No Way!

Entrance to my previous campsite.   Much steeper than the picture suggests and the rut much deeper.   Only feasible for 4x4 vehicles. 

 Yes way!  For my final trout outing of this trip I selected the confluence Gore Creek and Eagle River.  Hazy hot and humid in West Vail; around 86 at noon.  Between old railroad bed and highway the river had more the character of a canal with steep man-made stone walls that forced it into a relatively narrow channel.  The up side of that it also creates deeper pools and faster riffles than normal.  

I walked the tracks looking for good pools but the walls were pretty loose and slippery I made my way down to a couple of nice pools but came up empty.  Walked back up the tracks and tried the pool there.

Fish on! He wailed on the grasshopper part of my hopper-dropper, something I hadn't experienced all summer.  I could see it was about 7 inches but punching far above its weight.  What a fighter.  But there was something peculiar too.  Occasionally,  I got a glimpse of something shiny just behind the fish on my line.  Maybe a beer can?  No.

I've seen bass follow a fish I'm reeling in but neither bass nor pike would be in this river.  Then I saw it.  It was a nice big rainbow who had taken the dropper (nymph) at the same moment the smaller fish took the hopper!  I was fighting 2 trout simultaneously and the big guy did not want to be landed.

The little guy was sometimes suspended in midair as I tried to bring the rainbow in.  I finally decided the little cutthroat was going to die in this battle so I eased up enough to get him back into the water.  The rainbow took full advantage and violently thrashed around, successfully freeing himself from the barbless nymph.

What a great finish!  2 trout at the same time.  😀

In other news. I'm camped at Spring Creek again, awaiting the grouse season on Wednesday.   There are already a bunch of bow hunters here waiting for deer season on Thursday. 

I'm a bit nervous right now because I can see a wildfire burning about 10 miles from here but it's not on any of the Internet maps yet.