The Limit

The Limit

During many of the summers when our daughters were growing up, our family traveled to South Fork, Colorado to spend time with my Mom and Dad at their cabin near the Rio Grande River. Two of my aunts and uncles also had cabins there, and my wife’s Mom and Dad also bought a cabin there. It was like a family reunion each summer since we all tried to vacation at the same time. One summer when we were up there, I had a very special outing with my oldest daughter, Kristi, who was about five years old at the time. Here’s my story.

 

The Limit

 

In the summer of 1979, our family was vacationing at my Dads cabin near South Fork, Colorado. I decided to take my oldest daughter. Kristi, on a trout fishing trip with me. We got out my seven foot fly rod and a jar of salmon eggs and headed for a special fishing hole up on the South Fork of the Rio Grande River. I had fished the South Fork many times in the past so I knew a special spot that was close to the road but hidden from public view. The honey hole had bushes just the right height that you could hide behind and not scare the fish. There was a huge rock that extend from the bank out to about the middle of the small rushing stream. There was a deep hole just behind the rock which had a slow swirling eddy which swept food into the pool from upstream. Kristi and I got to the River and put a six foot clear leader on the fly line then tied a very small eagle claw hook on the end of the leader with no weight. One salmon egg then went onto the hook. At this time, I discussed how we were going to fish this hole. I suggested that I hold the rod and I would fish until I hooked a fish and she would then take over and catch or reel the fish in. She was OK with this arrangement so we went to work. I found that if I flipped the salmon egg to the point where the current was swirling into the pool, the current would sweep the egg deep into the pool and I would get a bite almost every flip. So I hooked em and she reeled em in. What a team we were. Of course, we lost quite a few fish, but within an hour and a half, we had a limit of twelve really nice trout. The nice part about it was that Kristi actually landed every single one of them. I think she had more fun than I did. What a way to spend quality time with your daughter. She had a great time telling the rest of the family about her Fishing trip.

Kristi with a large Brown Trout she caught on the South Fork of the Rio Grande.

Kristi with a large Rainbow Trout she caught out of the honey Hole.

Kristi with the limit of trout she caught that day in July.