FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Knockin Tail Lures by My Coast Outdoors

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I Still Suck at Fly Fishing.

Nothing has changed in that department.  Monday the weather was going to be sketchy, it is raining as I write this.  It has finally cooled off and will be down in the low 40’s tonight and the rain should be ending.  I put off heading to Lake City and Lake San Cristobal and decided to hit the creek for my first fly fishing of the trip.

My favorite type of creek to fly fish.  It is still up from the runoff, but it is definitely fishable.

I am still such a neophyte and today was a perfect example of that.  Not knowing all I need to know about flies and such I just chose a dry fly and went at it.  To make a long story short – lost 1, missed 3 and had 3 take a pass at it but not even come close.  Interesting how 3 hours just melted away.  All were brook trout.  While small they are one of the more beautiful trout and I love catching them.  But back to the issues.

Not an excuse but the photo above is in one of the few open spots along the creek.  It is rugged in a canyon, so access is based on how hard you want to work.  But it will have brookies in it until it ices over and is a close reliable place to fish a few minutes from the house.  And with the Rio Grande still running strong it is a good option until the river goes down.

Not sure but I think the fly was just a hair big but that still does not explain why I did not catch one.  The art of making a perfect drift with line control had a lot to do with it.  And I am sure the line contact between me, and the fish had something to do with missing them.  Losing the one I did hook was simply a matter of keeping a tight line.  My hook setting ability is not up to snuff either but no hurry.  I have the rest of my life to learn and nothing beats time on the water, end of story.  And speaking of water it is off to San Cristobal in the morning.

**************The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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San Cristobal

It does not get any better than this.

San Cristobal has been on my list since I got back and so I headed up to Lake City on Tuesday morning.  It turned out to be an interesting day.  While 75 miles from South Fork it is a 2-hour drive through some really high mountains.  You end up going over the Continental Divide and then a pass, both over 11,000 feet.  Once I got there it was interesting to say the least.  (The only problem with that drive by myself pulling the boat is who knows what wildlife I did not see, other than the muley that made the better choice to not jump out in front of the truck.  But it is a beautiful drive.)

As many of the more popular lakes do there is a check station for the boat prior to launching.  The guy did the check and thought he could maybe see a small green piece of something way back in the prop that he could not say for sure what it was.  So to be on the safe side he would just blast it with hot water before I put in, then the fun began.  The sprayer would not start due to a bad battery.  I gave him my jumpers and he tried to jump it, but it would not take a charge.  Luckily the other gentleman that works there had a jump starter which worked great, it only took a minute, and I was on the water.  It is a great program and a compliment to commitment by parks and wildlife to keep the lakes free of invasive species.

There are as many variations of color as there are brown trout.

The goal was to catch a lake trout unfortunately that did not happen.  They guy at the station said he had not seen any yet this year, but remember it was not that long ago it was ice out.  I kept trolling and learning the lake, interesting not having a built-in map on the small lakes like most of us are used to.  So it was simply keep trolling and watching the locator to get the lay of the land.  The water temp was 50 degrees and off color due to the runoff.  The deepest water I saw was 79 feet but there are some deeper spots than that.

A nice rainbow.

I stayed with the deeper program hoping for a lake trout but just could not generate a bite.  There is still a pretty good run off and there was a noticeable line of “stuff” near the surface on the locator and it dawned on me, probably fishing too deep.  I just read an article that warned against doing that, so I lightened up on the gear and started catching trout.  Not my original plan but fishing is nothing more than a string of decisions and once I shallowed up the bite was on.  While not as fast as I have been having it was steady.

A little toad.  As usual all fish were a quick CPR and back in they went.  Hold them by the lure and a quick shake with the pliers and back they go without touching them.

The wind finally came up around 2:00 and as I am not nearly as “mad” at the fish as I used to be I called it a day.  As so many of the lakes around here the view is stunning.  There were lots of campers and plenty of folks out in kayaks and paddle boards.  There were only 2 boats on the lake the whole time I was there but according to the guy at the check station come July 4th it is a mad house.  While I am pretty sure I will not be back there before then it will be on the menu as soon as the summer season is over.

The learning curve on trolling continues.  It is not simply dragging something around and hoping something jumps on.  It is an art all unto itself to successfully target a specific fish and lake trout and kokanee are still the goal.  Since fish are fish no matter where you are, you just have to “listen” to the fish.  They will tell you what you need to know to catch them if you just keep an open mind.  And often that listening is not “hearing” anything, there are lessons in that.  I could easily catch them on traditional trout lures using the trolling motor but that can happen whenever, so I continue to expand my trolling knowledge.  Trust me, I am already drooling at the mouth thinking of the jerk bait right after ice out, it will be fun.

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The boys in Canada are continuing to have what can only be described as an epic trip.  And here is another monster.

Now that is a musky!!!

Clyde has been making the trip to Lake of the Woods for over 40 years now and that experience is really starting to pay big dividends.  They have caught some real big fish this trip so congrats.  Keep it up!  There are some great fishing holes in North America, but few can compare to Lake of the Woods.  Every cast could be your fish of a lifetime and if you are a fisherman and not a one trick pony it should be on your bucket list.  Multi species anglers can rip some lips on Lake of the Woods.

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It is a lovely day in the Rockies as I write this.  There needs to be a little boat cleaning today along with a few other chores to do but the water is calling me.  And definitely need to visit the fly shop and find something for the brookies so I can copy it and tie it myself.  There is another stream calling me which is much higher in the mountains, and it will be a tough decision tonight, that or back to the lake.  Life is good.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines