Colorado River Monsters (fishing)

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My FIL won a fly rod as a door price 10+ years ago, and gave it to me (he doesn't fly rod fish) since I figured I'd get around to fly rod fishing at some point. I dusted it off this year to figure out what it is, and it's a Winston WT 8'6" 4wt 3pc aimed at dry fly fishing. After seeing what the used market price is on those (and, if you can find them, the new price is), I think I'll cut my teeth on something less expensive this year. By next year I should be savvy enough to try it out.

 

I doubt you could damage it at all, Winstons (at least to me) seem to have a real “whippy” Tip, which sometimes doesn’t give you a good hook set. Otherwise they are my favorite brand, I find used ones on eBay.

 

Got skunked at Slater Lake today... the cutthroat weren't taking anything I threw at them. But, I poked around Fall River (which is a creek, really) on the way out and pulled about a dozen little brookies out which made up for it.

 

Caught a beautiful brownie!


Also, had an some dry flies to throw when the hatch came out and caught a few on my water bobber/dry fly spin setup. The delayed hook set is a skill that i have yet to master ha

 

Are we allowed to post swamp donkeys here? Caught on one of my own carp patterns.

 

geeeeezus! Haha

 

Your poor rod and reel!

 

More like my poor forearm!

 

I think it’s time for a bigger net.

 

Hahaha I don't know why that net looks so small in the picture but it still turns carp into tacos.

 

Popped into Palmer Lake this evening. Nabbed four species on Adams dry flies:

Rainbow trout


Golden shiner (first one for me)


Green sunfish


and one Bluegill (thought I took a pic, but it wasn't there... it's just a bluegill anyways).

 

never seen a golden shiner before.. Is that a colorado specific species ?

 

I got skunked on my last outing, and have not been out in weeks since then. The warm weather and everyone out fishing has left me a bit uninterested at the moment. I should get over myself and try to find a shady unoccupied shoreline


as far as fancy rods go... I cant help myself but to yearn for a nice Able or Ross on a Sage or something way out of my budget... I did splurge a bit this year on some Simms boots but if it isnt a fly or something I need I have caught enough on a redington to keep from digging into the wallet at the fly shops... Working there would be trouble. I have considered it as I understand retail well enough to know I can acquire one at cost when the time is right. I hear volunteering helps get into the circles that offer nice discounts on gear. maybe i should look into that somehow lots of cancer survivor and veteran fly fishing organizations looking for people to haul gear maybe or give bad advice...

 

if you know anyone that works in that space then they might be nice enough to share their prodeals.

 

I feel you on the whole too many people thing. Kinda has killed it for me for a while too. That carp however came out of a ditch/creek behind my house that really only me and a couple of my friends know about that I should go down to more. Also look into Project Healing Waters. It's a disabled vet fly fishing guide group thing.

 

A co-worker has authored some short stories for healing waters and my dentist does something with a women's group. Those two are the most popular but maybe

 

I used to volunteer with Project Healing waters for like their first 2 years, Guides have taken it over. I know there are some opportunities (support hauling boats, etc) up in Montana with them but that's a long haul for a volunteer gig.

If you find something or new info (I gave up contacting them 3 years ago) please post up in here.

 

I don't know. I found a fishing forum post wherein someone asked for a species ID on a fish from Palmer Lake, and our fish matched. Multiple folks chimed in with golden shiner. I popped that into the Googles to validate, and the pics found matched my pics. I didn't research any further than that.

 

Was behind someone's Tacoma w/ their fly fishing business info on the back. Anyone here? I think it was black or gray. Maybe dark green.