Colorado Trout??

[bowman]

We'll be headed to the Grand Lake / Estes Park area in June. My son is wanting to do some trout fishing while we are there. I have fished trout in NE Iowa and we have done pretty well with the stocked trout. Will the same tactics work out west on wild trout? We use ultra light poles, not fly rods.

Any tactics you could share would be appreciated.:way:

 

[longspurs]

Wayne,

I trout fished in southwest Colorado last fall while out there elk hunting and was in HEAVEN! I used my ultralight and my old stand-by panther martins ... they absolutely went wild! Jigs worked well also. Good luck and I hope this helps! Here are a few photos to get you in the mood ... the rainbow found its way to the grill, the brown was released.

-Longspurs-

 

[jjohnson]

Tough to beat panther martins

 

[NWBuck]

We spent a week + in that area vacationing about 3 years ago, and there are lots of trout opportunities. You'll see fly fisherman in about every stream, but there are also small lakes near Estes Park that are perfect for the light spinning tackle. Estes Lake right on the east edge of town had a nice stocking of small rainbows, and RMNP has several lakes that we found other flavors of trout in as well. Good luck...you're going to have a blast :way:

NWBuck

 

[mplane72]

When I was a kid fishing in Rocky Mt. National a nice older fellow showed me a way that worked great in the larger shallow lakes. Take a casting bubble, basically a clear float that you can partially fill with water for casting weight. Behind this you want a leader of at least several feet and a fly. You can cast this thing a mile use a very slow retrieve, with some stops. It worked well. I plan on trying it with my kids out there this summer.

 

[THA4]

Wayne, I have fished Estes Park several times and it was awesome! I fished the river and a few ponds near a resort I stayed in. (can't remember which). But if you can, head up into the high ground and look for beaver ponds they are LOADED with trout. I don't have any pix on my computer, they are all hard copy and taken with a disposable camera. Its beautiful country out there! Take lots of pix.

 

[bowman]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen! We will be trying them all. Only 2 weeks to wait!!!!:way:

 

[Daver]

Great pics Longspurs! I have very limited Colorado trout fishing experience, but I did try it once when we were on a family vacation about 6 years ago or so.

I only caught one 9" fish but it was a brook trout that looked fantastic, the colors were just brilliant. So definitely take some good pics. Also, as I remember, there was a pretty neat fly fishing store right on the main drag in Estes Park. They had all the tackle you could need and also some good local reports on the fishing too.

 

[AZHunter]

Wayne- If you still have Rob's email (my buddy that bailed on me), he lives on the western slope near Grand Junction and could give you all kinds of pointers and maybe some local contacts. I'll email you with his contact info later today or tomorrow in case you don't have his original email. Good luck!!