BONEDALE FISHING REPORT #9

BONEDALE FISHING REPORT #9

THE MUDDY RIVERS OF SPRING ARE SNARLING

Here’s the thing, you either like to fish, or you don’t. For those of us who like to fish, it doesn’t matter what kind of fish it is, as long as we get to see them. A client of mine once caught a sixteen-inch Koi on a Prince nymph. The poor bastard blew out of some dude’s pond up-valley and ended up in our sights. It was a flood year and you didn’t know what the hell you were going to run into. Steve Avery caught a Goddamn Mackinaw on the Burry Lease. We were floating the Fork at 9,000 CFS and the fishing was primarily limited to people’s lawns–the secret weapon was four different colors of chenille gobbed on a hook. I don’t think anyone ever submitted that fly. The river blasted new channels left and right, and we were fishing holding water that didn’t exist, at least in my lifetime. Avery pole-vaulted out of a Grade B raft that Bill Fitzsimmons was renting to the guides. He said he could see the frontage road as he floated over the river. I came close to stuffing it a few times, but dumb luck often carries the day. Tim Heng told me Fitz almost sunk them in the Keys, because he was so busy watching fish. We know // after all // it’s fun sneaking up on things. Come fishing immediately.

Live from the WORLD HEADQUARTERS

Kea C. Hause

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Photo: Roaring Fork River brown, Burry Conservation Easement, Carbondale, CO.