Colorado river, you suck

I have been putting off writing about this trip for some time.  The reason?  Because I really don't have much to say.  I do want to thank Erin and Howard for their tips.  The original idea for my recent trip to CO was to hit up some high mountain lakes in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.  But being so late in the year there was a good chance significant amounts of ice would be involved, and I'm not talking about ice chilling beers in plastic coolers.  I'm talking about the glassy barrier between my fly and the fishs' mouths.  We called up the Ranger's office and they said the lakes were indeed freezing overnight and then thawing throughout the days, so that idea was tossed out the window.

Our contingency plans were either the Ark or the Colorado river with a possibility of hitting up the Yampa, but that was just a little too far to really make sense.  We settled for the Colorado because of some good reports both from the intarwebs and through the grapevine.  To be completely honest though, I maintain a nugget of hatred for the Colorado river in my heart.  I have had some good days there, but more often than not it seems I get massively frustrated by the hordes of rising fish all around me but not taking my offerings.  And it doesn't help when another guy in the group is slaying it and telling me that they're eating anything with a parachute!

But I agreed to the Colorado as a destination, carrying in the back of my mind significant hopes of big fish everywhere.  Yes, I know that's a terrible mindset to have.  It's like going to a movie expecting it to be the best film of the year, but I couldn't help it!

Well, the trip lived up to my historical view of the Colorado river.  I saw more dead fish than live ones, and between four people I could count the total number of fish caught in two full days of fishing on my two hands.  None were all that big either.  The best of the trip was a 14" rainbow.  One of the other guys claimed to have a really nice one on that popped off as he was netting it, but we all know how trustworthy anglers are.  It was probably a nice chunky 12 incher.

All the dead fish were a little perplexing and concerning to me.  I seriously saw at least ten dead fish in two days, a couple of them were PIGS.  Usually I'll see one or two per trip.  I suspect the fishing gods heard I was about to visit the river so they poisoned it just prior to my arrival.

Never again, Colorado river!  Until next time...