What were they after

[Dutch]

I’ve been doing scenic by ways for the last week in the Colorado Springs area.  I’ve seen lots of people standing in ankle deep water wearing chest waders and using fly rods.  There were few if any holes for them to fish.  Would they have been fishing for brook trout.  If that is the case what size fish could they expect to catch?

[Al Agnew]

Trout don't need deep holes, except in the coldest part of the winter.  There are lots of trout in those smaller western trout streams that lie in fast water that is less than 2 feet deep.  Rainbows especially like water like that, but browns and brook trout can be found in that kind of water, too.  Although there are lots of western waters that hold brook trout, they are less common than rainbows and browns (none of those species are native to Colorado, by the way--the only native trout there are cutthroats.  Brook trout tend to be less desirable in most of the West because they tend to outcompete cutthroat.)

[Gavin]

Brook trout are delicious! Eat them out West. 6-8 of them will fit in a 1 Q Nalgene water bottle. Mountain bacon!

[JestersHK]

17 hours ago, Dutch said:

I’ve been doing scenic by ways for the last week in the Colorado Springs area.  I’ve seen lots of people standing in ankle deep water wearing chest waders and using fly rods.  There were few if any holes for them to fish.  Would they have been fishing for brook trout.  If that is the case what size fish could they expect to catch?

You been fishing out that way Dutch?  I'm heading there next month to fish the Frying Pan and the roaring fork.

[tjm]

19 hours ago, Dutch said:

I’ve been doing scenic by ways for the last week in the Colorado Springs area.  I’ve seen lots of people standing in ankle deep water wearing chest waders and using fly rods.  There were few if any holes for them to fish.  Would they have been fishing for brook trout.  If that is the case what size fish could they expect to catch?

Most likely they were fishing for trout; as Al said, it doesn't take much water to cover a trout, I sometimes fish that  same thin water for small mouth if there are any chunk rocks for them to hug- but the chest waders pretty much say "trout guy". Every time I go to RRSP, I'll see one or a dozen guys in chest waders fishing from the bank.

[Dutch]

They looked a little ridiculous in ankle deep water wearing chest waders.

[Flysmallie]

30 minutes ago, Dutch said:

They looked a little ridiculous in ankle deep water wearing chest waders.

But that's what Orvis told them they needed to do. 

[tjm]

One of the big selling points of modern stocking foot waders, as opposed the old style canvass boot style,  is that they are more comfortable for hiking in. My answer is the canvass boots are a bunch easier to get out of for hiking.  I can't think of why one would want to wear waders to hike in a mile or two rather than pack them in and put them on at the water but the merchants at Orvis and Simms have about made it impossible to find good canvass boot waders, and the thing is the guys writing the ads probably never fish. 

[ness]

My gawd...there’s only on ‘s’ In canvas. It’s not ‘Can-Vass’ it’s ‘Can-vuss’. Sorry, if you had a good point I would have let that slide, but, well, you didn’t. 😄

Modern, breathable, lightweight, stocking foot waders and a fitted wading boot are great to walk in. You don’t wear them because you’re planning on fishing in ankle deep water next to the parking lot all day, you wear them because you want to cover some ground and might encounter deeper water to cross.Pack them in and put them on at the river? Nope, not me. 

We've got products these days that are far, far better than the past. Orvis, and most other companies, research their products pretty well and try to improve  them as they learn. They’ve got pro staff that use the stuff and provide feedback. They fish. 

[Dutch]

I didn’t understand a thing either one of you said but I do wish you would play nice.