Nothing Big, But great action, Windy

[FISHGRAPPLER]

We left early Fri. morning, about 4:30,my 3 boys and I, we wanted to catch some big trout. Our plans were to fish Lake John and N.Delaney and hit some of the other small lakes in the area. When we stopped to hit the can in Granby, my oldest son asked if we could stop and try Seymour Res. west of Rand. I said O.K.,and at about 7:50 A.M. we arrived. The drive was fairly good but we had to take it easy as there was a lot of ice and snow. When we were within 1 mile of the res. there was 5 grouse on the road. Thinking about hunting in that area next year. We got to the res. and started to get the warm clothes on, the wind was blowing so hard that, I would not even think about getting the shelters out, and you could see a storm on the south mountains. So we went out on to the ice, towards the middle of the dike and drilled some holes. With in a few minutes, I caught a 10" rainbow, and then the boys caught many more, putting them all back but 1, that my youngest thought was the biggest.We caught almost all of themm on pumpkin colored tube jigs, no bait needed, with 1/32 oz. jig heads. We had to leave as the storm from the south was really whipping in some snow by now, and we did'nt know if the roads would drift in, besides that it was cold, the auger trigger even froze up.Too bad that the water in Seymour does not stay consistant as in the past we would catch some nice fish. The plan then was to go to Walden and check into our motel room and watch some football, but when we got to Walden the wind and snow seemed to slow, so we decided to try out Cowdrey.

We got to Cowdrey about 11:30 and went straight out from the south outhouse about 100 yards and drilled some holes. We had 1 line in when the game warden showed up. He checked our licences, I asked him about the rules on the sizes of jigs that can be used at the Delaney Butte Lakes. I asked about the 1-1/2 " rule, he said if you read the division book, by the letter of the law 1-1/2" is the smallest lure that can be used, and then he said that the rule made no sense, if you can use a size 16 fly, why do you need to use a 1-1/2 jig. I should have asked him for his card. But he said that none of the wardens would, in that area would ticket you, as long as the jig was not tipped with bait.We caught many 10-12" rainbows. We stayed until 4:00 and headed for the motel. We made a pot of chili and hit the hay.

Our plans for Sat. morning was to hit N. Delaney and then John. We got up at 5:30, and loaded up, went to the mini-mart to get coffee. The snow was blowing sideways. I talked to the lady at the mini-mart and she said that she had talked to 2 guys that had tryed to go to John , but had to turn around because of white out conditions. We decide to go home, and thought going through Laramie would be good because the storm was coming from the south, six of this half a dozen of the other, as going through Wyoming could be even worse. When we got close to Woods Landing the weather was clearing, and you could tell that the snow was not very deep, so I turned and went to the Honholtz Lakes. When we got there, there was 1 truck and he was just getting his stuff out of his truck. We went out and drilled some holes, within 20 minutes we caught 20-30 fish all small, so we decided to leave #2 and go to #3. We caught a few browns at #3 and my youngest son lost a fish that was 3-4 pounds. We stayed for about 2 hours and went back to #2, we caught many more, and my oldest caught a nice rainbow, 17" and around 3 pounds. Orange Ratsos no bait, awesome.

Made it back to Denver by 5:00, and went to a party, with the wife.

Great weekend!

[Tipup50]

Grappler, it sounds like you and the boys were shaken and baking all weekend. Good for you and the boys.

Jeff

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Thats what its all about. Take the kids fishing. I wish my boy would go with me more often. Maybe I'm to much of a die hard for him. I'll get him back out soon, I hope.

Dan