Reeling and Healing Midwest - Fall 2015

A couple of weekends ago I had the privilege of getting to hang out with the wonderful ladies of Reeling and Healing-Midwest. There is noting greater than being able to be a River Guide and give something back to those that have struggled through so much. 

The Reeling and Healing Ladies of fall 2015

While the fly fishing is pretty cool, my favorite part of the weekend is teaching the ladies about the Macroinvertabrates and other really cool bugs in the stream

BUGS and Flies

More Photos

Bev the hunter's first trout

 

Mary's first trout and she was so excited, but afraid to touch it

Just look at that smile

More Smile

Explain this to me...these ladies always seem to want to kiss their fish.

And the there is Emma. She just liked making scary faces with her fish.

The coordinator (Ms. Patti), elves (Alicia and Sharon), and river guides of this weekend are an awesome group of men and women who want nothing more than to give back. Some have survived cancer themselves, some their spouses are survivors, and other have had spouses that didn't survive. Ultimately, there is one goal in mind and it has nothing to do with fishing. It is therapy for everyone. For a few days, the ladies get to relax and not have to think about cancer, chemo treatments, and the stress of their everyday lives. I am just happy that I can be a part of such a great organization.



 

Wyoming/Colorado 2105 - the conclusion

The next couple days were spent kind of wandering around. After fishing the Big Thompson near Loveland I headed to the western side of the state to hang out with my dad and several fiends in elk camp. We fished one afternoon at a small stocked Forest Service lake up in the mountains and had a blast, mostly catching dozens of 6 to 12 inch rainbows. 

Nice Brown trout from the South Fork of the Platte River

After Elk Camp I headed to the Lake George through Buena Vista. I really wanted to fish the South Platte so I wasn’t going to spend much time in Buena Vista.

What a difference a few years and a new sales person can make

I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the Ark Anglers fly shop in Buena Vista. In 2009, my dad and I stopped in there with the intent of fishing in the area and was greeted with one of the biggest assholes I have ever met working in a fly shop. It was the first time I was ever told that unless I wanted to buy their guiding service there was no reason to fish the Arkansas River. Needless to say I walked out and didn’t buy a ting from him. Fast-forward 6 years to 2015 and I found myself in Buena Vista again. As I said I was headed to the South Platte, but I needed a bottle of fly floatant so I gritted my teeth and walked back into the ArkAnglers flyshop. This time was completely different. The young man working in the fly shop was incredibly personable and fun to talk with. By the time it was all over he had sold me on the Arkansas River, described to me several places to fish and had talked me into spending some time checking out the area. I didn’t stay and fish, but he talked into spending enough time there that I have decided that it is truly worthy of heading back there in the future. And while you are there give ArkAnglers a chance. They seem to be a completely different fly shop now than they were during my first experience with them back in 2009.

There is a problem with Colorado. There are so many great places to fish and I typically have very little time to fish them. I just need to figure out how to make a living spending my time on the stream. However, if it was that easy everyone would be doing it.

 

View from camp in Eleven Mile Canyon

South Platte

I rolled into Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Fork of the Platte River around noon. After paying my $6 to the Forest Service I headed up the canyon on what had to be the absolutely worst roads of the trip. It was eleven miles of washboard gravel roads. They were the kind of roads you actually have to speed up to drive on because slow speeds actually make it worse.  I drove about half way up the canyon and pulled over to fish. As I hit the stream the fish were rising for Tricos. I hop scotched up the stream hitting each of the fishing holes that looked good and didn’t have other fishermen in them. I managed to land a couple browns on dry flies during the hatch then switched to a nymphing rig with a #14 prince, #18 harvester and a #20 RS2 under and indicator. That seemed to do well the rest of the day as I landed several browns. About ½ hour before dark the BWO hatch began and the water boiled with rising trout. Of course, in the half-dark I could not find any BWO’s in my box, but I did entice a few browns with a Trico. 

 

BWO hatch in Eleven Mile Canyon

 

Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Fork of the Platte River

The next morning proved to be a repeat of the night before. As long as the water was in the shade the BWO’s were hatching. Fish were rising everywhere, but with the extra light they were a bit smarter to my Trico substitute. I finally found a couple BWO’s in my fly box. Of course they were about twice the size of what was hatching, but it was all I had. I finally started to hit a few fish and eventually landed a decent 12-inch cutthroat. As the sun hit the water the fish went back sub-surface. This coincided with the time I need to go and break camp to head back to Missouri. I learned it was 15 hours from the head of Eleven Mile Canyon to the doorstep of my house and that included a 45-minute side excursion when I missed the turnoff at Kit Carson, Colorado.

Nice Cutthroat from the South Platte

Oddly enough

While it is flat and seems featureless. There is some pretty cool things to be seen in eastern Colorado and Western Kansas, especially around sunset.

Something about the vastness of Eastern Colorado

Wyoming/Colorado - Day 4

After fishing in Wyoming we headed back to Loveland. On day four Darrick had to go back to the real world of work for a few hours. We decided to fish locally and catch up after he got off work. I took off up the Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park and the area of Rocky Mountain National Park. I found the local fly shop and grabbed my Colorado tag.

Upper Section of the Big Thompson River, near Estes Park, Colorado

I always try to support local fly shops and at the same time try to give an honest review of any shop I go into. I found Kirk’s Fly Shop in Estes Park to be an awesome shop that had everything you could ever need or imagine for both fly fishing and backpacking. The prices are on the higher end, but they are in a tourist town, I guess I can understand that. They have to make their living in about 6 months. You can even rent rods and waders. They have some really neat art work on the walls, but they are mostly priced for tourist. Ultimately, what it boils down to…if you need it they will have it and while their prices may be on the higher end they are still cheaper than the Grey Reef Fly Shop in Alcova, Wyoming.

They did have one downfall. They had some young twit selling license who you could tell didn’t want to be there and was pissed about it. The guy in front of me asked the young man if he had any advice on where to fish. The twit snidely told him “everywhere…if there is water there is fish in it.” I also found it odd that a worker in a local fly shop was wearing a Cabela’s t-shirt and ball cap. I guess it was some great act of defiance or something. My advice is to not waste your time talking to rude twit with the Cabela’s ball cap on.

Typical Brown landed in the Big Thompson River

Finally, I am headed to the Big Thompson. Wasn’t real sure where to go so I found a wide spot on the shoulder and pulled over. It was small mountain stream fishing just like you imagined and have read about so many times. I caught all browns, which kind of surprised me. I hadn’t done any research on the Big Thompson, but I guess I was expecting Cutthroats. None of the fish I landed were giants, mostly in the 12 to 14 inch range. I did have a couple hooked that probably would have run 16 to 18 inches, but like every great fish story they got away. I started at the top and fished my way down to Drake where I was to meet Darrick after work. My usual Elk Hair Caddis with a nymph dropper seemed to work pretty well, but for some of the deeper holes a double nymph with a little more weight work best. 

Darrick fishing near Drake. He is pretty tough. There is no way I could wet wade in that cold water. I guess if you live there you might get used to it. BRRRRR!

Newly repaired section of the Big Thompson river near Drake, Colorado

The road runs right along the river and is a beautiful drive. The river was scoured out from the heavy flooding they had two summers ago. You could see where parts of the road had been rebuilt. Entire houses were washed away and every bridge over the river was new. Below Drake is where the worst of the flooding occurred. The river had been completely rebuilt and engineered. Darrick said fishing had not been too good below Drake, but we checked it out just to see. While we didn’t catch anything we did have a couple hits and I saw some skins where stoneflies had crawled up to molt. So life is coming back into the stream. 

Some life coming back to the lower end of the Big Thompson River near Loveland, Colorado

Wyoming/Colorado 2015 - Day Three

The first thing on the morning of day three we were back at the Meadows area of Fremont Canyon. Unlike the evening before, the caddis were nowhere to be found so we started nymphing, mostly a Prince with a RS2 or Harvester midge dropper. We only had until noon to fish, but we got lucky and it clouded up a bit and even showered a couple times. I guess the fish like it because day three was one of those memorable days of fishing you never forget. For me it was the day I landed my largest wild trout ever. It measured right at 24 inches. 

 

This is my largest wild trout ever. It is as large as my net which measures 24 inches

But day three was defiantly Darrick’s day. He landed 6 or 7 fish all in the 20 to 24 inch range and hooked into several more. 

One of Darrick's nice Rainbows

Darrick accidentally releasing that same rainbow

 More on day four of my Colorado/Wyoming trip coming soon.

Wyoming/Colorado Day Two

Wyoming Sunrise from Camp. Smoke from the wildfires out west made the skies really cool looking.

The second day was much more relaxing. There were no long road trips to get anywhere so we started exploring. Thirty six miles from Alcova is what is regarded as the best place to fish on the North Platte River. The tailwater below Kortez Dam starts what is called the “Miracle Mile”. We headed up there in the morning. It was a beautiful drive across huge expanses of high prairie. For a guy from the Ozarks it was truly something inspiring to see. After driving about 46 miles on the gravel road we decided that we had in fact missed our turn off. We saw the sign pointing to Kortez Dam, but the Miracle Mile was never mentioned. So after a back track, we got to the stream. After doing some exploring along the stream and talking to a couple locals we hit the river.

Never really know what you are going to see in this place

Much like the day before, as we sat putting on our waders we watched a guy land three fish while nymphing just downstream from where we were sitting. Again, we were psyched! We fished half the day in several spots and hooked up with fish a time or two. Not quite the “Miracle” stream that the signs said, but a beautiful place none the less. Come to find out a Trico hatch had just finished a couple weeks before and everyone said the 93 degree days had sure slowed the fishing down.

The Meadows area of Fremont Canyon

Another from the Meadows area of Fremont Canyon

Darrick fishing the head of Fremont Canyon.

In the afternoon we headed closer to Alcova to an area called Fremont Canyon, more specifically, the “Meadows” above Fremont Canyon. The stream was considerable different and when I say different I mean smaller. The Meadows was more like fishing the upper Current, only it was Wyoming, the fish were really big, and at the end of the meadow’s the stream flowed into a canyon with 200 to 300 foot high vertical walls. Of course we tried nymphing and did pretty good. Just as the day before at Grey Reef, as the sun began to set the brown Caddis hatch started. Needless to say there is nothing more fun that catching 18 inch fish that are rising to a hatch. 

Nice Rainbow landed on a EHC in the Meadows area of Fremont Canyon

So the morning and the Miracle Mile was kind of a bust. I am sure we might have caught fish there if we would have hung around longer and figured them out before we took off. The Meadows of Fremont Canyon on the other hand was fantastic. We decided to be there first thing on Day Three. So off to the Sunset Bar and Grill for a burger and a beer.

So ended Day Two

Wyoming/Colorado 2015 – Day One

I started out on a new adventure the last part of August. I have been fishing at different places out west before so that part wasn’t different. What was different was that I had no place to be after the first three days of my trip. Remember the old western movie called “Have Gun will Travel?” Well, I was have fly rod will travel. I will get to all the coin tosses and random decisions later. First, let me tell you about Wyoming. 

So I drove out to Loveland Colorado and met up with my friend Darrick. After grabbing some really awesome breakfast burritos, the next morning we headed from there to the Grey Reef area on the North Platte River near Alcova, Wyoming. And here started my first adventure…a driftboat. I had never been in a drift boat much less paddled one on the river. After driving to Wyoming, going through the whole process of renting the boat, then having to run to the local quick shop to talk to Ed (the guy who was to shuttle my truck down to the take out point) and then launching, it was well after 1:00 pm. Did I mention that it was a 93 degree day? We sat as we launched the boat and watched a lady land two nice rainbows. Darrick and I were psyched. We took off. 

My truck looks pretty good with a drifboat behind it

It wasn’t long until it was my turn at the oars. Remember the game PONG? I really figured I would be kind of like the little ball that bounced back and forth between the banks, but I surprised myself. It was more like a muted PONG. I kept us off the bank, but there were a few times that Darrick had to cast off the opposite side of the boat because I had flipped of around.

As with any hot summer day we drifted nymphs. We hit a few fish, but never really had anything close to the boat. One nice thing about nymph fishing is that you can sort of do it one handed. Did I mention that the driftboat manufacturers did a really good job of locating can holders right there on the casting platform? That was a good thing because it was a hot day. Luckily, the North Platte River has no rapids or complex maneuvering required. 

Finally, as the sun began to drop and the air started to cool, the fish started surfacing for emergers. It wasn’t long until we were in the middle of a really nice evening hatch of brown Caddis. We stopped paddling, filled our can holders, and started fishing dry flies to rising fish. It was great. I only landed one rainbow, but I cannot tell out how many time I hooked up or missed a rising fish. The hatch finally became so heavy that our fly simply became one among thousands. The fish seemed to get really picky after that happened. 

Rainbow landed on the North Platte River

So it was nearing dark and we realized that the only map we had was a brochure from the Grey Reef Fly Shop and Driftboat Rental and it was pretty simple. The guide at the fly shop said it was about a 6-hour float to the take out point. From the best of our calculations we had spent about 6 hours and according to our simple little map we were about half way. What did that mean…Paddling. We paddled and we paddled. The Caddis were hatching and fish rising all around us, but we paddled. The water was pretty slow so the current didn’t help us one bit. The one that wasn’t paddling was trying to lighten the load by emptying the cans that fit into the little can holders. It was getting pretty dark, but we got kind of lucky…Did I mention it was a full moon that night? We rolled into the takeout point about dark thirty. We had to grab lanterns and headlamps so we could see hook up the boat and unpack our gear.  

Got to love the things you will find on the river back. The dreaded 3-legged dinosaur of the North Platte River. 

We had no idea where we were. We didn’t know the direction to Alcova. And worst of all, the last two hours of paddling had negated all the effects of us trying to empty the cans. What would we do with out GPS? I had set a GPS waypoint at the fly shop. I just hit return and off we went. 

What a great view from the river.

I should note that the Sunset Bar and Grill is only place to eat in Alcova. It is right across from the fly shop…you can’t miss it. It is also the only place to drink in Alcova. Lucky for us. With diftboat in tow, we whipped in and tried it out. It was exactly what you would think of from a small bar in barren south central Wyoming. The place was filled with fly fishermen from the river and walleye fishermen from the nearby lakes. I guess there isn’t much to do in Alcova at night because all the guides were hanging out there as well. There was even this really nice old weathered cowboy at the bar drinking iced tea and playing the video game. His name was…Cowboy. Who would have guessed?

One night I had the burger and the next I had the Chicken Fried Steak. The burger was awesome. I highly recommend it. The CFS I would warn you against. It may be the best CFS in Wyoming, but because I am from the south, I know fried foods and in my opinion it lacked a bit. Go for the burger. It was great.

Just past the fly shop is the Pete’s Draw Campground. It recommend it if you stay in Alcova. About midnight we rolled into camp and took the very last spot. The full moon helped us out and we made our nest for the evening. Pete’s Draw is a BLM campground so it does cost $10 a night to camp, but you are sitting on the banks of the river. 

Full moon setting at sunrise over the North Platte River and Camp...West from Pete's Draw Campground.

I am so jealous. Darrick can sleep anywhere.

Grey Reef Outfitters.

Fly Shop Review...Grey Reef Outfitters. 

Advise: Great - What they said the fish would hit, they were hitting on. They didn't mention the Caddis hatch, but I am not sure they expected us to be on the river at darkish. 

Cost for boat: Not sure. First time renting a driftboat - $65 for 1/2 day or $120 for all day.

Cost for Flies: WHEW! they are the only game in town and they know it. Flies started at $2.79 each. Yes, I bought 18 flies just to pay for the advise they gave us and a sticker for my back window. 

SO ENDS DAY ONE

 I am never really sure how to write up my fly fishing adventures. Writing in first person always sounds kind of flighty, but third person sounds too stuffy. In the end I would rather be thought of as flighty rather than stuffy. I hope you enjoyed the tale. After writing up the first day of my adventure I realized I am really full of it and it is going to take more than a single story to tell you every thing. Hope you enjoy the tale and come back for more. 

BOOT