Roffwarg
07-18-07, 12:08 PM
Spent last weekend from Friday to Sunday campng and fishing in beautiful Rocky Mtn. National Park, about an hour and a half drive northwest of Denver, CO. I've got a buddy who lives out there and I just had to take advantage of the opportunity. We left early Friday morning before sunrise and headed for the park. After gearing up and buying a few flies at Kirk's Fly Shop and getting helpful advice, we headed out on a 2 or 3 mile hike into a valley to fish a small stream just teeming with hungry brookies. After working a mile or so upstream past a waterfall, we ran into some native greenback cutthroats as well.
After a nice camp supper of quesadillas etc.. and some needed rest, we headed out Saturday morning to the Wild Basin area of the park. We hiked 5 miles, fishing the stream that ran partly along the way, finally reaching a mtn lake right at 10,000 feet. The fishing was phenomenal in the stream. The first pool that I fished yielded 10 brookies on ten consecutive casts, all beautifully colored specimens from about 6-9". After hiking further upstream, we once again ran into some greenbacks and the fish got a little bigger, with the nicest ones taping out around 10-11" and real colorful.
On Sunday, we decided to hit a larger flow in the park (relatively), called the Big Thompson River. We fished it above the popular meadow section, hiking a ways before getting in to beat the crowds a bit. This was rough pocket water fishing, but a drag free drift nearly always yielded a strike. I probably ended up with at least 25 fish each day, and I spent a lot of time guiding my friend who is a novice to flyfishing and he caught a few himself.
We even kept a few brookies for the frying pan once we returned to Denver Sunday night.
The park is great if you're looking for great scenery and beautiful small fish, but don't expect to catch many bigguns.. Most fish I caught were under 9". My largest was a 15" rainbow, and it was extra-cool b/c it completed my grand slam on the Big Thompson, with Brookies, Cutts, Browns, and Rainbows.
By the way, caught everything on dry flies, and mostly just a big bushy stimulator. No need to match any hatches, just lay a natural drift in there and wham!....
After a nice camp supper of quesadillas etc.. and some needed rest, we headed out Saturday morning to the Wild Basin area of the park. We hiked 5 miles, fishing the stream that ran partly along the way, finally reaching a mtn lake right at 10,000 feet. The fishing was phenomenal in the stream. The first pool that I fished yielded 10 brookies on ten consecutive casts, all beautifully colored specimens from about 6-9". After hiking further upstream, we once again ran into some greenbacks and the fish got a little bigger, with the nicest ones taping out around 10-11" and real colorful.
On Sunday, we decided to hit a larger flow in the park (relatively), called the Big Thompson River. We fished it above the popular meadow section, hiking a ways before getting in to beat the crowds a bit. This was rough pocket water fishing, but a drag free drift nearly always yielded a strike. I probably ended up with at least 25 fish each day, and I spent a lot of time guiding my friend who is a novice to flyfishing and he caught a few himself.
We even kept a few brookies for the frying pan once we returned to Denver Sunday night.
The park is great if you're looking for great scenery and beautiful small fish, but don't expect to catch many bigguns.. Most fish I caught were under 9". My largest was a 15" rainbow, and it was extra-cool b/c it completed my grand slam on the Big Thompson, with Brookies, Cutts, Browns, and Rainbows.
By the way, caught everything on dry flies, and mostly just a big bushy stimulator. No need to match any hatches, just lay a natural drift in there and wham!....