Tributary Five
Honors Fishing, Part 2
By Carl Pudlo, Colorado
Later that year, in July, we again were back hunting the
honor trout of Happy Meadows. This time Zachary accompanied
Alex and me to the picturesque shores of the South Platte.
On this occasion, Zachary chose to fish a section of the
river we have named 'Zachary's rock'. This section gets
its name from a section of water where the shore juts out
with an immense rock. Although this is where Zachary
ended the evening fishing, he spent much of his time on
a section of water that starts about one hundred fifty
yards above Zachary's rock. This section of the South
Platte starts with several large rocks breaking the
current, causing deep backwashes behind the rocks. After
the rocks, the river takes a more casual pace with deep
water at the far bank and occasion clusters of rocks
creating cover both midstream and along the shore. The
river finally takes a faster drop through a section of
water better described as a rock garden. The rapids hit
the shore where Zachary's rock extends into the water,
creating an undercut bank where no cautious wader would
venture to go.
I fished downstream from Zachary on a rocky stretch that
empties into a sharp right turn. The fishing is excellent
through the rocks and rapids and right up to the sharp
right turn. I have harvested several honors fish from
this section of the river. I was again getting the
occasional ten to twelve inch rainbow and brown trout.
As it was getting dark, I decided to head back to Zachary
and finish the evening. I do not like to walk through
this section of the river when it is dark. Small rocks
have a tendency to grab your ankles and pull you into
the stream for a cold swim.
As I slowly worked my way upstream, avoiding slips on
unnoticed rocks, I could see Zachary had a fish on the
line. I assumed a small trout, but he kept playing the
trout, unable to get it close to land it. As I watched,
I could not help hoping he hooked a good trout. Zachary
had never caught a really good trout. I could see the
trout getting close then taking another run. The runs
repeated several times. By the time I got close to see
more detail of the action, Zachary had the trout
sufficiently tired. He reached down, cradled the trout
in his palm, and slowly made his way to shore. Zachary
was unhooking the brown trout when I came to shore. It
was definitely the honors trout of the evening. It was
sixteen inches long, and had a torpedo shaped body. I
felt parental pride when I saw the glow of success on
Zachary's face. It wasn't the first time Zachary had
earned the honors, but it was the largest trout he had
ever caught with fly rod and hand tied flies. I cannot
help but think that part of the satisfaction Zachary felt
was due to the fact he had out-fished both his father and
his older brother. All the other times Zachary had earned
the honors had been with me alone. This was definitely a
move into another level of fishing expertise for a
relatively young fly fisherman. It was especially
gratifying to me to see both my sons take a step to
a higher level of fishing success during the summer
of 2001.
To be continued... ~ Carl Pudlo, Colorado
The South Platte Chronicles Archive
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