Fishing blog: Tales of angling adventures from around the world
Welcome to our fish blog! Here you can read more sage advice from anglers around the world. This is the place for news, tips and non-fiction fish tales from mountain lakes to distant beaches. Please feel free to comment and join in on the conversations and share some fish tales of your own!
Great Gift Idea for the Anglers on your Christmas List:
Angler’s Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park provides all the information a visiting angler can use in a compact, waterproof field manual that highlights the fishing opportunities in most of the lakes and streams on the east side of the national park. This book tells where to go, specific areas to target, what to take with you, what flies are consistent producers, and how to present them, all in an easy concise format. It is like having a guide in your pocket at an affordable price.
“The narrative quickly displays the authors’ experience and knowledge of the Park, its waters, and the fish residing there. Photos throughout, especially of the fish, and locations are first rate. Fly recommendations are clear and for easily obtained patterns widely available locally, making it easy for the non-local to go afield well equipped,”- Austin Condon, past president of the Alpine Anglers Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
The layout of this book features each lake with notations on the distance of the hike, a picture of the lake, a topographic map highlighted with the best areas to cast from, the type of trout present, and a “tips from your guide” section with specific advice to help anyone catch trout. There are pages pertaining to the “fly and bubble” technique for spin fishing, basic fly fishing techniques, basic hiking equipment and a section on the greenback cutthroat trout recovery.
Les and Kimball Beery have written a compact, waterproof fishing guide for visiting as well as local anglers to Rocky Mountain National Park and the surrounding Estes Park waters.The book is available on-line at https://www.anglerpocketguides.com/ on Amazon and as an e-book in kindle and nook stores. Our second book, “Angler’s Guide to Shore Fishing Southwest Florida” is also available on-line for folks heading to Florida for some warm weather and great fishing. All orders through the website will be signed by the authors.
You can also find our book at these fine locations:
Jax Outdoor Gear- Ft. Collins, Loveland, and Lafayette; Kirk’s Fly Shop- Estes Park; Macdonald Book Shop– Estes Park; Estes Park Museum– Estes Park; Rocky Mountain Nature Association-all stores in the National Park; Buckles of Estes-Estes Park; St. Pete’s Fly Shop– Ft. Collins; Elkhorn Fly Rod and Reel– Loveland; Peaks Hallmark– Estes Park; Rocky Mountain Gateway– Estes Park; Nicky’s Resort– Estes Park; Boulder Brook on Fall River– Estes Park; McGregor Mountain Lodge– Estes Park.
The rains came and went but mostly passed by to the north of Sprague Lake. The absence of any breeze made for slick conditions that made fishing tough but made for a beautiful reflection. We had a few strikes on caddis flies and parachute ants along the shore.
Sprague Lake makes an excellent late afternoon destination. See the best shoreline areas of this lake to cast from in the pages of “Angler’s Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park”, available at most fly shops in the Estes Park area and on our website: https://www.anglerpocketguides.com/. Also available through Amazon and from Kindle as an e-book.
See you all September 14 and 15 in Bond Park at the Fine Arts Guild Art’s and Crafts Festival.
At 2.5 miles one way, Mills Lake is not too difficult considering the population of rainbow trout and brook trout that can be found there. We usually sleep too late to find a spot at the Glacier Gorge parking lot so we park up at the Bear Lake lot. There is a horse trail cut-off at the far end of the parking lot from Bear Lake. This only adds about .4 miles to the trip each way.
The inlet of Mills Lake provides several rock peninsulas to cast from. Crossing a log jam [carefully] at the inlet gives access to the western shore and less pressured fish. Brook trout seem to be expanding their range from the inlet [Glacier Creek] into the southern end of the lake. We caught mostly brook trout near the inlet. Rainbows always cruise along the eastern shoreline just off the trail. At sunset, which comes early in this valley, rainbows were aggressively feeding at the outlet. The flies for the day were a foam wing caddis and a tiny parachute ant. Larger ants went untouched. A lot of the surface feeding in this lake happens at the edge of the shoreline shelf a long cast from shore. Spinning tackle with a “fly and bubble” rigging is perfect for putting a fly in front of these “far out” fish.
Wish we could guide everyone to these lakes and help them catch and release a few of these beautiful trout while soaking up the scenery. Since we can’t, we share all the things you need to know to successfully and safely go it alone in our waterproof pocket sized guide: Angler’s Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park available at most fly shops in the area, Macdonald Book Shop, all Rocky Mountain Nature Association stores inside the park and on Amazon as either hard copy or an e-book. Of course you can always get a signed copy direct from us at: https://www.anglerpocketguides.com/. Our next trip takes us to Lake Haiyaha in search of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout found there. Maybe we’ll see you along the trail. Remember to limit your kill don’t kill your limit.
Recent outings in the Estes area have been productive using grasshopper flies. This time of year is one of our favorites for big brown trout around the shoreline of Lake Estes. We recommend parachute hopper flies as they are easier to see around sunset when this action peaks.Fly rod anglers should use floating line with a 7.5′ leader and about 2′ of 5X fluorocarbon tippet. We usually recommend 6X tippet but the larger size of these brown trout suggests a little heavier approach to help keep them out of the rocks on the bottom where light tippets can be broken. Spin tackle anglers should use about 6′ of 5lb leader behind a bubble to attach the fly.
Cast 3′ to 10′ from the shore ahead of you as you slowly advance along the edge of the water. Waders help but are not necessary. These brown trout are cruising the shoreline looking for terrestrial insects unlucky enough to end up in the water. Beetles, ants, grasshoppers and caddis flies are a good bet at sunset and beyond. Caddis flies may be “skated” across the surface to attract the attention of these trout but the others need only a tiny twitch to get noticed.
Another factor that contributes to this action is the eminent arrival of the fall spawning season for the brown and brook trout in the area. Both species are loading up calories for the spawn and long winter season ahead. Rainbow trout also are available using this technique and will become more numerous as the spawning brown and brook trout add eggs to the nutrient rich waters. The sun sets a little before 8PM MST these days so it makes a great after dinner outing for local anglers.
Check out our web site: https://www.anglerpocketguides.com for more local information and tips. Our Angler’s Guide books are available at most local fly shops, book stores, and at the Rocky Mountain Nature Association stores inside of Rocky Mountain National Park. The are also available on Amazon as printed or e-books.
On a recent trip to the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan rivers near Carbondale, Co, we caught and released some really nice trout.
The pedestrian bridge over the Roaring Fork river near Basalt provides access to a great stretch of river upstream from the bridge. We each caught 14″-16″ brown trout on grasshopper flies. As we moved up the Frying Pan river towards Ruedi reservoir, we found some big rainbow trout feeding on ants under an overhanging spruce tree and caught some in the 15″ range. The return trip to Estes Park from Thomasville to Eagle was a beautiful but slow drive over an “almost” jeep road due to rutting from the rainy days earlier.
Back in Estes we can report good action above and below Lake Estes. Try the inlet late in the day with grasshopper flies for some big browns and below the dam and above Mall Road bridge for some big rainbows. Below the dam, fish your fly right along the bank in the big pools. We love grasshopper season. Avoid the mid-day crowds and guide trips by going really late…like 7PM.
Get more timely tips on our “Fish Tales” blog at https://www.anglerpocketguides.com/
