The moose took off running. I initially thought that I had scared it... and then a group of horses emerged from the trees that had been rushing the moose.
I approached the camp site Friday evening at 9:30 pm bouncing and maneuvering along the trail in my F-150.
The utter darkness was engulfing out there. The multiple layers of stars were remarkably clear, but cast absolutely zero illumination down to the mountains. All I could make out was Swizz's face peering out at my approaching truck - face lit up by spotty light cast from the flames of a camp fire dancing in the steady wind out of the West.
I crudely unloaded some gear and pitched my tent in the light of my headlamp. I joined Swizz and Mark for a beer before we all retired to our beds to accelerate the arrival of the following day of fishing.
The morning sun brought out the chironomids. We ate breakfast and took our time getting onto the water. As we had hoped for, the late morning brought on an onslaught of callibaetis.
Callibaetis husks:
Callibaetis Adults:
And guess who was down there dining on emergers?
I implore you to click on the following photo to view it in full quality.
Many more fish were caught on Saturday, but none quite as spectacular as the native. The unique catch put a very large smile on my face; much to the disbelief of Swizz, and the disgust of Jason.
Rain, lightning, and wind came through in the afternoon and really put the fish down for the rest of the day.
Jason stripped a streamer through the shallows that evening and hooked into a brown that ended up spitting the hook. The loss was a shame, but beers and dinner while watching the sunset eased the pain.
Sunday was a carbon copy of Saturday. Midges in the morning, mayflies in the late morning, and storms in the afternoon putting down the hatches and fish.Late morning 'bow taken on a calli:
Vaughn showed up and fished with us Sunday. He caught a 25 in. rainbow right before the storm hit. Regrettably, I was fishing far away from him and didn't get a photo of the biggest fish of the weekend. However, Vaughn sticking the hog is nothing new.
Posts
noob question, but what fish is that red one with the hook mouth? is that a salmon? It looks so juicy and delicious...
ReplyDeleteHaha. That's a Colorado River Cutthroat - a native Colorado trout. The "Colorado River" part is the actual name of that cutthroat strain, and does not mean that it was caught in the Colorado River.
ReplyDeleteThe hook jaw, also known as the kype, is a male trout trait.
What made that catch so special is that CRCTs are not stocked in that lake, and trout can't reproduce naturally in still water... This means that that particular fish underwent a major journey to end up in that lake from who knows where.
that is, by far, the coolest looking fish I've seen. I want it...
ReplyDeleteThat is a sweet fish. That would have made the trip for me.
ReplyDeleteGreat fish... Glad Worm asked those questions.
ReplyDeleteThat Cutthroat is amazing!! On first gander I thought it was a gigantic golden trout-- good stuff-- great blog.
ReplyDeletecheers
--brian j.