Colorado 2020, day 5
Day 5. The fishing had been fantastic so far but we were feeling the miles and altitude. Thankfully we allowed for a rest day and planned to drive west toward and past Durango to stay with our friends Jacob and Jillian. Jillian is my bag lady - she makes my rod bags. Jacob is a bamboo rod maker and fishing guide. They moved from western NC to southwestern CO a few years ago. They’re on the social media stuff under the handle @betweentwobanks and have a great blog as well. Check them out here.
Our plan was to stay with them a few days but first we but wanted to check out a little creek on the way. This is one of those ‘notellum’ creeks that is guarded closely by the people that know and fish it. One of the reasons it’s such a secret is that it holds truly aboriginal Rio Grande cutthroat trout. There was a pretty good snow the week prior - it was a premature one and bent all of the willows and stream side brush over the water making casting quite challenging. And where the stream side brush wasn’t, there were downed trees every few feet. It was like doing slow-motion-angler-hurdles and dive-rolls. I think the creek was telling everyone who tries to fish there ‘we don’t want your kind here’. Point taken. Over the 3.5 hour detour we caught around 15 nice and pure Rio’s and it earned our respect. Most definitely a good place to keep a secret, and go back to.
Dave with a very cooperative trout modeling for an underwater photo.
I fished my 6’2” 3wt prototype with a SA Amplitude DT3.
On our way west we stopped in at Riff Raff Brewing in Pagosa Springs at the suggestion of J&J for a burger. A normal one. The beer was fantastic and so was the burger. I’d go back and order the exact same thing over and over. We stopped in at a fly shop there as well to pick up a few flies and check it out.
The Dude burger from Riff Raff Brewing in Pagosa Springs. Paired with their Mild English Ale was just right.
We drove a few more hours to Mancos and set up there for a few days. In a few days I’ll write about those adventures. Thanks for coming along!