The Week Of Fishing, Friends, And A Few Firsts

The past week has proven to be everything I love about being a fly fishing guide and this place I call home, The 4UR Ranch. The 4UR Ranch rests quietly tucked on the edge of the Rio Grande National Forest, 8 miles Southeast of the town of Creede Colorado, within the San Juan Mountain Ranges of Southwest Colorado. The ranch has a touch of history, from a summer hideout of the Ute Indian tribe in the 18th century, to the oldest concrete building in the State of Colorado, to a Hot Springs Hotel with healing power whose visiters include a President, Walt Disney, and other celebrities of the times. CF&I (Colorado Fuel and Iron) once mined on the east side of the property looking for feldspar. The mine and it's mark left on the land still stands and looks as though it could fall on any given day the wind blew perfectly hard enough.

The main reason why people visit this piece of hidden history is because of the quiet, gentle creek that flows through the ranch. The ranch has 7 miles of private, fly fish only, catch and release only tailwater(the water below the damn) known as Goose Creek, or simply Goose; it is host to 5 types of salmonids; Rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, the hard to find Rio Grande cutthroat trout, and a hybrid fish that is a mix between a rainbow trout and a cutthroat trout know as a cut-bow. Horseback ridding is also offered, but fly fishing on Goose Creek is what attracts most guests. The peak season and peak fishing has just begun...

Stalking big trout is not something I do as a guide unless my friend Shannon comes to the ranch(pictured to the right). People can't fight big fish, they tune out my instructions because they get that big fish syndrome or big fish fever and they try to horse the fish in quickly which causes the line to break. Trout are masters at using the current of the rivers to their ultimate advantage; so it is important to try and navigate the fish through calm waters and let the trout run or else you will never land the fish. In trout fishing we only use 4 pound test line(sometimes less) so it is easy to break a big fish off. It is a patience game with a big trout and people just have a hard time with.

Goose Creek has finally come down to a low enough flow that it is easier to spot fish. Shannon and I love to spot big fish and stalk them. I have fished with him before so we know how to communicate in such a way that this stalking strategy works for both of us. For the three days he was here it was big league fishing. We spotted and then fished for 15 big fish, give or take, and other smaller ones. As I said before, I don't use this approach with anyone when I'm guiding, but this is fishing with a good friend, not guiding. We had a blast! We caught lots of big trout but no real trophy fish. Below is a picture of us releasing one of the bigger fish we landed.

You never forget your first and for fly fishing anglers they never forget their first trout on a fly rod. Every so often one of the perks of my job is introducing someone to fly fishing, particularly, fly fishing for trout. Balancing between frustration and reward is a constant battle as a guide with a new angler, but with an eleven year old boy it is all amplified. Cash(pictured at the top of the page and below), is an energetic, competitive, well-mannered, intense, patient, emotional, a good listener, and just a fun young man to fish with. He came with his Grandparents, four cousins, and his brother and sister. I guided Cash 4 days straight and he wanted to know how long every fish was and it's weight. There was a competition to catch the most fish between the boys so Cash needed this valuable info to boast to his family. Boys will be boys...

Cash struggled at first while his competition showed success, which boiled inside him like a geyser waiting to erupt. Then, he hooked a big cut-bow trout; fighting it well as he listened to the instructions I was yelling, when suddenly the fish ran him under a rock and broke free. The geyser then erupted and a few tears were shed. I calmed him down and told him there was a bigger cut-bow 10 feet up stream and he was going to catch it. As a guide you try to avoid promises at all times, but this time I went for it and on his fourth cast, fish on. The intensity built, as the fight lasted a long five minutes, with a few close calls around more rocks; the net would eventually go heavy and the fish was Cash's for that moment in time(Pictured below). A very special moment for both of us.

Cash progressed over the following days with me as his guide and would in the end prove to be the champion amongst his family by landing four more fish than his next closest cousin.

The Land of Lost Lakes With The Miller Family

Imagine yourself on a long hike deep in the high country; when suddenly you stumble upon a taintless, crystal clear alpine lake at 11,000 feet above sea level with high rock wall cliffs piercing through the surface of the lake, while snow scattered mountain tops complete the landscape. You can smell the wild as you feel nature surround you. This is Lost Lakes. Lakes is plural because, you guessed it, there are two lakes. An upper and lower lake. Both have trout. LOTS of trout. It is the pursuit of these trout that brings me, Kyle, and the Miller Family here to Lost Lakes.
The ranch I work for owns this beautiful property, which is adjacent to the Rio Grande Resivore. This is where the Rio Grande River begins it's long and powerful journey through Colorado, New Mexico, and Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico (say that fast 10 times). Lost Lakes can be found hidden in the Rio Grande National forest and was at some point owned by the U.S. Government. Not many people fish the lakes. I'd say they get fished maybe 20 times a year. So in other words, the fishing is amazing. And this day would be no different.
It was a warm, breezy day, with very few clouds. We haven't had much rain so it was also dry and dusty. The Miller Family consists of David, Lori, Garrett, and Megan. They aren't fly fishers and have come to the ranch as part of our promotional kids stay free week. They are however, a very outdoors-type family. So I knew this day would be great.
The lakes consists of brook trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The brookies out number the cutties 10 to 1 which if any of you know anything about brook trout you know they spawn twice a year- some would argue all year- instead of once a year like most trout. This means that they can take over a lake or stream in 5 years to a decade if you let them. So part of our mission today as "caretakers" of Lost Lakes we have to harvest lots of brook trout each year to give the cutthroats a chance.
The day started with David, Garret, and me in one boat, Kyle, Lori, and Megan in the other. The boats are powered by electric trolling motors which I like because you can sneak up on fish( Electric motors make little to no sound). Our morning consisted of lots of tight lines near the mouth of a creek where the cutthroats were spawning. You could actually see them spawning in water just a few inches deep. Very cool!
David and Lori switched boats which if you are keeping score means I had Lori and Garret and Kyle had David and Megan. The afternoon provided gusty conditions with little to no break in the wind. This made it difficult to control the boat with just a trolling motor. I managed to get my boat against a huge cliff wall that yielded us shelter from the blustery conditions. This is where Garret excelled in casting against the cliff and reeling back to the boat. I was yelling fish on almost every cast. By the end of the day my boat landed over 40 fish and so did Kyle's boat (the kids were counting).
Landing over 40 fish in one day is a special day; but I'm not a numbers guy when it comes to fishing. It's all about the experience for me and my clients. I want to make them comfortable in their style of fishing to make our trip more productive and thus in return, a great experience for me and the angler. This is my day to day challenge and sometimes struggle. I love my job!

Most would ask, "What is a Bay Rat?" If one were to snooker about my hometown, several answers could be sniffed out. It is the answer to this question that helped frame my passions for the outdoors and my lust for adventure. I think it's important that you understand what being a "Bay Rat" means to me rather than just define it; because there really isn't a definition. Being a Bay Rat is a way of life, a state of mind that is permanently sketched in the brain by the joy and pleasures that are felt while enjoying everyday life on or in the body of water know as Mobile Bay.

The eastern shore of Mobile Bay is where I grew up. It's where I became a Bay Rat. It's where life was simple and having fun was just the way it was. My childhood home was a block away from Mobile Bay and my large extended family shared a bay house in the town of Battles Wharf, AL, just south of my hometown, Daphne, AL. It is here that I trace my roots, my love for adventure, and my passions for the outdoors. I now strech the continent as my advenures push me west to spread the way of the Bay Rat by pursuing my career as a professional fly fishing guide. These are my stories...