Elevenmile is back!
We have a lot of people that are friends of the Covey. During the fires we got many updates from CDOT employees, CSFD Chiefs, Police and people who live in the various areas affected by the catastrophic Waldo Canyon Fire. One of the things that I heard on Thursday of last week was that Highway 24 was to be opened no later than Monday. With that in mind I wanted to go and fish Elevenmile Canyon before it was swarmed by potential visitors over the July 4th weekend.
I am currently staying in Castle Rock with the in-laws until it is safe for my infant daughter to return back to the Springs. On Sunday, we enlisted some baby sitting (ie…my in-laws), and the wife and I drove up to Sedalia and went the back way to the Canyon. The Springer fire was not nearly as devastating to the Canyon as I had imagined. You could see remnants of the fire but nothing terrible.
It was eerie to be one of only a hand full of fisher people in the Canyon. Usually, at this time of year, you can barely find 20 feet to call your own. Not on this day! We could have fished where ever we wanted. And we did! When I got out of my truck we were very excited because we thought that we could throw any fly at these fish and they would take it because of the lack of fishing pressure. We were surprised, though. It wasn’t as “off the chain” as we thought it would be. We did catch a lot of fish, probably about 15 between the two of us. Anyone that fishes the Canyon regularly, though, knows that it can be a lot better.
The one thing that was awesome was that it was like January 1st, not July 1st as far as the crowds go.