Summer – Page 22

I’ll be perfectly honest. I haven’t had the greatest days recently. It seems like my summer is having trouble getting started. The solution, of course, was to call up my friend Michael Gracie.

All in a days work

Gracie: “Where do you want to go?”
Me: “The Yampa”
Gracie: “Enough said…”

With that brief exchange of pleasantries we decided to depart on Friday after I dropped my lady friend off at the airport for a bachelorette party in Minnesota.

The Yampa is my cure-all, for some reason no matter what is going on I can always have a good day there and I needed it more than ever. Despite some traffic delays we

Ready for anything

arrived at 7pm where I immediately realized that it was a good decision to make this drive. Instead of feeling content with an evening beat down I was hungry for a full day going after these fish.

The fish did not disappoint. On Saturday the God of Fishing saw it fit to shine glory upon me and I relished in the moment. We were attacked by swarms of PMD’s throughout the late morning that allowed us to get in some nice topwater action. By 3 o’clock we decided to give the fish and ourselves a rest. Afterall, my stomach was a little upset after a breakfast of mac n’ cheese. Beer would help that…

Breakfast

The following morning, nursing a mild hangover, I again made my deluxe breakfast and headed out to the stream. It was another day that wouldn’t be soon forgotten. I was able to fish my PMD cripples and Gracie even got a number of fish to indulge themselves on his favorite pattern, “Beav’s Better Buckskin”. The slump is over, the world has righted itself and I am a new man. The only bad news is that I forgot to pick the girlfriend up from the airport. It happens…

A rare Yampa brown

For me Memorial Day is booked for years in advance. Like clockwork every year on Memorial Day the annual Salmonfly hatch blows up on the Colorado. This year the water did not cooperate as it has in years past. A cool spring coupled with a well timed heat wave caused the river to swell literally overnight.

Chocolate milk

My Memorial Day fishing wasn’t memorable as it usually is but it did allow me to see those behemoths that have been dormant for years on the river bottom. Their flight patterns make you wonder if they suffer from the same brain malfunctions that NFL quarterbacks have after Ray Lewis has his way with them for the better part of a decade. Despite a lackluster fish count, Salmonflies are so prehistoric that it makes any day you have with them memorable.

If you haven’t seen one of these hatches let me tell you its worth every second. I would fly from across the country to be a part of it. While I’m fortunate enough to have both the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers in my backyard, Rock Creek in Montana and of course the Henry’s Fork in Idaho also have legendary hatches. Just bring some 3X and the biggest dries you have. Oh, and be on time.

Yummy

A Much Needed Pep-Talk

They Have Arrived