On the Fly: My lips are sealed

Nothing makes me cringe quite like one of those outdoor mag headlines boasting the likes of “Colorado’s 10 best undiscovered hikes” or “Colorado’s secret trout streams,” unless, of course, the article somehow works to my benefit.Still, it’s the kind of information I’d prefer the author share with me and me alone, not the whole world.Personally, I like to remain vague about any and all of my favorite places, but I’m downright enigmatic when it comes to fishing hot spots. So when I read up on a certain river, somewhere in the state, with great flyfishing sans the crowds, I decided to check it out for myself before it’s inevitably ruined, thanks to the loose-lipped writer who let me in on the secret.So, last weekend, I headed somewhere to fish some river. OK, there were mountains in the vicinity, but that’s all I can say.Segments of public water were readily accessible and, while it was hardly devoid of other anglers, the river was a far cry from the ass-to-elbow fishing that is the hallmark of the Fryingpan River and, increasingly, the Roaring Fork. So it was that a fishing buddy and I came to have a gorgeous, serpentine stretch of water cutting channels beneath rosy walls and meandering through fragrant grass and sage all to ourselves – at midday on a Saturday!That’s not to say, however, the trout were jumping out of the deep pools and right into our landing nets. I was starting to think this river would go down in my memory as the most beautiful water I’d ever been skunked on, and that I’d be OK with that, when a brown suddenly attacked a big nymph pattern I was trailing behind an orange stimulator (flies chosen for lack of a better idea of what might work on the unfamiliar waters).We spent long hours catching relatively few fish, awaiting sporadic, semi-enthusiastic feeding “frenzies” that lasted maybe 10 minutes and trying countless fly patterns without ever settling on one that proved irresistible to our prey.But the setting, the solitude and the satisfaction of landing a few not-easy-to-catch trout made for memorable fishing.I could tell you more, but then I’d have to kill you.