This year’s Fourth of July was filled with family, friends and great home cooked food. The day was spent in Fort Collins at my Grammie and Grandpa’s house along with 37 of my closest Aunts, Uncles, cousins, second cousins, and friends close enough to call family. My beautiful girlfriend also enjoyed the encounter with my huge family. Thank you for being there baby.
My plan for the 5th, 6th and 7th was to drive and hike deep into the wilderness of Colorado, relax in the great outdoors and catch a few large trout, specifically of the Cutthroat variety. I got in the car at 4:20AM Sunday morning and hit the road. Watching the rising sun follow me into the mountains over Loveland and Vail Pass awoke my mind and my spirit. The misty morning clouds and fog just getting hit with the sun’s diffused rays over Vail created an amazing sunrise, and the most beautiful rainbow that will not be forgotten. Four and a half hours outside of Denver I arrived at the trailhead ready to go. My backpack was already packed and ready to go. I went from car to trail in under three minutes. The three mile hike up to the lake revealed an amazingly green Colorado with the most wildflower blooms I have ever seen. I felt like the luckiest man alive to be fortunate enough to experience such amazing scenery. I thought about everyone in their cars stuck in traffic. All of the people who will never see such places if not for a postcard. I want to bring this beauty home, to show people that we have a choice. The choice of continuing our path of destruction on this Earth or we can become one with our surroundings again. Let’s live with the Earth, not just on it. My contemplation, and fast hiking led me to my now favorite place in Colorado. As I crested the last ridge, the lake and surrounding mountains came into view. What a sight! I knew right away this place was special.
I found my spot and dropped pack. Before I knew it, my fly rod was in my hand and I was tossing flies into this lake that supposedly holds big fish. The fishing started out slow. Cast after cast, nothing. I had heard they were in here, but where were they? Maybe I was on the wrong side of the lake I thought. It was time for a little exploration. Around the lake I went, with millions of mosquitoes and gnats in tow. I felt like Pigpen from the Peanuts! I was glad I brought that super power bug juice. The amazing scenery made up for the annoyance of the pests. I just didn’t care. I was content to say the least. Once around the lake near the outlet, I spotted a large trout cruising freely in the shallows munching on the thousands and thousands of bugs that grow and hatch out of this lake. Slowly, I snuck up as close as I could without being spotted, prepped my line and cast towards the monster. The fish turned, followed my fly closely, looking at it from multiple angles, and decided not to eat. I cast again, this time a little closer. I twitched the fly in front of the fish and watched as he opened his mouth and sucked in my fly. I set the hook and the fight was on! After about three or four minutes of strong fighting I brought one of the most beautiful Cutthroat Trout I have ever seen in person to my net. After a couple of photos I revived this brute and sent him off to fight another day. That afternoon I caught only one other fish. It wasn’t until the nearly full moon rose over the mountains that night I had the idea of night fishing. I had never fly-fished at night before. I had heard the results could be good. So I went for it. I put on my headlamp switched to stealth red light mode and tried not to trip on my way back down to the shore. Four casts later and I was hooting and hollering with another large trout hooked on the end of my line. How a fish can see an almost all black colored fly at night under water still brings me awe. That night I caught my personal best Cutthroat and Brook Trout. Casting a fly rod at night reminded me of the scene in Point Break when they were surfing at night. It was all about the feeling. I felt my casts were actually better at night in the dark than they are when I can see what I am doing during the day!
After a late night of non-stop big fish action, I made my way back down to the car so I could explore some of the areas other fishing hot-spots. I wasn’t disappointed. I upped myself from the night before with this larger than life cutthroat, caught on a dry!
What a summer so far! I hope to be fortunate enough to see more beauty like I did this trip. And to do it with the people I love.
