third coast casters: colorado vibe

Sam and I spent the past few days driving through Colorado trying to catch a few last minute vibes before school starts back up. We decided the Arkansas River would be our best bet for finding consistent fishing. So after booking a one way flight with Spirit Airlines and stomaching an 11 hour unexplained delay at IAH, we were heading south out of Denver toward Fairplay South Park to get a little taste of the South Platte before heading on to the Arkansas.

sage rodz

Slow midday fishing on the Platte mixed with one hour of sleep and a severe lack of water made for a pretty rough day. We managed a few pretty fingerlings and 2 lost BIG fish, one of which bent the bend in my hook about halfway. The Brown sipped my foam #6 hopper, I set the hook and felt his weight before he threw it back at me. I raged.

sam at the south platte

The next day we fished the Arkansas north of Buena Vista at Railroad bridge which ended up to be a bust as well, we were a bit out of form and fishing fast pocket water that we were not used to. So we continued to drive south after picking up a french press and a pound of the darkest roast coffee The Roastery in BV had. Much needed. This is how we hydrated most all of the week.

full court press

We took a right off 285 and cruised up the Chalk Creek road as far as Sam's 98 Cherokee 4X4 would take us and fished Chalk creek. Fish and Vibes were caught.

chalk creek brookies

Middays were spent cruising through mountain towns and checking out the scene, we found out real quick that fish were not about eating lunch. So we headed back out to the Arkansas and fished Browns Canyon in the PM. We found browns along the edges of the river at dusk and rainbows were taking streamers at night. It was legit.

Arkbows

We received a little insider information from a local Salidanite at the Simple Lodge/Hostel about a spot south of Salida that had been fishing superiorly so we saved that for our last morning in the Rad. Turns out he had the right info, as we proceeded to tear em up...