Trips: Colorado – Windy But Awesome As Always
This was the fellowship’s fourth fly fishing trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado. Each year there is some surprise waiting for us whether it be snow, extreme cold, fires, wind, coronavirus, etc. But we endure and have an awesome time fishing the rivers of Colorado. This year we fished five rivers during our seven-day trip: The Eagle (two different locations), Blue, Frying Pan, Colorado, and Arkansas. Jim Craig, Greg Krochta (Denver fellowship lead), Charlie Trankler, Glenn Haake and Kenny Klimes made the weeklong trip. Our home away from home was the beautiful Hyatt Residence Club in Beaver Creek, Colorado. After flying into Denver, the four from the St Louis area met up with and had a “get to know each other” cookout at Greg’s home. Burgers and beer gave the gang time to talk and plan the week. Then they headed to Beaver Creek to settle in their new “digs”. The best way to describe almost every day of fishing is WINDY. As a fly fisher WIND is the last thing you want but we survived.
Day One: After a breakfast, the gang of five traveled to the Eagle River (schoolhouse) and fished for Browns and Rainbows. The new guys to the Eagle found out you DEFINITELY use a staff on this river. Rocks, boulders, and moss make this river one of the “slippery” rivers that I have ever fished. Fish were caught and the guys found out that they “weren’t at Montauk anymore” as they had to be precise to catch these Colorado trout. We were also joined by another member of the Denver fellowship, George Klapakis, who for one of his first-time fly fishing did an awesome job!
Day Two: This day found us heading to the Blue River. This river runs right through the town of Silverthorne and at times we had people watching us fish. Here the browns have brilliant colors as their main diet is Mysis shrimp.
Day Three: We traveled to Basalt, Colorado to fish the famous Frying Pan River. This river also has Mysis shrimp coming from under the reservoir dam making the browns here unbelievable colors. This was a good day for many of us as the browns were rising throughout the day. Jim Craig caught two fish at once when the browns could not resist his two-fly rig. Charlie Trankler did very well here swinging a special woolybugger he tied himself.
Day Four: The gang selected the Eagle river to fish again but in the Gypsum Pond area. Here Kenny and Greg were challenging each other for the big fish of the day. Greg caught the biggest fish (18 ½ inch rainbow) but Kenny won with the most inches. Big fish caught were 18 ½” rainbow, 17” brown, 17” rainbow, 16” brown and 15” rainbow.
Day Five: The wide Colorado was next on the schedule as we fished at the “pump house”. And yes, as each prior day proved – the wind just would not settle down. At times you felt like you were going to get blown over in the river. Here we could see the clouds of smoke from the fires in the Grand Lake area. Just one note – say some prayers for the Colorado families affected by the fires. They were unstoppable. Here the fishing was tough (the wind did not help) but fish were caught in the smaller streams running out of the larger Colorado. Jim Craig led this day with several nice fish.
Day Six: We fished the Arkansas river south of Leadville, Colorado (near Granite) and again it was windy but to add to that it was COLD! The Arkansas “looked” like great water but again the fishing was tough. Again, just a few fish were caught as the wind blew our flies and lines all over. Tangles were the often.
Day Seven: We packed up and headed to the airport to finish another great FATC trip. As we look back some new friendships were made and solidified. We enjoyed some great dinners together and long discussions on everything from fishing to families to …… You are probably wondering if we did a night in the jacuzzi? The answer is yes! It was great meeting George Klapakis who presented our group with a bottle of bottle of Greek Metaxa to celebrate our stay in Colorado. “Thanks, George”!
We hope to do the Beaver Creek trip next October. It is always a great time of fellowship and fishing.
