Here’s a Rocky Mountain Fishing report from Charlie Trankler who met up with our two Colorado FATC members, Greg Krochta and Tim Graham, in the Rockies. Looks like they did pretty good!!
Over the 4th of July week I flew out to Denver to meet up with a couple of my FATC brothers to fish the Roaring Fork and other rivers. After flying into Denver, I was picked up by Tim Graham at the airport and we headed west to the town of Gypsum, where we had rented the Hardscrabble Cabin just outside of Gypsum Co. Our Airbnb host Susan and Dave Scott where very accommodating and treated us with fresh cookies and cheesecake several times during the week. Dave had just received a kidney transplant so Sue was our primary host.
Day 1, was July the 4th. Tim and I got up early and headed out to the Frying Pan River and were in the water by 10am. We were having some limited success but by 1pm the river was getting pretty crowded so we headed off to fish the Eagle at the Gypsum Ponds where we would meet up with Gregg Krochta who was driving up from Aurora to fish with us for a couple of days. Gregg fished the Eagle at Edwards before meeting us at the ponds. He had good success with the dry dropper and caught some good fish. I had some success as well fishing Greg’s usual run at the ponds with a dry dropper.
Day 2, we went to the Roaring Fork River. All three of us had purchased private access through Rare Waters (https://rarewaters.com/) and were eager to see how the private access would work. The rod fee per angler was $150.00. We arrived at the Diamond Arrow site in Carbondale Co. at 10am. The three of us and one other angler were the only anglers allowed on the property. The property has two ponds on it with one containing some large fish but we opted for the river instead. Not wanting to fool with our previous success we started with dry droppers Tim and Gregg using stimulators and I chose an Ant. The fish began hitting the dries and the ant immediately. We caught quite a few 15-to-18-inch fish. We broke for lunch and decided to fish down stream versus upstream which we fished in the morning. The downstream proved to be more suited to Euro nymphing which I was not set up for. Tim and Greg had some success fishing Euro and I traveled back up stream and caught 4 or 5 nice fish before we all got blown off the river by a storm. We then headed back to the cabin for a steak dinner provided by Gregg.
Day 3, we again had booked private waters again but this time at Springs Creek Ranch in Carbondale. (Rod fee $180 per man) We arrived at the stream at 9:30 but we did not need waders. The property is full of spring fed streams and wet wading is ideal. We were told at the fly shop to fish nothing smaller than 4x leader and tippet and to fish deep in the plunge pools in the stream. It did not take long for us to figure out the average fish ran from 18 to 22+ inches in these pools. These fish were very aggressive and took time to land. We fished till 12:30 and then broke for lunch. Greg had to drive back to Aurora for a dinner engagement and told us it was painful to leave such a great spot. Tim and I hung around to about 5pm and caught many more large fish using simple dry flies such as Caddis and Ants. I would highly recommend this property if you find yourself in the area.
Day 4, Tim and I drove to the Yampa early. We caught some small fish but the weather turned hot by noon and I happened to have a water thermometer with me and the water temp hit 70 degrees. So, we figured we had better stop fishing as to not stress out the fish. The fishing was fun but the fellowship was even better. Hope you enjoy the pic’s.
