Dream Stream Ice Bowl (Record Low)

Damn Cold!

If I didn't know any better I'd think that someone was trying to tell me to go to church (of course anyone that has the bug knows that I was at church). I think Marty and I found the coldest air in the state during one of the nicest days of the winter in Colorado Springs....

Marty has been riding the pine for a while due to a persistent shoulder injury. Life has handed Marty and his lovely wife Laurie some real challenges in the past few years. On top of Marty's injuries Laurie was diagnosed with cancer and has been handling her fight with strength, determination, grace, patience, and love. I can only imagine how hard that has to be. Please, please, please, if you can, help Marty and Laurie out with their growing medical bills by donating here. If you are interested in a guided trip to Rainbow Falls where 100% of the proceeds go to help Laurie and Marty please hit me up.

Marty HAD to get on some water injury or not. Even if just to get some fresh air and get some good pictures. It had been months since he has been on the water and I know that time on the water is good medicine. Good for the soul and Marty needed some recharging. We decided to hit the Dream Stream since the fishing had been so good and the weather in town on Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. Sunday's forecast looked even better.

Everyone knows what happens when you assume. And we should have checked the weather before assuming that just because it was going to be 70 in town it would be nice at the river. I was keeping my eye on the outside temp on the overhead display in Marty's Durango on the way up and when we started off I think it was twenty something. We watched it drop fifteen degrees in five minutes as we drove down the back side of Wilkerson Pass. WTF!

By the time we reached the parking lot it was ridiculous. I think our previous record for fishing in the cold was -16 which happened a few years back in Pueblo. It was miserable and you just can't really fish at that temp. Bad things happen. Ice ropes, frozen up rod eyes, snapped tippet, frostbitten fingers. Even if you do hook a fish, you probably wont land it and if you do its going to suck releasing it. It really becomes pointless to be out there until it warms up (see video on blog site if you are reading this in an email)

Long story short we basically stood around freezing our asses off for two hours before we could really fish. It's the only time I can remember looking up and down stream and seeing guys on every bend just standing around looking at each other. Crazy! 

Lil Fatty!

Once we did start fishing it was pretty slow. We wound up hooking a few but it was the slowest day out of four trips to the Dream Stream this spring. The good side was that Marty was able to fish. His shoulder was bothering him but not enough to prevent him from casting. Really good to see Marty fishing again. I just wish the weather had cooperated a little more.

When we finally made it back to the parking lot we were frozen solid. Those who fish with me will tell you that I don't get cold very easily but I was COLD when we jumped back in the Durango. I didn't even think about changing out of my waders for the trip home. We jumped in and cranked up the heater. Somewhere just outside of Woodland Park I noticed that we were no longer cold. In fact it felt like a friggin Sauna. We turned down the heater and rolled down the windows and it was like Summer outside! We took the scenic route through Manitou on the way home and people were walking around in shorts buying ice cream!

Basically we spent the nicest day of the winter in the one spot around us that was cold! But it was worth it to get Marty out on the water and catch a few nice cuts. Looking forward to a little warmer weather for our next trip Bud!

The Road to a 10lb Brown (Part 3)

Here it is folks. The final installment in the journey of slabbage. I am so thankful to have had a day like this on the river and can’t express how cool it is for it to come after my Dad had such a good day the day before. Fishing is great when you have good days you can share with Family and Friends. And this day is one that I will never forget.

The Night Before..

A little nagging voice was telling me to go back for more. Something was just right about the fishing on Saturday. My Old Man had pulled in slab after slab and I knew most of the puzzle pieces. The trick would be getting the same puzzle two days in a row. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to go back. I pinged Ben and showed him the fish porn from earlier in the day. Needless to say it didn’t take much convincing. The plan was in place. We were going to try and be on the water around 7:30 the next day. 

Flies… Well eggs…. Needed more. My Dad had figured out the color. I didn’t have the correct size but I had the color down close enough. Time to crank out a few dozen. I like to fish Otter Eggs. Some peeps will complain that these aren’t flies but in my mind a synthetic is a synthetic is a synthetic. If you are against Otter Eggs but tie up Rubber Legs I’d have to ask you what the difference is. In any case I cranked out a few dozen Tango in 8mm and 10mm. If you haven’t tried these yet you are missing out. VERY strong takes on this color. 

When we pulled up to the gauging station parking lot we had company. It wasn’t terrible but it was going to be a crowded day. The day before had been crowded too though and that didn’t stop us from catching some nice fish. It was just a matter of getting a little exercise while finding open water. I do remember thinking that the puzzle had changed though before even taking my first cast. The weather the day before was nasty. Not cold but very cloudy with lots of wind sprinkled with snow off and on. The sun was out Sunday morning. The wind was minimal. The air was colder. So much for my puzzle pieces. But hey that’s fishing. 

We started out on a stretch of water that Jon Kleis and Clients had done very well on the day before. I couldn’t believe that run was open when we walked by it so we decided to stop and give it a go. My confidence was way up and I was thinking of a hookup on the first cast. That came and went and I figured I’d settle for second cast. That came and went and I knew I’d have to get the gears turning. I knew it was early and cold so my expectations were probably a little unrealistic. I started going smaller and after twenty minutes of tweaking I picked up a bow on a midge. Ten minutes later I picked up a cut. Ten minutes after that and things were at a standstill. Kleis did not leave many players in this run!

Downstream we went. Runs had filled up pretty quickly but we lucked out and one of my favorite bends was open just downstream from the fence. Nice bend with a head end riffle that turns into a medium paced four foot run that tails out into a back eddy / deep pool at the end of the bend. Really easy to spot fish on this bend. They hold on the sides of the medium paced four foot water and if a cut turns you get a big flash of yellow, orange, and red. The big bows just look like dark shadows. The fish also move up into the head end riffle and you can pick out cutty fins pretty easily. 

There were at least three fish and one monster of the deep that I could see. There was a HUGE dark shadow on my side of the medium paced water. Big ol bow! I grabbed my egg rig and let er rip. He took one look at my monster tango egg and decided he had enough of that nonsense. Feeling totally dejected I decided to concentrate on the nice cuts in the riffle. Nothing…. At this time there was a good midge hatch going on so I decided to stop dicking around with plastic eggs. 

Picked up the midge rig and started making tweaks. It took about ten minutes but I eventually hooked one. They were lined up just on the far side of the medium paced water between the four foot run section and the beginning of the back eddy. VERY hard to get right. I needed my arm to be three feet longer. Took some serious high sticking with plenty of weight to get down fast. Takes were barely noticeable. There was a very defined sweet spot in the seam and you almost had to zen set to hook up.  I picked up a few but things started to die down. Then……

I hear Ben, “Jamie”! I look upstream and Ben’s rod is doubled over and he’s heading downstream fast. This means only one thing. Big fish hooked. I dropped my way-too-expensive rod like a college elective and grabbed my way-too-big net and headed upstream. I saw cutty tail first. It was a good fish! These fish are so colorful in the water when they are moving. When they are holding still in the water though it is another story completely. They can disappear before your eyes. 

We were in a perfect area to land this fish. I was in a knee deep riffle and Ben walked the fish down right into the net. Sweet fish. Took a large chamois leech. This fly has been killing it everywhere I’ve been lately. Hadn’t worked the day before but it looked like the leech game was back on. Midges and leeches were the ticket this day. 

After a quick pic we fished for a while longer before deciding to head back toward the truck. Most of the runs on the way back were taken so we made it back to the gauging station pretty quickly. Two dudes were fishing the head end of the run but the tail end was open. I had missed a slab there the day before on the way back to the parking lot so I figured what the hell. Worth a few casts. I asked the guys at the head of the pool if they minded me fishing the tail end and they said go for it. I took a few casts and hooked and landed about an 8” bow on an egg. Then……..

I get goose bumps just thinking about this. I had no idea what madness was about to hit me. I took a cast directly upstream up above where my dink had hit and started slowly stripping slack line in. Indicator paused a little and I lifted the rod……. HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!! There was a MONSTER brown trout tailwalking on the water! This thing was on my line!!!! All the dude upstream from me could manage was a loud, “Woahhhh”! 

“BEN!!! BEN!!! NET!!!” Ben was just above the gauging station and I was hoping to God that he was still there. After a few tense moments of my monster trout hanging deep I felt a HUGE head shake and run. Ben turned the corner just in time to see this think take off vertically into the air and come down like a boulder hitting the water. There was no way I was going to land this fish. Ben got out something. I don’t remember what he said but I could tell that he knew exactly what he needed to do in order to help me land this fish. 

Remember my way-too-big net? It isn’t way-too-big. I’ve only come close to filling this net up once before and that was an 11.5lb bow. This thing was going to give that fish a run for its money. You can do two things when you have a big fish on. You can let it go where it wants and hope that it stays buttoned up long enough to net or you can take advantage of any split second advantage you get and go all in for a net. 

This big boy made a mistake and decided to come up again but this time without a shamoo impression. He came up and started head shaking on the surface. I got right on top of him and got my rod as high as I could directly above him to try and keep my line away from his body and his head up. I told Ben, “Net him now! Net it! Do it now!” I knew this was putting Ben on the spot but I didn’t think I would be able to keep him on if he got his head down for another run with the way this thing was freaking out. Then….

Ben took a stab with the net and came up with nothing but PIG! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! I absolutely lost my mind! This was a true beast. A totally clean specimen. An absolute masterpiece of nature. It was HEAVY and LONG. BIG head and HUGE shoulders. Big spots and that nice blue green iridescence on the gill plates. The only blemish was a big ol’ chamois leach sticking out of its mouth. Time stood still. This beautiful fish, Ben and I were the only things on planet earth at that point. Fishing nirvana. It was surreal holding this river gem up for a quick photo. It was bliss holding this trout in the water in the recovery room. It was one of the best feelings in the world when it almost knocked me back when it took off after only a few seconds of recovery. I just sat back in the river getting soaked after it swam off. I couldn’t get up. I just sat there for a second with an ear to ear goofy grin on my face. The tug is a drug folks and it doesn’t get any better than that. 

I was stunned. A high five from Ben brought me back to reality and I had to let out a scream. “AAAAhhhh”!   I was on top of the world….

 I don’t know how many October trips I’ve had up to the Dream Stream looking for a monster brown like this but it would happen for me on an early spring afternoon. An afternoon that is burned in my brain forever. An afternoon where I was truly living life and feeling what it has to offer to the fullest. Even if only for a brief moment. Fly Fishing will give you this without having to jump out of planes, or race around tracks, or climb the highest peaks. Fly Fishing will give you a true connection to nature. At that moment nothing else matters, no problems exist. This is why I love Fly Fishing and why I will be walking through rivers for the rest of my life.

The Road to a 10lb Brown (Part 2)

Mike Greene with a fatty

The saga continues! Don't worry it's only three parts. Part 2 of this exciting series is really going to focus on my Dad who just killed it on this day. I mean I'm always happy when my fishing buddies and especially my Dad catch fish but this got a little one sided folks. My Old Man is living right because he would wind up with four board fish before the day was out.

We started things off right below the gauging station.  There was only one other car in the lot when we started so we figured what the hell. It's always worth a cast or two in this deep dark layer of who knows what..... At that point in time it meant a nice fat cutty. Always good to get one in the net. Everything else is icing on the cake. We hooked a few more fish but we decided to get downstream ahead of the dude hatch.

The Lesson Begins...

We leapfrogged each other on the way down hooking fish along the way and I wound up fishing with my Dad who was at the head end of a nice looking run. I got there just in time to. He hooked up and we knew it was a nice fish. I saw the tail first and new it was big. After a few minutes we finally put a net under this beautiful 22" rainbow. Sweet! We were on the board.

I started working my way downstream and caught up with Mike. There was an open bend and we were getting into position to start the whipping when I heard my Dad, "got another nice one on"! Back up stream I go with the net. Got there in time to net another 20"+ fish. At this point I had to know.

Me: What are you using?
Dad: This egg pattern.
Me: Nice, got any more?
Dad: No.
Me: Where did you get that?
Dad: I don't know.....

Back downstream again! Mike and I leapfrogged again down river towards the inlet. I didn't have any eggs like the one my Dad was using. It was about a 6mm fire orange plastic bead that was either glued or melted to a scud hook. I did have some HUGE 12mm eggs that were close in color though. I figured what the hell and tied one on. BAM!! The river had gotten pretty crowded and it was hard to find open water. So I was sharing a run with a guy named Shane that I was lucky enough to stop and talk to.

I have had very good experiences on the rivers lately with folks and I think people are more considerate, in general, these days on the water. It's amazing what a, "you break the state record yet?" question to your fellow angler will lead to. Shane was a cool Dude and offered up the head of the run he was fishing. He was none too pleased when I hooked one right off the bat since he had whipped that water hard before I got there. I told him what my Dad had done upstream and showed him the color I was using. He didn't have any so I shared one of my big arse fireball "flies" (more like something out of Bass Master. Don't judge). 

I caught a few more nice spawning cutthroat and decided to work my way back up river to see what Mike and Dad were up to. Turns out I had just missed this 23" rainbow! Mike just happened to walk back up to where Dad was fishing was able to get this pic. What a fish! Mike and I were getting schooled!

Schooled but not skunked. Mike and I each caught some nice cutthroat. Every fish we caught was over 16" I think. You can't complain about that. I always have to remind myself how spoiled we are in Colorado.

We decided to call it a day and we worked our way back upstream to the parking lot. When we got to the gauging station it was empty. We thought why not finish it off the way we started it off so I worked my way to the tail end of the run and took a cast. BAM!! Big hit followed by a flying slab.... And then it was gone. I didn't get a good hook. Both Mike and my Dad got a good look and it was a big fish but nothing like what we would soon learn inhabits that dark deep abyss. 

The pieces were coming together. We discovered some good runs and had an idea of what they were keying in on. At this point I hadn't really thought of making a double header out of it..... But later that evening I had a nagging little voice telling me to go back the next day. Ben took one look at the fish my Dad had landed and was down. This day belonged to my Dad and it was awesome! The only thing missing was that elusive 10lb + toad..... but the stage was set.