Time: 4:30PM – 6:00PM
Location: North and west side of the pond
Ute Lodge Pond 10/06/2022 Photo Album
A fall trip to the Flattops is becoming a family tradition; and Jane, Amy, Chara and I continued the trend with four days at the Ute Lodge in October 2022. Originally this stay was planned for the third week of September, but an important obligation arose which caused us to delay the timing. Jane and I made the drive on Wednesday, October 5, and our daughter Amy and her St. Bernard, Chara, joined us on Thursday morning, October 6. We rented the Pinion cabin during this stayover, and we thoroughly enjoyed our days in the Flattops. The weather was perfect, and we completed some vigorous hikes and experienced a unique horseback ride that included setting up a hunting camp.
1.5 Hours on This Pond
After our hike to Little Trappers Lake on Thursday, I decided to explore the small pond on the Ute Lodge premises. According to the manager, Jason, the pond was stocked with trout and grass carp, so I could not pass up a chance to explore the nearby fishing hole. Jane, Amy, Chara and I wandered to the pond, and when I arrived, quite a few fish were rising. I led with a size 16 olive-brown deer hair caddis, but the stocker rainbows ignored it. I decided to try a different approach and replaced the caddis with a peacock size 14 hippie stomper, and then I added a size 22 flashback zebra midge larva. In the process of configuring my line; Chara, Amy’s St. Bernard, walked by and snagged the midge larva and quickly took me into my backing. The 105 pound St. Bernard represented my largest catch ever. Amy corralled Chara and removed the tiny fly from the thick fur on Chara’s leg, and she was released to forage on other food items.
Chara Loves to Hike
The remainder of my time on the pond, I cycled through a myriad of flies including a parachute ant, CDC BWO, and beadhead hares ear nymph. Eventually I learned that stripping the stomper in choppy bursts generated interest, and I landed six trout using this method. Unfortunately interest was different than eating, and all but one of the chasers were foul hooked, as the trout surged to the surface fly but backed off without eating. When I observed the surface disturbance, I set the hook and dragged the trailing nymph into the body of the stocker. In one instance late in this fishing adventure, a rainbow grabbed the stomper.
Many Rises in This Area
I probably should have tried a Griffith’s gnat, but I did not think of it, until I was hiking back to the cabin. The food source was clearly something infinitesimal, and a size 24 speck of peacock herl may have been the ticket. One trout in 1.5 hours of fly fishing is rather pathetic, but I was captivated by the frequent rises, and I constantly sprayed and stripped casts. The pond represented an easily available source of entertainment. The trout were all cookie cutter rainbows in the twelve inch range.
Fish Landed: 1