This post is a recount of a fishing trip to Colorado with my best friend Matt, his younger brother Adam, and his parents Mr. and Mrs. K.
Day 1: We were flying Frontier direct to Denver. It was nearing time to board. Mr. K checked his flight tracker: the plane was still in North Carolina. It seemed unlikely that the plane would make it from Charlotte to Buffalo in 10 minutes, so we anticipated a delay. Sure enough, the staff came on the loudspeaker: “we’re sorry, but your departure has been delayed [insert excuse here].” Guess that’s budget airlines for ya.
I killed some time playing scrabble with Mrs. K. The plane arrived, and we took off for Denver. We landed, gathered our bags, picked up the rental truck, and headed to Mrs. K’s parents’ house in Boulder where we would be staying the night. I hadn’t seen Mrs. K’s parents since the fall of 2017. When we arrived, they greeted us with hugs and smiles. They were as kind as I had remembered them being.
Mrs. K’s dad is very sharp, even in his old age. I enjoyed our conversations because I knew he spoke with wisdom. We were talking in the garage as we unloaded the car. He provided me with a few words of advice, which followed something along the lines of “you shouldn’t take an opportunity that isn’t right for you. Remember to be patient, and be comfortable with passing up opportunities that aren’t the right ones. Eventually, the right opportunity will come along and you should seize it. Life is too short to waste your time.” His advice was taken to heart.
Matt and his girlfriend arrived from Minnesota that afternoon. Mr. K’s brother came to visit later that evening, and we all ate dinner together. We watched some TV and then turned in for the night. Adam and his girlfriend didn’t arrive from Iowa until the early hours of the morning.
Day 2: We loaded up the cars and set out for a town called Grand Lake. We had two condos reserved at the Shadow Mountain Yacht Club. The yacht club overlooked Shadow Mountain Lake, which is located just south of town. On the way, we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The air was crisp, clean, and dry. The views were amazing. We stopped for pictures at a few popular spots. The enormity of the geographical features was sobering.
We stopped for lunch at Estes Park Brewery (would recommend), and continued on the rest of the way to Shadow Mountain Lake.
Day 3: I rose before the sun. I showered, downed some coffee, ate some yogurt, and hopped in the car with Mr. K, Adam, and Matt. We were off to the Fraser River. The Fraser ended up being my favorite river of the trip. Although the fish aren’t as big as those found elsewhere, the Fraser is beautiful, walkable, and clean with plenty of fishable water.
I started off swinging a black woolly bugger (size 8) and ended up hooking a 10” brown at the first run we fished. I moved downstream and missed a couple fish, most notably a rainbow that flew out from an undercut bank as I stripped in my fly. I managed to catch another brown of similar size and a slightly larger rainbow as I made my way downstream. As the day wore on and the sun rose high, it became quite hot. We called it quits sometime in the early afternoon.
Day 4: Again, I rose before the sun. I showered, drank my coffee, ate my yogurt, and hopped into the car with Mr. K, Adam, and Matt. We were off to the Williams Fork River near Parshall. It was a good mile’s walk to get to the river from the Division of Wildlife parking area. When we got down into the valley, we were greeted by mosquitos. Never in my life had I seen so many. They swarmed like bees whose nest had been kicked. My god. A meal was quickly made of any exposed skin (which thankfully was only my hands). No amount of bug spray could deter them.
Our trip to the Williams Fork was certainly not my best performance. Mr. K and Adam walked upstream, while Matt and I walked down. We fished through early afternoon. I only managed to hook one fish on a flashy white streamer, size 8. I hooked him in a riffle and ended up losing him, probably because of the poor angle I had during the fight. Matt and Mr. K also finished the day empty handed. Adam managed to land a nice rainbow.
The remainder of the day was uneventful. Mr. K fished the Shadow Mountain Lake outlet that evening while I stayed back with Matt and Adam. I was beat from the two early days prior and the late nights between them.
Day 5: I rose before the sun, showered, ate, and hopped into the car with Mr. K, Adam, and Matt. We were off to RMNP to fish the Colorado. I was especially excited about this trip because I knew I had a chance (although remote) of catching my first ever cutthroat. We parked the car and headed for the river. Matt and I walked downstream. Mr. K and Adam headed up
The morning was tough. I swung a flashy white streamer (size 8) while Matt worked a multitude of setups. I managed to bag two brookies before the day was out. Not exactly what I had come for, but they were pretty nonetheless. We could see plenty of fish. They were picky and presentation had to be near perfect. As the sun got higher, it became more difficult to hide our shadows and movements. The fish became spookier and finally stopped feeding altogether.
Matt and I began heading upstream to meet up with Adam and Mr. K. By the time we reached the stretch of river nearest the parking area, clouds rolled in and thunder began to rumble. We found Adam and Mr. K just in time to make it back to the car before the storm rolled in. There wasn’t much from a precipitation standpoint, but the storm did end up spawning a funnel cloud.
That evening, Matt and I took a trip out to the outlet of Shadow Mountain Lake. Mr. K had quite a bit of success there the night before, and Matt was long overdue for his first fish of the trip. We fished dries the entire time. I think I had Matt working a brown caddis, maybe size 12. My oh my were the fish rising that evening. Matt managed to bag at least 5 fish, an assortment of browns and rainbows, all of nice size. It was the first time I had fished dries since I could remember. I had forgotten how exciting it was to watch the little wad of elk hair drift peacefully on the water’s surface before being suddenly engulfed by a hungry trout.
Day 6: We were off to the outlet of Shadow Mountain Lake to see if it would be as productive at dawn as it was at dusk. Mr. K and Adam walked quite a ways downstream to give Matt and me some space. Matt and I methodically worked our way downstream. I was swinging a white flashy streamer, size 8. I chose white so I could see the fly’s movement in the water and ensure a good presentation.
That morning was a real thrill. I must have lost 8-10 fish, all of which I was able to see smash my streamer. The recurring issue was fish taking my fly near the end of the swing and my hookset inevitably pulling the fly out of the fish’s mouth. However, I did manage to land one brown on the morning. It was my biggest fish of the trip.
I was working some fast water buckets in a stretch that can be described as a small boulder garden. Another angler abandoned his post so I swung through near where he had been fishing. I let my fly get deep into the eddy and began to work it back upstream when wham! It got smacked. I knew I had my hands full with a nice size fish in decent current. I managed to keep the fish in the eddy and fought him into submission. I netted him myself and Matt ran up from nearby to snag some pics. It was my biggest ever non lake run trout (yeah I’m a steelhead snob).
Later that evening, I took a drive out to the Willow Creek Reservoir outlet with Mr. K. The outlet is wide and deep at the dam, almost like an Olympic swimming pool. I fished for a while but knew I wasn’t getting anywhere deep enough to have a realistic chance of hooking up, much less did I know where the fish would be holding. There was a short stretch of fishable water downstream of the dam’s tail out. After that, the creek ran deep and slow as it was impeded by numerous beaver dams. That evening yielded nothing more than a few bug bites.
Day 7: Mr. K and I headed back to RMNP. Matt and Adam slept in, as they would be spending the day with their girlfriends (yay for me being single!). We targeted a stretch of the Colorado downstream from where we had fished a few days prior.
The morning was tough. I managed to land a brown on a black woolly bugger about an hour in, but that was the only fish hooked between the two of us. Luckily, we ended up spotting some moose as they crossed the stream. I was able to snag a couple pics (and a video). It was a pretty surreal experience.
Day 8: We loaded up the vehicles and headed back to Boulder. We paid a final visit to Mrs. K’s parents and then headed to Denver. We were spending the night at a hotel to catch our flight first thing in the morning. Matt, Adam, their girlfriends, and I hung out at the pool for a couple hours. We would all be going our separate ways in the morning: Matt to Minnesota, Adam to Iowa, and myself back to Buffalo.
I was grateful to have gotten to spend the week with Matt and Adam. It was like the good old days, us fishing together. Growing up, we would be fishing nearly every chance we had. From our younger years fishing the neighborhood pond to our older years exploring waters across western New York. I miss those days and cherish the memories.
Overall, I give the Colorado trip a score of 10/10. I hope to make it back someday to catch my first cutthroat.
