There is some lunacy in this journey of mine. Perhaps it’s my attempt to be a female Huck Finn and regain a bit of my childhood. This week I played hard. I not only fished on the South Platte and Colorado Rivers, I also white-water rafted and zip lined across the Colorado at Glenwood Springs and camped for five days on the Colorado with my grandchildren and sister. I was given the dubious title by my fellow zip liners as the coolest Grandma. When did I become a senior??
In this post, let’s talk about the South Platte. I fished the section known as 11-mile canyon with my friend, Vet Kate Andreae, and my husband. Kate and I fished another section of the S. Platte at Deckers in January so this provided a completely different experience. Like Cheesman Canyon, this area of the river is characterized by enormous boulders and river rocks that made me glad I had a kind of third leg due to my staff.
Towards the end of winter I dreaded having to share rivers with masses of people, but the masses have not happened – at least until this week. There are numerous camping facilities on this part of the S. Platte that attract not only Coloradans but also out-of-state folks, especially from Texas.
Almost every section of the river where we wanted to fish was already occupied by the time we arrived at 10:00 a.m. or so – especially as we approached the dam. After driving up and down the river for 30 minutes or so we finally landed a spot within a mile of the dam.
I had a lot of fun playing “guide” to Kate, practicing changing flies, unraveling tangles, helping with casting techniques and pointing out the more likely fish hangouts. As a vet, Kate probably knew how to tie the surgeon’s knot better than I, but never let on. She ended up catching a couple fish and I was thrilled to have contributed to the future of another angler.
