TR Colorado

[Willi]

http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm

Willi

[Tim J.]

Willi wrote:
> http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm

Incredible fish, and great colors. Thanks Willi.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

[JR]

Willi wrote:
> http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm

Excellent photos. Quite an impressive variety of fish types there too.
The one on the gravel with the rod/reel is the chunkiest I've seen in
a long while. What was the reddish one, the one just below the pic of
Bruce holding the piscine Jay Leno? :-) Looks kinda like a kokanee.

JR

[angler]

Willi,

Great pic's, and those fish.........

/Roger
Who is envious, and wishing that I was fishing or at least hunting
instead of being in Tokyo

[Jarmo Hurri]

Very nice, much appreciated. Surprisingly big fish.

--
Jarmo Hurri

Commercial email countermeasures included in header email
address. Remove all garbage from header email address when replying,
or just use .

[George Cleveland]

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:21:44 -0600, Willi >
wrote:

>http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm
>
>Willi

That was an enjoyable tour.

Thanks.


George C.

[bruiser]

We had a great time. It never ceases to amaze me how many fish Willi
catches. After much effort I managed to get one of those big browns in
my net. I hooked maybe six of them and landed just the one. That big
scratched up monster Willi's holding in the last picture and the brown
that I caught were both caught on tiny tiny flies. Mine was a size 24
if you can believe that.

The San Luis valley is beautiful. We survived on coffee, oatmeal,
pringles, and spice drops.

The big fish in the small stream were all caught sight fishing. We
were just figuring out the stream when it was time to go.

I drove on home past the UFO observation platform and the Colorado
Gator Farm.

It was a blast. See you next time Willi! If the nail pounders at
Habitat can pound a little quicker next time we'll have choc too.

bruce h

[Dave Mohnsen]

"Willi" > wrote in message
...
> http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm
> Willi

Nice Willi. I was out last week for a few days staying in the Copper
Mountain area. Fished the upper Colorado. Tried to fish the Williams Fork
for a brief time, but it was running pretty high, so I only gave it about
10-15 minutes or so. Didn't fish the Blue, but saw my first Kokanee of the
year there . . .still fresh . . .in Silverthorne.
Those I caught were smaller than those in your pics. Mine almost
exclusively hit a size 24 Disco Midge. A couple other folks I talked to
were using an egg pattern with a dropper, to key on the rainbows behind the
spawning browns.
I couldn't catch anything on a size larger than a 22. Never caught a thing
on an egg pattern.
Same kind of scenery on the "high" hills. Fun.
BestWishes,
DaveMohnsen
Denver

[riverman]

Great pics, and exactly how I would have expected the progression.
Bruce gets a fish, Willi gets a bigger fish, Bruce gets a Big fish,
Willi gets a HUGE fish, Bruce gets a fish, Willi gets a MONSTER, Willi
gets ANOTHER monster....

Proof that some people are just luckier than others, I suspect. :-)

--riverman

[Jeff Miller]

Willi wrote:
> http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm
>
> Willi

what they said. always fun to take a tour with you... look forward to more.

jeff

[bruiser]

Dave - your experience with the flies mirrors mine exactly. I did not
catch a fish with an egg although I spent a fair amount if time fishing
a tiny creme one. I could not keep the fish off of my little midge
pupa - especially the many tiny browns (apprx 3-4") that apparently
love midge pupa.

I'd say the small midge pupa was the best bug for both of us, followed
by a pt in about size 20.

bh

[bruiser]

It's kind of like that except Willi normally catches three before I
catch one and that pattern just keeps repeating until it gets dark!

We photograph EVERY fish I catch and just the smaller fish that Willi
catches. It's in our Trip Contract.

bh

[Larry L]

Very nice, the meadowy stream makes my rod hand get all twitchy, just
looking at it.

[Jeff Taylor]

"Willi" > wrote in message
...
> http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm
>
> Willi

Beautiful scenery and fish!

Thanks,
JT

[Guy Thornberg]

Great fish you guys!
Guy

[vincent p. norris]

Absolutely gorjus pix, Willi, even without the fish!

Permit me to reveal my ignorance by asking about that wood frame
around your tent. Does that designate a permissible location for a
tent, is it to contain spilled gin, is it to keep sidewinders out, or
what?

vince

[Cyli]

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 23:47:35 -0400, vincent p. norris >
wrote:

>Absolutely gorjus pix, Willi, even without the fish!
>
>Permit me to reveal my ignorance by asking about that wood frame
>around your tent. Does that designate a permissible location for a
>tent, is it to contain spilled gin, is it to keep sidewinders out, or
>what?
>
>vince


I can answer that one. It's called a tent pad and it's for designated
camping spots. Nice and level and drains well. Very convenient to
put up a tent on one. Good for the campers, good for the landscape.
Keeps all the tenting in one place instead of all over anywhere.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: (strip the .invalid to email)

[riverman]

And don't forget the entertainment factor when you are trying to find
your way back to your tent in the dark after getting up to drain the
plumbing.

--riverman

[Willi]

JR wrote:
> Willi wrote:
>
>> http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/101505.htm
>
>
> Excellent photos. Quite an impressive variety of fish types there too.
> The one on the gravel with the rod/reel is the chunkiest I've seen in a
> long while. What was the reddish one, the one just below the pic of
> Bruce holding the piscine Jay Leno? :-) Looks kinda like a kokanee.
>
> JR


It is a Kokanee.There was a run of Browns and Kokanee from a downstream
reservoir. There weren't alot of either because the State had blocked
the river with nets in order to capture and remove eggs from the Kokanee.

Willi

[Willi]

Larry L wrote:
> Very nice, the meadowy stream makes my rod hand get all twitchy, just
> looking at it.
>
>


Although the river does have some decent hatches that will bring up some
good fish, this section of the river serves as a strong nursery. There
are HUGE numbers of small trout. Although you can sight good rising fish
during a hatch, the little 3 to 6 inch guys are strong risers and will
often beat the better fish to your fly. Sight nymphing is more often
successful for the better fish.

When I lived in the area, that section held very few resident trout
other than the "babies". There was very little cover for the fish. It
did get strong runs of lake fish especially in the Spring and Fall. TU
and others did alot of stream "improvement" that resulted in more
holding water and an increase in the number of resident fish.

Willi

[Willi]

Jonathan Cook wrote:
> bruiser > wrote:
>
>
>>We had a great time.
>
>
> Awesome TR and photos, thanks to both of you. The peaks sure
> are beautiful with early fall snow.
>
> Jon.


The weather was great! It had just snowed a couple days before the trip
and we had temps that must have reached the mid sixties (which is VERY
toasty for mid October at altitude). The light quality is beautiful in
the Fall and the snowcapped mountains and the changing trees made for
some gorgeous viewing.

Willi

[Willi]

vincent p. norris wrote:
> Absolutely gorjus pix, Willi, even without the fish!
>
> Permit me to reveal my ignorance by asking about that wood frame
> around your tent. Does that designate a permissible location for a
> tent, is it to contain spilled gin, is it to keep sidewinders out, or
> what?
>
> vince


They put those in the more heavily used campgrounds. The pads confined
tenters to a specific area and help prevent erosion etc. They one we
stayed at is heavily used in the Summer by rafters.

There were alot of changes in the area since I lived there about 20
years ago. Most evident were the changes due to the funds made available
through the proceeds of our State lottery. For my tastes many of the
projects were too intrusive and "fancy". Several of the projects we saw
were quite extensive and expensive. Tastefully done but looking more
parklike rather than wilderness.


We talked to a "ranger" at one of these spots and the ironic part is
that the although State has spent MANY millions on these improvements,
with our declining economy, they can no longer afford to service them.
The lottery proceeds can be used for land purchases, leases and capital
improvements but not for maintenance and day to day management expenses.

Willi

[Larry L]

"Willi" > wrote

the little 3 to 6 inch guys are strong risers and will
> often beat the better fish to your fly. Sight nymphing is more often
> successful for the better fish.
>

I wondered when looking at your photos if it had enough depth and cover to
support big fish .... did that whale in your hands in the last shot come
from a different stream?


I love sight nymphing nearly as much as dry fly fishing and more each year
..... it has all the visual/hunty aspects of dry fly plus is more
challenging, imho. The best place I've found for it, so far, is August
and after on the Big Lost, ( but that is also a rather ugly river and the
'atmosphere' is THE most important part of fishing to me ...... btw, I
REALLY like the scenery shots you and Jarmo are posting ... 'Fred with fish'
gets about as dull as going to the neighbors for a slide show of 'Martha in
front of Notre Dame' pictures .... Fred and Martha are both nice, but not
the reason to travel )

[Lionel F. Stevenson]

What is "sight nymphing"?

-- Lionel


> From: "Larry L" >
> Organization: AT&T Worldnet
> Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
> Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:18:00 GMT
> Subject: Re: TR Colorado
>
>
> "Willi" > wrote
>
> the little 3 to 6 inch guys are strong risers and will
>> often beat the better fish to your fly. Sight nymphing is more often
>> successful for the better fish.
>>
>
> I wondered when looking at your photos if it had enough depth and cover to
> support big fish .... did that whale in your hands in the last shot come
> from a different stream?
>
>
> I love sight nymphing nearly as much as dry fly fishing and more each year
> .... it has all the visual/hunty aspects of dry fly plus is more
> challenging, imho. The best place I've found for it, so far, is August
> and after on the Big Lost, ( but that is also a rather ugly river and the
> 'atmosphere' is THE most important part of fishing to me ...... btw, I
> REALLY like the scenery shots you and Jarmo are posting ... 'Fred with fish'
> gets about as dull as going to the neighbors for a slide show of 'Martha in
> front of Notre Dame' pictures .... Fred and Martha are both nice, but not
> the reason to travel )
>
>

[Larry L]

"Lionel F. Stevenson" > wrote

....
> What is "sight nymphing"?
>


Visually finding a fish feeding subsurface and then presenting a fly to that
specific fish .... as opposed to 'fishing the water,' i.e. throwing
something out there and hoping a fish is there and sees it.

Sight nymphing requires very good stalking skills as the fish are in thin
water and spooky. It requires really really 'looking' as only a small
percentage of fish that could be caught will 'jump out at you' and be easy
to see. It requires at least as much 'finese' in presentation as dry fly
fishing and adds depth to the equation of 'good drift.'

It is exciting fishing.

It's probably available along the edges of your stream, unless fish are
continually pushed out of places they want to be by anglers that think 'long
cast,' 'deep water,' and 'travel in noisy packs.' THE best fish (
trout, we get Steelies, Stripers and Salmon, too ) that I've ever seen in my
local stream was about 6 inches off shore in 10 inches of water. I snuck
up on him ( I could still get down on my knees back then ) and tried a
couple casts. The second or third one was a bit splashy and he got
nervous, so I sat back to rest him. As I watched him he got calmer and
went back to feeding, then suddenly he bolted and was gone. Then the noise
started and I heard and saw three anglers 'fishing together' coming down the
hill moving at high speed in a rush 'to fish.' They walked by me with a
"doing any good today?" and splashed right over where the fish had been,
plus two other inshore spots that hold trout until they are pushed out and
began to cast up a storm and chat loudly about the joys of 'camaraderie' and
'owning the best equipment' <g>

Excuse me, Lionel, you aren't familar with my pet peeves ...yet.

[Larry L]

"Larry L" > wrote ...



> began to cast up a storm and chat loudly about the joys of 'camaraderie'
> and 'owning the best equipment' <g>
>


I should add, in their defense, that the 1/2 ton of split shot and baseball
sized hunks of yarn they were casting DID look to be of highest quality :-)

[Willi]

Larry L wrote:
> "Willi" > wrote
>
> the little 3 to 6 inch guys are strong risers and will
>
>>often beat the better fish to your fly. Sight nymphing is more often
>>successful for the better fish.
>>
>
>
> I wondered when looking at your photos if it had enough depth and cover to
> support big fish .... did that whale in your hands in the last shot come
> from a different stream?


Came from that river but not "from" that river - the fish were fish that
ran up from a downstream reservoir.

>
>
> I love sight nymphing nearly as much as dry fly fishing and more each year
> .... it has all the visual/hunty aspects of dry fly plus is more
> challenging, imho.

We're very visual creatures and beautiful surroundings and seeing the
fish we're targeting really adds to the sport.

Willi

[Lionel F. Stevenson]

in article , Larry
L at wrote on 10/21/05 12:05 PM:

>
> "Lionel F. Stevenson" > wrote
>
> ...
>> What is "sight nymphing"?
>>
>
>
> Visually finding a fish feeding subsurface and then presenting a fly to that
> specific fish .... as opposed to 'fishing the water,' i.e. throwing
> something out there and hoping a fish is there and sees it.
>
> Sight nymphing requires very good stalking skills as the fish are in thin
> water and spooky. It requires really really 'looking' as only a small
> percentage of fish that could be caught will 'jump out at you' and be easy
> to see. It requires at least as much 'finese' in presentation as dry fly
> fishing and adds depth to the equation of 'good drift.'
>
> It is exciting fishing.
>
> It's probably available along the edges of your stream, unless fish are
> continually pushed out of places they want to be by anglers that think 'long
> cast,' 'deep water,' and 'travel in noisy packs.' THE best fish (
> trout, we get Steelies, Stripers and Salmon, too ) that I've ever seen in my
> local stream was about 6 inches off shore in 10 inches of water. I snuck
> up on him ( I could still get down on my knees back then ) and tried a
> couple casts. The second or third one was a bit splashy and he got
> nervous, so I sat back to rest him. As I watched him he got calmer and
> went back to feeding, then suddenly he bolted and was gone. Then the noise
> started and I heard and saw three anglers 'fishing together' coming down the
> hill moving at high speed in a rush 'to fish.' They walked by me with a
> "doing any good today?" and splashed right over where the fish had been,
> plus two other inshore spots that hold trout until they are pushed out and
> began to cast up a storm and chat loudly about the joys of 'camaraderie' and
> 'owning the best equipment' <g>
>
> Excuse me, Lionel, you aren't familar with my pet peeves ...yet.
>
>
I feel your pain.

When I was a kid, I fished with my dad. He was not a sophisticated
fishermen, but he always stressed that the fish could hear us walking on the
bank, and we should sneak up on them.


-- Lionel
The more I see of people, the better I like fish.

[Wayne Harrison]

"Willi" > wrote

> It is a Kokanee.There was a run of Browns and Kokanee from a downstream
> reservoir. There weren't alot of either because the State had blocked
> the river with nets in order to capture and remove eggs from the Kokanee.
>
> Willi

beautiful water, and great scenic images, willi.

the fish are almost grotesque in their shapes and sizes.

yfitons
wayno (wish i was there)
>

[Willi]

Larry L wrote:

> It's probably available along the edges of your stream, unless fish are
> continually pushed out of places they want to be by anglers that think 'long
> cast,' 'deep water,' and 'travel in noisy packs.' THE best fish (
> trout, we get Steelies, Stripers and Salmon, too ) that I've ever seen in my
> local stream was about 6 inches off shore in 10 inches of water.

I think that trout prefer shallow water feeding stations. I think they
are more efficient for them. However, they driven from these places by
anglers and sometimes other predators. I've caught my biggest trout in
water under a foot in depth.

Willi

[Willi]

Wayne Harrison wrote:
> "Willi" > wrote
>
>
>>It is a Kokanee.There was a run of Browns and Kokanee from a downstream
>>reservoir. There weren't alot of either because the State had blocked
>>the river with nets in order to capture and remove eggs from the Kokanee.
>>
>>Willi
>
>
> beautiful water, and great scenic images, willi.
>
> the fish are almost grotesque in their shapes and sizes.
>
> yfitons
> wayno (wish i was there)


When I heard that the "big River" was blown out, I didn't even feel like
going. It turned out to be an especially good trip.

Willi

[Jeff Taylor]

"Larry L" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Sight nymphing requires very good stalking skills as the fish are in thin
> water and spooky. It requires really really 'looking' as only a small
> percentage of fish that could be caught will 'jump out at you' and be easy
> to see. It requires at least as much 'finese' in presentation as dry fly
> fishing and adds depth to the equation of 'good drift.'
>

Silver Creek comes to mind while reading this bit. Sight nymphing has been
some of the most productive fishing while being schooled on Silver Creek...

JT

[bruiser]

It was an excellent trip. We had quite a bit of ice on our tents each
morning. Willi, I forgot to ask if you noticed the camper near us as
we drove out of the Canyon real early one morning. He (she?) was
sleeping on a thermarest next the the vehicle, wrapped up tight in a
frost covered sleeping bag! Chilly!

bruce h