Chapter 6: The Blue

The Blue River in Summit County, Colorado is one of my favorite places to fish. I haven’t fished much of it, just the same old place that everybody does… under the Interstate.

Some fishermen are very sketchy when it comes to revealing their spots. Most of the places I go seem to be the popular spots that are easily reached, mostly because I’m a bit lazy.

I-70 west out of Denver takes you over the Continental Divide through the Eisenhower Tunnel down in to Silverthorne where the Blue runs through town. The Blue runs down from the Divide near Keystone and empties in Lake Dillon. I’ve fished that stretch as well, but my luck has not been as good there.

The Blue, above Lake Dillon, is a pretty stream. I’ve never wondered south of Swan Mountain Road, but it looks tempting. Once, after having put in about 60 hours of work, I told my boss I was going to take off a half-day on Friday to sneak up there before the stream got busy for the weekend. Of course, they found me anyhow. Sometimes I curse cell phones.

Usually I start at the inlet to Lake Dillon and work my way back up to the car. I’ve hooked a few, but landing them is another thing.

Below Lake Dillon Dam, the Blue is a great little tail water that winds down through Silverthorne, and then empties into the Colorado River further north near Kremmling. My favorite, crowded little piece of the river is between the dam and the town square. The I-70 overpass also comes in handy when a hard rain comes in, as well as some shade on hot days. It’s not scenic, but it’s good water. The rumble of the cars on the Interstate doesn’t seem to bother the fish much.

The favorite, recommended fly is the Mysis shrimp. These little aquatic creatures spill over the dam and provide great feeding for the trout. I have a bunch of the Mysis in my box, but I’ve never caught a fish with one. The way I fish, I usually catch fish on something that no one else is. I call it “mismatch the hatch.” Don’t ask me why it works for me. It makes no sense at all.

The Blue has been kinder to me than most streams. I actually manage to catch fish almost every time I go there. I usually do best when there’s no one with me, or watching me. That’s not a fish story either. And, there is usually an audience of some kind. Just under the I-70 overpass, the footpath between the north and south sides of the outlet mall provides many onlookers. Farther north, where the river actually winds through the town square, there are tons of people. They seem particularly fond of pointing to the hapless guy who spends most of his time untangling his line and just missing each fish he tries to drift his cast by. On most trips to any stream, I manage to slip on the rocks at least once. I’ve gone down, face first more than a few times. I’ve thought several times about trading my fishing boots for clown shoes. That way, there would be a pay off for my audience when I climbed back out.

The trout in the Blue run between 8” and 18.” I’ve seen a lot of the big guys, but I seem to have specialized in the 8” to 12” range.

Up in town, there are some real monsters. It seams like the big Rainbows like it there best. Generally, there’s an overabundance of anglers up that way. I’ve seen some big ones hauled out, but it seems like the fish there have become pretty wary. North of the foot bridge there are a few tunnels that the stream runs through on the way out of town. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen large pods of Rainbows stacked up, feeding on bugs drifting through the tunnels. The water’s a bit deep, and I, being clumsy, am not the quietest person stalking to spots where the fish are. Add to that, trying to cast up far enough into a tunnel to get a good drift back to the fish, and its pretty much a disaster. A couple of casts, and the fish just move farther up the tunnel.

I have my spots, though. I’ve discovered a few holes and eddies where there always seem to be fish. One that I like, in particular, is a spot where I actually see trout holding and darting around after their meals. Using my mismatch the hatch approach begins with the Mysis shrimp, and on through the other flies that should work. I usually get to the more generic caddis flies and land a couple of fish. Of course, this usually occurs after roughly a half-hour to hour of drifting five or six other patterns past the same damn fish. My theory is that, with all the anglers up there, the fish have gotten smart enough to recognize a fake bug and, when they see something that just doesn’t look familiar, they hit it. Hey, if it works, right?

I’ve talked to some guys on the river and some back in the fly shops about my theory. They usually laugh, but agree that if it catches fish, it must be right.