FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

One of the reasons I hump it all the way to an hour north of the Colorado border is that is about as far as I can make it by myself in one sitting.  But the real reason is by getting an hour north of the line and staying at the same cheesy motel I get an “extra” day waiting to check in.  The back road around La Veta has a ton of animals and if you are lucky some really cool stuff.  Get up and get out, that is when they are on the move and if you want to really see the wildlife you have to be there.

This was a nice mule deer.  As usual plenty in the La Veta area.

For some reason he wasn’t willing to sit and pose so off he went.  Cleared the fence no problem.

Love that long lens.  It get pictures that I could never reach.

This guy was a long way off, but with the built in 600mm lens you can reach out and touch them.  (Thanks for the advice Ro.  The Sony rep I met in Houston said it was their best outdoor camera, and I think it is.)  It is never easy getting wildlife to cooperate, and it takes effort to get pictures, but the more we do it the more we love chasing them.  A little tougher without the Boss and another set of eyes, and somebody to take the pics no matter which side of the truck they are on.

I saw more antelope today and yesterday than I have ever seen.  They were out and about.

Plenty of turkeys but they might be as hard to photo as any.  They do not like the truck no matter how far away.  But there are tons of them in Colorado.

I think there is some kind of saying about herding turkeys and getting them to stand still is never easy.  They are plenty spooky, ask any turkey hunter.  But between them and the grouse we usually see them every morning.

With an hour to kill until I could get in my cabin stopped at one of my favorite spots and caught 2 browns on my hand tied marabou jig and one on a Rooster Tail.  The fly fishing begins tomorrow.

After the morning drive in the mountains, I headed to the store to stock up.  Then with a couple of hours to kill stopped by my favorite trout hole to check the water level and color and both are perfect.  You never know when traveling here for sure what you will face but this time looks to good to be true.  And with 4 miles of state access on the Rio Grande there is plenty of water.  I have  barely touched it but with plenty of access roads to the river I will be giving it the old college try for a couple of days.  Then I intend to fish a really small creek in the mountains that has small trout and it will be interesting to do that in one great area.  Can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Day 2

It almost turned into buy a new truck day.  It was still dark when I headed out and 2 mule deer does darted out on the road.  Somehow, someway I missed them.  How close was it? They jumped out together and I actually went between them.  If I had braked at least one of them would have gotten smoked, same with the truck.  That is the second really close call I have had, might be time for a cow catcher.  But no harm no foul.

I could not resist the lure of heading to the mountains at daylight, hoping to see some animals, mainly Bighorn Sheep.  Unfortunately, I forgot the first rule this time of year in this area, hunters.  Pool Table road is about halfway between South Fork and Creede.  It is where I have seen not only the biggest Ram ever, but a nice herd on another trip.  As I headed up and up the scenery was stunning as the Aspen were turning big time.

Nothing fall and the Aspen turn, breathtaking.  Pool Table road at 10,000 feet.

One thing that happens in the heavy groves is the ground also gets littered with bright yellow leaves, and when combined with the trees it turns the forest a golden color.  We always hope to catch the turn and this trip it should be magnificent when we get to the high mountains that is the San Juans.  And as the Boss’s sister is coming, she is a retired photographer maybe she can do it justice.

I struggled with the buggy whip today.

The area I was in is a elk draw area and when getting near the top there started to be elk camps.  It is open until the 1st so the easy viewing will take a week to settle down when they all leave until later in the month.  So, after a long drive time to go fishing.  It was 34 degrees way up and 39 on the river when I got there.  Unfortunately, I was a little late.  And the wind was out of the north making casting a little bit of a hassle, but I ended up fishing 3 areas, and will fish another different 3 tomorrow.

But I did land a nice one.

The 3.25 Watermelon Red Knockin Tail put the best one in the net.

It was easy to see how rusty I was with the flyrod.  Only 2 made the net, and I missed several.  It was more a mechanical thing than anything else.  But it is still cool to catch them that way, it just isn’t easy.  While I was fishing my favorite spot, I wanted to catch one on the 3.25 Knockin Tail and it worked.  The best one slammed it and I should have caught another one.  But by that time I had worked that hole over so I moved and on the last hole I lost a nice rainbow on the Knockin Tail.

You can’t see me.  The praire dog village near the river.

Best I can remember it was 3 for 10, a result I expect to improve on tomorrow.  I will forgo the woods and head right to the water.  From there who knows but whatever it will be a good time.

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Day 3

Today was interesting.  Caught a bunch and lost what I assume is a real big brown trout for the Rio Grande.  But there was a problem, I could not catch one on a flyrod to save my soul.  Not sure what is up, but as soon as I got done, I headed to the fly shop for a little help, and tomorrow we will find out of their suggestions do the trick.  But otherwise, the fishing was a lot better today.

.They are one beautiful fish in the water.  On a hand tied 1/16oz white marabou jig.

It was a good day with this size.

I tried my flyrod off and on all day and just could not hookup.  Not sure but if I were guessing it was maybe 2 bites.  So out came the lures and catching began.

They cannot take much handling so lure out in the net, quick pic and back in they go.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, they were smoking cranked minnow baits.  So I took what I could get.  They are hard to get off when they are all wrapped up, but it was hard to not throw it.  And then minnie disaster struck.  One just slammed a Yozuri minnow bait, jumped and I could not believe my eyes, it was really big.  As in did not know there were any in the Rio Grande that big.  Unfortunately, it got cross in a heavy current and down river she went.  It was in a place I could not chase and the 4lb line parted and she was gone.  But what a great bite and one cool jump.

Brown trout are one aggressive fish, and it was a good bite today.

So as far as location I know where they are, time to implement the strategy the dude at the fly shop gave me.  There is no giving up on the fly rod and I just need to keep after it, but after a slow day yesterday it was time to catch a few. Tomorrow it is time to stick with the fly rod, part of the reason I am here.

About 3:00 a really cold wind came up and it started raining.  I stuck it out for a while then headed to the cabin.  Plenty of days left, no need to get burned out.  Tomorrow after giving the buggy whip a solid go will probably head to one of the many lakes I have fished close by, they can be good and offer some of the best scenery around.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines.

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Are you freakin’ kidding me?  I stopped in at Tackle Town the other day because who knows what you might need.  Well, there is one thing I definitely DO NOT need.  It was Mercury Opti oil.  Hey, I know prices are up, but while oil is coming down apparently some folks did not get the memo.  A gallon – $78!!!  There are no words.

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