July 5 2023

Camping near Deckers, CO. Tonight in the Pike San Isabel NF.   Fished the South Platte River 2 nights ago.   Total zoo due to July 4th  holiday.  Far more fishermen than the Farmington which is saying something.   Still,I found a stretch of beautiful Habitat and caught 6 trout, none bigger than 11 inches.

Fished Goose Creek yesterday 20 miles on back roads to reach it.  Perfect size and teaming with wild brookies but choked with dead falls every 60 yards.   Cattle blazed an easy trail for me to follow which allowed me to hit various pools.  Typical afternoon thunderstorms were coming so I beat it back to the truck.  Even though I caught 9 brookies, I couldn't resist trying one more.  I could see trout coming up for my fly even as thunder grew louder and more frequent.   Finally nailed one and headed back to the road just as the rain started.  It quickly turned to hail so I took refuge at the base of a pine tree.  Fortunately,  the hailstones were small and soon stopped.  Great day!