Trying out a classic

[Fishnkilts]

I tied up a few Rio Grande Kings, the best I could, and took them up to the Poudre to see if they are as good as their reputation says they are. I wasn't disappointed.

I used a duo rig with the RGK on top with the Gingerbread on bottom. I have to say, that with the success I have had with the Gingerbread, the RGK showed it up. I caught around a dozen fish, give or take, and all but two took the RGK.

I drove up to Big South Trail and started fishing around 7:30am. I fished for about two hours and not a take was to be had. I wondered if they weren't yet rising. I noticed it had rained good there not too much before I got there, so maybe the rain kept the fish down, or I'm just a bad fisherman.



After no bites, except from bugs, I went down the canyon to a spot I have fished regularly the past few years. It was now around 10am and things began to heat up with the fish. The RGK was hit fast with a nice brown tucked behind a rock in the middle of the river. I watched the fish rise up and take the fly without a hesitation. GAME ON!
He put up a nice fight and on my new bamboo rod it felt bigger than what it was; and who doesn't like that feeling?



Later on I caught a really nice rainbow, also on the RGK.


Ok, just one more. This was a surprise. It's the first brookie I ever caught on the Poudre.


I had a great time fishing the RGK and I want to fish more winged wets.

[DUBBN]

So you used the wet version of the RGK?

I should start using that pattern. At one time it was practically a Colorado tradition to use that fly.

Great photos!

[Fishnkilts]

So you used the wet version of the RGK?

I should start using that pattern. At one time it was practically a Colorado tradition to use that fly.

Great photos!

Yes I did. I also tied up some of the RGK Trude flies that I read do very well. I saw an article about Richard J. O'Connor and how he only fished with this fly and how well it did on the Dream Stream and of course on a private ranch he would frequent and catch seriously big fish on it. He also took it to the chalk streams in England and shown those folks there how it's done American style. But I haven't tried the Trude yet, I'm having too much fun with the wet fly version.

[DarrellP]

Great photos.

[DUBBN]

I remember as a kid, at our local 3 chair barbershop. An argument broke out as to the make up of the RGK body material. The argument was whether the body was peacock, or Black chenille.

Seriously, it almost came down to a fist fight.

When I did use the RGK, a hundred years ago, it was tied trude. With White calf tail.

[Fishnkilts]

I remember as a kid, at our local 3 chair barbershop. An argument broke out as to the make up of the RGK body material. The argument was whether the body was peacock, or Black chenille.

Seriously, it almost came down to a fist fight.

When I did use the RGK, a hundred years ago, it was tied trude. With White calf tail.

The trudes that I tied do have white calf hair. All I have seen as instructions go, the body was / is black chenille.

I was just at the fly shop and the guy at the counter and I were talking about the original RGK wet fly and he was saying there was a writer who once wrote that in Colorado, if you didn't have a RGK in your fly wallet or box, you'd get a ticket from the game warden. That fly was popular back then I guess.

[Terrestrial12]

Fishnkilts it sounds so cliche....but that looks like the type of place I could seriously care less if I catch a fish or not. Sadly stretches of river that aren't scarred by overpasses/railroad trusses, bike paths, canoe rentals or a Walmart sign on the horizon are really rare to find these days. That shot you posted looks like true wilderness and its absolutely stunning.