You know the saying if something will go wrong it will? Or something like that… This trip offered a little bit of everything in that regards.  Matt McClure and I (Kenny Klimes) took our annual March trip to Colorado to fish the South Platte river with Guide Landon Mayer and join up with the Denver fellowship (FITR or Flyfishers in the Rockies). We were set for another awesome fishing trip but not all trips can be “fully” awesome, especially when ‘Murphy’s Law’ takes over.

Our round trip started with our airline reservations getting canceled by Southwest airlines due to the 737 Max 8 problems the day prior to us leaving. After half a day of trying to get us both on a flight to Colorado we left a day late but did get on a round about flight to Denver (it’s all they had for two).  When we arrived in Denver, we rented our car – what a deal through Hotwire.com!! We saved over $200 from any other rental agency. Then we found out why. The company, Advantage, tried to sell us everything under the sun along with our rental. We went from a minivan to a Jeep Wrangler back to a minivan to a black Yukon XLT (that Dick Cheney had last) – for the same price. We thought good deal. The front tires were too low – 23psi- and the back tires were too high – 46psi. There was a hole in the ceiling near the driver’s visor. We got the tire pressure corrected and stopped to eat at a Wendy’s before we got to our lodging. An hour and 15 minutes later we got our order and the place was empty!!! What??? That night at our lodge I forgot to close the front door of the car, it snowed (yes, inside the car) and this was just the beginning.

Day Two: On day two of our trip we joined Greg Krochta, the Denver fellowship lead, and two of his guys, Doug and Jim, for breakfast at the Hungry Bear in Woodland Park before heading off to fish the South Platte in Eleven Mile canyon.  Fishing there was good as the crowds were minimal and we would be able to fish wherever we wanted.  Kenny was possessed by the trout hanging out near the dam as the others worked their way downstream. Successful day until we started to leave. The frozen mud in the parking lot was now no longer frozen. It took Kenny at least 20 minutes to “rock” his way out of the mud. Unfortunately for Matt, he was standing right behind the car when Kenny did his last blast effort to get out of the mud. Kenny was free and Matt was totally full of mud.

Day Three: Tuesday we met with our Guide Landon Mayer to fish the Dream Stream, the section of the South Platte river between Spinney reservoir and Eleven Mile reservoir.  The Dream Stream was very low and clear, and Landon was a little worried that it would be a very tough day to fish. But we did very well with his guidance and caught (and lost) some very nice trout. We used midges mostly, size 22s. The three of us worked very hard and Landon said afterwards that due to the technicality of the river at this time (low flows) we did awesome.  He wasn’t sure we should fish it again the next day as we had planned. So, after long discussions we decided to cancel our second day with Landon. He recommended fishing the Arkansas river near Pueblo, Colorado. So that’s what we planned. A day lost with Landon was not what we wanted but the Dream Stream just wasn’t ready for us.

Day Four: Matt and I headed for Pueblo, Colorado to fish the Arkansas below the dam. It was a beautiful spot. Matt and I walked up to the dam and fished our way down stream. We hit some good spots where the trout were feeding. It was fish on almost every cast, of course other areas were much more difficult. Kenny landed two nice rainbows, one about 18 inches. Matt got Kenny tangled up and took over his hot spot as Kenny had to retie his rig. He did it on purpose!! We caught a lot of 10 – 12-inch rainbows here and being that neither one of us had ever fished here before it was fun. We ended the day with pizza. Again, Murphy showed up as they messed up Kenny’s order and he had to wait an extra 30 minutes for his correct pizza to be made.

Day Five: Started out the morning hunting for our room key so we could leave early. Lost! We tore the room apart for the next three days looking for the key – never found it. Our plans to go to the Taylor river to fish were thwarted as we discovered it would be a three-hour trip there and back. So, we decided to fish the famous Cheesman canyon on this day. They say if you can catch fish in the Cheesman canyon you can catch fish anywhere. So, we decided to take the challenge! Arriving early, we met a young man who grew up in Kenny’s neck of the woods (Chicago area – Hinsdale). He told us where the trail was and how far a hike it would be to get into the canyon. So off we went – made Cardiac Hill look like child’s play.  Arriving in the canyon we saw why people say it’s the most beautiful place to fish on earth. It was awesome. Matt and I hiked about halfway through the canyon before we started to fish. Yes, you could see fish everywhere but catching them was another story. We worked hard hunting fish in the clear, cold waters.  We each netted about three trout a piece and lost more. Kenny caught a beauty, about 18 inches that he was targeting for about 15 minutes on a scud and later in the day a nice brown on a soft hackle. Matt pulled a couple nice trout out on a midge and egg pattern. Matt tried to get close to the Wigwam Club (private resort on some of the best waters in Cheesman canyon) just to see if Dick Cheney was fishing there. He didn’t see him or get shot. We stayed fairly late in the canyon and did the long walk back to the car excitedly talking about the next time that we get to fish Cheesman canyon. Such a beautiful place deserves to be fished every year.

Day Six: This day we flipped a coin to see where we should go next. We “thought” that we could conquer the Dream Stream despite the low flows. So, we headed there. The snow fell the night before and keep the crowds low or it could have been the reports that the fishing was terrible. We followed Landon’s techniques but only caught a few fish. We must have walked six miles hunting fish to no avail. Tired from the last four days and the long walks on this day we went back to Woodland Park early. If you ever stay in Woodland Park, try eating at the UTE restaurant in the center of town – good food.

Day Seven: We were, as you say, toast. We couldn’t fish another day. So, we met Greg Krochta at the Blue Quill Angler fly shop outside of Denver and enjoyed a fishing seminar by the famous guide and author, Pat Dorsey. He gave an outstanding talk on the South Platte river. We all purchased his book on fishing the South Platte so now we are armed with more knowledge for next year. Afterwards Greg, Matt and I had a nice Mexican lunch. We headed back to our lodging in Woodland park and started making plans for next years trip. We watched some basketball and packed our gear for the trip home.

Day Eight: We said our goodbyes to Woodland Park and headed to the Denver airport for the flight home. But, on the way we visited Kenny’s Alma Mater – the U.S. Air Force Academy outside of Colorado Springs. Unfortunately for us the campus was dead quiet as the cadets were all on spring break. As we turned in our rental car Kenny gave the car checker a piece of candy that we took from the room. She was so excited by that she said we could leave, and the car was fine even before she inspected it. It pays to be nice. Our flight home was uneventful, but our trip was one we will never forget.

P.S. Matt found the room key in a small pocket in his waders – that he swears he checked five times. Yeah, Right.