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

As many of my friends and family know, I’m a huge fan of trying to test the boundaries of what species are possible to catch on a fly rod. Although the pursuit of the “populars” like tarpon, redfish, and striper will forever be engrained into my being, I have found that learning to embrace what else is out there has led to some of my best angling opportunities between the “bigger trips” that take place throughout the year. And when it comes to “I wonder what we can find that will eat a fly…”, South Florida honestly may be the mecca in the United States.

Fortunately enough for me, I find myself in South Florida often with a fully gassed up rental car. My favorite part of coming here is that you can literally find water for every .2 miles you drive it seems like…no matter if you are in a huge metropolis like Miami, or in one of the smaller towns off the Tamiami Trail. This year, I made it a point to “explore” away from my usual Peacock Bass spots, and boy did it pan out…not just for new species, but also finding some of my best peacocks ever.

In 2025, I was blessed to spend a plethora of days around the water in South Florida, but a few quick stories were highlights to me. With my smaller clousers, wooly buggers, and baitfish flies (nothing crazy) I found some great success on a warm day in March. One day while searching for Peacocks, I noticed literal oranges swimming in the water…not exaggerating. This excited me as I knew they were Midas Cichlid and I had never been able to catch one (very spooky usually). After a soft landing of a brown wooly bugger about 6 inches off of ones nose…I slow twitched and boom. After a nice fight, I landed my first Midas Cichlid. About 10 minutes later, I also caught my first ever Spotted Tilapia that was guarding a bed next to a rocky ledge in the water. This day was also accompanied by a handful of nice Peacocks that would only slam a fly stripped at blistering speeds. I also landed a good number of Florida Gar, and even saw some Snook in some predominantly freshwater areas…

A few months later (and once the weather was HOT), I wanted to spend some time going after a land based “monster” Peacock. After a half day of finding some pretty small Peacocks and Largemouth around Miami, I drove 30 minutes further north to an area that a few Reddit threads had indicated had some nice Peacocks. Upon arriving in the area, I knew there were some huge fish around…within the first couple of casts, I had fish blasting my fly right by the bank. After hooking a nice Peacock that got off right before the bank, I threw an EXTREMELY small yellow/green bead chain clouser right next to a rocky ledge, and had chaos break loose. I stripped the fly about 90% of the way in, went to pull the fly line for recast, and a HUGE Peacock surged out of the rocky ledge to inhale my fly. After a run to the backing in my 6 weight and holding on for dear life (as the fish was digging for structure), I landed the biggest Peacock of my life. No exaggeration or fish stories here when I say that this fish was 8+ pounds. Unreal moment. I also want to call out the fact that this fish was caught 2 hours before I had a flight scheduled to take off…moral of the story is “when in doubt, give it a go”.

One last story worth mentioning involves an early fall day exploring a new canal around the West Palm area. I had a few hours to mess around while waiting for some work colleagues to come in, and after some research found an area filled with fish. Initially hoping to find some Peacock, I was surprised to find a canal with a good number of Snakeheads. None of these fish were caught on this excursion (I will be back for vengeance…), but I fortunately ran into some other action. In one area of the canal by a bridge, I saw a ton of different exotics bedding and swimming around. I truthfully had no idea what they were…all I knew if they were beyond spooky and colorful. After several fly changes and lengthening leader, I was able to catch a handful of Mayan Cichlids, but more importantly landed two awesome Viejas Cichlid. These were objectively some of the craziest looking freshwater fish I had ever seen, and put a great bend into the 6 weight considering the overall size of the fish.

As mentioned earlier, I was really fortunate to get out and explore the FL canals this year. Really look forward to more exploring, and making sure that I make the most out of these “exotic” opportunities when they present themselves.

Tight lines!

Joe