DISCLAIMER: THIS POST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SUNFISH. SO SUE ME!


I am in the middle of my summer break from teaching and decided to spend a couple days in my native state. So I left bright and early and headed northwest through New Mexico, over Raton Pass and into Trinidad CO. I got to Trinidad just a little after sunrise and headed due west on Hwy 12 towards the Sangre de Cristo mountains. As always when I head into the high country I feel a thousand pounds of stress magically melt away.


I wanted to fish a new lake for me so I went about 45 miles west on HWY 12, past a little town called Stonewall to the North Lake SWA. There is a really pretty lake there that I have always wanted to fish.

There is a sign in the parking areas that says the lake has rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout and kokanee salmon. I put the tube out and began just paddling along watching my fish finder to see what I had to work with in the way of depth and bottom structure. For the most part the lake was 45+ feet deep and my fish finder showed fish hanging around some drop offs. I started off tossing black jigs and vertically jigging them along the drop offs. That didn't work so I began experimenting until I found a winner. That took some time. The lure that worked was a #1 MEPPs with a blue shaft and a silver blade fished really slow and deep. I ended up with 6 rainbows a little over a foot in length before the wind kicked up and ran me off the water. All fish were released to fight another day.


I intended to spend the night in the Gallegos Canyon camp ground on the Bosque de Oso SWA and I got there about 2 hrs before dark. The Bosque de Oso is one of my favorite places in the state and is where I got my last bear in 2021. I had just enough time to set up camp and get ready to relax. It isn't anything fancy but this was home for the next 2 nights.

After falling asleep listening to the coyotes howl I awoke to a spectacular morning. Cool and crisp, the mountains gleamed around me. Coffee and breakfast taken care of I grabbed an ultralite spinning rod and headed for the creek. They actually call this thing the North Fork of the Purgatoire River but to me it is a creek about 8 ft across. Really good looking water.

I grew up fishing small streams like this in the mountains and was really looking forward to it. This stream is strictly catch and release and you can only use flies and lures. My favorite lures for small creeks like this are plain #00 MEPPs in silver and gold. Since it is catch and release I use the spinners with a single hook rather than a treble hook and I mash the barb down. I lose some fish but it makes them easy to release. The fishing was really good in the stream. I covered about a mile and half of water and ended up releasing 51 brown trout. Most of them were 5 or 6 inches but I got a couple that were pushing a foot long which is a really good trout from a stream this small. All the fish were really pretty and full of fight.


I spent another night in the Bosque de Oso but that night was ugly. A major rain storm blew in with high winds, thunder and lightning. I stayed dry because I have a really good tent but sleep was hard to come by. As soon as the sun came up I made coffee and broke camp and headed to Lake Dorothey SWA. Lake Dorothery SWA is kind of unusual because even though it is in CO you cannot get to it from CO, you have to go through NM. You actually drive through Sugarite State Park and as soon as you cross into CO you are on Lake Dorothey SWA. The lake itself is about a half mile walk down a trail. There was nobody in the parking lot and I headed to the lake. The sky was still ugly and looked like it wanted to unload again but the lake was as smooth as glass. Perfect for the float tube.

Lake Dorothey is one of my regular go to lakes so I know what works and what doesn't. I began by tossing a silver Kastmaster and took a few fish and then that lure went cold. I tied on a Thomas Buoyant in rainbow trout finish and took a few more and it went cold. My fish finder showed most the fish hanging close to the bottom so I went to a black jig and that was the one they wanted. Slow jigging a foot or two off the bottom brought fish after fish to the net. I ended up with 21 rainbows, most of them like this one which was about 15 inches long. Nothing huge but nice plump fish. All the trout were released to fight again on another day

But I didn't go home empty handed. Lake Dorothey has a lot of big bullfrogs in it and in CO they consider bullfrogs an invasive species and want them gone. So there is no bag limit and no restrictions on how you catch them. Normally they are really spooky but between the rain and the cooler temps I found I could slip up to them in the tube while they were sitting on the bank. a 1/100th oz black jig dangled in front of them was more than they could stand. I ended up with enough for a meal. I haven't had fried frog legs in a long time so I had to embrace my inner redneck.


All in all it was a good couple of days. As soon as I got back to Amarillo I had to set up the tent and lay out all my gear so it could properly dry. I hope to get back to CO one more time before school starts back up.

Cheers Y'All. Life is good.

Post of the year material! Really enjoyed reading about your trip!

Nice pics, Flags. I will be in Colorado later this month hoping to help the grandkids catch a few trout in the Estes Park area. Looking forward to the cooler weather.

Solid post and fish. Keep Living the Dream Sir.

Nice post and beautiful pictures!

That was awesome, thanks for sharing Flags

Awesome post with cool pictures.

Thanks Chief,. the pics are great.
Fair winds and following seas from a squid of the DBF era
The below ae the B-girls: Barbel, Bonefish and the Blueback (last diesel that I served aboard.

I can agree to this!