It's never been about the fish. (Long Post)

Or atlease for me it hasnt been. If that was the case I wouldve stopped after purchasing my first setup. Still I continued on. After 6 months of being behind the rod I called up a buddy that graduated Citadel with me to see if he would like to do an epic trip that would consist of traveling to various locations to fly fishing, camping and hiking 9 days in colorado with no determined destination. Just hop off a plane and rent a car and go. Two months later, We landed in Denver hopped into our Mazda 6 at the Enterprise stop, looked at each other and said “Ok, where to?”

We first determined Silverthorne and headed down the interstate to the first destination. Stopped into Cutthroat Anglers to explain our purpose and to meet some locals. Up to this point, I have yet to tell anyone that this would be my first trout fishing experience. They told us what was hatching (mostly 20’s-22’s) and told us to not bother with the Blue River, but to head up towards Parshall and fish the Colorado.

Back into the Mazda, destination Parshall. We arrived right before dark and set up camp. Only problem was that it was pouring ran and we couldnt built a fire in the 30 degree weather. So we proceeded to sit in the car and drink beer while I updated Luke on the LSU/USC game through the phone. Sunday we fished the Colorado, my first time ever for trout. Right off the bat missed three good hits (hooked one but he shook it) and luke missed around the same. As the morning got later the crowd got bigger and it became harder to space ourselves between fishermen. We packed up camp and headed towards Rocky Mountain National Park to fish more of the colorado. Fished it that afternoon as the elk made their way down the ridges to rut in the meadows. One of the most unbelievable sights and sounds. Luke ended up with two brookies that afternoon and I was left empty handed. We stayed in Granby that night woke up the next day and fished the entire mornining and midafternoon. Luke again rewarded with a nice 20" brown and me nothing. My confidence

Brilliant.

I’m thinking of taking a backpacking trip in Winds this Summer and it’s posts like this that spark the desire.

Thanks for sharing!

Good looking fly box you have there Trey! Glad I could help out, thanks for the purchase. Looks like you guys fished Jaffee Park in Aspen… that’s where I guided every day out there. Those fish are smart but can be caught!

Your photos have given me goosebumps and are bringing back way too many memories. Looks like a blast.

When you want to go to Patagonia, let me know. I’m hosting trips down to southern Chile to the Paloma River Lodge where the average size brown is 20". It’s also all dry fly fishing and much easier fishing than Colorado.

I’ll hit you up next time I’m in Chucktown

There is no normal life, there’s just life.

Tarpon 140

Knot the Reel World Fly Fishing LLC

Glad you had a good time man, looks like a great trip, sure we will be talking soon, give me a yell when you are free

Bragging may not bring happiness,
but no man having caught a large fish,
goes home through the alley.
-Anonymous

Great story and great photos. Really made me jealous. Thank you for taking the time to tell the story…it helps us that can only live this type of trip vicariously for now!

John

JohnH0802

killer post!! id say Alaska should be next!

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