After our guided trip with Willowfly Anglers (feel free to read the post by clicking here), Wendy and I wanted to try our hand at fishing one more time before we departed for another part of Colorado where fishing was not going to be a priority anymore. We wanted somewhere that was easy and quick to fish. We were prepared to do some wading but didn't have hours to spend. We wanted to catch some fish and weren't picky about their size or species. In essence, we wanted some easy fishing for dumb fish. When I ran across the fact that Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery was near Gunnison, Colorodo, and had some ponds that were open to the public. This seemed like the obvious choice and was exactly what we were looking for! With a lot of optimism and hope, we headed to the hatchery.
When we arrived, I knew we had made the right choice. There were multiple lakes, vehicles in the parking lot, and people fishing in various places. There were a lot of fish that were easy to see and some of them were active. It looked like we were going to have quite a few shots at catching fish so we got rigged up.
Wendy used a 5 weight and I used a 3 weight. Most of the fish looked like typical 12 inch stockers but there were some bigger fish mixed in with them. We started off throwing some jigs under indicators and the fish were somewhat interested. They seemed to pick up on that trick pretty quick so we switched to flies that were more natural in appearance. I made some hopper dropper rigs with zebra midges and pheasant tails as our bottom flies. While we didn't get a bite on every cast, this setup seemed more productive than only using jigs.
I'll be honest, we should have caught A LOT of fish. Maybe we were both late at setting hooks. Maybe the fish were hitting and spitting as fast as possible because they were wary and well educated. I'm sure that the fish in the ponds have seen a lot of flies in the past and are both picky and quick to spit out something that doesn't seem right. Wendy landed a few rainbows with one coming on a hopper and two on a zebra midge that was the dropper. I landed all of my fish on a dropper and missed a few on the hopper. Since the bites were quick and subtle, we did a lot of sight fishing due to the blue skies and clear water.
Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery was a great place to visit and offered a fun fishing opportunity. Was it the same as pulling brown trout out of the Gunnison with nymphs and wet flies? No, it wasn't but it was still a good time. Catching fish is always fun for me and there are varying levels of fun and a lot of different ways to catch fish. The phrase "different strokes for different folks" comes to mind and if you're in the area and think that this looks like a good time, I hope you visit and enjoy this opportunity that is open to the public and FREE!
