Colorado. A beyond special place to me…where I grew up, where I learned to fish, where many of life’s best memories have been made with my family up to this very day. This year particularly was fun in Colorado, as my girlfriend (now fiancee) and I were able to spend a long weekend up in the mountains with my mom and dad for the Fourth of July. Initially in town for a friend’s wedding, we decided to extend the trip and stay awhile to enjoy some of the magic that is the Colorado mountains in the summer.

As is no surprise, summertime in the CO mountains means primetime trout fishing to me (especially if you like throwing streamers and spot hopping on foot). Luckily for me and my dad this year, conditions were perfect…water at a great flow, hot enough to wet wade, and hungry browns + rainbows seemingly around every bend in the river. As I’ve posted before, my favorite way to fly fish for trout is to try and keep fly selection to a minimum, and not overlook fishy areas that most people won’t register as a spot to throw a line.

During this week, black wooly buggers and the occasional caddis were king. Quick stripping the woolys in front of large rocks right before chutes seemed to bee the ticket…nice sized browns posted up and ready to attack. I also was surprised to catch a few great fish in seemingly fast moving water in the middle of the river (always worth a throw). My best fish came from a really deep stretch where I watched a brown torpedo out of nowhere to hit my wooly just under the surface. Truthfully caught more than we can count this way over the week. ..with plenty more fish swiping and slashing at flies but not getting to the shore. Some pics below of the beautiful browns that we ran into with the 5 weight and standard 3x leader.

Not only did we run into these browns, but also landed a handful of great rainbows. It seemed that the rainbows were definitely more locked in on hatches…caddis patterns with small emergers trailing led to the most fish. In typical rainbow fashion, these fish went airborn more so than their brown cousins, and showed off the rocky mountain colors that the fish is famous for. Even as a 30+ year old guy now, watching these fish leap out of skinny, cold water gets me smiling every single time.

I’m a very lucky guy to have the people in my life to share weeks like this with. It’s an extra kind of special coming back to a place you loved so much as a kid, with your now future wife and parents in tow. Think moral of the story here is to never fully grow up, and keep doing the things you enjoy…except you now can enjoy a handful of some freezing cold Coors Banquets in between the moments. Pretty tough to beat that recipe.

Tight lines,

Joe