PM sent MyWar

So it’s happening. Leaving for Colorado in about a month. Gonna do a good bit of camping and hiking and fishing while we are there… but my girlfriends sister and brother in law don’t fish so even though they have been super gracious in planning activities that will put us on or near plenty of lakes and rivers and creeks, they have no insight as to fishing techniques.

Should I bring hip waders or chest waders? I have both but only want to bring one or the other.

Gonna be camping and doing day trips in Rocky Mountain national park, crested butte & black canyon at Gunnison NP… Macintosh lake is like 10 min from where we are staying. My trout fishing game is meh right now but I got a month to practice. Looks like a mix of trout and bass water.

Is there like some good free flowing water in SWPA where I can practice some trout fishing techniques that will be anything like what I’ll encounter on CO water?

What I have found when flying gear to a new place, pack basics and plan to hit a fly/tackle shop your first day near a fishing spot. Usually not much beats what the local shops are willing to assist with, besides hiring a guide.

I will research the crap out of areas, show up there and half of what I researched is useless due to conditions or whatever. I get excited leading up and pack items that I don’t touch. I will “kick yourself” not bringing X, Y or Z, but will make do and might end up buying a few things that I have at home already. One thing that I end up doing too often is waste a day or two using the lures I packed, because it sounded right from the internet, but for some reason are not producing now, but a few weeks prior were crushing things.

I can say all of this, but will end up doing the same thing a few weeks when I fly to Mexico…. But I am not going to a tackle shop there. Won’t be leaving the resort.

if fishing inside RMNP, they have (or at least had 6 years ago) regulations that required anglers to clean their waders within a certain timeframe of being in other creeks or rivers, so you’ll wanna check that before you go. Gunnison NP might have similar. I also seem to recall some tackle restrictions in some places there. Can probably find that on the atlas I linked earlier.

If you want anything close to approximating what you’ll find in CO head to central PA - north or south.

And don’t overthink it.

Many creeks/rivers have such high trout densities that catching them on any tactic you’d use on a stocked trout stream in SWPA will work. Some have the densities but have high pressure and/or hatches that trout are keyed in on. If you don’t have the right fly and don’t know how to present it, it won’t matter how much you practice or how good you are with a spinning rod.

RMNP fishing regulations: https://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/fishing.htm