Labor Day Beauty

My darling bride and I decided we’d take Labor Day and focus our labor on a hike.  We chose to tackle the Blue Lakes in the San Juan mountain range here in western Colorado.  Ever since I’ve heard word of finicky cutthroats, I’ve had my eye on these three lakes.

The scenery of the hike is absolutely breathtaking.  However, it is fairly strenuous.   I hike fairly often to secluded fishing spots, but those are rarely over 2 miles…and hardly ever uphill the entire time.  This hike tuckered me out.

It’s 3.5 miles to the lower lake, and the elevation is high. The lakes hover around 11,000 feet and up. 

Finally we made it.

The color of the water is mesmerizingly pretty.  Deep hues of blue contrasted with the vibrant green of the hillside.  Beautiful…

And…the fish truly are finicky, but to be fair we didn’t put a ton of effort into it.  I didn’t even bring a quarter of what I usually do on my angling adventures. 

A lone cutthroat was my catch of the day.  He wasn’t large, but was healthy and vibrant.  Honestly though...what a pleasure to catch fish in such a beautiful setting.  What a splendid world we live in.

It turned out to be an amazing day with my wonderful wife.

I love hiking to the top floor of the world, where the clouds seem within arm's length.  It has a sense of putting life into perspective...how small of a piece in the puzzle of life we are.  

An experience that puts awe into us...truly something worthy of the word awesome.

 Life is short...live it well

Paco Time

I fully realize I post a lot about Pa-co-chu-puk.  However I live in an area where there aren't a ton of places to get away for a couple hours.  Sadly, I haven't had the time for a full day trip lately.  However, Paco is one of those places where I can take a short trip and still catch desirable fish.  

This post will be a lot of pictures spread out over 4 days of mini trips to the ever lovable Unc at Paco.  If you hate long posts...full of pictures...you may just want to stop now.

The river has been crowded lately.  It seems the "most desirable" runs are always full of anglers, but I've found it's the "less desirable" water that's holding the bigger fish.

The stormy weather comes blazing through most every afternoon.  A lot of anglers quit at the first sign of rain.  BUT...that dreary weather has been dreamy to me. Well so long as the lightning stays away.

There seems to be a lot of runts like this on the river.

Lost count of how many of them I caught.  Plus some have some weird deformities.

Not all the rainbows were despicable though.  Some fought for twice their size.

The browns are really what gets my blood pumping on this river.  They aren't always the easiest to find, and they're even harder to trick.  However, the jigs can penetrate their lairs.

Back from whence he came...

Love these browns...

I decided I needed to branch out a little and explore other methods of fishing.  On one trip I actually left my spinning rod at home...crazy I know.  I ended up throwing streamers with my 5wt (which proved a little difficult).  

Swinging sculpzillas, some beefy leaches, and a couple articulated creatures put a smile on my face.

I fooled this cuttie with a leach pattern. The coloration on its face totally let me sight fish it.  Anyone know why it would have the black discoloration on its face?

Weird...

Anyways, another reason why I really appreciate Paco is the amazing skies.  It is a beautiful place to take a break and watch the clouds role in.

I have plenty more pictures, but will finish up the post with some of my favorite shots of the week.

Life is short, live it well.