Maiden Voyage TR

Broke my rowing cherry this weekend and got the "new to me" raft out for a float on the Roaring Fork. Based on purchasing the raft in Glenwood, I am guessing this wasn't her first trip down the Fork and she was gentle and took care of me. Flows were in the 470 range during the float, and look to of bumped up to 494 after the rain and snow that came in the evening, after we were off. The weather was pretty decent. We had pockets of blue skies and warm sun, and pockets of clouds and pretty strong wind. The put in in Carbondale was accessible, and the Westbank take out was fully cleared.

I have to give a shout out to Scott at Taylor Creek Fly Shops:

http://www.taylorcreek.com/index.html

He physically went down to the CP&W office and got them to plow out the ramps, and then some of the guides went down and did some shovel work. Then he personally drove down the day before and made sure all of the ramps were good to go and emailed a confirmation to me in the morning. I have used them as guides in the past, and they were great, and can't say enough about how much I appreciate their effort and communication. Carrying the boat up the ramp at the end of the day would of sucked for sure.

Rigged up at the motel in the morning. Was so excited, I went out at 7am and started getting the boat assembled. To the person in room 101...sorry if I woke you, but there is an outlet right next to your window. The big red blower pump was actually not as loud as I thought it would be. For a $75 room with 2 queens, it was clean, and the food at the diner down the street was pretty decent.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psfkyc8sbc.jpg

Ramp conditions at the put in:
http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psfndbkkc5.jpg

We caught 2 fish before we launched, and were on the water around 10. Only saw one other raft that day, and a lone kayaker. The other raft was also an excited new owner. Really pretty raft. Fully decked out four bay Streamtech Green Drake, with 2 big dry boxes, decks, and a nice little captains box. Looked a little heavy and I am not sure what I think of steel frames, but it sure was a nice looking boat. I really need to get a dry box for under my rowers seat.

We were all stoked to be floating in February, and cracked some beers at the launch to celebrate the new boat:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psfksj0ui2.jpg

The views on the Fork are always great:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psfznhlt4l.jpg

And you have to pay a lot to own them. Parts of the float feel like you are playing golf at a nice course with giant houses along the fairway:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psq3hkmdq1.jpg

Then there is the golf course on the other side of the river. We even found a couple free balls that had found the Roaring Fork hazard. Who is playing Precepts on a golf course in the RFV? We picked them up, but they might get smacked into a pond in frustration this summer.

Love this river, even though the public wade spots are few:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psksnwpcah.jpg

The fishing was decent, especially for February:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...psuiityloi.jpg

And I even got to catch a couple with a buddy taking the oars for a little:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps8jsjsvnt.jpg

We landed probably 10 fish, with me getting a nice brown and a big old whitey. Sorry we didn't get more fish pics. Our third for the trip was unfortunately skunked. Watch him hook into 4 nice fish that took him deep into his line, but all came unbuttoned on his barbless midge patterns. I caught the brown on a small stonefly and the whitey on a really tiny pheasant tail.

There was only a spot or two where we had to push, but that was mostly due to my poor rowing skills, which are in their infancy:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...pshflccxp1.jpg


All in all, it was a most awesome day. The worse part was the 4 hour drive home, due partly to heavy snow in Vail, but mostly due to stuck big rigs that didn't put on their chains, and Breck skiers who grew up driving in Cali and still have summer tires on their Priuses. Could of been worse though and was worth it. I can't wait to get out again in March and for the season to come. Rowing all day made me pretty soar, and my office worker hands are going to require me to get some rowing gloves. I didn't think just the rowing part was going to be so much fun, but I am glad it is, because most weekends I will be rowing the wife and pups, hoping to put her on some fish. I am sure we could of caught more if I kept the boat a little farther from the good holes, but it seemed like most of the fish didn't get up into the riffles to feed, and I don't yet know the river well enough to pick them out of the winter holding lies while floating by...but I have faith, with a little practice, we will kill it.

Awesome! That got me itching to get out.

Rad, thanks for the share!

Looks like a fantastic maiden voyage, Gretch! Great work getting out for a float in February. Can't wait to see more of CO's floatable waters in the future. Come on up this way with the new rig one of these days. Tye1 and I will pop its wy/id cherry with you.

well played sir!

Thanks. Schwerty, we will definitely be up that way, maybe even this year depending on how things go. If not, we will just have to enjoy some time on the Green this summer...which ain't so bad!

I am guessing that boat is going to see a lot of the Fork. I can't get out again this month, but the wife wants to go in March. The goal of floating every month starts now with Feb 2014. I got out with Underoo in December on the CO, but unfortunately, missed January.