CO High Country

I just got back to town (Erie, CO) after a week in the high country. It was really good to get back home but it is an unusual year. The snow pack was more than double the average so that made fishing hard. Normally by late June there isn't too much snow left but this year the high peaks are all snow covered:



Normally I am a major fan of fishing the rivers and streams but run-off is still going on so the moving water is pretty much unfishable. All of the rivers and streams I normally fish were really roiling and discolored. When this happens the fish hug the bottom and due to fast current it makes it nearly impossible to get a bait or lure down that deep. I gave it the old college try but never took a fish out of moving water. So that left me fishing lakes. Good thing I drug the tube to CO.





I'm not going to lie to you guys, it was really cold fishing the tube in that water. Snow along the banks and water flowing into the lakes straight off the snow fields makes it chilly. That cold water just makes your legs and feet ache from the cold. It sort of just creeps up and makes your whole body cold. Wind blowing across the snow doesn't help. To be honest, it was pretty miserable fishing conditions. But that was pretty much the only option.

I took some fish, but I really had to work for them. This is a Greenback Cutthroat I took from Joe Wright Res. I was trying to get grayling but never got one on this trip. The trout fell to a hare's ear nymph that I was fishing about a foot above a 1/8th oz black jig. Since I use a spinning rod the jig lets me fish a fly by providing the weight to cast it and to take it to the bottom. Greenback's are considered an endangered species as well as the CO State Fish. Needless to say, this fish went back in the water.



I also spent some time fishing Monarch Lake near Granby. This lake is always pretty good to me and I got a fair number of fish. I kept 2 for the skillet. The rainbow is about 18 inches long and the brown is about 20 inches. Not huge fish but decent trout for the lousy conditions.



I decided to rough it this year and left my travel trailer in TX. So for a week this was my bedroom:



The lodging was complete with a state of the art kitchen facility:



A comfortable but rather rustic living room:



And of course a bathroom:



As is expected in the CO Rockies, there was a lot of wildlife. Every day I saw mule deer,elk and pronghorns. I also saw a good number of moose



And I saw these at Rand CO which has an elevation of nearly 8700 feet above sea level. This is the highest I have ever seen a whitetail. Not sure what they thought they were doing way up there but they sure looked like they were in good shape:



I'm going to spend a few days doing some chores at my mothers house in Erie and then will head back to the Lone Star. Before I leave CO I am going to try a few warm water fishing lakes around Erir and I hope to post some CO slab photos soon. I have to check into the Amarillo School District by 08 July and have to be all settled in there by 28 July. Life is good.

Cheers Y'All.

One AWESOME POST! Trip of a lifetime. Nicely done Flags!




Side Note: Love seeing those snow covered banks and mountain tops in late June. What were your high and low temperatures during your trip?

Snow, nice trout,and great scenery,and this is late June! AWESOME post Flags and thanks for sharing!




Side Note: Need to start planning a trip to the high country!

Two words. Great Post!

I'll bet that was fun...... Very nice scenery....