My father and my uncle were avid fly fisherman and taught my twin brother & I how to fish at an early age.  Not with fly rods at 1st but little Zebco reels with worms worked well.  My favorite places to fish were in the small streams and rivers that in those days you had to yourself really.  One of my favorite places to fish is Illinois Creek on the north side of Willow Creek Pass which is a huge area of beaver dams, which are hard to navigate through but well worth the effort.  There’s big German Browns in there hiding under the undercut banks that will surprise you now & then.  My brother & I learned to tie our own flys but at times when they wouldn’t work we used  “ Colorado Spinners “ which at times were the ticket for the small Brook Trout that were plentiful.  You could use the little spinners with fly rods easily in the running water as well as using salmon eggs or worms if you really were planning on a fish breakfast or dinner.  Fly fishing required hip waders to work the holes and pools correctly and slipping and falling or stepping into a deep hole and getting soaked happened. You had to carry all your extra flys and tackle you might need in a fishing vest and you carried a wicker creel for your keepers for the frying pan.  I have 7 of my dads & uncles old bamboo fly rods which are so collectable anymore I don’t use them and have one made of graphite that gets used by my son although he mostly uses “ Shakespeare Ugly Stick “ rods & spinning reels with bait & lures.  He’s not a fly fisherman.

Early yrs we used to hike into the high country to the lakes at and above timberline.  We’d always plan on eating fish and that seemed to work most of the time.  Remember well one trip where we were in there in July and it turned real cold & snow flurries for the afternoon, we hadn’t brought enough clothes.  You could see huge trout that would follow your lures in but they weren’t having any of it.  My brother caught several nice sized trout by trapping them in a pool and rocking up their escape route so we ate some fish.  My grandmothers house was on the road to Estes Park  at the mouth to the “ Big Thompson River “ canyon and that river was dangerous to fish, no wading around, swift fast moving water.  We fished it but you had to be careful.  Lots of huge sucker fish that I haven’t even heard mention of in many yrs.  

As young adults we’d drive up and fish Wyoming.  The “ Miracle Mile “ on the North Platte is famous for fly fishing and we also enjoyed “ Flaming Gorge “ which is a beautiful trip but you have to be careful of getting stuck in that Wyo mud if you get off the pavement.  And we’d get off away from everybody as far as we could.  My wife has a couple of nightmare stories she likes to recite.  Including one at Glendo Resv north of Worland where a tornado gave us a close call and nearly flung my 5 yr old daughter & myself into the lake after we jumped into the tent to keep it from blowing away.  Wife & 7 yr old son watched from the vehicle.  That lake was one of our cat fishing spots and we’d catch 4 to 6 pd catfish at night using chicken livers.  And of course there’s Lake Powell in Utah that we went to ten yrs in a row for channel cats & stripers until they closed off all the 4-wheel drive roads where we’d go off and camp by ourselves far from anybody.  Largest fish I ever caught was a 34” stripper at night off an house boat one yr.  And have to mention the White River west of Rangely, Colo.  A small river known for its White fish and big 2-4 pd catfish again with chicken livers.