6 inches of fun

no, i'm not talking about that. get your mind out of the gutter.

what the 6 inches refers to is the size of trout that dad and i caught at the yampa river tailwater below stagecoach dam on friday. in a .6 mile stretch of river filled with big-ass rainbows primarily in the 18-24 inch range, dad and i managed to catch just one trout apiece, both about 6 inches long.

but we didn't get skunked, and that's something.

we fished yesterday also, and did manage to get skunked. we fished the bear river, which is one of the several streams that make up the headwaters of the yampa in the flat tops national wilderness area. the water was just slightly off color from runoff, but apparently it was muddy enough to render us totally ineffective. we tried everything, to no avail. but damn was it beautiful, and i packed two beers and a couple of camp chairs, and we sat in the middle of a gorgeous valley afterward drinking lukewarm beer and watching clouds float over lakes and mountains. wow.

as a matter of fact, this is where we were. i didn't take this pic, and it looks like it was taken later in the summer or early fall when things aren't so green. but man oh man, it was gorgeous.