This past week I made it out on the water twice and spent the weekend hanging out in Estes Park. On Thursday I worked a half day then headed west to fish for the afternoon. I showed up to a snowstorm and fished for a few hours as the snow dumped. It was a beautiful scene. The fishing was tough though. I probably could have nymphed and done better but I decided to swing a medium sized white Goldie streamer with moderate success. Every now and then a fish would show some interest and eventually a few fish committed to the fly. Not a fabulous afternoon on the water fishing wise but fishing in the snowstorm was awesome.
On Saturday I hit the road after work and headed to Estes Park for the weekend. On the way over I made a quick stop to fish between the ice shelves of a smaller mountain stream. I was surprised to find more fish than I was expecting in the area that I fished. The fish were extremely sluggish and it took a lot for them to actually get the fly in their mouths. Lots of slow follows and swipes/misses but I manage to land a lot of fish in a short amount of time.
I spend my first morning in Estes watching the sunrise in Rocky Mountain National park. It was incredible to see the difference that a few months of cold weather made in Estes Park. The main river in the park was just a trickle of water and completely frozen over throughout the whole Moraine Park meadow. I spent an hour walking up and down the frozen river, recognizing the spots and reminiscing the fun times that I have had and shared with others in that meadow over the last two summers.
I spent the majority of my time in Estes hanging around people I met last summer at Rocky Mountain Church. I was blessed to have found a community there and am thankful for the friendships that have came from it. On Sunday and Monday I hung out my friend Anna and we spent some time hiking in RMNP, watching the Super Bowl with some other friends, and rock climbing at an indoor gym in town. It was a great weekend!
Trout Travels 