2016/7/18 11:53:35
South Colony Lakes was the
destination, the trip would include 4wheeling, hiking, camping, and of course
fishing? already having potential to be a great trip. We started the checklist off with putting the
Jeep into 4 wheel drive and heading up Colony Rd.
After a long, slow, bumpy ride
to the trailhead we unloaded our packs from the Jeep and began the hike into
the lakes.
The trail is well maintained
with a few snow field crossings which was surprising in July but not uncommon
in the Rocky Mountains.
This being my son?s first
backpacking trip his 30lb pack was weighing him down and I think he still
swears that mile and a half was 10 miles? so after a slow walk with lots of
breaks we made camp not to far from the lower Lake. There are 3 14ers (mountains above 14,000ft)
that can be reached from these trails, so even on a Thursday there were a lot of
people up there. However we still
managed to find a great campsite.
After a quick lunch we were
ready to go check out the lake. As we
came on to the lake there was a group of 3 fishing right at the trail?s
end. The wind was blowing a little bit
so we walked around to a cove and from a rock I spotted a cutthroat within a
foot of the shore. I told Cody to kneel down and cast to him but to be sneaky
and don?t scare him. He made a good cast and fish on... boy you know it?s
going to be a good trip when that happens. As he lands the fish he is
excited because this was his first cutthroat trout ever and it was on the fly
rod. I take some pictures then I put the
fishing bag down and set up the tripod and while I?m fiddling with that Cody shouts
"FISH ON" again. So I take some more pictures and grab my pole
and before I can cast I think he even had another one on... then the taunt,
"Where you at Rick!" LOL... I love that.
We ended up catching like 10
and the drizzle came in and the fishing slowed so we went exploring and checked
a few different spots found a good inlet coming into the lake with at least 20
spawners in there fighting for position, amazing colors too. We drifted a
few flies over them and they weren?t interested in anything so on we
went. Ended up circling the lake, the beaver ponds on the north side of
the lake get tricky when you don?t have waders with you so be careful... Fished
for a while more and decided to head back to camp for some hot cider and
dinner.
The next morning we get up with
the sun eat some breakfast and he ad off to the upper lake. I tried to
make it before the wind came up to get one of those magical glass water shots
but when hiking with a kid it?s at his pace not yours. So I didn?t make it for
that shot but got a nice shot of him above the lower lake.
We hiked around Upper South
Colony Lake on the inlet side. I asked Cody if he could see the drop off
and told him to cast to it. I was rigging up, when Cody hopes out on a
rock and casts once. Again "FISH
ON!" I had to look up and say "really?!" Took some
pictures and went back to rigging..
Once again I think he had 3 fish before I even
had a line in the water. We were on them too, we caught close to 50 fish
some very red and some totally done with the spawn. It was about even on
the fish sizes too about half in the teens to high teens and half in the single
digit size range. I caught one really fat female that was still fat with
her eggs. We were the only ones fishing the lake until we left at 2:30pm
to make it back in time for us to pack up camp, drive home, and for me to clean
up for work. This was the greatest
day(s) of fishing I?ve had? spent with the kid catching high country cutties in
the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. If you?d
like to read more and see more photos from the trip please feel check out the
forums on my website, http:// www.ColoradoMountainFishing.com
The Snip offers anglers an innovative, conv
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