June 16, 2013
Flow: 1836 cfs and falling
Water Temp: 58-64
We had a great Saturday competing in the Sangre de Cristo Celebrity Fishing Derby.
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to fish great lakes that have been closed to the public for 17 plus years. We met some old friends and some new ones before the sun hit the horizon, dropped off a big
package of food for the wildfire victims and hit the water. This year was considerably cooler than last year (107) and not much wind. I enjoyed seeing
conventional anglers fishing side by side with the fly guys with courtesy, respect and sportsmanship. I took the prize for smallmouth bass and gave the check back; a principle I took to heart from team Scott/Costa of February’s Frostbite Fish-Off. The kids tourney produced some very nice fish with several
bigger than the adults. Thanks to all the volunteers that made it happen.
 We were humbled by how many people stopped to say hi and give a handshake between events. In our little community it’s good to be king. Now it’s our privilege  to use our outreach to help the Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo. Saturday July 20th we’re going to attempt something new. A self proctored carp tourney. See below on how to enter. I encourage the carp pros to pair up with someone eager to learn how to bag the golden bones. The tourney is cheap to organize, cheap to enter, easy to promote and if successful easily repeatable. Without the expenses we can raise a lot of money for the NRCP.  I'm sure we’ll make a mistake or two but we can take the heat from the pundits and bloggers. Thanks to Trigger Promotions for donating the facilities to make the tapes.
I’m also going to go out on a limb and say the peak flows are done and the water will be going down in the tailwater over the next few weeks. The high flows are the spring break for trout we’ve missed for a few years. With a break in angling pressure our trout’s little brains get stupid again. I expect wadable waters in a few weeks with some epic fish stories to follow.
Tight Lines,
Ben and Lou