What to do?

Well my busted up bike is still in St. Louis and I'm perfectly fine with that. I did a road ride yesterday but I'm gonna take some time to do the other hobby that normally occupied all my free time before I started riding those silly bikes again. It's that time of year when the Brown Trout spawn and the Kokanee Salmon do their thang. When that happens all hell breaks loose because the bigger Rainbows also make an appearance to feed on all the eggs that are present. With an egg pattern and a trailer nymph you really can't go wrong. It's one of the best times of the year to actually sight fish because you can quickly identify large, aggressive, feeding fish.

After all day parent/teacher conferences tomorrow we have off Friday so I think I'll hit up Spinney Ranch and see what's doin. I fear that this year may be a little less bueno than it's capable of being. There's been some issues with pesky gill lice and they have taken a toll on the Kokes. The salmon that inhabit 11 Mile Reservoir really do not mate when they migrate up the South Platte River. They just go through the motions. Normally the Department of Wildlife sets up a spawning operation and they will actually harvest the fish and then let them move past the nets and upstream to eventually die. When the really big Browns and Bows come up river they get caught in the nets. The DOW has a trailer on site and there is always one person there to watch over the operation. They routinely wade into the hundreds of fish to collect eggs and sperm and when they spy the large trout they let them through the nets to go upstream. So...as a fisherman you can generally count on there being very large trout upstream from the spillway all the way to the dam. However, the DOW is not doing an operation this year (I presume due to a decrease in Koke population but I'll know Friday). This means that the bigger trophy trout will not be congregating in as small of a section of river as they typically do. It means more walking.

Probably the coolest thing to do is hit the river right as it's turning dark. Last year I fished until midnight a few nights. It's so good that this year I vowed to fish until sunup several times. It's cold but the biggest Browns only come out from hiding at night. You can see some truly frightening Browns during the day but the biggest ones are big for a reason. They feed at night and they get pissed off. Night time streamer fishing in the fall is the best. I'm getting all excited right now so I gottsta stop. Pics to come.