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High Country Summertime Fly Fishing

A man wearing outdoor gear kneels by the edge of a small stream while holding a fishing rod. Grass and shrubs are in the background.

By Dennis Smith Some anglers I know will tell you the best fly fishing in Colorado doesn’t really start until late June or early July. That’s about the earliest you can backpack into a cutthroat lake at 9,000 or 10,000 feet and be reasonably sure you won’t have to drill a hole in it to […]

Hooking Trout on the Big T

A brown mayfly with translucent wings and a long tail rests on a person's hairy arm, casting a shadow in sunlight.

By Dennis Smith There was a huge spinner fall on the Big Thompson that morning — Pale Morning Duns, we’d guessed, but then mayfly spinners all look alike to me; they could have been anything. It was late June and we just assumed they were Pale Morning Duns, but we didn’t really know. They stretched […]

A Short Ride in Co-op Country

A dirt path leads through a grassy field with trees, flanked by green mountains under a clear blue sky.

By Craig Johnson Coloradans have been riding bicycles in the mountains since the 1800s, but it wasn’t until the mid–1970s that the modern-day sport of mountain biking was born. The cradle of the sport was Crested Butte. In 1976, hobbyists on modified cruiser bikes called “klunkers” began racing to Aspen over the 12,705-foot Pearl Pass. […]

Struttin’ in Full Color

Two wild turkeys stand on grass with trees in the background.

By Dennis Smith I continually find myself amazed by the incredible diversity of feathers found in songbirds. Barnyard chickens, too, for that matter. Never mind waterfowl, herons, cranes, raptors and the wildly-exotic rainforest parrots, macaws and toucans; Asian and African pheasants and peacocks, flamingoes, bee eaters and such. From the tiniest hummingbird to the largest […]

Fish Overpopulation Can Equal Tasty Supper

Assorted fish on grass with a fishing rod, reel, and a tackle box containing lures and flies.

By Dennis Smith I think it’s safe to say that, barring the inevitable random poacher, most anglers today almost automatically practice catch-and-release fishing wherever the law requires and, in some places, even where it doesn’t. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be many fish left in our lakes and streams. I’ll never forget the first time […]

Colorado Waterfowl Intuition

Close-up of a Canada goose with a black head and neck, white cheek patches, and brown body feathers, looking to the right against a dark background.

By Dennis Smith I don’t know how or why, but Colorado waterfowl mysteriously seem to know more about weather and the changing of the seasons than all the cartographers, meteorologists and earth scientists ever born. The TV weatherheads presume to know what the weather will be like in the days and weeks ahead and make […]

Alone

A person stands knee-deep in calm water while fishing, with distant hills under a cloudy sky. Black and white image.

By Dennis Smith I’ve never really given it much thought, but I guess I’ve always known that fly-fishing is agame you usually play alone — even when you’re doing it with a couple of like-mindedfriends. At least that’s how I see it. You might travel to the river together, string up yourrods and pull your […]

Fly Fishing in February’s Flux

Person standing in a river, wearing a cap and fishing vest, looking down while holding fishing gear.

By Dennis Smith I’m not a winter fly fishing fan, but several years ago during one of those pleasantly weird, weeklong February thaws we sometimes get around here, I found myself on the Big Thompson with a fly rod in my hand. The weather was so inviting I couldn’t help myself, so I grabbed my […]