Before Yellowstone I visited my brother in law in Denver. It was my first time there and I found it hard to believe that a decent trout stream would be anywhere near a large metropolitan city. To my amazement there is a ton of trout water with in forty minutes of downtown Denver. You can have it all small stealth stream fishing, trophy monster hunting, and everything in between. I fished a canyon that had some of the most beautiful water I had ever seen.
Plunge pools for days, bugs fluttering here, and there with fish jumping in the distance.
You could literally see the fish in the water at times and I ignorantly expected to catch a fish on my first first few casts. A hundred casts later I realized my expectations may have been a little off.
None of the fish even sniffed my fly but there was a brook trout sipping bugs off the surface right at my feet. I would leave the fish alone for ten minutes then send another cast its way. Each attempt I tried a different fly and the fish came up sipped the fly off the surface to only have me pull it out of its mouth. What fish hits a fly multiple times and feeds 3ft from the bank?
This fish apparently. Fell for an elk hair caddis.
It was a gorgeous fish even if it was the dumbest brook trout in CO.
Haha. Silly fish. Those brookies just don't know any better. Now I guess the question is if you ate it or not? They're not quite as fond of brookies out west as we are back east.
ReplyDeleteBTW, that water looks gorgeous!
It was released unharmed. I hadn't read about the hatred of brookies. In Yellowstone though they have a all out war on anything that isn't a cutthroat.
DeleteKevin
ReplyDeleteSo frustrating to see trout that close to you and not get a take; find the magic fly to connect and you've got a winner. I have a feeling those scenic waters are fished heavy that close to a big city. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the comment Bill. I think you are right about the pressure. Still a great place to visit.
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