August, 2016

8/1-2:  A three day trip downsized to two when our last hope for a camping spot on the Crystal River was already occupied, and we had to quit a bit early  Nonetheless we had a good time on the days we traveled.  This is an annual event for us, moving from Vail to Buena Vista to Crested Butte, etc. over several mountain passes while casting on five different rivers/creeks.  All the waters upon which we cast were pretty much like we remembered them from the previous year.

A nice sized brown from the upper Taylor River.

My only regret was not having more than a couple of strikes on the Taylor River tailwater just below the dam.  Usually some type of contrarian tactic yields a decent fish or two, but it didn't happen this year.  McGill's in Crested Butte was a loser again.  That place ebbs and flows with the quality of whoever happens to be cooking at the moment, and I suspect we won't waste our time - or any more money - at that cafe again.

Having been shut our of our favorite camping spot on the Crystal River, we'll probably make another shot at that stream before the season ends.  Here's the video of the trip:

8/6:  A little bit of fun for an hour or so on our local area Ten Mile Creek.  Couple dozen small browns (12" and under), but not a sign of a rainbow or brookie.  Don't know where they've gone this year.

More tiny stream fishing today (8/7) on Gore Creek.  Better than Ten Mile as more of the fishes are rainbows.  Here's the short story:

up in Middle Park. The Arkansas was something of a mixed bag - small fish in the small braids and larger ones in the main river, but the Platte gave up only smaller fish, etc. Good weather made up for somewhat indifferent fishing.  Here's the down and dirty video of the trip:

8/17: A couple of hours on the Eagle today.  Not a lot of success releasing fish, but the #18 WRS did its job in teasing a bunch of fish to the surface so had plenty of "play time" with some decent sized rainbows and browns.  Tomorrow we head up to the White River for probably the last time this summer.  Should be some bigger trout up there.

8/18-19:  Dog and I did an overnighter on the White the past couple of days.  Indifferent to really ugly weather put something of a damper on the second day (today), but we had a good time casting, hooking, and occasionally releasing some decent trout.  Fished a couple of new spots with some success and visited some old favorite runs with very little success.  Kind of a strange trip.  Here's the fish of the day (a good twenty inch rainbow) followed by some excerpts from the rest of the trip:

8/25-26:  Bad weather overnight gave us no chance on the Crystal today after a so so session on the lower Gunnison yesterday.  Seemed to be a case of the late summer blahs on the Gun. and with the Crystal off color, we missed several spots we'd normally enjoy.  Here's the quick & dirty vid.

Last Logbook Entry  � for previous day

8/29:  Last couple of trips for August.  Summer doldrums in effect right now.  OK fishing a few places on the Eagle, but the Conejos was close to a complete bust due to the rotten weather.  Here's the short story:

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