Over here in Colorado, we have our own Salmon. They don’t get as big as the King Salmon many of you see in the Midwest, but our Kokanee Salmon have quite the run in our great state. I wanted to see if I could get a couple premature runners, so I headed to three different sections of the Blue River by myself on Sunday (hoping my friend Nate would get sick of football). The first place I stopped was a personally familiar section of the Blue just above Green Mountain Reservoir. I didn’t see any Kokes (I think I’m a couple weeks early) but I did manage two Rainbows. They both ate a red Blood Midge and were quite the acrobats.
After that, I went below the Dillon Dam to stare at big tail-water trout and maybe fool one. I did well there, on a mystery fly from our late summer fishing trip in Montana, landing two Cuttbows over 15”. The Cuttbows put up “zero” fight and felt as good as a limp dishrag on the end of my line. The Blue River below Dillon Dam has some true hogs, but they are all overfished and overcaught due to easy access. Late in the day, I realized some fish may be running above Lake Dillon on the Upper Blue River near Breckenridge. I went to check it out and ran into a couple anglers. They told me there were no Kokanee, and after checking for myself, realized they spoke the truth. I kept moving up the river and met a friend at an old dredge pond. Torturously, there were big fish that only nibbled twice (but that’s a different story). Overall, it was a relaxing and contemplative day on the river. There may not have been any Salmon, but the views were gorgeous.
