PPWA Overnight at Elevenmile Canyon
– submitted by Becky Leinweber
Saturday morning looked to be a beautiful day – blue skies, fairly warm temperatures, and trico hatches met us as we greeted one another at the Pavilion in Elevenmile Canyon. This was the first 2-day outing for Pikes Peak Women Anglers and we were all looking forward to it!
We met, geared up, and headed off in 2’s and 3’s to fish the canyon. Several of the ladies were fairly new to fly fishing, having taken our women’s camp earlier in the year, and they were excited to get more experience. Since she was going to use an Amy’s Ant, Julie Sprinkle handed me her newly tied bead-head pheasant tail and asked if I would give it a whirl since I was working on a nymph rig. That pheasant tail turned out to be a winner of a fly! (Thanks Julie!)
We all met up again for lunch and stories and to share pictures from the morning. Several of us caught fish, many others had them on, and at least one of us went for a “dip” in the stream. But everyone was enjoying the day. The afternoon thunderstorm danced around us but never really hit the canyon, so we had a productive afternoon as well!
Then we met up again, said goodbye to those who couldn’t spend the night, and the rest of us headed to Rock River Retreat (otherwise known as Lagasse cabin) for a refreshing dinner, showers, and of course more stories!
After a restful night, we had a breakfast feast (I kid you not) and headed out for fishing in Happy Meadows. It was great to see the stream improvements that were recently completed, and they definitely held fish! An RS2 and a flutter caddis were the most productive flies of the morning.
Following a streamside lunch, we exchanged numbers, said our goodbyes and said we would meet again in just a couple weeks for the next PPWA adventure!
September 14th is our PPWA Conservation Day & Cookout – care to join us?
