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The Fourth Time’s the Charm

There are a few sayings that go along with my fly fishing outing to the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon on Saturday. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” “persistence pays off” and “the third time’s the charm.” It was actually my fourth time to Cheesman and a quite satisfying time it was.

The first few trips to Cheesman Canyon were either alone or with my buddy Esteban. This time Esteban and my other buddy Jason came along for the adventure. All week we explained to Jason how tricky the fishing was and that the trout were very particular in that stretch of the South Platte. We didn’t want him to have high expectations of catching a bunch of the nicely sized trout that call Cheesman their home.

The morning temperature when we arrived was a brisk 21 degrees and surprisingly enough, the parking lot had just one other car in it. We bundled up, grabbed our gear, and headed up over the mountain and down to the river. When we got down to the river Jason went downstream just a little with his spinning gear and lures. Myself and Esteban fished on either side of the river with our fly rods.

Probably not even a half hour in we started seeing just a few fish eating off the top. It was still quite cold and I couldn’t see what they were eating so I switched to a midge pattern, Matt’s Midge. After only a few cast’s, wham fish on!! The previous three times visiting Cheesman I was skunked. This was the first time that I even had a fish on the line and let me tell you I was quite excited! All I had to do was net him. I played him for a little bit and slowly eased him in and when he was about four feet away he got off the hook. So frustrating!!! When you go to Cheesman to fly fish you generally have to use small flies and light tippet. So once you get the fishy to take your fly, the next challenge is netting him. You have to be gentle and take your time, otherwise your line will break or the hook will wiggle free.

There were still fish rising here and there so I dried off my fly and tried again in the same vicinity, but closer to a big boulder. Several casts later I had another one on my line. This one didn’t stay on the line very long because he swam to the other side of the giant rock and when I attempted to guide him back towards me he managed to unhook himself. Two fish on and none landed. I wondered if I would ever catch a fish here.

After the early action we moved upstream a little ways and didn’t have much luck. We met back up with Jason and wouldn’t you know it he caught two nice bows during the same time I lost my two fish. That lucky SOB! First time to Cheesman and he get’s two right off the bat.

We all moved upstream even more to a nice looking spot. The sun had been shining down for a little while now and a hatch was starting to go off. The fish were rising everywhere. I still had my Matt’s Midge on so I tried that for a bit, but that was the wrong fly. I could see the trout weren’t interested. I switched over to a size 22 comparadun and immediately that got the attention of these feasting fish. It took three strikes before I was able to hook one, but when I did I told myself this guy is not getting away! After several minutes of play and slowly bringing this fool in I got my net out and attempted to net him, but I couldn’t quite reach. I didn’t want to risk it so I handed my net over to Jason and quickly got the fish safely in my possession. Finally, I have caught a fish at Cheesman! The saying goes that “If you can catch a fish in Cheesman Canyon, you can catch a fish anywhere.” Looks like my next stop is anywhere.

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Long Time No Post Part 1

It’s been a while since I have made a blog post. I have been fly fishing and camping four times since my last post. Four times!! What is my deal? Well anyway, I need to catch up. So here it goes, part 1 of the last month’s adventures.

Around the 4th of July every year my family heads up to the South Park area for some Colorado mountain fun. My favorite part of this trip, besides hanging with my extended family, is the fly fishing. There are numerous places to fly fish in this area, including Elevenmile and Spinney Reserviors and the South Platte river that flows between them, a.k.a. the “Dream Stream.” But the fisheries that I usually frequent are Tarryall Reservoir and Tarryall Creek, mainly because of their proximity to our cabin.

Tarryall Reservoir is a nice little reservoir that is mostly full of Rainbow Trout and Northern Pike. There is camping and boating at this lake, though I normally fish from the shore. My only gripe with Tarryall is that it is always windy. Day, night, summer, spring and fall. No matter the the time there always seems to be wind.

Tarryall Creek feeds right into the reservoir before it makes it’s way to the South Platte. This small creek winds back and forth for miles in a small valley. It’s a very nice setting with smaller mountains all around and no trees or brush to impede casting. There are mostly smaller brown trout with an occasional 12-14 incher hanging in deep undercut banks.

Here’s some pictures from that weekend:

Rainbows from the reservoir.

Nice looking sunset.

Little brown from Tarryall Creek.

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Sunday Fly Fishing (bait and lures were used too)

I had a very nice day fishing with the family and a friend at Antero Reservoir. It was a nice 63 degrees, mostly calm with a few small periods of light wind.

I only landed one small rainbow, but still had a great time nonetheless. I was happy that he went after the wooly bugger I had just tied up on Friday night. Doesn’t it kind of look like this little guy has a mustache? He must have gone through puberty early.

My buddy was using lures and had a few hookups and landed one. My wife was using lures and bait; also only landing one. It, however, was definitely the catch of the day. She used dreaded powerbait, which I do not condone nor condemn, to land her a nice 17-incher. Below is the video of its release.

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Magical Mustache or Lucky T-Shirt

I have been out on the water just a handful of times thus far in 2012, and up until yesterday I hadn’t caught a fish. Each time I would say the cliche lines like “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.” or “It’s nice to just be in the outdoors.” We all know that those are mostly true statements, but the point of fishing is to catch freaking fish! And yesterday was the day to break my skunky streak. I took the family to the Chatfield Gravel Pond, which is a medium-sized pond right next to Chatfield Reservoir.

I wasn’t quite sure what fly I was going to use so I started of with a wooly bugger. After a few casts, I started to see a few occasional risers. I immediately switched to a comparadun because nothing beats watching a fish take your dry fly sitting on top! The fish were definitely not going crazy on the top of the lake, but I knew if I was patient I would get one. And sure enough, BAM! He took my fly and I set the hook. He wasn’t much of a fighter but it was still nice to get my first trout of the year. The wife and kids weren’t having any luck with their bait and lure fishing and were ready to leave even though everyone knows “you never walk away from the table when you’re on a heater.”

I’m not sure if it was fishing with the family or the too cool for school shirt I was wearing or my sweet stache, but something helped me break my no fish streak. I’ll give credit to the shirt. I only caught one and he was definitely too cool for school.

Comparadun

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I Love Trout

Besides my lovely wife, I love trout. I love how slimy they are. I love how spooky they can be or how tolerant they can be. I love how they sometimes eat on the top of the water and sometimes they eat on the bottom. I love to watch them jump out of the water. I love to watch them swim up to my fly and then swim away. I love big 20 inch rainbows. I love little 6 inch brookies. But most of all like the feeling of them tugging on my line. To celebrate my love of trout on this day of love I am sharing a coupon code, ILOVETROUT, for 14% off shirts.

Happy Valentine’s Day