6 Great Days in #Colorado! Day 4: Fly-Fishing!
Day 4 of our 6 great days in Colorado was a total treat for me: fly-fishing for trout on the Platte River! Our inn/home, the Elkhorn Inn & Theatre, in Landgraff, McDowell County, West Virginia, is right on Elkhorn Creek, which is known as “the best wild trout stream in the USA”, and many of our guests come to fish it, and rave about the great fishing… But, although we have all the gear, we haven’t fished it in several years, and I had no idea if we could still even do it! When I saw that fly-fishing was one of the most recommended things to do in the Golden area, I talked Dan into spending a half a day with me on a Colorado river. Golden Fly Shop was the recommended outfitter on the Table Mountain Inn website, and I called them and booked a half-day of fly-fishing with their guide Tyler… and we caught (and released) trout!
As I wrote in my previous blog posts, this trip was made possible by my winning Southwest Airline’s “Breathtaking Beats” Sweepstakes, which included round-trip flights for two people to Denver from a Southwest hub, two tickets to a live concert at the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and one night at the super-hip Origin Red Rocks Hotel! We added 5 days to that one, turning it into a mini-vacation, and we spent the morning of our 4th day on the Platte River! We bought our one-day fishing licenses at Walmart, and I got myself a new pair of polarized fishing glasses that I hoped would help me see trout in the water! Although we’d originally expected to be driving to meet Tyler quite early in the morning, there’d been a cold snap, and we didn’t meet up with him until about 10am, after it got warm enough for the trout to come out and play. We met Tyler about an hour from Golden, and then followed him to a spot he knew on the Platte River that turned out to be quite the trout playground! Tyler taught us (again) how to cast line from a fly rod, snap it back, and watch the floater bob the line downstream… and then try to snag the trout the second you see the bobber dip- because you won’t feel a thing! And eventually it all came together for me, & I caught myself a trout- and Dan caught two! For me, just to be out there, in the middle of a river again, surrounded by natural beauty, and watching the sunlight glint on the water, was a kind of heaven… and to actually catch trout on the fly again was magical! I loved all the things we did on this trip, but I think those few, short hours standing in that river were the most wonderful for me… and I hope we now pull it together and get out again on our own creek and fish it!
We had a late lunch at the Red Rocks Grill in Morrison, CO, and a late dinner back at the Table Mountain Grill & Cantina, and basically had a pretty laid back day! My idea of a trip souvenir is usually something you can eat or drink, LOL, as that’s my way of prolonging the happy memories of a holiday, and one fun thing we did was pop into a liquor store and pick up a couple of interesting-sounding local things to take home and enjoy, among them a Colorado Botanical Spiced Rum from Balmer Peak Distillery, and whipped wildflower honey from Honeyville, in Durango. The Carmel Apple Riesling we bought at the Manitou Winery in Manitou Springs on Day 5…
Next: Colorado Day 5!
