Greg Krochta, the Denver fellowship lead, sent this trip report on his most recent “cold” trip to the waters. The Denver fellowship is working on a new name for their fellowship. Right now they are looking at the name “Flyfishers In The Rockies” or FITR (like fighter). Looks like us ex-fighter pilots can’t stay away for the “need for speed”. Here is Greg’s report:
to get out of my car and fish when the thermometer read just 10 degrees! But I’d driven down to Deckers on the S. Platte, and hadn’t seen a soul in any of the usual spots, and only one other diehard about 1/2 mile downstream of a stretch I had never fished before (upstream of Deckers at the Cable Hole recommended by Pat Dorsey, the fishing guide and S. Platte authority). Armed with some new knowledge, I hit the water around 10:00am. I immediately spotted a nice rainbow under an ice shelf (see video below), so I was feeling hopeful right away. Within a few minutes, I spotted 2 more under another ice shelf and tried to shuffle them out where I might be able to target them. Not long after wetting my line, (I was fishing an egg and midge nymph combination) I ended up with 2-3 lbs of ice on the leader! It was like slinging a heavy rope with 2 tiny flies attached on unfrozen tippet! BTW, there are some real-world solutions to preventing this from the outset…primarily using a grease on your line to keep the ice from forming, or at least slowing it down significantly. My alternative solution was to simply lay my rod and line on the roof of my car, which was sitting in the sun, and 10 minutes later…voila…no more ice!
BTW…I met one of the “Flies and Lies” guides (Jessie) as I photographed my last fish and he told me the area still fishes well all-season and also during high winds (which kept me off the water last week) since it puts a sheen on the water and the fish are less spooky. Guess what he meant was…there’s no excuse for not getting out on the water!
