Winter fishing in Colorado

Fishing in Colorado is great all year.  In February I took a float trip down the Roaring Forks with guide Dustin Harcourt.  We stayed at his wonderful bed and breakfast Friday night, where we ate a great meal with Dustin and his wife (Dede) and their sons.  You women out there will be happy to know that Dede was quite knowledgeable about current and historical "women and fishing" facts.  I am hoping to get Dede to contribute to my newsletter in the future.  After dinner we spent the evening preparing our equipment for a quick stark the next morning, and swapping fish tales...stories.

Saturday morning we had a hearty breakfast and headed for the river. We fished along the Roaring Fork to the confluence at the Colorado River at Glenwood Springs.

The Ute Indians, the first people to live in this area, named the Roaring Fork “Thunder River” because it is so noisy. 

Here is some of the “white water we went through during the day!  (And yes, the white on the banks was snow!

We hoped to be on the river ahead of the other boats...and we were! 

Bob caught the first fish about 10 minutes into the trip.

It was beautiful...

The day was off to a great start!

There are 5 types of fish that live where we were fishing on the Roaring Forks; Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Brown Trout, White Fish, and Sucker Fish.  We had a grand slam the day we were out and caught at least one of each! 

These were some of the fish that I caught that day!

We fished with a three-dropper system, using flies that Dustin had tied.  We started with our own 5 weight rods and a 7-½ ft. leader to the first fly... an egg pattern (size 10-14).  We used a 4X tippet to the second fly (an imitation baetis size16-18) and the third fly (a midge size 16-20).  We had a strike indicator 6 to 9 ft up and enough weight to occasionally hit bottom.  As Dustin says, “If you are not catching moss keep adding weight and raising your indicator until you are catching moss in 1 out of 4 casts.”  With that much weight and 3 flies; we were using the “Roaring Fork Flop” method of casting.  It might not be pretty, but when you are drifting down the river in a boat; that method works just fine!

We also were treated to quite a bit of wildlife…including elk and eagles!

If you look closely you will see elk in the trees.

And Eagles in the sky!

This trip was evidence that you can fish at any time in Colorado!  I can’t wait to get out on the streams and rivers now.

Until next time…Good Fishing!

Lannie