George McCormick landed this pure cutthroat yesterday on the Fork. It was the completion of the super slam; rainbow, cuttbow, brown and of course the whitefish. He had 21 fish by lunch, and then we quickly lost count. Fishing is really hot right now!
“I had a great time. There were some stretches where we almost couldn’t keep them off the bugs (until I yanked it away from them…). Please send me the pics you took when you get a chance. ”
Here you go George!
A rare catch these days on the lower drainages, this pure Cutthroat was landed this week while floating the Eagle. Nice to see a true native competing successfully with introduced browns and rainbows. Way to go Jay M Erickson!
Hi Friends,
Yesterday I fished about a 12 mile section of the Colorado River in the western part of Colorado, 180 miles west of Denver and 100 miles east of Utah. It was my second fishing trip with Pete Mott as my guide. Pete guided me on the Roaring Fork River about a month ago. This trip was great, just as good as the trip on the roaring fork.
The water levels have finally receded to Summer levels. It has been a very bad year for fishing out here due to very high water levels. The high levels were the result of the snow pack being 300% of normal and a very wet and cool spring. It the last week things have really gotten back to great normal and I’m trying to take full advantage.
Below are some pictures of my trip on the Colorado River. It was cool and rained on & off all day. One picture is of the great lunch Pete made – tilapia and avocado salad. We caught 25 fish and another 15 got away. According to Pete, I let the really big ones get away. Most of the fish were 12-18 inches, but they fought like hell in the fast current. I had one double, I was fishing a three fly rig. I would guess 50% Rainbows, 30% Browns, and 20% exotics. The only species we missed was a White Fish, and we fished like mad men for one the last 30 minutes trying to get one – Pete said something about a “super slam” if we could only get a Whitie.
BTW, the section of the Colorado River I fished was not always named the Colorado River. From 1836 to 1921 this section of the Colorado River (from the headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park to the Green River in Utah) was named the Grand River. At that time the Colorado didn’t start until the confluence of the Grand and the Green Rivers. In 1921 powerful Colorado Congressman Edward Taylor maneuvered Congress into renaming the Grand River the Colorado River. He was able to pull off the renaming in spite of vocal objections from Utah, Wyoming, and the US Geological Survey. Taylor’s argument was that the Grand’s water flow was greater than the Green’s (but in fact only slightly) while the others argued the Green’s drainage area was the greater. Taylor prevailed.
Oh, the birds in the tree are Bald Eagles.Bob
