Well, the last two weeks have been challenging due to Colorado's monsoon season we are now in. For a brief period, I was concerned that the water was getting too low and by late afternoon the water would be too hot to fish. Now we are faced with different obstacles, which is getting everyone dressed, fed, and out on the river before the storms come. It is almost like clockwork.
So far we have fished through 4 thunderstorms. This week we drove 2 hours, pulled off by the river, ate lunch, and cast 3 times before the bottom fell out and we had to make a dash for the truck. In those three casts, I managed to hook into a small brown and he came flying past me and got off. Oops. Generally, I don't ever set the hook that hard and you don't really want to be that rough. Tyler crossed the river and had a strike as well, both of us coming up empty-handed. I think we were slightly panicked by the booming of thunder that was quickly heading our way.
That day was already stressful as we drove away from the storm. We decided to take a ride down a road that I was told had lots of water on it. With the GPS we wanted to go another path to look for some closer water. Unfortunately, it took us down the wrong road. A road less traveled, for a good reason. We accidentally put ourselves on an ATV/High clearance trail, not made to fit our big diesel truck. Too narrow to turn around, too rough to move forward. We literally had to crawl down this mountain in our truck. Tyler walked ahead accessing the right path, moving large boulders out of the way. It took us several hours to only go less than 10 miles. The girls watched their movies, oblivious to the danger we were in the midst of. I was near tears the entire time worried we'd bottom our truck out or that we'd have to call on local law enforcement to come to rescue us. I kept praying to God he'd just teleport us or make the road easy but that's never the case when He's teaching us a lesson. I just had to have faith that we'd get out of there safely. I continuously rubbed lavender oil on my temples and was sniffing my little bottle of oil like a hippy. It did help.
We did survive and our truck performed as it should. " Built Ford tough" & we put it to the test. I apologize for not getting any documentation of the road conditions but we were in survival mode.
Today I got up early enough and was able to squeeze in an hour or so of fishing in a place I've been anxious to check out. German browns and brooks. I was able to land around a dozen or so within that hour. I pulled out 4 from one hole which I've said before can be difficult but do-able with tact. One fat super rewarding brown that I was very appreciative of. I recently broke my higher end rod that was a 5wt and now I'm fishing with a lower quality rod that is a 4wt which is so much different and a big adjustment. I obviously was still able to manage the fish, it is just so funny how naked I feel without "my rod".
Thanks for being patient with us as we still do not have high-speed internet so posting is still a hassle. Soon I will be in WiFi and with unlimited data and I'll be able to spam you guys with everything I got. Until then stay safe and be natural.