Reading a river and identifying lies is one of the most important skills you can possess as a fly fisherman. If you can’t recognize spots where fish are likely to be holding you won’t cast to those spots and subsequently won’t catch any fish.
Here is a quick case study.
If your goal is to get to Cub Lake, you’re going to want to start out at the Cub Lake trailhead parking lot and take the trail that starts by crossing the bridge pictured to the right. This will start you out heading South on Cub Lake Trail. Once you get to Cub Lake you can turn around and head back the way you came, which makes about a 4.6 mile journey.
If you’re looking to catch some nice sized trout without venturing a great distance to do so the Big Thompson River is a good bet. Despite the water level being low there was still some flow and a lot of deep pools that were holding some very nice fish. I fished in the same stretch just up the road from the town of Drake twice last week. My first trip I landed 7 nice fish (5 browns and 2 rainbows) in just over 4 hours of fishing. My second time up was a bit slower and I only landed 2 but both were very robust rainbows.
In 2013 torrential rains created a massive flood that swept down the St. Vrain causing massive amounts of damage to the water way and the surrounding communities. Most locals go elsewhere to fly fish nowadays saying that the St. Vrain hasn’t recovered and isn’t fishing well yet. Even the guides at the local fly shop in Longmont said it probably wouldn’t be worth my time, but I figured I’d give it a shot since I’m new in town.
We couldn’t leave California before knocking one more National Park off our bucket list, so the day before we moved to Colorado we headed up to the Channel Islands with Andre’s sister Lisa and her husband Seth. Lisa took all the photos in this post so make sure to oooooh and ahhhhh appropriately.
Registering at REI for our wedding was one of the best ideas we’ve ever had. We registered not only for backpacking gear but also for gift cards. Our generous friends and relatives were delighted to give us something they knew we would love and actually use. Yesterday I used some of our gift card dough to purchase a new hydration pack.
Check out all the National Parks we’ve been to!
The Eglis Outdoors 