New Year's Day fishing

I just got back from a trip to Colorado. I was anxious to do some winter fishing while taking the family on a ski trip. I was probably a little too anxious! The only real place to fish this time of year in the Taylor River area was at the DNR or what others call "The Hog Trough". The morning that we arrived to fish the temp was -5 degrees, by the time we left it had made it all the way up to 10 degrees. Talk about feeling warm.

In summer time you can sight fish to very large fish at this location. However, this time of year produces very low water flow so most of the fish move up into the area just below the tailwater and you are not allowed to fish to them. I was still able to catch some nice browns ranging from 16" to 20".

I got to test out my rod that I had recently built for myself in some pretty harsh conditions. As the eyelets froze up I would have to dip my rod in the water to get the line through. So my rod spent a lot of time submerged in the water. I had left my rod in the car for the three previous days with temps around -25 in Crested Butte. The rod held up fine and looks great. The guy I went fishing with kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to fish with bamboo. He really thought that I was going to break my rod.