Grouse Hollow Journal for August 21, 2014 by Greg Koelker

Grouse Hollow Journal for August 21, 2014 by Greg Koelker

Over coffee this morning Ellen said to me, “Last week at this time we were getting ready to go out fly fishing in Colorado.” Our mountain kids, Ben, Mark and Whitney gave Ellen a guided fly fishing trip for her 60^th birthday. A river fisher person her whole life, trout fishing in a mountain stream is something she always wanted to do. Some years ago, I gave her a fly fishing rod and gear, and our young friend Seth Howe gave her some lessons in casting, and she read a book on fly fishing, but she said it still seemed pretty intimidating. Ellen was told about her present the night before, and she was thrilled.

On our first morning in Colorado, we met fishing guide Cooper Anderson at Gore Creek Fly Fishing in Avon at 8 AM. Cooper is a good friend of the kids, and Ben said, “If Cooper can't put you on fish, no one can.” Cooper set us up with waders and wading boots and he had all of the fishing gear loaded in his Subaru.

After a relatively short drive, and half-mile walk down some abandoned railroad tracks, we descended down a bank to the Eagle River. Ellen seemed fine in the river, getting along over the rough terrain and slippery rocks with her usual athletic grace. I didn't, but Cooper was great and held his arm out to help me keep my balance as I found my way in the rushing water to spots he wanted me to fish. For the first couple of hours, we used lines with two wet flies spaced about a foot apart one above the other in the current along with a bright orangish strike indicator (basically a bobber) which made it easy to follow the progress of our flies in the turbulent current of the river. I found the casting easy enough, but I was stymied by the hook set. You use your finger to hold the line tight until the fish is on and then let the fish take the line and let the rod do its job. I wanted to horse the fish and for some reason after four hits and lost fish, still kept it up. Ellen got it down right away though, hooking and landing her first ever Colorado trout in the first half hour. She said Cooper explained how trout have very soft mouths and the barbless hooks are tiny, “I know I lost one or two before netting my first one, but it was a blast. The fish put up quite a tussle, one even jumped out of the water several times. Cooper was right there with encouragement and ready with the net and camera.” After a few words to describe the trout - all we caught were brown trout, but he did say there was an occasional rainbow in the Eagle River - and admire it and take a quick photo, we released the fish.

“Cooper simplified much of the overload of information from the fly fishing book that I read,” El said. She added, “He gave us enough instruction to get started and then added more as we got more proficient and moved to different places.” Not a fly fisher person myself, I have to agree. Cooper explained how trout preferred to conserve their energy and would most likely be found in pools of quieter water near a transition of faster moving water. He told me, “Trout are basically lazy and will let the food come to them when they can.”

At each hook set, Cooper raced over the rocks and trees of the shore line to Ellen or me to net the fish and explain the proper handling of a trout one would release-wet your hand before you hold it. Cooper said no one keeps fish from this river because of the pollution from upstream mines and the runoff from I-70. After switching us to dry flies, Cooper overturned a rock to show Ellen the midges and may fly larva that trout feed on. According to him, serious trout fisherpeople turn over lots of rocks!

Ellen hooked many trout and landed five. I had a bunch of them attack my flies, but only one was dumb enough to get put in the net – too heavy a touch I guess. Cooper said that I was setting the hook up stream thus pulling the hook out of the trout's mouth. It made sense, and I tried to react differently. He was patient, helpful, and unbelievably agile and energetic. He moved up and down the fast-moving river like he has been doing this all his life; well, technically he has. He said he learned to fly fish when he was 10. “It really stuck,” he added. He and his wife, Katie both guide fly fishermen. On the Gore Creek Fly Fishing web site, Cooper writes about himself, “I grew up in the Vail Valley.  My dad and two older brothers taught me to fly fish; soon after that is when I began tying flies and building my own fly rods.  I have fly fished from the Florida Key’s to Alaska and the Bahamas to Montana.  I love to teach people how to become better anglers.  One of my favorite moments on the river, is watching a client catch his or her first fish on a fly rod.”

Although not far out of town, the setting was beautiful. We were deep down in the river run, with lots of boulders and burbling rapids. The water was clear but ran the gamut of colors changing from blues to browns to greens and yellows. The rush of the water covered all other sounds. We had this stretch of water all to ourselves. We both remarked on how peaceful it was and how we could see why people get hooked on this kind of fishing. Once Ellen had a humming bird come up to her, she thinks attracted to her orange strike indicator. (Later, we speculated on whether the little sugar addict could be one sent from back in Wisconsin chastising us for the empty feeders.) Ellen said several times she just stopped fishing to take it all in. “My birthday present was a blast!” I know I heard her say, “This is so cool!” half-a-dozen times; I don't think she ever quit smiling. More Colorado next time . . .

Until next time, get out - archery hunters should be checking the many changes in this fall's hunt. I suppose I'd better get out and stick some styrofoam myself. Enjoy.