Jimbo
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Really you could pick any number of items in the back of the Escape and call it familiar. There were be quite a few stories that cover over 4 weeks. I will dole them out so everyone will have something new to look forward to almost everyday for a few weeks. It was a challenging summer with some high water and rain,… rain,… and more rain.
Jimbo
A Friendly Face
The miles really put me down, so I slept in. It was 9:30 before I rolled out of bed. It’s getting easier and easier to sleep in these days. I went outside and checked the day, typical start, narry a cloud in the sky. I knew that was only temporary. Thinking about it I know of a creek on the east side that is easy to get in and out of so Park Creek would be where I’d fish.
First things first, grab my gear, and head into town to talk to Pops.
Pop’s owns “Let it Fly” and I wanted to pick his brain and buy a few things. One of the things I did this year was buy a fanny pack, in an effort to get some weight off my shoulders. One of the drawbacks was where and how to carry a net? My Brodin has a shorter handle and to effectively stick one in the fanny packs belt, I needed one with a longer handle. He had a Fish Pond net that seemed to fit the bill so I bought it.
Another thing of importance to most flyfishermen is food.
This is Kip’s and it’s right across the street from Pop’s Fly Shop. If you are ever in Pagosa or Creede you’ve got to go eat at Kip’s. It’s really good Mexican food and Margaritas. And do not forget to order some of their fabulous Guacamole to go along with your meal.
That done it’s up the hill I go…..
Wolf Creek pass is steep especially on the west side. Best have the engine tuned up and a good set of brakes coming back down. At the top is Wolf Creek Ski Area…..
This is the most snow I’ve ever seen here in July. You could actually hike the ridge and get in some pretty good skiing, but I’ve come here to fish.
I turned up the forest road running along Park Creek. I arrived at the first meadow and saw no fishermen, just campers and a slew of ATVs. It amazes me how many people drive this far pulling trailers full of ATVs just to drive around on Forest Roads. It’s seems hiking and backpacking are falling out of favor with the modern millennial generation. All they want to do is get there fast, take a few selfies, and get back to town before dark. I am thankful they are not like me and ate up with the flyfishing bug.
Walking down to the river I saw this mushroom.
Now I love them as much as anyone else, but I can’t identify all the different species. Not willing to play mushroom roulett I let this one lie.
Among this years new quiver of rods was this Sage 581 LL.
It turns out to be a fine casting rod! I started up the creek. It is higher than normal, but not too high to catch some on dryflys. I started off with a Little Yellow Sally, but it was not attracting many rises. So on the fly changing train I go,…
No fishing trip is complete without sticking a few in the willows…..
Well now that the ice was broken I could get about landing some Browns…..
After a while a green Stimulator seemed to gather favor…..
This is a beautiful little stream…..
It’s not a place you’re likely to tie into a 20″er, but it has been a consistant producer of 8-13″ trout over the years. It’s on the list of must fish places everytime I’m in the neighborhood. One year I fished it 4 days in the row, fishing it from the South Fork of the Rio Grande to it’s headwaters. It was a fabulous time!
Somewhere along the creek, still looking for a better fly I tied on a Wilcox Special.
It would turn out to be the best solution for these conditions.
I am not sure why they call it a Gray Wilcox Special…..
As you can see it clearly is tied with purple dubbing for the body.
Regardless of what it is called it is one of my “Go To” attractors for small creeks in the Rockies.
The bad news is I only have a few left and they would have to last me as I could not find any in the Fly Shops I’ve visited so far.You could literally start almost anywhere all Park Creek’s length and fish upstream all day without running out of water.
But today, as would come to be the rule this year, thunderstorms would force me off the water before I was ready.
And that is saying a lot with my bad back.So the thunder rolls and demands that I turn back, but not before another fish…..
Well maybe a couple more…..
The storms are very localized today. I drove back dowmstream and found a hole in the sky to fish a few more minutes.
This is the beginning of the canyon section between the first meadow and the South Fork.
I actually was able to fish a good 45 minutes from the rain found me again. I caught another half dozen Browns I can’t show you because I accidently left the camera in the truck. The count hit two dozen.
Here I caught one about 14″ which is about as big as you can expect in this little jewel.
I guess my friend Steve is right sometimes, you can’t bring along a camera and expect to catch the Big Fish of the day….
It’s one or the other he always said…..
But I really don’t believe that!
It is just the way it worked out today.Jimbo
Dodging the Rain
After many days up here fishing in the Rockies, I finally have some time to start writing about this years experience. To say it’s been a weird year up in southern Colorado is an understatement. Nonetheless let’s get this started…..
Leaving San Antonio on July 13th and the last minute packing in the morning…..
Anything look familiar?This year’s inventory includes 19 flyrods……
You can never have too many flyrods on a trip like this.With this years rain’s everything is glowing! West Texas is usually scorched by now, but this year everything is green. And the Yucca seems to have had an especially good year. Their bloom stalks were all over the place.
They also say that every so often they all bloom at once instead of staggered like most years.
Turning north and heading into New Mexico, there is one stop I never miss. It’s in Roswell and it’s the last Whatburger I will see till I return from this trip. For a burger chain I consider it to be the best. You can argue that you have another favorite, but for me this is it…..
I would have showed you the onion rings which are fabulous, but i ate them all while they were still hot.
Another thing the current El Nino is spawning is these strong Monsoons…..
The rain shafts were impressive…..
They would be everywhere I fished in New Mexico and Colorado, but more on that later.
I stayed in Espanola and was up early. Diving into the lower Rio Grande Canyon….
The Rio Grande Gorge is not so much a canyon as it is a crack in the earth…..
First stop was Taos for some local intel. Nick Streit’s Taos Fly Shop is amoung the best up here.
Most of the rivers in northern New Mexico were high. There is one place though closer to normal.
Rio de Los Pinos…..
I found a empty spot to fish and pulled out my Sage 490XP.
Surveying the water I saw no bug activity. Last time here the Brown drake was the fly to tie on. I tried it with no response. So next I tried some of my attractors…..
This place is famous for it’s wild Browns and it did not disappoint.
Not 15 minutes into the first day and I am already satisfied.
Nothing like seein’ them swim away strong…..
Did I mention it rained on me alot this trip?….
Storms were building off to the west and headed my way. Thunder was rolling down the valley. I would have to hustle upstream and hit the better spots if I were to have any manner success.
In addition to the Browns there are wild and stocked Rainbows.
It’s easy to tell the difference…..More thunder, my session was going to be cut very short.
More stockers as the rains approached…..
The final count was 2 Browns and 7 Rainbows, not bad going in cold and fishing such a short time. I didn’t know it at the time, but this is something I would get plenty of in the next 2 weeks.
Well the better part of not getting soaked meant I’d still be fresh for tomorrow and it was going to be a long trip anyway. So it was time to head back to the truck.
I arrived just as the skies opened up along with some pea sized hail. It was still early, about 2pm. I though maybe I could wait it out. So I drove west hoping to get behind the storm, but there seemed no end to it.
After watching it rain for almost 2 hours and the river turning muddy, it was time to head north to Pagosa.
Just north of the Colorado border and the first real look at the San Juans….
I checked in and unloaded the truck. This is a real chore and it’s important to keep all my flyfishing gear in the living room so I can go through everything and be ready for tomorrow’s first day in familiar waters.
Jimbo
Maybe, just maybe, this time the weatherman will be right about where the heavy rain is going to fall. I saw this evening’s news and Bill at Kens 5 showed heavy rain coming right down the entire length of the Guadalupe from it’s headwaters. We need about 2 3/4 feet of water in the lake and our fish will make it through to next fall and we can ethically fish for them this summer…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Just no damaging hail or tornados please !
Jimbo
George calls that “Walking the Dog”, for years I’ve been calling the “Strolling”….. Walking downstream while keeping abreast of my nymphs drifting down the river. And Drew your flys are so artistic, I’d fish them !
Jimbo
For me, these “stay at home” directives mean my fishing is over till this passes. My 91 year old mother lives with me so I can not risk any possible exposure that is not absolutely necessary. Plus being 67 and having 3 heart attacks on my medical record means I’m in the higher at risk category. Still I’m now the caretaker here on Verdant, so I’m the one who runs the errands out in the public with my blue bandana worn bandit style. I have not fished in 3 weeks now. I have been cleaning up the house and doing yard work. Getting to those long postponed chores now that I have no other excuses. In the remaining spare time I’ve been watching youtube videos, “The New Fly Fisher” lately, along with a lot of pay per view movies like: Ford vs. Ferrari ****, 1917*, Star Trek The rise of Skywalker*****, and others. Now it’s time to go through all my gear: clean and lube the reels, clean flylines, sort through the fly collections, and get some dryfly boxes together for the summer, wash the waders and fly vest. All that fun stuff. But I’ll be ready to go once this outbreak dies down. I’ll probably head to the mountains this summer no matter what, because I can limit interacting with strangers while on the road. It all depends on what happens over the next few months. We will see and then act accordingly !
Guadalupe
Wyoming
Jimbo
I landed only 2 Browns this season myself. I had a third on for sure and maybe a fourth. Then again I fished very little above Kanz. I didn’t put any significant time in at Maricopa, JDL, or Gypsy Rose. I know there are several that seem to be caught with regularity at JDL. I heard stories of Browns caught all over the place. Not many numbers mine you, but singles also at Kanz, #5, Lower Slot, Pott’s Little Ponderosa, and of all places, River Bluff, Lone Star, and Bezdek’s. So they are still around, but they are more wary and probably mostly nocturnal now…..
My evidence…..
Jimbo
Well thanks guys. That is very generous. I consider myself a good flyfisherman, but I am always open to trying something different and see what happens. Never stop learning ! One of the secrets is when the midges or tricos are hatching. I have found that when this is happening, it’s best to fish your nymphs, and this case emergers, not on the bottom, but somewhere from mid-column to just below the surface. Use something small ~#20 with an emergent wing, Pat Dorsey’s Top Secret Midge or Matt’s Guide Fly work great.
Have fun out there. I’m confined to quarters till this blows over because my 91 year old Mother lives with me and I just can not take any unnecessary chances. I have decided that with all this extra time I will post up last summer’s trip to the Mountains. It will take some time as the picture codes are different for this site and I will have to go through all those old photos looking for the appropriate code to post in the stories. So coming soon, Jimbo’s 2019 Summer Trip…..
Jimbo
Unfortunately more rain fell in the Blanco River Basin and further north than the Guadalupe Basin. We could still see more in the coming days. We are 2 3/4 feet short of pool. There is still a chance but that’s an awful amount of water we still need for sustaining summer flows. So those who have already had too much rain, forgive me because I’ll be asking for more…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
If we are going to have a good holdover again this summer we need the lake to get to pool soon. May 15th is the tigger date.
Jimbo
I tell you just seeing the river renews my soul….. Thanks
Jimbo
Another chance at good rains over the upper basin the next couple of days…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Tom tom tom tom…..
Jimbo
The temp monitor is not on the fourth crossing bridge. It’s well upstream by the old cistern up there. I would therefore agree with your estimate of 5.62 miles for the fourth crossing bridge.
Jimbo
Easy,… Rocky Mountain National Park. If you can’t catch them there, well there’s no hope.
Jimbo
Ron,… As always you get the job done.
Thanks Jimbo
Good for you J.C. ! In the first picture I see something other than your Orvis nymphing rod. What did you end up using and why? And by the way there is no wrong answer to “What makes you Happy?” unless it’s posting my secrets !
Jimbo
