Just got back from Colorado. Am very new to trout and serious fly fishing in general. Have been catching brim in TX for years on the fly, but trout fishing is a whole new game. Solo trip, south Platte Area, I had a campsite at 11 mile state park and set out knowing I was going to fish the area and not much else. My first night in town at a bar in Woodland Park I met a guy who invited me to fish 11 mile Canyon with him the next day. I'm glad I went, I learned so much. Learned how to setup nymphs and roughly how to fish them under an indicator. From there with info from the fly shop I made it up to Tomahawk and caught a few fish. Made another buddy on the river who then invited me to go fish Deckers with him. Everywhere I went I went I met people who helped me out on my journey, gave me info, and donated flies to the novice Texan. It was so freaking cool. I learned a lot from talking to the guys in the fly shop in woodland Park (south Platte Fly shop) and in Lake George's Tumbling Trout. caught a really nice rainbow on a return to 11 mile canyon (pic below) I can remember my line screaming as it took my nymph downstream, the rush I got from fighting the fish, and how out of breath I was after. I didn't realize how strong these fish are and how much harder the current in the rivers makes it to land one. I caught browns, rainbows, and cutthroats. Since I have returned all I can think about is going back. Have been watching this youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/FLYALLSZN and have been learning a lot from it. This guy does a lot of backpack overnight trips and I am closely paying attention to locations and techniques. I plan to go back next summer for two weeks and do several multi day backpacking fishing trips in several locations. Places like the Black Canyon, Rio Grande National Forest (Conejos and its creeks) and alpine lakes etc really grab my attention. I guess I don't really have any questions specifically but do any of yall do anything like that? I am an avid camper and spend months out of every year in a tent however backpacking is relatively new to me also and I need to narrow down my essentials and upgrade some gear before I return. Any information regarding locations I should research, gear, stories from your own trips would be totally RAD. Rad is my new word I learned from the surfer guy fly fisher friends I made up there haha
Also need to upgrade my fishing gear, definitely need a larger rubber net and a backup rod. I am fishing a moonshine drifter 5wt 9 ft. Am thinking about going for a 6wt as my Colorado backup/ whitebass in TX go to rod. Good idea? And am thinking a pair of wading pants would be better than my clunky waders weight wise and for hikeability. Anyways thanks for reading, I've just been so freaking stoked about fly fishing since my trip and can't wait to go back.

Sounds like you had a great time. I would definitely get lightweight stocking foot waders and a comfortable pair of wader boots. This time of the year you could probably wear shorts and wader shoes.
I use to spend the month of September north of Steamboat Springs. Archery elk hunting and fly fishing the Yampa River. It was a blast.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the response. I have read a little about fishing the yampa river Fishing and hunting that area sounds like a lot of fun and the pictures of the are I have seen look amazing.

The Yampa River is supposed to have more trout per linear mile than any other river or stream in Colorado. I’ve fished it in spots from down town Steamboat Springs to Yampa River State Park in Hayden. I’ve seen pictures of a 30” rainbow that a young hippie kid caught twice right behind the Library in town. I hooked into him once on a brown wooly bugger. Only had him on for one jump until he broke my leader. The area in Steamboat was all catch and release but sections closer to Hayden allowed harvest. My biggest was a 28” rainbow caught in the Carpenter Ranch Nature Conservancy.
I’ve seen fish that large caught near the Yampa River State Park also.

I would definitely get wading socks for warm weather wading. They're just neoprene socks you wear under your boots to prevent chafing. then you wear any pair of shorts and like, t-shirt, that you don't care if they get wet. With such a set up you're basically fishing in shorts and your legs are wet, but you're still wearing your wade boots for traction and support. The wade socks are necessary or your boot tops will tear up your ankles. Wade pants I don,t recommend. I had some. I invariably found myself wishing I could go in just a little deeper than what the wade pants would allow. Wearing shorts and t shirt it doesn't matter.

Beautiful fish! I definitely need to get back to Colorado to do some fishing. Too many years have gone by since I have been there.

JR

I wouldn’t go up to a 6wt. 5wt is nearly overkill for sandbass, I’ve caught plenty of walleye, bass, sandbass, and striper on my 4wt and have no issues with them. Id get something like an 8’ 4wt for your sandbass rod that will be great for Colorado. Regarding wading, in summertime ditch the waders, get you some lightweight shorts that have a fast drying material for wading in, wet wade with a pair of wade socks and wade boots. When cloud cover rolls in and temperatures drop when monsoons hit you’ll want to be in your rain gear anyway and won’t be fishing.

Thanks for the insight MckinneyCC I was starting to wonder if I would be better suited downsizing fly rods. Some of the streams I am looking at are very small, so maybe a 4 weight like you mentioned would be the way to go.

I also have been considering exactly what you said to do as far as wading boots and wade socks. I tried to wet wade in a pair of sneakers and my feet went numb! Do the neoprene socks act like a wetsuit layer and help keep your feet warm?

Thanks!

Yes, the neoprene socks help. Felt with cleats are the best where legal. Korkers are my favorite brand because of the interchangeable bottoms. Just a fair warning, if you head to the rio grande national forest be well prepared. The area is extremely remote and sketchy is a good word for the hiking/wading conditions on a lot of those streams. If you don’t have a lot of experience fishing tight corners and Rocky Mountain pocket water things could be difficult.

Glad to see this thread because I’ve been considering a fishing trip to Co and have relatives in Woodland Park. Now I just have to learn to fly fish! Lol… All my trout have been caught on UL spinning gear with spinners or flies behind a casting bubble. I’ve definitely had great success on the little ones, but feel I need to ‘up’ my game and learn something new and see if I can catch the larger, smarter ones. Thanks for sharing!

colorado river just east of kremmling, quality waters, read the signs.

blue river between silverthorne and kremmling, great wading sections and good pullouts for parking.

like said, the yampa is a great fishing river, trout, large pike both. float trip is best way to fish it first time then you can go back to areas to wade. talk to the guide.

arkansas river has some huge browns, fall low water for wading. too high in spring/early summer and the commercial rafting will drive ya nuts trying fish.

dolores river below the reservoir, good wading areas but fall low water canoe trip is awesome, pool/drop with trout trapped in the pools. my personal best came on a #20 skeeter just goofin around on a trip. give this one a week to do if you try it, 4 days to fish with one extra for weather etc. take out at slick rock.


san juan just below navajo reservoir, special restrictions like colorado quality waters, excellent wade area and some huge trout. you gonna work to catch here but a guide trip with one of the local fly shops could put a pb in the boat easy.

if you have a good 4 wheel drive you can go up forest service roads (usgs topo maps are a must have) and fish beaver ponds and streams. great fun to find some native fish and see if you can coax them.

lived in colorado for 20 yrs. till the kalifrornicators ruined it.

^^yeah we were up for a week in June and had not been for 5 years previous. It’s unrecognizable now from a people standpoint. 10x as many dirty hippies too, lol!

Beautiful rainbow.

I just back from Colorado and finally made it to Joe Wright Reservoir to catch arctic grayling (one of my bucket list fish). The big ones we caught were only about 13” but they were a lot of fun. You might want to give them a try. We also hiked up to Zimmerman Lake to try and catch a native greenback cutthroat, but we didn’t catch any.




As for rod size for Texas fish, if you want to have some fun get at least a 6/7 wt and start chasing carp and buffalo. They get really big and fight like crazy.

I hear those grayling are fun to catch. Have been doing a bunch of research and reading a ton of books, targeting southern Co. mostly. Backcountry streams and alpine lakes are what I'm after. I may suck at flyfishing still when I get there but I will suck at it in the best places imaginable.:D Still considering going to check out the Gunnison on the second week, but back country permits and the sheer greatness of the place is a little daunting. I plan to spend at least a week on smaller streams, backpacking.