Gone Fishing

I decided to get out of town, and take my annual fall fishing trip. On Monday the 13th, I packed up the RV and the cats, and headed for Walden Colorado. It had been snowing over the weekend, and there was snow on the mountains and on the side of the road at Berthoud Pass. 

From the top of Berthoud Pass

I filled up the tank with water in Walden, and drove to South Delaney Butte lake, perhaps my favorite place to fish. By the time I got my camper set up, it was getting close to dark, and it was windy and cold. For some reason I decided to go out on the boat fishing, but soon thought better of it, and headed back to my heated RV. But it was nice to be somewhere dark enough to see the milky way.

Delaney is beautiful, but stark. They consider it one of the "sagebrush lakes", for good reason. There are very few trees, but plenty of sagebrush.

Tuesday was windy and cold. I fished 1 PM to 3 PM, and again in the evening, and caught 4 fish, in the 10 inch to 12 inch range, which is small for South Delaney. I also went into Walden to talk to the fly shop, and do some target practice.

At Delaney, I generally have success with using spinning gear and throwing Kastmaster metal lures. The fish apparently see the flashing as a small fish. I put back all the fish that I caught, as usual. Fly fishing is a pain when it is windy, but you can keep spinning away.

Wednesday I woke up, and found it very windy, so I decided not to go fly fishing in Northgate canyon. I fished midday, caught a couple of 14 inch fish, it was breezy but not cold. I walked around the lake, a couple of miles, good to be out. In the evening I caught my best fish so far, probably 15 inches, and certainly it put up the best fight.

Delaney Buttes

Thursday was also windy.  I did not sleep well, and was awake at sunrise, which is unusual for me, so I went out to take photos.   Then I went back to bed for a while.   While I was eating breakfast, there was a knock on the door of the RV.  I was trying to figure out who it could be, maybe fish and game?   I opened the door, and there were Linda and Art!   They were also up fishing, and recognized my truck, camper, and boat.   It was good to see them.  They were on their way home.

I decided that it was time to go home, so I packed up and headed for Boulder.   The drive home was routine, under sunny skies.

A nice short trip.