First Day in South Fork

Yesterday morning I awoke around 5:20 and had to put on a long sleeve pullover shirt and traded the sleeping shorts for jeans and the golf socks for a pair of smart wool socks.  The temp had dropped to 53 in the RV so, I dug out the second space heater and set it up in the bedroom to warm it while I put on a fresh pot of coffee and fed the twins.

Daylight began to creep into the valley again around 5:45 and shortly before the brilliant colors appeared in the eastern sky, so did the herd of mule deer -- about a dozen came wandering/grazing through the campground.  Three or four came so close to the RV and Jeep, I could have reached out and touched them with my hand.  I had to wake Tiger and Molly and get them to join me in watching this delightful spectacle.  I think Tiger wanted to jump out the door onto one of their backs or go nose-to-nose with one of the shaggy creatures as he meowed or whined at the corner of the dashboard and put his paw towards the door.

The deer finally wandered and grazed their way through the campground and back to the wooded mountainside while I finished 3 cups of delightfully warm coffee.  Sunlight burst momentarily into the campground but, had been dimmed by the streaky clouds filling the skies all around.  The temperature in the RV climbed 2 degrees during that time to 55 and I waited for the warming rays of the sun to lift the chill that had set in during the night and early morning -- I also waited for my camera to download some images and checked on the stock market.  Guess the chill had slowed down the camera and my computer but, the coffee made the wait bearable -- so, I checked again to confirm the deer had moved on for the day (noticed some frost on the roof and the hood of the Jeep).

Later, after a hearty mountain breakfast of bacon, eggs over easy, toast and OJ, I decided to get out a couple fishing rods and a small container of lures to put in the Jeep -- planned to explore the accesses to the Rio Grande river and possibly back up into the valley of the South Fork (where I fished last July).  After getting another map from the Visitor Center, I headed for Coller State Park about 4 miles west of the campground I'm parked at.  It was nearly 12:30 by the time I parked the Jeep near the river's edge and tied on a small swivel to my mini-rod and reel -- snapped on a yellow Rooster-tail and headed up and down the foot paths seeking openings in the brush to try for some trout.

There are approx. 2.2 miles of the river made available for fishing by the public -- to the fence of the Masons Park on the east.  That's the direction I headed and I tried a half dozen openings to the swiftly moving and nearly crystal clear river -- casting numerous times at each of the openings as I looked for some slower moving waters and holes that might hide some sizeable trout.  I definitely got my exercise climbing up down and around the banks, deciding to turn around after reaching a line of boulders which were just barely submerged and angled across the river and upstream about to the middle -- a nice little hole created before and after the boulders.

Didn't get a single strike in that direction of the river and the steepness of further climbs up and down the banks were looking questionable as the loose dirt on the large rocks were making the footing difficult to maintain so, I headed back to the Jeep to get some water and headed upstream.  First, I had to take off one of my long-sleeved shirts and just kept my vest on over the dark pullover -- the sun and exercise made it quite comfortable in the afternoon.  There was another road running along the riverbank in the direction I headed but, it had been cabled off so they could make some improvements (as noted on a sign on the cable).

I probed a few more openings and cast numerous times at each along this fairly straight stretch of the river and decided I would only go as far as the nearest bend -- with the Jeep still barely visible across the grassy field.  I finally reached a point with a sizeable opening and decided it would be the last spot for the day and maybe head back up the South Fork and check the Beaver Creek accesses and a reservoir in hills.

Since I had not gotten a single strike on the yellow Rooster-tail (including a half dozen or more casts here), I decided to switch out to another more colorful Rooster-tail that almost looked like a baby Rainbow trout or Cutthroat trout.  After two casts to the middle of the river, slightly upstream, I let it drift with the current and guided it from the swift current into the slower moving, deeper trough at the waters edge downstream -- into flat water just beyond the branches of a nearly dead (or dorment) tree at the bank.  Holy Cow!  I saw the flash of a white belly as a trout surfaced and hit the lure just a few feet off the bank -- unfortunately, he disappeared after giving me a revived heartbeat.  Two more casts and I had another hit out near the center of the swift waters but, still no fish.

Finally, after a couple more casts and getting the lure near that same spot near the tree at the bank -- I had my first Rainbow Trout of the season.  It was about 12 or 13 inches and beautiful but, unfortunately all Rainbows have to be put back in this section and in the "Gold Medal" section so, I got him unhooked in the shallow water at the river's edge.  I tried about half-dozen more casts but, as the time was approaching 2:30, I decided to go explore those accesses along the Wolf Creek Pass approaches -- Beaver Creek and the South Fork.

First Day of Fishing in South Fork considered done and considered a success.  I did find more spots to fish along the reservoir and Beaver Creek but, after hiking around them too, this old man was ready for a watering hole and a bit of a rest -- didn't find that watering hole on the way back to the RV.  Maybe today.