June, 2024

6/17-19: Our return trip to what we call No Name Creek was again successful this year.  We found the place simply through some exploration in 2023 and tried it again this June because all the rivers and creeks in the Northern part of Colorado are out of shape due to the late snow melt.  Most of where we cast around our home base won't be fishable until the middle of July. 

It's a long drive down here to Southern Colorado - I'm guessing 4.5 to 5 hours.  We got close to our destination late in the day and chose to camp in a sheltered area a few miles from the stream.

Our little no name was running at about 50 cubes and was slightly off color.  Great conditions.  Since the area is at high elevation - over 9,000 feet we believe, the air and water temps were chilly to say the least.  Coupled with a 20-25 knot wind all day, it wasn't a lot of fun spending time on the water.  Sue was good for about a half hour.

Here's about three minutes of mostly unedited clips of the trip:

Since we had camped a bit away from the stream itself due to the rugged winds we didn't get to the creek until about 7:30 the next morning.  Had no idea what to expect on the water so rigged up with a dry/dropper set up.  There was zero sign of hatches this early in the day, midges included.  A quarter of a mile of wading and tossing this rig finally resulted in a foot long brookie on the stimulator.  After a few more strikes and releases, I just removed the dropper and stuck with the floater for the rest of the morning.  It was decently successful.

Am conservatively guessing I must have released at least 12-15 nice sized mixed rainbows and browns that ranged from 13-16 inches long.  Nice morning.  We had a short lunch and got back on the water a while longer and had a bit more success.  The wind eventually got to us both, and we opted out of trying to camp another night as we had originally planned.

So we drove back north through Salida hoping to camp on the Arkansas near Kobe, but the area was shut down due to high water.  Ended up at Camp Hale where we spent a good night in the trees & made it back home early the next day.

 Last Logbook Entry  � for previous day

6/24-25:  Our first trip to what is usually our favorite early summer season go to spot - namely the Gunnison River below the North and Black Canyon forks.  When we got there, we knew the flows would be a bit too high, and they were in spades. 

Paonia Reservoir is over pouring and Anthracite Creek is doubling down as well, so our nice stretch of water was not only difficult to access but impossible to wade.  Add on "really dirty water color" and you have an almost major recipe for disaster.  Couple those issues with mid 90 degree shade less heat and you'll understand why our three day two night outing was cut in half.

Nevertheless we had OK success.  Changing patterns and tactics from nymphing to trying to match the caddis in the brush, the yellow sallies along the bank, and the occasional giant stone in the air got us some rewards.  Take a quick look at the rough video clips below and you'll get the picture.

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