Team 57 goes to Colorado!

[sansou]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

Today was about running errands in Durango (about an hour west of us)....that is, only after I nailed a fattie bow at Hatcher just before breakfast.

The Animas river runs through Durango, and is a very fishy river when she isn't running high (a little high and cloudy today....but not "blown out" as I was told yesterday by a local). Today I had a one hour window to get a little river fishing done while in downtown Durango, so I gave it my best and got the skunkaroo on spinners. I saw a few bobber-n-eggs guys along the bank and they were doing great on brownies and cutties.

[img]http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk274/sansou/Pagosa%20Jul%202008/A[img]









After a quick skunkaroo session, I fisnished the errands and did a quickie stop at a Colorado State Hatchery, located right on the Animas river, about 1/2 miles from "downtown".... ha ha!!












Got back to Pagosa with all the intentions of canoeing Hatcher lake, however, the usual late afternoon rain storm nixed that idea. Waited out the mini storm and decided to take the kid out to catch dinner. I set up Maddie with some Magic Power Eggs, and she hooked up 2 times before being able to land one. I managed a fair brownie on the black rooster tail. Roughly an hour or so later, they hit the frying pan!!












Here's the three trout of the day....


I was curious to see what the brownies were feeding on in this lake: snails!


See you all at LEGENDS II: Trolly Strikes Back!

[olfishergal]

you could have skipped that stomach pic............ewwwww........glad you are having a great time, am enjoying reading your reports, makes me feel like i am right there......keep having fun......aren't you happy u missed the quake? OFG

[BIGRED KILLA]

Thanks for the pics and report looks way to cool up there glad you guys are having a blast i like the stomach pic how did you cook it lol.







Bigred

[Shock]

Nice... Really nice!!!!

I might just have to visit one of my Aunts who live in Colorado!!!

[BakoBassin]

When I was working in grand Junction I tried to hit up the Animas outside of Delta. Guy at the lodge said they had just let a bunch of water out of the resovoir above there. I did all my fishing on Grand Mesa. Caught bunches of small ones and this one...

[kewlwhip]

ohhh man sansou-

you are lucky- CO is a beautiful place, keep on slay'in!

[Poxy Boggards]

Awesome pictures and reporting Sansou! Looking forward to hearing all the awesome details at Legends!

Wes
Poxy Boggards

[steve092]

Great report man!

[Fisherman57]

Man......... every report is better and better!

I remember being in Broomfield, Colorado years ago and fishing some local lake I can't even remember the name of...... BUT I do remember it being beautiful.

Thanks for sharing all this Rich...... KEEP EM' COMING!



Dana

[sansou]

Thanks to all for the kind words.

Well, in horticulturist terms, today I put on another ring on the old tree trunk. To mark this depressing occasion, I decided to do a quick A.M. solo trip up the road (about 20 miles from the house on a dirt road) to Williams Creek Res.

On the way up, I just had to hit up one of my favorite spots in the area, and so I stopped at this little tailwater. While I brought one of the fly setups, it was the spinnning rod that I grabbed out of the back of the truck to fish the stream.....subconsciously I wanted to be assured I wouldn't get skunked (an honest but sad statement about my paltry fly-fishing skills!)






As always with this little spot, there's always a trout waiting for me. While I'm not complaining that it was a bow, truth be told, I was a little bummed it wasn't a cuttie.

Onward bound, I arrive at Williams. The water was way off color, as this place is normally gin clear. I suspect it is the afternoon showers this time of the year that is putting a slight stain to the water.



I finally made my way to the part of the reservoir I like to fish, and setup the fly rod with a 5x knotless system, on the sinking line with a nice mini-Hopper and size 18 nymph combo. About 2 billion crappylicious casts and about 5 good ones, I finally strike gold and land yet another stinkin' bow that swallowed the whole hopper. Needless to say, the little guy got it good (my fault for not mending my line and not using a strike indicator) and bled over my brand spankin' new $1.89 hopper.....no amount of gink was gonna save that little piece of art. I ended up having to keep the fish as it was a floater. A little frustrated at the fact it wasn't the usual brookie we catch there, I kinda sat on a rock and vegetated, taking in the whole landscape...until I decided to head back home for lunch.







A side pond....fishless of course.


On the way back, it got cloudy, and I figured it might make things fishier. So once again, I stopped at my little spot and discovered a fellow fly-fisherman working the water. I sat and talked to the guy trying to pick up some helpful hints. As we talked, he was working a San Juan Worm and got nailed by a little cuttie.




Later today, after the usual rainstorm, the old man and I took the canoe out to "our" lake. We must have C&R'd about 5 a piece, and finally kept one solid rainbow to take home. No brownies this time, all rainbows ranging from 12'' to roughly 16'', with the one fattie around 19''. I brought the fly -rod as well as spin rod, and actually got a nice hit on a Pistol Pete (brown/rust colored one)....but otherwise, no love on the flies (cause I suck). We do well on this lake in the summer with either black woolies, gold spoons, or any spin-fly that sinks deep. I obviously have no clue what flies work well here.











Tomorrow, weather permitting, we take the battleship out for some trolling. Another kokanee would be nice.... (jinx?)