New rod and reel on a VERY cold day!!!

Last weekend after our fishing trip my dad was really itching for a new rod. He did a little trading and selling of some old gear and was able to come up with enough for a rod and reel. We (me,Sage and,Holdan) met my dad at a fly shop in Colorado Springs. The service was alright and could have been better if the guy had some help from the shop owner who was just tying flies behind the counter. The employee helped us and let us take rods out to cast and get a feel for them while juggling the register and other employees at the shop. My dad decided on a rod and we were going to check out. We asked the shop owner if they had a military discount since my dad has been in the army for a long time. The guy chuckled and said no but once or twice a year we give military discounts on a few things in the shop. We then walked out with no rod or reel and I do NOT plan on going there ever again. I may be stubborn and arrogant but I would give American Soldiers a discount ANY day! So I called a great shop in Pueblo and my dad went down to pick up his rod and reel. Thanks to The Drift Fly Shop he got a Sage Approach rod and a Sage 1850 reel. It wasn't the high end set up he picked out at the other shop but he paid half the retail price and had some money left over to get some cool gadgets for himself.

Ok back to the fishing the new rod. We watched the weather for a week hoping it would change. It changed but not for the warmer. The last night I checked the forecast and it called for a high of 22 and breezy. The water flow had stayed the same for about two weeks running at 67cfs. We didn't want to leave early in the morning so we waited until I got out of bed at about 10 and left shortly after. When we got to the river the parking lot there was three vehicles so we knew we would have the river to ourselves. Making things better three guys were walking back to their truck from the river. We hurried and threw our gear on and headed out. I started fishing as soon as I got to water. I fished for a minute with no luck I cleaned the ice off my rod eyes and headed up river. I fished a favorite run for a while averaging 4 or 5 casts until the rod was iced to much to cast. I looked down river and my dad was putting his net back on his pack so I figured he caught a fish. I waited for him a while and when he walked up he had a smile from ear to ear and he said "I landed the first fish on my new rod!!!!!!!!" It was a 14 inch rainbow. He was so excited he had to take all his gear off and water the bushes. I went up river and found a run that I usually find at least a few small fish, trying to catch at least one. I hooked up right away and then he was gone. I hurried to recast and my rod was so iced up that my line came right back into my face. I started doing surgery on my leader and finally got my line in the water. Nothing. I couldn't even snag bottom. I switched to smaller midges and cleaned the ice out of the rod eyes and cast away. I hooked and landed a nice brown trout. I threw back in and caught two more fish, a 16 inch rainbow and a 12 or 13 inch rainbow. I was lucky and super glad. Catching them raised my body temperature and gave me more hope for the rest of the day.

We worked our way up river and were very unsuccessful. Every fish we caught managed to get off. I teased my dad and told him, at least you get to practice casting your new rod. He laughed but I could tell he was frustrated. He managed to catch a real nice rainbow right after my smart mouthing.  Then we sat on a log looking at the run, we noticed the trees on the opposite bank were shining in the light. There was so much fishing line hanging that it looked like a Christmas tree drenched in tinsel. If I was only 7 feet taller i could probably fill a couple fly boxes with all those flies and lures. I was done fshing so we headed back to the car. On the way back I told my dad to fish the run that I caught my 3 fish out of. On his first cast he caught a nice 17 inch rainbow. It was a great way to end the day.

 I fished a #20 red zebra midge followed by a #22 black midge and all of my fish were caught on the red zebra. My dad fished a lot of different things but he landed his first and second fish on a #22 black midge and his last fish on a #18 prince nymph.


 At the car our waders were standing by themselves because of all the ice on them. I didn't take many pictures but we did have a good day. My next fishing trip will be in Utah around the 15 or 16 and who knows where after that. Thanks for reading and tight lines!