After going to a fly fishing 101 class at my local Orvis shop in Tysons Corner i met Art, who during the fly 101 class gave me a great base for my fly fishing knowledge (tying my own knots, the ins and outs of basic casting, etc). About a week later i ran into Art at my favorite restaurant in Vienna, VA and told him about the cross country road trip i was about to do and asked if he had any advice for when i was in Colorado. Art gave me the contract information of a friend of his named Justin Schiavone who i started contacting and asking advice of regarding where to go, what fly shops were helpful etc. Justin directed me to the Rocky Mountain Anglers fly shop in Boulder CO. where i met Anthony Marrese who set me up with everything i needed to fish Colorado water. At the end of Anthony and I's conversation he invited me to fish with him and several other extraordinary fisherman from the shop on the Colorado River and next day and i jumped at the opportunity. The next day i met the crew at the shop early morning and we took about a two hour and a half hour drive to the pumphouse where we floated across the river to hike and fish on the portion of the river few people could get to. That day was definitely humbling, intriguing, and eye opening to just how technical, specific, and difficult the sport really was...watching those guys fish was a real treat in itself.
-- The next I finally met up with Justin in the pike national forrest on a Friday...and when i got to camp he had already pull two beautiful fish and had them all prepared on the fire and i thought to myself this is gonna be the kinda experience and adventure I've been waiting for. After a uneventful night of camping Justin and I woke up early got geared up and hit the water. During the weekend i spent with Justin i learned so much and seemed to grow by leaps and bounds every cast and every new hole we hit i grew in confidence and the fish seemed to come with it. The first day i learned how to fish and read different types of currents and water (pocket water, eddies, and some more open stuff). After that first day i was officially hooked (no pun intended) but i had felt that tug on the line the adrenaline rush of having a wild trout on the other end and i was all in.
The second day Justin and I headed to 11 mile reservoir, which i had heard mentioned by just about every fisherman i had met in Colorado as "one of those experiences" and they were completely right. Not only was the canyon itself a beautiful spot but the fish were equally as beautiful. So after our breakfast beer we geared up and headed down the rocky bank and started feeling it out and started putting out some line. I first hit a log that had fallen in the stream creating a protected area to cast from...following Justin's advice i was nymphing using size 14 juju bugs and high sticking it over the log with no strike indicator (my choice/mistake) and sure enough hooked a fish on maybe my third or forth drift. I think Justin had been skeptical about going to 11 mile because of how technical the water was and it only being my 5th or 6th time fly fishing period...it really could have gone either way, but after i hooked that first brown i think we both knew we were gonna get on some fish that day. 11 mile was definitely to step up from pike the currents were crazy the fish were smart and big. That day i continued to learn...around lunch for about an hour and a half period the fish started to really rising and eating off the surface. So Justin and I threw on some dry fly set ups and i got a taste of the glorious part of the sport as Anthony had put it...there is nothing like dry fly site fishing truly so exhilarating and so much fun! I pulled another brown on the dry fly set-up and it was really special to be honest, there was something about that particular process that felt so rewarding and Justin was so excited for me it was awesome!
Overall one of the best weekend I've ever had and undoubtable the best weekend i had ever had out on the water! I cant thank Art, Anthony, and Justin enough they truly made this experience special for me and turned me into a life long fisherman.
Cheers fellas
Gordon Bailey
http://www.tpfr.org
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