November 17, 2019

Flow: 92

Water temp: 47-51

Winter water storage has begun my friends and things are lookin’ good.

For those of you new to an agricultural river (as opposed to a municipal waterway) we see a lot of dramatic changes in flow during the summer months. It’s all dependant on what the farmers and ranchers call for in their water rights downstream and what exchanges are transferred above. Water is a commodity here in the high desert and every drop has been claimed a long time ago.

Guiding on an agricultural river is like guiding a freestone (natural) river on drugs. If a call comes in the flow can go from 100 to 4000 in minutes at the dam and can take up to half an hour to realize you’re standing in a flood five miles down. So when winter water storage starts we have two goals, see how healthy the trout are and learn what spots have changed. For us, however, that’s easy, three of our four guides live within walking distance of the water. So, when you want a guide to put you on fish, who ya gonnna call? the spotted faced kid from Colorado Springs “guide school” , a guide from Denver or the a descendant of the people that actually founded this state and county.

Fishing today with my compatriots was a mixed bag. We had had spotted hatches of bugs all day long from great clouds. We fooled around and caught a few on dries without much fuss but getting below them was the trick. Olive midges and zebras put them in the net.

This is going to be a great season and we’re ready for it. We’re ready for it and ready for our wonderful guests. Are you ready?

Tight lines,

Ben