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We went to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) for
vacation this year. We love to go to the mountains
and see the fall foliage. Going in mid to late September
also means that the crowds are not as large. There are
not as many programs at night, but the elk are in rut
and that just might be better entertainment.
Before we got to the Park we saw sheep, in the Big
Thompson Canyon. We saw a bunch of antelope just out
of Cheyenne Wyoming. We also saw many deer on the trip
out and while we were in the Park.
We had rented a cabin this time to stay in. We usually
tent camp in the Park, but my wife had trouble with
altitude sickness last time we were out there. We wanted
to be at a place where there were not as many variables
to deal with as staying in a tent. The other things was
it was just outside of the Park and only about 100 feet
from the Roaring River. What more could a fly fisher
ask for?
Having a chance to fly fish for trout took me back to my
early days of fishing. I grew up fishing for trout, usually
with eggs or spinners. This was before my fly fishing days.
I am hooked on fly fishing, and most of it is for warm-water
species now.
But when you are in Rome, you do as the Romans do. I had
a chance to fish for those cold water finny creatures and
I took advantage of it. I got to fish in several places
in the Park and had some success at each of the places I
fished.
The first place I fished was the area around the Alluvial Fan
in the Park. There are two nice streams that meet near here
and there are fish in both of them. I fished this area on
Monday. I went up the stream toward Lawn Lake to see what
might be happening. I found a plunge pool that had some
still water beside it between two rocks. I thought there
might be a fish or two in there.
My first try was with a PTN I had tied up. This is one of
these that I use eight colors of pheasant tail fibers for.
I just really like the way these things looks with the
multiple colors. I cast it out and let the water carry it
down into the pool.
I did not see or feel the strike but when I started to
retrieve the line I had a fish on. It was a nice brook
trout with it's spawning colors on. They sure are a pretty
fish. I returned this one to the water and tried the same
thing again. I thought there would be more fish in this pool.
It worked several more times for me, before the fish figured
out that something weird was going on.
I did not have any more pools like this to fish, but there
were little pockets of quiet water along the edge of the
stream that I thought might have fish. I used a midge
pattern made of red wooly nylon and one wrap of peacock
herl for the head. There was no room to cast to many of
these places so I just dabbled the fly on the surface.
There seemed to be a fish in everyone of these places. I
did not hook all of them, but the ones I got were sure
fun to catch.
As I moved down the stream I did get to another place
where I saw some large brook trout. The were about four
feet deep behind a few rocks in some very swift water. I
had nothing that would let me get down to them. I will
have it next time. I will tie some PTN with a large bead
for the thorax. I saw some of these a few years ago at
Sow Bug and they were used for this purpose, successfully
according to the tier.
As I got farther out into the meadow the wind started
having more effect on my casting. It got to where I
could not control where the fly was going. Twice it
almost hooked me. I decided that it was time to stop
and see what else we could find in the Park.
More to come. ~
Rick
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