Fishing Colorado: Headwaters of the Big Thompson

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First reported snow fall of the season in Colorado!


The legendary elk in the park.

Moraine Park, 2007
How we find great spots:
We often look for great backcountry fishing, backpacking, and/or skiing first with Google earth by taking an aerial tour of the terrain. We can zoom in and out, change perspective and even plot routes to target water/peaks/slopes before we even step out of the house. If you have never played with Google Earth be ready to have your mind blown! It is a backcountry buckaroos must have. Get it here…Google earth, it’s free!
After finding an interesting location, we’ll check fishing reports, browse news groups, and research any stocking history of the water in the area. Lastly we will quiz park rangers at the trail head for terrain tips and fishing hints. Most of my EPIC days have started with hours of looking at maps. My jaw dropped when I learned that this very area used to have a golf course on it in the early 1900’s. What were they thinking?! Needless to say this is no place for such nonsense and luckily that idealism and the golf course have all but vanished.

For an interesting history of this area click here.

For my fishermen (and women);
The fish were hanging out under the banks. If you look closely you can tell from the picture, the banks overhang the water’s edge by about a foot, more in some places. The fish lurked in the shadows, they spooked very easy and any detection rendered the hole vacant. We had to be sneaky bastards. JP fishes the bank water trying to land the fly about three inches from the edge.