In case anyone hasn’t noticed it yet…human beings are funny creatures. We have a big, big world around us, but no matter how much excitement or adventure may exist somewhere, it is in everyone’s nature to occasionally have a desire to go back to “normal” at the end of the day. Call it familiarity…call it nostalgia…but it’s wild how you can return somewhere time and time again, and not get tired of it. I think this relates to fishing as well…tons of water to fish, but we all tend to have our favorite spots. For me personally, this is the most true for when I am in Colorado fishing the waters that I literally spent thousands of hours on.

As won’t be a shock to those who are kind enough to read some of my blogs, from a fly fishing standpoint in my mind, Colorado = Carp. Sure the trout fishing is amazing (new post coming soon on that actually), but there’s something about driving 10 minutes down the road and getting into 10+ pound gold. Not only that, but it’s not easy…they make you earn it. In the spring this year, my Dad and I had a kick a$% couple of days “urban angling” around Denver.

Upon arriving in Denver, the weather was abnormally hot for April. I’m talking t shirts and shorts warm. From my years of fly fishing for Carp in CO, warm weather + a lack of recent snow/rain can be a recipe for absolute beauty if you play your cards right. Fortunately for us…this played to be true for our South Platte outings. Big, happy fish sitting in the currents…sifting through the riverbed, obviously a munchy mood. With a 6 weight rigged and a handful of my go-to carp flies in tow, it was time to do some “dragging and dropping”. After sneaking down the bank into a back eddy right by a bustling current, I hooked an absolute brute of a carp and it took me down river. After a 10+ minute fight and a chase through one of the chutes, we landed the fish right before dark, and went to enjoy some cold Coors and Mexican food after.

Returning to the same spot the next day, chaos continued. Similar to the day before, we saw fish immediately, but there were more out and about…tough to beat. In a two hour outing, we landed three great carp and hooked a fourth (all on one of my trusty mop type flies that feeding carp seem to really hone in on). Below are a few pics from the fish, and as you will see they were more than fed and in a great shape.

This long weekend also had a surprise guest for Colorado…some huge Largemouth Bass. I won’t provide exact spots due to the rarity of finding this species of size in the area, but my Dad and I stumbled across an area that had Largemouth bedding way earlier than usual. With that said…the fish were beyond tight lipped. After try and try again, we finally figured out the ticket by sinking a large black wooly bugger to the bottom, and doing some sporadic twitches. Below was one of my nicest Largemouth ever in Colorado, and it made for an extra cherry on top from some excellent days of carping.

Appreciate your hometown honey holes…they made an imprint on who we are. We fished them with some of the most important people in our lives… spent countless days trying to figure them out…and quite frankly probably needed them to reset on occasion. Have to give credit to where credit is due.

Tight lines!

Joe