JestersHK

I'll be down Thursday night. May have a +1 or +2 of Geno and my buddy can get work figured out... We'll all need lodging and boat rides for all of us bums.

We have had great luck with those with boats willing to ferry all of us boatless guys around. Riley's has boats to rent as well if it got to that point. Hope you can make it man. I know we talked about it a bunch. You're gonna love it. I still go mainly for the food and Les's coffee lol

I hope you and your new knee make it out there! If you decide to go and you're up for a nice day hike I'll gladly share the spots with ya ness. Soo much water and scenery out there waiting to be explored. Even going out there blind you can find water that holds fish. If we can do it anyone can Sure we're leaving the bigger fish behind here with Taney and the White, but there are some bruisers out there to be found for sure. Not always about that sea monster size though and my favorite fish from this trip was my first cutt that was barely 6 or 7 inches LOL.

So the last say had arrived. After the pretty epic day we had up on the mountain we were fired up to hit the water again. I made the mistake at dinner the night before, at a place called the Tipsey Trout no less, that after that day I could care less if I caught another fish the whole trip... Man was that a mistake lol. We started out the morning and the guys wanted to chase big fish at the bowl again. This would prove fruitful as both Ray and Brandon caught there personal best rainbows, both at 21.5in and Brandon's was just a hair under 4lbs and Ray's was just a bit smaller. some chunker fish for sure. My morning consisted of breaking off my leader, then breaking off on the hookset, then breaking off on the rocks... Spent most of the morning rigging up lol. It was shaping up for me to be a DJ day... @Seth had actually witnessed one of these days with me a few years ago at CAM tourney. I literally cannot win, and when these days occur I should just go back to bed instead of punishing myself lol. After getting disgusted at my fly rod I went to jigging determined to catch something... We hit up a few holes that I had success at last year and my day continued to go downhill. After breaking off jigs across lake and then in the bushes behind me I say down to retie. I stood up and there went my phone into the silty bottom of the river. As I was kneeling on the bank to get to my phone the mud have out and I proceeded to fall in the river right on top of where my phone was... After standing up and assessing the damage I then got to sift through all the mud and silt and finally found my phone lol. Poor phones been at the bottom of Taney before and survived another dunking in the Pan. You'd think it would be close to the end of my mishaps but I wanted downstream and missed fish after fish on the jig. They were short striking and every attempted hook set sent the jigs flying back into the brush behind me. I finally hooked one and started to bring him towards me. At this point jig popped out came flying back and busted me right in the mouth. Split my lip open and now I added bleeding into my day... Finally I hooked another and was able to get my first fish into the net a dinky little brown. I'd avoided the skunk but man i worked hard for it lol. We moved farther down and the boys picked up a few more fish here and there but it was tough this day. My only complaint about the Pan is that there's a ton of private water and the public access spots get hammered. The spots were packed most of the week, and it was hard finding places for the four of us to squeeze in. We wrapped up the day and headed back to pack up. What a journey and truly some great and special memories were made. I think coming back here I'd focus on the smaller creeks versus the Pan and roaring fork. They are great waters for sure, but we all enjoyed the days we spent off the beaten path more. There's so much water out here ripe for exploring. That little creek I def will be heading back to. Well that's about it for this journey. We had 3 gopros running and my buddy is doing the editing so hopefully I'll have a video to drop here soon. I did get a few hook ups of the little cutts on video. Until next time guys...

2nd week works better for me, but I'll be there no matter which weekend. I've got feelers out for how many +1s I'll be bringing with me...

The fish! They weren't much size wise but was just awesome catching them. Allot of them could of passed for Duane's jerk baits lol.

We had talked to an older local guy the previous morning who told us about a trailhead that took you up the mountain into a little valley where the beavers had done some great work. He said there were wild cutts up there and he said they were of the Yellowstone variety but was not sure how they got there... We were intrigued by this, and started mapping out our next day. We could sort of see on Google maps where he was talking about so we dropped a pin and decided to hit it in the morning. The trout we think are just Colorado cutts or West Slope cutts. Still working on the proper ID... At first light we started getting packs ready. We knew this was off the beaten path so we decided to hike up with our rods and waders in our packs. We found the trail head and started our journey up... Up and up we went and later found it was an elevation change of about 2400ft in just a mile. I was crabbing the whole way as my knee barked at me and off to our right was a creek bed but it was bone dry. Threats were made about hiking up this mountain only to find a dry creek lol. I was only partially kidding lol. About a mile in of the vertical rocky trail we heard water... After about another quarter mile it started leveling out. We rounded the bend and the valley was before us. Just pure God's country and about 200 yards or so of this beautiful little creek tucked into the holler. We saw our first wild cutts in the first little mud hole we came to. Tiny little guys but they were there. We messed with them for a bit before moving on to a larger stretch by the beaver's dam that was teeming with fish all over the place. 2 of us tried dry flys and I tied on the smallest scud I had and began sight fishing these little guys. I got my first take and it was just an awesome feeling. All the effort paid off and I had just caught my first cutthroat trout ever. And a wild native one at that. I was beyond esctatic at that point. All of us ended up catching at least one. I ended the day with 9 of these little works of swimming art. We did see what we can only guess to be the breeding pair of two healthy prolly 14in cutts swimming around in the gin clear water. I'm guessing they are the main contributors to this healthy population in such a small creek. I had one almost take my scud, but I moved it at the last second and it turned. I will be back to this place to chase those 2 again for sure. We looked again at another map afterwards and realized we still had more creek to fish so a return trip will be in order. Late afternoon we packed up and headed back down the mountain. At this point I could of cared less if I'd caught another fish the whole trip. It was a truly spectacular day of making some great memories up there in the middle of nowhere. Truly blessed and thankful for one of the best fishing experiences I've had so far.

We stayed on the Pan for the majority of the next day. Started again at the bowl and worked our way down stream hitting the public accesses. Fishing was tough, but we caught some. I switched quite a bit between fly rod and my ultralight. By far the jigs out caught the long poles... Most likely because these fish get flys chucked at them all day long, prolly don't see too many jigs up there. The sculpin patterns were king in 1/32 flavor and smaller on 2lb. I whacked 4 brownies on 5 casts much to the grumbling of my buddies who tried to get the top water bite going. They connected on a few which was great for the new fly fishermen.

I bet I know whos in that driver seat LOL. I got to see a sneak peek too of Ol Frankie mount.

Second weekend works best for me and a few of my crew... I'm in either way though.

Whoops forgot about a pit stop to the Eagle River... We fished a public access area and I think only 2 of us picked up fish. It was tough fishing and they spooked easily. Saw our first bear tracks too out there. We fished a long stretch by the gypsum mine. Later we found out that we skipped the best water by the confluence... Live and learn and mental reminder for next trip out there lol. This would be day 2 Sunday and after the adventures at the toilet bowl we got checked into our little cabin. Was a nice place and we could fish off the deck. I managed one little brownie the first night there in the fast water. Came off a lilleys jig of all things. Sculpin pattern works everywhere!

We spent the night outside of Vale. We got up early and had breakfast and it was a balmy 33 degrees. We headed west out to the Pan and after stopping at the fly shop and loading up we decided to hit the infamous toilet bowl first. It's a spillway below the Reudi reservoir that has some big fish stacked in there that gorge on the mysis shrimp as they come through. 2 of our party Ray and Rob had never caught a trout on the fly rod until last week. Ray was a true first timer and this was his first time fly fishing ever. The toilet bowl is similar to fishing the outlets at Taney. Great for beginners and they both were soon hooked up quickly followed by breaking off in the swift moving water. We went to 4lb tippet and finally started landing fish.

My first 2 catches out of the Big Thompson in Estes. Avoided the skunk for the day lol Just some beautiful full finned rainbows and brownies. Man they fight good too. More to come as I have more time... Next to will be there Pan and a true gem of a creek we hooked up to to catch some wild cutts.

We hit Estes and the RMNP right at dawn. Our timing had worked out perfectly and we secured a parking spot at the base of the trail head. It was quite the spectacle as we drug all our crap out of the back of the Tahoe as we all started trying to find our stuff and gear... I think we covered half the road with all the stuff we drug out and then had to repack again... Not knowing what lied ahead of us we wandered up and took 2 packs with us as and then we hit the trail... Was a nice trail with a few cutbacks and we took our time working our way up to where the trail finally ran parallel with the creek. I'll tell ya one thing, I'm glad I somewhat prepared for elevation as the higher we went the harder breathing was with no acclimation... We were between 8 and 10k feet fishing small pocket water. I missed a stronger early in and sadly that would be it for me the rest of the day. Not allot of fish to be seen, but the scenery made up for it. 2 of the guys started getting pretty bad headaches. I had a slight one and some cranky joints so we decided to head back down and fish the big think for the rest of the day before heading out west.

We left around 5 after picking up my buddy in Wentzville and started our journey to drive through the night. We took turns trying to sleep as we were all pretty amped up about the trip. I maybe dozed off for a few minutes and before we new it Kansas was behind us and we finally arrived in Colorado. Our first vital decision was where to eat! We decided to carb up at IHOP and get ready for the trek that awaited us in Estes Park. Nothing like going from 650ft above sea level to 8000ft. Not before Ray took a nap though...

Been gone from here for a bit... Needed to take a break from life and the internet for a while... Life threw me a few curve balls and had to focus on family and friends as they are what matters most. Finally getting back to a new normal, and had a much needed trip out west to help straighten me out. My awesome wife had booked a trip for me to the Frying Pan River in Basalt Colorado as a gift for Father's day. I fished it last year for a day on the way back from our family vacation, but this was to be just a guys trip out to the mountains hopefully to catch a few fish. The boys came to my home Friday after work and we began packing up. I am a mess when it comes to packing and was trying to get my pack ready as our first stop was Estes Park where we were going to hike up to fish some creeks. Was still packing fly boxes too with a little bit of everything that we might need up there.

The pearlescent white J8 2 hook rapalla was always a go to if they had gates open and shad coming through. I mostly throw jerks at night so I'm not a good judge of suspending type baits or even the larger baits. I rarely throw a 3 hook jerk bait sticking to the smaller ones and fishing them allot slower at night versus during the day where you would fish them more aggressively. For me anyways when I fished an aggressive retrieve at night we caught allot of fish which were not trout. The walleye, smallies, and white bass were generally on the ends of my line after speeding up the retrieve. As for color, the darker sculpin and trout patterns work best on trout. Super shiny exotic bright colors being the walleye to the table. Again just my sample size and b my experience if you are getting out there in the dark. The other guys who fish more from a boat and during the day can hopefully chime in.

Avon skin so soft... Soak your socks before ya head out. Will keep those and the chiggers off ya. I tried buggins, they helped with the awful biting buffalo gnats, but didn't do much for the chiggers...

Just awesome man! Thanks for sharing the pics. Glad you guys are getting after em!

Your commentary was fantastic as usual! Just a bonus we got to see the whole battle on video. I thought that was the same guy you smallie fish with. Yeah different battle altogether on light tackle.

This one was on a solid grey 3/32 during the CAM tourney.

On Jerkbaits only? Not sure. Duanes got some for sure. I know I have at least one brownie at 24in but that one came on a jig. Seth's tourney partner had a 21in but also on jig. I think I have 1 or 2 rainbows this year on the jerkbait that were over 20, but will have to go back and look to verify... @Travis Swift had a few browns over 20 I believe and he had an awesome day during the CAM tourney where he lit them up with the jerkbaits!

That was a great watch buddy! "Thats a fish, Fish!" HAHAHA That cracked me up. Love seeing that fiesty brown get landed. Tommy did a great job landing him too, you can hear how excited he was!

Sadly I have not been able to fish Taney this year as much as I usually do with family and work stuff just burying me... I will say the jerk bite at night follows allot of what others have said. It's been very hit or miss. They are either on fire or we are slinging all night for very little returns. Fishing jerks in the daytime I really only fish them on over cast crappy weather days, I will say you need to slow it down compared to how you fish them for bass. Let them sit in the current and work the eddy lines. As you're bringing them through the current let them sit and work when they hit the faster seams. This is the most likely area I get bites. As Seth stated you gotta get up in there too. Allot of times you'll pull followers right off the banks, and if you do hook a smaller bow be ready to hang on as I think if I'd left that bow in the water for just a few more seconds I'd of had my hands full with a big brownie. Last thing is just a huge endorsement to @duckydoty and what he's done with his jerkbaits. Book a trip with him and get your hands on some. I've caught a bunch of fish on rapallas and others, but the 606 pattern he paints is money. It not only catches more fish, but it's caught some big browns including our big one from last December. It's a true matching of the hatch so to speak, and in my experience there's no competition out there. I think the smaller size and the aggressive wobble set it apart from just about anything else on Taney. Even a 606 not painted by Duane has been a great fall back lure so much so that I rarely will tie on a rapalla anymore...

That's crazy. I love the dark colored ones. I've caught a few of those before. Good luck out there tomorrow.