After a busy work week in NYC, I was looking forward to spend some fishing time in Rocky Mountain National Park with my buddy Graham Moran of
Tenkara Grasshopper. We had initially plans to hit the West side of the park but my plane from NYC was delayed a few hours and I didn't get home until very late on Friday and had no time to do some research there. So Graham and I decided to hit Wild Basin since I know the area already fairly well.
I brought a new rod back home from NYC that I acquired from Chris Stewart, the
TenkaraBum. A soft action zoom rod, the
Daiwa Sagiri 39MC that zooms from 11.5" to 13" and weighs a whopping 2.0oz as per Chris' website. I fished this rod back in Utah before the Summit and knew I wanted one. Last week Chris got another shipment and I had one put aside for me. Although I thought that 11.5" might be a bit long in that section of the park, I had to fish it. And it worked remarkably well until we headed way further upstream where I had to get the Daiwa Soyokaze 27SR (9ft) out of my backpack.
Fishing (and catching was great) although it started a bit slow until it got a big warmer and fish became more active. As expected, most fish we caught were brookies with a few browns, a rainbow and a few greebacks in the mix. So we had a Colorado Grandslam combining our catch (I missed the rainbow and Graham missed a greenback).
The weather was a bit cool for the season, with a few showers in the morning but warming up to mid 70ies late afternoon.
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| first fish of the day - a typical brookie up there |
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| a nice surprise, a good sized brown trout |
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| Graham getting into position with tourists checking out the falls |
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| nice water on the lower section |
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| Graham sneaking up on some fish from behind a big rock |
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| further upstream - perfect for the short 9' Daiwa Soyokaze |
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| chunkie |
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| it's getting tighter |
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| nice greenback to close out the day |
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| snowshoe rabbit |
Days on the water: 23
Nice rabbit!
ReplyDeleteGood looking fish too. ;-)
Did you fish the Sagiri at 13 foot?
Lynn - thanks, I fished the Sagiri 13 ft only in one big pool but had to fish it the rest of the time at 11.5". I love the versatility to shorten it. And man, it is light!
DeleteWhat a wonderful trip. Those streams are in great shape as are the trout. Love the brookies.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are thumbs up.
Brk Trt - Thanks! Even though the snowpack was horrible last Winter, there were some frequent showers up in the park throughout the Summer which kept the rivers flowing. The current flow is about as perfect as it can be for August.
DeleteWhat a great day on a great little stream. Doesn't look like you had to share the water with too many other anglers. Nice how the collapsible tenkara rods allows us to carry more than one rod easily.
ReplyDeleteTA - we didn't see anybody else fishing all day. Only when we hiked out we saw two guys hiking in and there was a small guided group in the very first pool we fished in the morning. So yes, had this great creek all to ourselves (although I had to share with Graham)!
DeleteGreat trip report, Karel!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ashley!
DeleteYou've got to love the way you can pack in several rods. I carry my regular fly rod and put my Iwana in my back pocket for those "just right" waters. Couldn't be any sweeter.
ReplyDeleteMark
You got it, Mark.
DeleteKarel,
ReplyDeleteA nice post and sweet pictures, thanks for sharing.I also have a Sagiri and I like the rod, the ability to change the length and the rods lightness are both great features. It is great to see the Ti Net in action.
Thanks Thom! The Sagiri is definitively sweet; I am looking forward fishing it a bit more. And you know, the Ti Net is one of my favorite equipment!
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