Occasionally it’s as if the stars align, the fates agree you deserve a break, who really knows, but the end result is you have a great day. Yesterday was one of those times.
The day started at Snooze in Fort Collins for breakfast, where I met Matt for our weekly meeting. Great coffee has to be the best feature of this eatery, but their food is plentiful, nearing the point of excess. Simply, you need the coffee to keep from snoozing once you’ve gorged yourself.
Beyond good eats, we had a productive conversation on dealing with forum issues and bringing tournaments to Fish Explorer. As typically happens, the conversation turned to recent fishing outings. We both lamented about the lack of time on the water this year. My recent success at Boyd peaked Matt’s interest, mentioning that he thought he could fish that afternoon/evening and was I free. Turns out he could, and after a quick chat with the supervisor I arranged to take off a couple hours. Yep, the stars were aligned.
The day went quickly, and I was surprisingly productive given fishing was now on the brain. And to make things even better, lunch was shared with my daughter and brother. Life was good.
I met Matt at the ramp around 3:30 and in short order we were on the water. Matt’s boat is an ideal platform for a couple fly fishers, especially when one’s a lefty and the other a righty. Plus, we fish similar enough it’s a comfortable situation for both, and yet, different enough to maximize the chances of dialing in the fish quickly.
Sunday, Cody and I had the birds to guide us to the fish, but this afternoon the bird activity was nonexistent. Oh, there were plenty of birds around, terns, gulls, herons, and grebes, but all appeared to be napping. We found out later it was a case of “you should have been here this morning!” So we resigned ourselves to blind casting areas that “looked good” and that I’ve had success in the past.
That strategy proved to be partially successful. We managed to pick up fish here and there, a menagerie at that, white bass, bluegill, carp, trout, crappie, smallmouth, and largemouth by day’s end. Interestingly, we found fish, deep, shallow, near shore, and the middle of nowhere, but the action was inconsistent until we hit the far north end of the reservoir where the south breeze had picked up and was pushing “feed” toward the shore. That’s a tip everyone should keep in mind, when in doubt where to start, fish the windward shore.
The rest of the evening we had fast action, primarily for white bass, with a few crappie and largemouth mixed for good measure. How fast? Well doubles were common, both in terms of both Matt and I being hooked up at the same time, and in terms of having two fish on a line at the same time, the result of fishing two or more flies. As I opted to fish the legal maximum of three flies, I even managed a few triples.
The best “lucky” cast had to be my tossing the line out and setting the rod down so I could swap out my glasses. Being lazy, that seemed preferable to reeling in my line to avoid the inevitable snarls that were sure to occur with the line lying on the deck while I rummaged through my gear bag. As I was digging, my rod jumped. Quickly grabbing it I saved myself the embarrassment of watching it go for a swim. Turns out my random cast landed in a school of white bass and the falling flies were sufficient to elicit strikes. Yep, strikes, all three flies were loaded, giving me a triple.
We didn’t fish late, returning to the ramp as the sun settled behind the hills. But the day didn’t end there. As we had the privilege and honor of visiting with Chris aka “lil hooker” and Lewis aka “Lewdog” who both were getting off the water about the same time as Matt and I. Both had enjoyed similar success fishing with minnows and lures. Illustrating finding fish is the key to success, not what you use. Anyway, one of the great pleasures I have as state editor is meeting other FishExplorer.com members, and hopefully, having the privilege to fish with them.
With that I ended an extraordinarily enjoyable day, time spent with friends and family, excellent catching and a “lucky” seven species day to boot. Yes, there are days when the fates are truly generous.
