Well, here is is Labor Day weekend. I was supposed to go down the Athens to see Mrs. Chief and put the tube on my favorite sunfish lake but it didn't happen. The beautiful and charming Mrs. Chief got herself sick and she told me to stay away so we both don't get it. So I did a little dove hunting/deer scouting yesterday and then today (Sat 9/04) I decided to make a quick run to the high country and fish Lake Dorothey just north of Raton, NM across the CO state line. It is a really pretty little lake with a nice backdrop of mountains.


It was a fantastic day on the water, sunny with just a little chop. A few people shore fishing and a guy named Justin from Raton. I met Justin earlier this year on the lake and he is a really nice guy and a good fisherman. He uses a fly rod while I use spinning tackle and when both of us are on the lake we have a good natured contest. Today I won with the most fish and also the biggest fish. I ended up with 42 rainbows in hand for the day. Early on they were hitting a silver Kastmaster but that lure went cold after about 15 fish.


I switched over to 1/80th oz jigs and I rigged 3 on the line in white, olive and black. Black was the magic color so I took the white and olive off and just fished the black. Pretty much I was in 15 ft of water and was just vertically jigging about a foot off the bottom as the tube drifted with the wind. After drifting the length of the lake I simply kicked the tube back to the windward side and did the drift over and over. They bit that black jig like caged rattlesnakes. I ended up keeping 4 fish.


The fish are in a cooler that is just less than 24 inches along the bottom. That puts the biggest fish at around 22 inches with one about 17 inches, one about 15 inches and one about 12 inches. Normally I wouldn't have kept the largest fish but he hit a Kastmaster and inhaled it and was bleeding from the gills when I unhooked him. He was a really solid and thick fish across the back and I'm pretty sure he was at least 4 lbs. Big trout in the float tube in the high country. It is hard to get any better than that.

Cheers Y'All. Life is good.

wow ! Beautiful fish...

and a very nice post. Good job Sir.


Side Note: I hope your wife gets better!

Pretty fish and pictures. Also hope your wife gets better!

Nice post and pics. Hope your wife is feeling better.

Great post Flags. Colorado is on my bucket list to trout fish.