared what history of the fly I knew of. I told them that many years ago if the game warden was checking you out, they would pretend as if they were going to give you a ticket for NOT having a Rio Grande KIng in your fly box. I have to say that I am impressed with this fly and I have to wonder just how did it fall off the radar because it had a tremendous reputation for catching fish here in Colorado. Just like your Alexandria fly that was once thought that it should be banned or barred from fishing, the thoughts on the Rio Grande King had the same discussions here in Colorado back in the day.
Well, my week long holiday is over. I had a great time fishing in between doing chores at home. In a few weeks I have another week off of work. I do plan on hitting the Poudre again and if I can make it, going back to my home town and fishing the famous Arkansas River.
