Wandering the Rocky Mountains in Colorado

Fishing Time: Afternoon of September 4 and 5

Weather: Scattered rain, Cloudy, T-60s

Moon Phase: 25% Moon

Location: Frying Pan River and South Platte River, Colorado

Best Bait: Beadhead nymph, black wooly bugger

Who Went: Dunc

I’ve lived most my life in Utah and have always been biased about the beauty of our mountains, but I must admit…  The Rocky Mountains of Colorado are impressive.  I will never admit they are better than the Wasatch Range in Utah, but I will call it an extremely close second place.  However, Colorado does win over Utah on rivers and fly fishing.  There are so many awesome rivers holding trophy trout with incredible scenery that I was stunned.  I was lucky enough to visit a couple of these rivers the last couple of days and now I want more.  I could wander these rivers for weeks and never get bored.

It all started with the gorgeous Frying Pan River near Aspen, Colorado.  The Frying Pan River is the tailwater of the Ruedi Reservoir Dam.  The river was flowing a bit stronger than I like, but had enough large boulders breaking its path to make for some good fish holding pockets.

I found one such pocket that held quite a few fish and I could see them darting around feeding in the clear fast-moving current. Unfortunately, I think they saw me too because I must have tried 10 different flies trying to get one to bite with no luck.  I moved up river a bit and was lucky enough to land this beautiful little brown trout.  More exploring led to faster moving water and no more bites, but I can honestly say it was one of my favorite fly fishing outings to date.  I don’t think I’ve ever fished a prettier river in my life.

I did some research after fishing the Frying Pan River and discovered that the supposed best trophy trout river in Colorado was only an hours drive away from my hotel.  They call it the “Dream Section” on the South Platte River.  It starts at the tailwater of Spinney Reservoir and stretches 5 miles down to Eleven Mile Canyon Reservoir.  The river is not as beautiful as the Frying Pan River as it’s set on a high mountain plateau that is flat and covered in grasses and sage brush, but surrounding the plateau are mountains in every direction.  The sage covered flats make for excellent fly fishing with no trees or brush to impede your back cast.  For a novice fly fisherman this river is perfect.  

The river was crystal clear with numerous sharp bends creating many deep slow-moving eddies.  I only saw one small fish jump the entire afternoon and started wondering if anything lived there, but I saw many fly anglers wandering the river, so it must hold fish. 

I tried many different nymph patterns with no bites and then tied on a black wooly bugger and fished it through some deep-water bends.  Finally, I had a taker and landed one small rainbow.  It was the only fish I caught, but I watched and talked to many fisherman and I may have caught as many or more than most of the guys out there.  Tough fishing, but I knew that going in.  It’s known for trophy trout, not for catching numbers.

So, two days of wandering streams and only two fish caught, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  My job has ended here in Colorado Springs, but hopefully I can return one day and wander a few more of Colorado’s scenic rivers and visit with my new Colorado friends...