JestersHK

Nice job you two! Those kill fish look neat.

What an awesome fish!

Got a few more weeks before I'm down to pick up Marty and I's order! I'm thinking a drab head, red neck and some ginger hackle will do just fine. I had some tiny deer hair jigs in all silver that were great under a float, but sadly those are all gone ( lost my last one in AZ in a tree...) and were given to me by a guy fishing down there. Caught a ton of fish on them.

Well if I sell the handful of Turner's I have on eBay then we should be able to fund Duane's adventure lol... At least get him a nice new microwave! I'm just here for the product testing 😛

That looks killer Duane! Gonna need some of those

Heck BH if you can figure out a way to use one of my kiddos, we should get this done LOL. As long as I can be there to supervise of course

Did you get a cabelas rod too? I got a 8'6 5wt that I really love. They are good value for the money, and mines held up to some abuse and landed a ton of fish on it.

Haha, yeah quite different environments lol. Good to be back home though. I'm still being surprised at what's coming out of these little ponds. This is the same one where the big hybrids were caught.

So after a crazy morning at work I ducked out early and had a few minutes to hit one of our ponds. I already had my ultralight set up from my trip out west so I threw an 1/8th oz ned head on with an olive and black metal flake finesse worm. My first cast got hammered after a few twitches and cranks on a slow retrieve. Immediately I knew I had a solid fish on as my 4'6 buggy whip was bent almost all the way over. I had 4lb line on this reel luckily as opposed to it's twin with 2lb, and the drag on the little pfleuger was screaming as the fish went all over the place left and right up the bank. Finally fish ran into some thick moss and tired out. Almost broke off getting her out of it. Solid fish measured at 19 inches and I'll say at least 4lbs, but I suck at guestimates on bass and left my little scale at home... Best fish so far for me out of this little pond. There's stories of a 8lber being caught and released, but that hunt will have to wait for another day... Caught 4 bass in about 30min 3 being 16in or better.

Mr. BH is a great inspiration to me to one day live a life of the BH's! I lived out of hotels and my In-laws minivan in CO, didn't quite have the digs or setup of the BH's, but one day... Heck with the weather and the scenery, if I was flying solo, I would of been sleeping outside under the stars LOL. Glad you enjoyed the pics, but they really don't do it justice... Hopefully you can make it out there as some things just have to be seen with your own eyes.

Nice, That one has some shoulders on him. Bet that was a fun fight.

Nice man! You sure do have that creek figured out.

Man you've had quite a month of May! Congrats on some fine fish. Can't wait to get back down there.

Lots of great info here. My biggest piece of advice is try not to overthink it... Trust me if my ugly casting can catch fish then anyone's can LOL. Also bring your patience. Fishing a fly rod I can get into some pickles with my line (maybe my newness to it, maybe knot) . Fishing with a dropper I get about twice as many tangles and snarls than just fishing a single, but it does increase the chance of a hook up, just pay attention and try to catch a tangle before it turns into a real cut off and retie mess... The indicators that thread through I also prefer over the little ones with the rubber section that always seem to pop off on a hook up and go floating down stream. Good luck out there and looking forward to seeing your first trout on the fly rod!

Nice report buddy! Sounds like an awesome trip. Wish you could of got that keeper brownie in. After our texts back in forth I started thinking we need to start a thread on how we all fish our jerk baits differently and also how to fish them in the different flows... I've watch Duane fish them on the white, and try to model my day fishing like him, but at night its a whole different game for me and I slow it waaaayyy down, and fish them up towards the surface. Glad you stuck with it. It's def a quality over quantity type of day when you are chucking them.

Thanks for sharing. That was an awesome read. Way to plant the seed!

HAHA my wife kept telling me keep your eyes on the road! 4400 miles later we are finally back home. Got in around 1:00AM this morning. Had to come in to work today... Just a great trip and I get why folks like to head west. I will say that size wise I definitely left better water behind back home, but its not always about that. The colors on the fish were stunning, and the scenery was awesome. I'll be back out there for sure. Thanks for all the replies guys. And for all of those that helped me along.

I started out this morning around 530. I went to the Big Thompson about 5 miles or so past the estes lake dam. I found a couple of flatter sections of water and started fishing. I'm not sure if I just stink at nymph fishing or the bite was slow, but I only landed 2. One little brownie so was beautiful, and a decent but skinny rainbow. Trips over now... I'm writing this from somewhere inthe middle of Kansas, but i will definitely be back to Colorado for sure when I have more time to explore.

Well I hit the big thompson down from estes lake this evening. I started nymphing, but had trouble connecting. I rolled a nice one but never got hooked up. I made the drive up to Lilly lake before dark. The was a small hatch, but again was skunked... I'm going back to the big thompson tail water in the morning. I've also plotted out some of the bigger calmer looking sections to explore. Hopefully I have better luck than this evening! Still the scenery is awesome. Lilly lake at sunset was beautiful. Although i was greeted with this sign when i got there lol.

Ok, stopped for lunch in Boulder so have a minute to do a frying pan recap. I left out around 445 this morning as I had about an hour and a half drive to get to the pan. I stopped at the 2nd or 3rd pull off and started nymphing. I rolled a fish in a pool but had very little action. I broke off on some timber so I decided to head further down. I hit the 4 mile marker and finally was able to see some fish working as the sun had finally come up. I rolled another good size fish but couldn't get hooked up on the double nymph I was throwing. I broke off again on a log and had to rig up again... First cast hit same log and broke off a third time... So I'd been fishing for about 2 hours or so with nothing to show and I was burning daylight. I grabbed my ultralight with a sculpin jig pattern on it and first cast I caught my first Colorado brown. He wasn't huge but he put up a great fight and was beautiful. After I finally got that first one things started to come together. I caught a nice rainbow, then another small brownie. i moved a bit farther down I think mile 6 or so and there was a deep run next to a flat. I could see fish working from the road so I parked and headed down. I took my jig rod first, I know I know, it's fly rod country, but they were hammering the jigs. Caught another small brownie on 2nd cast, then I missed 3 or 4. Finally saw a fish cruise across the flats and hit the jig like a missle. He was a nice fish and gave me a great fight. Was prolly around 16 or 17in and thick. I caught one more after that, then I had to head back and get the fam as it was check out time. Thanks SIO3 and motroutbum for the help;

Went to the frying pan. Mission accomplished. On the road to estes park now but will upload some pics tonight

I went to a place at new castle this evening. The colorado is blown outand muddy, but I fished from shore for a few hours anyways. Had 2 bites on a white jig but never got hooked up. Wind was brutal... a pitb trying to cast... Going to try grizzly creek in the morning, and hope for better luck. How is not blown out too and I can find some wadeable area...

Haha, almost as bad asmy ongoing trip reports. So my lovely wife gave me a few more hours to fish. I went back to my original spot, and broke out the buggy whip for some good old fashion jigging. Started small with an olive peach sculpin pattern, and my second fish I got smoked by my biggest rainbow here yet. I'd seen this one motoring around yesterday and he would hang out under a big rock. He put up a great fight all the way to the net. He was probably 13 or 14 inches which apparently is a good size trout for these waters After that it was back to the little guys. I ended up with 21 more today. Hoping for similar results in CO.

Thanks for the replies guys. It really is beautiful out here. I headed out again this morning to some different water. After a good 400ft hike down I found some nice pools that were holding fish. I nymph fish with no indicator and could barely see the bead head, but the flash as the fish hit was awesome. I also stripped a small orange jig which they hammered. Again not any size but they were strong little bows. Seen a ton of elk out here too. Was driving so kind of hard to see... This is my last day here then tomorrow we head to Colorado!