My wife Julie, our 1.5 yr. old daughter Raina & I left our house in Sunland early Aug. 25th for the in-laws house in Cedar City, Utah, with our final destination being my wife's Granpa's in Colorado Springs. My wife's parents joined us from there. We stayed the next night in Grand Junction, CO where I was hoping to get in on an evening bite on the Colorado river that runs right through the town. It quickly became painfully obvious from the muddy color of the river it had been blown out by recent rains in the mountains.

After visiting a couple local shops to gather some intel along with a CO fishing license I decided to hit the Gunnison river outside of Delta about an hr. away from our hotel. This limited my fishing time as we were supposed to be on the road by around 9:30 am. I gave myself plenty of time since the directions were vague & I would be driving unfamiliar territory in the dark. Much to my surprise things went smoothly & I found myself at the end of a small dirt road with the sweet sound of fast water nearby. It was still pitch black so I took my time gearing up but was quickly startled by what sounded like a boulder falling in the water? Now I had my waders on, a favorite little Loomis spinning outfit loaded with 5 lb. P-line armed with my favorite Pinz Minnow. As I approached the water I heard that splash again, a little to close? After hearing it again I figured it must be suckerfish jumping around.

It was only a few casts before I was hooked up to a fish heading upstream way faster than I could believe. He peeled off 40 yds or so before stopping to sulk in the fast water, just long enough for me to think it wrapped me on a rock or something. I was trying to put pressure on the fish from different angles to get a better feel for what was happening when he took off on another blazing run, popping off x( I landed a fat 18" brown before the above process repeated itself but the result this time was a straightened rear hook on the minnow. I caught a couple more nice browns and a gorgeous rainbow, 14"-17" before a small hatch began as the sun came up & I couldn't buy a bite on the spin tackle. It was then that I noticed the noisemaker, a beaver on the opposite bank cleaning himself. That sight along with the size/beauty of these golden fish inspired me to walk back to the truck to grab the camera. I almost brought back the fly rod but only had less than an hr. to fish & figured it would take my lame a$$ that long to put it together.

The beaver was back in the water by the time I got back & the fish went back on the chew right before I had to leave landing 3 more losing as many including another that never slowed down. It was tough but I had to peel myself away from the water to go pick up the family & get back on the road.

The next time we stopped was over the pass near Vail CO, at a rest area in a town called Edwards. I had been watching the Eagle River that runs along the road so after wolfing down a sandwich I grabbed the rod with the Pinz still tied on. 15 minutes of working a couple hundred yard stretch produced 4 awesome browns @ 13"-16". From there we finished the trek to Colorado Springs.

The next opportunity I got to wet a line was on Sun. the 29th on the artificials only section of the Platte River in 11 mi. Canyon. I dedicated these 5 or 6 hrs. to fly fishing only, mostly nymphing but a few fish did fall to the dry fly although the hatch never developed. These were all rainbows although I saw a few browns deny my offerings. Things started very slow with lots of tangles, flies in the trees, lost fish & frustration but things came together. I ended up landing around 15 fish or so including 2 very exciting rainbows in the 20" range.

On the 31st Julie's Grandpa & I left early for their cabin on a private land section of the Platte river, the rest of the family would meet us up there later. Fishing was wfo on mostly 11"-16" rainbows with a few sm. browns mixed in. You were either bit or saw a fish come up behind your lure nearly every cast. I put on a 3" Silverside Trap-Rigged Big Hammer & caught 2 more casting it upstream, swimming it quickly down the fast water. As the sun came up a bit an amazing hatch went off & fish were rising everywhere! They stopped hitting the spinning gear so I rigged up my fly crap but couldn't seem to match whatever they were eating? Pops & I cracked a beer, grabbed a seat & watched the show.

After meeting the family at the cabin for lunch we brought my daughter down to the kids pond for her first attempt at fishing. We had been practicing with her Mickey Mouse pole with the cats so she has the winding in part down. It was only a few minutes before her bobber/worm combo did what it was supposed to. I had a little trouble getting her to keep reeling once she saw the fish on the surface. She wanted to go in the water & get it herself. Once I landed the fish & held it out in front of her for a photo she grabbed ahold of it with the biggest smile, when it started to slip she just put it in a total bear hug. The next fish she reeled in completely by herself, I just had to pump the rod for her. Shortly after I caught a tiny garter snake which she quickly grabbed out of my hand. I thought my wife was going to faint.

Good Times!

I fished by myself most the time & since we were hiking streams the few pictures I did get were on a disposable that isn't finished yet. I will add what was on my wife's camera asap.

We arrived home on thurs. Sept. 2nd around 4:30 pm. I got a call from my brother in Ensenada with word of the big albies. By 8pm I was on the road with Karl/OkieBug for Ensenada:

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=12729&mesg_id=12729&page=

Josh