Geez!!!

Good God! Where to begin? The past three days have been off the charts!

I said I would be making a return trip to the Haynach Lakes, and I have kept my word. Tuesday I ventured into the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park. Seven miles in, on the hunt for my first cutthroat trout.

I got a late start and was on the trail at nine on the dot. The morning was cool and damp, and the hiking was great.


This is Big Meadow. I've posted a picture of this before, but now it's really summertime.



This is Tonahutu Meadow. I really need a wide-angle lens to capture the grandiosity of the landscape!


Upper Haynach Lake. I kept a breakneck pace the whole hike until I hit the spur trail to the lake. The last 1.2 miles were killer! Almost vertical. I could have sworn I'd hiked three miles and was wondering where the hell this lake was. Just as I was losing hope, I came across a sign that said 'No Camping, No Fires.' I thought this was a strange place to place a random sign. Just as I was thinking this, I turned the corner and was smacked down by the unbelievable beauty of the place I was in.


The whole hike I kept thinking about how big of a bust it would be to find no fish in this lake. I sat down on the bank to eat a peanut butter bagel, and within seconds I was staring at a 16 inch cutthroat! I couldn't scarf down that dry ass bagel quick enough. Not only had I been watching cutthroats cruising, but they were rising to midges right in front of my face. And the water? You could see for eternity!

It seemed like rigging up took forever. But when I finally was rigged and ready, it took about three casts to nail my first cutthroat. Sweet Success! He wasn't very big, but I could have cared less. On a sour note, I made a bonehead decision to leave the net in the car. This made photographing my catch rather difficult. Oh well...


There were trout in the lake as far as the eye could see. Between wind gusts fish were rising everywhere. Fish of all sizes, EVERYWHERE! I even saw a rather large fish eat a pine cone. He eventually spit it out, but he was making a pretty good effort at eating it!


I only caught three fish, this being the best of the day. I had shots at four or five much larger fish. I just couldn't quit yanking the fly out of their mouths. Think it's easy to have restraint when you see a 20'' cuttie coming up to eat your fly from 20 feet underwater? I know not. Anyways, the size of the fish didn't matter one bit. Just fishing there was enough.


I hiked 14 miles roundtrip. I walked through the woods for six hours, and only fished for three. Crazy? Maybe. Awesome? Hell yeah!


SO, yesterday started with a quick shuttle to Denver on what was supposed to be my day off. Things turned out pretty good though.

When I returned to the ranch I grabbed some food and waders and bolted! With just a short window of time to fish, I headed to a public stretch of the Colorado just down the road. I fished this area before run-off hit and I had caught some fish. I had high hopes. I fished for a little bit and watched some caddis pop off sporadically. I nailed this guy after an hour and then another about the same size, shortly thereafter. This is pretty typical of the size I've always caught here.


I moved on up to a deep pool. Again, I had caught small fish here before. I fished the hole for a bit with no success. I made another cast and got a bite right at the tail end of my drift. At first I just felt a small head shake, then the fish turned it's side into the current and I felt his weight. After three magnificent jumps, I landed the best brown trout I've caught on public water. Sweet!



I broke and headed to the ranch for some dinner. With the fishing mojo in full swing, I couldn't let the evening go to waste without trying to catch some rising stockers. When I got to the creek the fish were rising right on cue!


I made one cast with an elk hair caddis, and watched this brute inhale my fly. He put up a pretty good fight and was released healthily. Not a bad way to round out the day!


Why has today been so sweet? I just got hooked up with a sick new pair of Salomon skis! Bring the snow (but wait for just a little longer, the fishing's heating up)!

Life is good in MuddlerLand

PEACE

Hard Work & Private Browns

This past week has been crazy! Dial for Men held their second Camp Dirt here on the ranch this past weekend. We started building the events last Monday, and worked like dogs all week. We built a paintball course, a mudslide, an ATV race course, mud football field, life-size game of Battleship, and a skid-steer drag strip. Whew!

The work was all worth it when the contestants arrived. They seemed to have a blast while competing for ten thousand dollars. Two good ol' boys from Florida took home the check. They were cool dudes, I'm glad they won.

The free beer all weekend wasn't too shabby either!

With all this work came no time for fishing or reporting on my last trip on the Fraser River.

Sunday before last I got the chance to fish a private stretch of the Fraser River. The price of admission was a twelver of Fat Tire. I'd pay this anyday! The fishing was stellar and so was the weather. Overcast, threatening conditions always seem to get the big browns active. Sunday was no different. We hit the water a bit after two and fished for about two hours. Green Caddis larvae was the ticket all day.

No more than 15 minutes into fishing, I nailed this guy in a deep run. He fought like a champ and was absolutely gorgeous! Just a short while later I nailed a nice bow, but he jumped me off. Feces Occurs...


I got to fish with a guy I work with on the ranch. Rusty's a super nice guy and I'm glad we finally got to fish together. He had been telling me he had access to this stretch of water all winter, and we finally hit it.

This is looking in an easterly direction at the divide. The weather looked like this all day, SWEET!


This is by far the biggest brookie I've ever caught. But after catching these big browns out here, these guys aren't really doing it for me. However, you will never hear me complain about catching a fish!


Rusty had been fishing the run upstream when I nailed that brookie. He didn't have any luck and moved on upstream. His spot looked way too fishy to pass up. I made a few drifts and nailed this guy. One of the better fish I've caught out here. Rusty was obliging enough to snap a hero shot of me and I turned him loose. Got to love that private water...


We fished on up without much success, keeping our eyes on the skies the whole time. We came up to a nice looking pool that was fed by a deeply undercut bank. The spot definitely held a fish. With Rusty experiencing a very nasty tangle, I took the opportunity to nail a nice brown right against the bank. Green Caddis larvae were under every rock and the fish were killing them! I dig this picture.


Man he was a stubby little dude! He fought like hell and stirred up the whole bank and pool. No more fish came to play.


With eminent torrential downpours, we retreated to the car. We stopped just in time to crack one of our cans of admission with the landowner. We chatted for a minute, and were insured a return trip. But only if we brought another twelve.

What a sweet little window of fishing! Can't wait to make it back.

As for tomorrow, I'm heading back up to the Haynach Lakes in search of my first cutthroat trout. It's about a six mile hike into the first lake. There is a stream that connects the two, and they are supposedly full of cutties. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!

PEACE

KILLIN' IT

HALLELUJAH, It's time to fish people!

For the past few weeks the fishing has been slowly picking up, and in the last week it has EXPLODED! Hatches are coming off almost like clockwork and fish are feeding, such a great sight to see!

I've mostly been fishing Willow Creek here lately. This is the stream that runs through the ranch. The fish I thought weren't there are showing up, and the fishing is actually pretty good. Most the fish are stocked rainbows, but there are a few wild browns in mix. I caught this guy about 2 weeks ago and although a stocker, quite pretty!


This is Willow Creek at the mouth of Willow Creek Reservoir. This stretch of water is full of little rainbow trout, plus a few stockers that have been washed downstream. Catching 30 fish in an hour or two is not uncommon...


Mom came to visit me this past week, she stayed 5 days and we had a blast! I was also hooked up with some sweet new gear.


The hatches have been crazy around these parts. Stoneflies, mayfies, caddis, you name it, and its been hatching!

These guys were hatching on the Yampa this past Saturday. I came away fish-less, but I can't say I was fishing in the best conditions. Regardless, it was fun fishing some new water. I definitely plan on fishing up that way in the fall.

Quiz: Who knows what this is?



This was a caddis hatch on the Colorado a couple nights ago.


Fatty stocker taken from Willow Creek. These fish eat two flies, a hares ear and an elk hair caddis. Like clockwork...


This is a wild rainbow taken from the Colorado a couple evenings ago. As I've said before, catching a rainbow on the CO is a pretty rare thing. The rainbows were decimated by whirling disease. In the CO there are around 5,000 browns per mile, compared to around 200 rainbows per mile. Before the whirling disease these numbers were reversed.


Not only was this a nice wild rainbow, but it was also tagged. Pretty cool I think...


An Evening on The Colorado


Brown Town


Ripple


The ranch has a private mile and a half lease on the North Fork of the Colorado. It's such a sweet looking stretch of water. But, I was strictly forbidden to fish it unless I was with a guest. Does that make any sense to you? Shouldn't a guide know the water he's fishing? I think so. I've felt like an idiot the few times I've been there with people.

This had to change. I formulated an argument and presented it to the big wigs. My argument was stellar and I gained permission to take the afternoon and fish the water. HOLY SHIT!!! The fishing was epic, even in the middle of the afternoon! I caught alot of fish. I landed four or five fish of this caliber. I had even more fish of this size come unglued, and one broke me off. That hasn't happened in a long time!


These browns blend in so perfectly with the bottom of the CO.


Gazing upon Rocky Mountain National Park from the N Fork of the CO.


OINK, OINK


Life is sweet!

The fishing should do nothing but continue to get better as the fall comes on. Cooler temps are starting to move in, and the aspens are starting to look a little brittle. I'm cool with it.

Next week will be alot of work, but alot of fun. Dial soap company is invading the ranch to film a commercial called Camp Dirt. Pretty much were going to be building mudslides, operating machinery, and blowing things up. I can't wait.

Keep it real people,
Muddler

We're Getting There...

About three weeks ago, a friend and I set out to fish Buchannan Creek. The creek feeds Monarch Lake, where we have been doing a bit of hiking.

On the walk in we came upon this moose, he was just chilling. This guy is going to have a pretty good sized rack this year! We stopped and looked at him for a minute or two and moved on. He wasn't the slightest bit worried about us being there.


After passing the moose, we hiked on a ways and came upon this view. I have been to Monarch quite a few times, but have never seen the wind totally calm. The weather had been teasing rain all day long, but we pressed on to fish.


This is Buchannan Creek. The water was still high and stained, but seemed fishable. We rigged up and hopped in the creek. The gravel bottom offered zero footing in the swift current, just crumbled under my feet. We had to resort to bushwhacking through the willows. I have to admit I was pretty nervous after our moose encounter. Where we were was perfect moose habitat.

Anyways, we fished on. We were limited to the waters we could fish, and only managed to see a couple fish. These fish were laid up under heavy brush and were impossible to get a fly to. We pressed on until the sky quit taunting rain and made true to it's word. We hurried back to the trailhead and sought refuge at the Forest Service station. We waited around for about 45 minutes and the storm passed. We tried our hand on the lake for a little bit, but to no avail. We called it a day.


BROOKIES!

I found Buffalo Creek a couple weeks ago, and have had a blast catching brookies!


Buffalo Creek is a cool little stream. It runs through a shallow valley, and is surrounded by head-high willow and grass. There are lots of bends, which make some nice holes for the bigger fish to hang in. But talk about mosquitos! The first time I fished buffalo Creek I was run off after a half hour of fishing. I looked down on my legs and couple easily see 50 mosquitos. Unpleasant!


But with mosquitos comes mayflies and caddis flies! There were swarms of mayflies is every pocket of water, and brookies were gorging themselves!

If you look closely at this picture, you can see a cloud of mayflies in the pool just upstream. Click the pic.


I kinda squished this guy, but this is what the fish were eating.


I really love this picture! I couldn't get a good pic of the bugs in the air and was getting frustrated, the light was wrong. I did some editing to one of the pictures I had taken, and this is how it turned out. You can see three or four bugs in flight, and the colors are just plain sweet!


This is one of the better fish I've caught from Buffalo. He had some great color on him! It never ceases to amaze me how a brookie will SMASH an Elk Hair Caddis when they won't sniff anything else. I guess an EHC is like brookie crack!


On the way back to the ranch, I saw a double rainbow. I stopped to take a picture of it, but had the same problem as photographing the mayflies. The overcast conditions weren't the best. But once again, I did some editing. This is how it came out. I can dig it!


I had a friend tell me about Beaver Creek. On this creek there were supposedly, of all things; beaver ponds! Well, I hiked a few miles only to find a couple beaver "puddles." I was not impressed with what I saw. I never rigged up. I did come across some flora, though. I'm not too sure what this flower is called, but it's everywhere out here. I think they're pretty cool...


As I was leaving Beaver Creek, I was happy to be heading for blue skies!


Oh man! This past weekend was the Solshine Music Festival in Winter Park. I made sure I had the day off in advance. The concert was free and pretty much all bluegrass. We had such a great time. The two headliners were Trampled By Turtles and The Punch Brothers. I had heard of both of these bands, but never really heard any of their music. All I can say is KILLER!

The concert started at noon and was scheduled to run until 6 pm. We ventured in around one o'clock, just about the time it started raining! Undaunted, we headed back to the vehicles and a very well placed awning. We could see and hear the stage from where we sat, just on the other side of Vasquez Creek. The rain lasted about an hour, which gave us plenty of time to get our heads right for the show!

The skies cleared up and the sun shone bright! Trampled By Turtles took the stage just as we staked our claim on the lawn. They played driving bluegrass for a couple hours, and were awesome!

I have had a waterproof travel blanket in my car for the longest time, and it finally came in handy. Kept a dry bum the whole show!

The Punch Brothers came on after TBT. They also put on a killer show. My two highlights were when they covered Sexx Laws by Beck, and Ophelia by The Band!

Our motley crew!



That's what's been going on around here... Give it another week or so, and we may be able to fish some real rivers! Life is good in this 'hood!

PEACE