This pretty rainbow was Peri’s first fish of the year. A great start!

Had a great first day out on the river for 2025 today. Lots of beautiful wild trout.

Spring is here and it’s time to dust off the fly fishing gear. I hope to get out in the next couple of weeks as the weather warms up and the rivers rise. Looks like it will be a great spring and a good time to pick up some plump, pre-spawn rainbows.

We’ve had a really nice fall so far, with warm weather and good fishing. The weather is changing now, and we have snow in the mountains. Cooler temps with cloud cover got the fish moving recently, and I caught some really nice, chunky rainbows on the Gunnison.

We took our camper up to Steamboat to visit friends and fish the Yampa. This was our third trip up there in four years. We had beautiful fall weather, but the fishing was slow and tough. The fish we did catch were really nice, like this big brown I caught and this chunky rainbow Nic landed.

Had a great time fishing the Crystal River at Redstone the past couple of days. Caught a ton of fish, mostly on dry-dropper rigs all day long. I caught mostly rainbows and really pretty cutbows, but I also landed a few browns, one brookie, and a couple of white fish. I got a few bows over 20 inches and one really huge fish that was probably around 4 pounds or more. A night at the Redstone Inn and a day and a half of fishing was my awesome birthday present from Peri. It was a really fun time. (Click on the photos for large images.)

I spent the day yesterday hiking up a small creek in the mountains, catching wild rainbows, cutbows, and native cutthroat. It was a great day with lots of fish, with some cuts up to about 14 inches. I fished one dry fly all day and had some fish come back at it two or three times. I fished a 7’6″ 3-weight fiberglass rod, which made the whole experience extra fun.

Had a great time fishing with Nancy (from my hometown in NY), along with her son Jack and his girlfriend Sophie. We fished the Taylor and also a mountain stream, and Nancy and Jack floated the Gunnison with Moose for two days. It was a fun time!

It’s hard to find a prettier fish. Big rainbows are in the fast and shallow water, feeding with reckless abandon. It’s a great time for Euro Nymphing.