Accomplished fly angler and photographer Steve Schweitzer has a passion for hiking Colorado’s high country. Those talents and passion led to the publishing of two books on hiking and fly fishing in two of Colorado’s most pristine areas, Rocky Mountain National Park and Indian Peaks Wilderness Area.
Schweitzer has spent extensive time fishing in the high country in the past few weeks. A couple of weeks ago he felt everything was about two weeks behind schedule. The recent warm weather has accelerated things and Schweitzer says the flows are now near perfect, the water is clear and the bugs are hatching, setting up for some of the best dry fly fishing of the year.
“If the way the season’s continuing now continues into fall, we’re going to have an excellent fall for fly fishing,” Schweitzer said on my radio show last week.
Schweitzer said that an elk hair caddis and terrestrials patterns, like hoppers and ants, are fishing extremely well. He also commented on the willingness of small fish to take a large terrestrial in the pocket water of these streams. He related a story of a friend fishing a size 12 hopper catching a 2-inch fish. To me, this type of high country fishing is the essence of fly fishing. Schweitzer agreed that these waters and their location in the high, pristine areas beg for fly fishing.
When asked what he felt were the biggest mistakes people make when they start out fly fishing the high country, Schweitzer immediately responded “they over rod.” When you are fishing these high streams the growing season is short and you are typically catching small fish. A two- or three-weight rod is more than enough and will provide a lot more fun. The second mistake people make is they try to cast too far. You need to use a stealthy approach, Schweitzer said, but you don’t need to make long casts. He added you must be willing to hike a bit. Get off of the road at least a mile. The further you go into the back country, the better the fishing.
Schweitzer is the author of “” and “” and said the books are more reference guides than reads. He breaks the area down into sections based on major drainages. In each section he documents the waters containing fish, the gain in altitude and difficulty of the hike, a map, photos, typical fly patterns and tips for fishing each area.
When asked how the two areas compare, Schweitzer said he felt the biggest differences were that Indian Peaks averaged about 500 feet more in altitude, and was much more of a “wilderness” area. Unlike Rocky Mountain National Park, which has roads in and through the park, Indian Peaks is strictly a hike in.
You can listen to my entire conversation with Schweitzer on the Terry Wickstrom Outdoors podcast:
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Extras
I have a show on my YouTube channel, The Best of Fishing with Terry Wickstrom, that shows a horseback trip to the alpine lakes in this area. It is not exactly the type of trip Scheitzer and I discussed but it does show you the beauty of the area.
