I fished the day before at the Dolores River in Gateway and Ridgway State Park below the dam (one of my worst fishing experiences). Unsatisfied, I spent a couple of hours online that night to research a good, close trout stream. My conclusion, the San Miguel. I was rewarded with my new favorite fishing trip. Michael had to work, Ravi was in school, and dad was going to hang out in Ouray and take it easy. So I headed out about mid-morning for Rig's Fly Shop in Ridgway. I recieved great information and flies on the San Miguel from the shop.
I started by heading upstream (south) at Placerville and found a nice day use spot a few miles downstream from the Telluride airport. The fall colors were spectacular, and the river was swift. I made my first cast around noon, and soaked in the scenery as I tried 5 flies in an hour. After I failed to get any takes, I scouted the river. I did not see any rises or swirls in that time, and had a bad feeling that I needed to move downstream. I proceeded downstream (north) of Placerville into the San Miguel River Canyon. I stopped to scout the river and saw a huge snake slithering across the parking lot. I proceeded downstream again to the Caddis Flats campground. The site looked good, so I geared up and gave it another try.
I made my first cast about 1:30pm MDT. I tried the Free N Easy for only about 5 minutes before giving up. I put on a large hopper pattern I got from Rig's earlier. I made my first cast with the hopper and a large rainbow came completely out of the water to take it! It was the first time I had ever had a fish come entirely out of the water to take a fly. I played the fish across the ripple for a few minutes before landing it in my net. It may have been the most beautiful fish I have ever caught (about 18", dark, with bright stripes). I snapped a quick shot of the fish in the net and released it. I caught three more 'bows and played a few more before I tried to set up the camera, on the bank with a timer, to get a shot of me with a fish. After I set the camera up, a Swiss photographer stopped by and asked if he could snap a few action shots of me fishing. Naturally, I did not land a fish while he was there to photograph it for me. Less than five minutes after he left I had another fish. Figures!
The fish I caught after the Swiss man left was the last take I got out of the hole, so I waded about 15 yards upstream to try a different spot. I landed a few more smaller 'bows, however, the fish here were quicker on the take and I had a harder time getting them hooked. A storm moved in about 3:30pm and I waited it out in the car for about a half hour. After the storm, I tried my original spot and got one more 'bow. This has to be at the top of my fishing experiences simply because I researched the river myself, stopped by the local fly shop for info and flies, scouted the river, read the water correctly (in the end), and found the correct fly by trial and error. My persistence was rewarded by a great day of dry fly fishing.
 Upstream view toward Telluride |
 Snake slithers thru a parking lot just north of Placerville |
 My first and best rainbow of the day |
 Second 'bow of the day |
 My hole at the Caddis Flats campground boat ramp |
 Pulling another 'bow out of the net |
 Downstream view |
 Upstream view |
 One of the last 'bows I caught |
 Fly I caught the last trout on |