Had an old friend in town today and it got me
thinking of the first time I ever had a great day on the river. The year was
1990 and the second to the last day of the ski season I was throwing a
helicopter and only made it three quarters of the way. When I landed and my
shin slammed into the front of my boot I experienced the worst pain of my life.
A week later my friend Kevin Neff called me and said we should go fishing
before he headed to Alaska. I was apprehensive because of the pain but he
assured me that he knew of a great place to fish. We drove up to Shadow
Mountain dam and he said it would be a short hike down the river and we would
fish where the river ran into Lake Granby. To this day the hike seemed like it
was well over ten miles with every step feeling pain radiating up my leg. I’m
sure if I made my way back up there it was probably a lot closer. Anyway we finally
got to where we wanted to fish and we could see that just out of casting reach
there was a small shelf that we wanted our hooks to get to. Now in those days I
was throwing salmon eggs with an ultra light reel and two fish was a really
good day. After a little frustration of not being able to get our casts out as
far as we wanted we decided to get in the water. Now you have to remember that
this was April, in the mountains and we had no waders. The initial shock from
the cold was not enough to make us use our brains so we walked out to where we
could cast to the shelf. First cast we caught a fish and then another and
another and after a short time I lost all feeling in my legs so it actually
felt good. We fished for about an hour and we realized that we had completely
used up every bit of bait we had brought. I think we landed twenty fish between
the two of us and at that point it was the greatest day I had ever had fishing.
We made the walk back to the car and as
the feeling came back to my leg I though Kevin was going to have to carry me,
luckily I made it, I don’t think he liked me enough to carry me.
Unfortunately as life moves on people end up
in different places and just lose touch. In those days there were no cell
phones, Facebook or even internet so out of sight really meant out of mind. A
couple of years ago Kevin was in Colorado and we got to hook up for a few days
of storytelling and fishing and it was really great to see him after twenty
years. Kevin was back in Colorado and came down today with his father to fish
our little tailwater again. The river had cleared earlier this week so fishing
and guide trips this weekend were amazing. I had told Kevin that he had perfect
timing and the river was in pristine condition. Now keep in mind that Kevin has
spent most of the last fifteen years guiding in Alaska so it takes a little to
impress him. We got to the water about 9:30 and the first ten minutes was a
headscratcher. The first thing I noticed was that the three feet of clarity
from Saturday was back to less than a foot with the milky grey color. Cat
headed to her spot and Kevin to the spot I told him and Kevins’ dad moved to
the spot I told him so he could tie on his flies. As he was tying his last fly
a guy walked up and Jerry very nicely said “done already” and the guy just kind
of looked at him moved up ten feet and started to cast. I just had to laugh and
say welcome to Pueblo… The day had moments, a few good fish a few small fish,
way too many misses and way too many perfect drifts with no action. I think we
caught more than we caught that day twenty plus years ago but the stakes have
changed. Cat got the fish of the day at 19 inches and Kevin got a couple that went right around 17. The company was way better than the fishing today and I don’t remember
ever spending that much time shooting the breeze. Kevin was always the kind of
guy that would give you the shirt off his back and even loan you his car for
six months so it sure was great spending the day with him and his father.
Conditions today have definitely deteriorated
today with clarity back at about a foot. I am only guessing that this is still
the res trying to finish turning over. The hot flies of the day were the true
Blood, the FOD, the Bling midge and even picked up a few on a big Adams. Not
really sure what the river will to now but even with the poor clarity the fish
still need to eat. As always, Connell, Cat, (Kevin and Jerry), and the Drift
Fly shop would like to thank you for reading…
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