Gore Canyon Trip – June 30th, 2013:

The fishing and the scenery was great – but the catching was really tough!

Not many were able to make the trip. The guilty suspects were myself, Fred Ebert, Ben Zomer, and Bill Perrill. I asked Bill how to pronounce his last name. “Just like peril.” he said (as in perilous or dangerous). Not quite knowing what to make of this, I kept a safe distance away from Bill all day.

We arrived at the Pumphouse boat launch about 9:30 am. Busy place—numerous rafting companies launching with their “boatloads” of tourists and fun seekers. But we hiked up-river into the canyon, and only saw about 3-4 other anglers all day.

The water was very low—for the Colorado—under 500cfs, but still seemed big to me when compared with my home water, the “Big T”.

Spent lots of time with our noses in our fly boxes, wondering “What in the world do I tie on next?” Probably caught about 12-13 fish between the four of us. The biggest was a nice brown of about 17-18". Got lucky when it took a huge size 6 dry Stonefly pattern. Had it up to the riverbank, just laying there waiting to be netted. By the time I got my net untangled, it took off again for mid-river, never to be seen again (so rude, he just spit my fly right back at me).

Ben took “most fish” honors—so I will be scratching his name off future trip lists (sorry Ben).

Found out that Bill Perrill did well the next day, hiking further into the canyon—wish I could have fished another day with you Bill, to see how it is done!

All considered, a really fun trip with some good company, and great scenery. Well worth the drive just to experience a somewhat remote part of our beautiful state.

Until next time, cheers!
Mark Miller