2 days in the high country...
We spent the last 2 nights camping. With every intention of eating some fish, we brought tinfoil with which to wrap the fish. We caught a plethora of cutbows in the west Dolores with which to make dinner, and then realized we had no oil, no butter, nothing to put in the tinfoil with the fish to prevent them sticking to the foil. Problem solved with.... yep. BACON! A few little pieces of bacon on both sides of the fish will give you the oil you need and let's face it... who doesn't like a lil bacon? Granted, with fish as pristine and tasty as these, it's almost sacrilege to spoil their flavor with anything, but I think in this case the culinary fish gods will forgive us. I mention the West Dolores because that's where my tale ends as far as revealing geography.
There are several reasons why I don't like to reveal which spots I fish in the high country, and I've already said too much. As you can guess from my posts about the San Juan, I really, really, really, really hate crowds when I'm fishing. When I'm playing music at a bar, I love crowds, when I'm looking to meet new friends, crowds are great, but when I'm fishing, crowds can go suck it. So there we have the first reason I don't mention spots. What's the sense of hiking in 4 miles, struggling through thick willows only to pop out to some Captain Cabela, fresh out of his Hummer, GPS in hand, puffin on a stogie. No thanks! The second reason is that a lot of these places feature such small water that many a snobby angler wouldn't think there were fish there worth of their attention. I want them to continue to think this. Third, but not last, is that the joy of such spots is discovering them yourself. I hope this will encourage you to go seek out pristine uncrowded spots, and then once you find them, keep your damn mouth shut.
The fishing in my favorite unmentioned spots featured all native Colorado River Cutthroat. These are remnant fish who have never been stocked and haven't yet been bred away by Rainbows. While Brookies take a lot of flack for running out the natives, it's the Rainbows that do the most damage by simply breeding with them. I've fished several streams with Brookies and Cutthroats co-existing. In these streams I eat every Brookie I catch while returning the cuts to the water. In streams with Rainbows, you just catch a variety of cutbows, some looking more like cuts, others more like bows. These CutBows are extremely tasty. Enjoy in good health! Remember that with low, clear water you need to be STEALTH, as in, not capital letters. Walk slowly, keep low, no sudden movements, wear muted colors, and cast from as far from the water as you can, and you'll catch more and bigger fish in these situations.
There are several reasons why I don't like to reveal which spots I fish in the high country, and I've already said too much. As you can guess from my posts about the San Juan, I really, really, really, really hate crowds when I'm fishing. When I'm playing music at a bar, I love crowds, when I'm looking to meet new friends, crowds are great, but when I'm fishing, crowds can go suck it. So there we have the first reason I don't mention spots. What's the sense of hiking in 4 miles, struggling through thick willows only to pop out to some Captain Cabela, fresh out of his Hummer, GPS in hand, puffin on a stogie. No thanks! The second reason is that a lot of these places feature such small water that many a snobby angler wouldn't think there were fish there worth of their attention. I want them to continue to think this. Third, but not last, is that the joy of such spots is discovering them yourself. I hope this will encourage you to go seek out pristine uncrowded spots, and then once you find them, keep your damn mouth shut.
The fishing in my favorite unmentioned spots featured all native Colorado River Cutthroat. These are remnant fish who have never been stocked and haven't yet been bred away by Rainbows. While Brookies take a lot of flack for running out the natives, it's the Rainbows that do the most damage by simply breeding with them. I've fished several streams with Brookies and Cutthroats co-existing. In these streams I eat every Brookie I catch while returning the cuts to the water. In streams with Rainbows, you just catch a variety of cutbows, some looking more like cuts, others more like bows. These CutBows are extremely tasty. Enjoy in good health! Remember that with low, clear water you need to be STEALTH, as in, not capital letters. Walk slowly, keep low, no sudden movements, wear muted colors, and cast from as far from the water as you can, and you'll catch more and bigger fish in these situations.
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