FATC members John Walker and Tim Graham fished together in Colorado August 3rd thru August 8th. We met at Stagecoach Reservoir State Park outside of Steamboat Springs to camp. After setting up camp John fished the tailwater early that evening with success on midges including a P&P. I travelled to the small town of Yampa (pop. 443) to attend a benefit concert by Big Head Todd. Later that evening we had a campfire on the lake shore at our campsite. The weather was a little cool and perfect to sit by a fire and catch up on life events and friends.

On day two, after breaking camp, we explored the nearby Sarvis Creek Wilderness Area on the Yampa River below the tailwater for Stagecoach Reservoir. Access is via a one-lane dirt trail that is best travelled very slowly with a high-clearance vehicle as it is very rough. We scouted the area and found some beautiful water to fish via a couple of public access points (portions are private ranch land). The Yampa at this location is very clear and flows relatively slowly. Several large trout were seen while scouting. We spent the afternoon in Steamboat Springs hanging out, visiting fly shops and getting some lunch along the Yampa while watching the “rubber” hatch (many inner tubes floating by). After getting settled in our rental (VRBO) for the week (a Straw Bale constructed two-story home on the Yampa in town) we drove back to the Sarvis Creek Wilderness to fish till dark. We fished an access point near a foot bridge across the river, upstream to the river bluffs which barred access and downstream through dense willows till near dark when I thought it best not to tempt fate as we were clearly in prime bear habitat with little open area along the river. Mosquitos were thick in this area and a major issue despite repellant. We did not have any luck fishing this evening, but we did experience a beautiful area and seen a red fox being chased by a mule deer and a very large golden eagle that appeared to be nesting on the high rock faces above the river.

Day three was spent on the Yampa River at the Chuck Lewis State Wildlife Area (SWA) LaFarge Unit. This was a new area on the C. Lewis for us. John caught a nice brown trout on one of his first casts on a Prince Nymph. Tim took a short hike to Pike Lake adjacent to the Yampa River to try his luck casting an articulated streamer with an 8 Weight rod for Northern Pike. This is a beautiful lake which was created by gravel mining years ago. I have heard many reports of large pike in this lake. Wading along the lake was easy but throwing the streamer with the heavy rod was difficult and felt like trying to fling a wet sock with a broomstick. Casting distance was typical and what would be expected but inadequate, nonetheless. Next time I will bring my float tube and hope to have better luck to reach the pike in the deeper water offshore. After a while I went to meet John in the Yampa. John caught several trout and I managed to get a few also, no lunkers were caught, but we found some nice places to fish. We shared the water with only two other anglers, one was a young woman fly fishing in a bikini with her dog. After taking a break for a few hours in the heat of the day at our place in-town we headed back to fish the Yampa. We intended to fish upstream from the Mt. Werner Road parking area, but the lot was full. Instead we went back to the C. Lewis area at another access point to fish the evening hatch. We fished till about dusk and walked a good distance, but we did not find any fish. Although, we did meet an interesting young man who graduated from CSU and who lives in Ft. Collins that was fishing with his dog that does stream reclamation work.

On day four we returned to the Sarvis Creek Wilderness area early to fish a stretch of river upstream from where we fished on day two. We climbed over a gate at the SWA and scrambled down a hill to the river to a beautiful spot (see photos). John and I caught several rainbows and I landed a 14”-15” Mountain Whitefish. I also hooked what I believe was a large fish that immediately began striping line off my reel while headed up stream. It did not take long for him to break my tippet. 6x or even 7X fluorocarbon with size #18 -#24 flies are pretty much mandatory for the tailwater area just upstream but as I learned small tippet is inadequate, and not needed in this area. I confirmed this while visiting with a fly shop owner later that afternoon that also mentioned that bigger bugs (#14-#16) are the best approach for this water. We continued our routine of taking a break during the warmest part of the day. After hanging out by the river at our place in town and watching some young people jumping into the river off the nearby railroad trestle, we decided to go for a hike into the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness area. I have made this hike up the Mad Creek Canyon nearly a half dozen times and wanted to share it with John. Mad Creek is a tributary of the Elk River. It flows through a deep, rugged canyon. The trail is about four miles long and climbs 1,322 feet in elevation to a beautiful meadow where a restored historic barn sits. We thought of taking our rods and fishing for brook trout, but we did not know if time would permit us to do that and return by dark. It was a good thing we did not fish. At the location where would have fished we spotted a large black bear sow and her two cubs walking parallel to the creek. They were on the other side of the creek from us about 200 to maybe 300 yards away. It was exciting to see, but we were a little bit apprehensive. The sighting happened so quickly before they disappeared into the forest that we did not get a photograph.

Day 5, our last day of fishing, turned out to be our best day of the trip. We fished early in town on the Yampa River at about river mile 45, just upstream of the Mt. Werner Road parking area which was full on evening 3. This area is popular with tubers floating downstream to downtown Steamboat Springs, walkers, cyclist, etc. We arrived early to get a parking spot and to avoid the crowds. We walked a short distance upstream away from the tubers. There is a large, concrete paved path running parallel to the river for many miles. Access to the river is very easy. I fished a Chubby Chernobyl hopper pattern with a red copper john dropper. After a short time in the river we got lucky. John caught a nice brown trout. I drifted my hopper along the far side of the river away from the path etc., along a cut bank and to my surprise a large brown trout slammed the hopper on the surface. I knew I had a pretty good fish. I was fishing with a 6-weight rod and 5X tippet to the hopper. I let the fish strip line and retrieved line as I could when he tired, all the while following him downstream. I played the fish for what seemed like a very long time, maybe 5 to 10 minutes. I had an audience of 5-6 people on the shore who were watching from the path. I finally landed the fish and was very glad that I had an oversized net basket with extended handle. John came up after releasing his fish and we measured the male brown (kype jaw) at 22” and released him. After the adrenaline rush it took me a while to retie everything. We fished here for about another hour (maximum parking time was two hrs.) before taking a short break. In the afternoon we tried some new water on the Elk River at Christina SWA just above the confluence with Mad Creek. This location is relatively close to town, 13 miles above where the Elk flows into the Yampa. The Elk River flows very fast at this location and the streambed is large, smooth boulders (it is like wading on bowling balls coated in Vaseline). We both caught quite a few rainbows in this area. John had his best luck on a green copper john which he had tied, and I used the old reliable pheasant tail. This is almost whitewater in sections. In my excitement to fish I forgot my wading staff in the vehicle. After catching a few fish and making do with a branch I tripped on the large cobble and went in headfirst. John managed to stay upright while wading, which was a major accomplishment since the sole of his wading boot (korkers) had come off and he had very little traction from that boot. After drying out a bit and re-rigging at the vehicle we went back in the river (with staff) and had a ball fishing this water. Unlike the Yampa, we could get up close to the fish because the water was moving so fast, we did not spook them. The rushing water was so loud that it drowned out most of the traffic noise along nearby 129 Road.

Day 6 was departure day. We got an early start and did not fish. John drove the entire distance to STL of more than 1,000 miles (17 hrs.). I headed north into Wyoming (quickest route home) and seen several bald eagles perched along the road. I went up through North Park, and Walden and then along the Laramie River, east to Cheyenne and dropped back down south to Colorado toward Fort Collins. It was a great week of fellowship, exploring new and different types of water, seeing wildlife and catching some good fish. I capped it off with a trip to Broncos Mile High Stadium a couple of days later to see the Rolling Stones, thanks to the generosity of friends who took me to the concert to celebrate my 60th lap around the sun.