August 2025

 8/19 -20:  This was going to be a nice two day overnighter to our favorite spot on the main stem of the Gunnison near the town of Hotchkiss.  I ended up going solo due to a temporary health issue with one of our dogs who needed to be kept out of water for the next week or so.  Didn't get started until after lunch and as it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive to get there, I didn't get on the water until roughly 4:00.  It was way too hot (90+ degrees) and the stream is running very clear and low - and with no wind at all the hoppers in the bushes along the bank never made it towards the water.

Working my way up along the bank turned into a disaster.  As you need to hang on to the shoreside bushes in many places, at one point my grip slipped and I did a nasty face plant into an eddy.  Getting wet wasn't bad, but the metal fence post covered with old barbed wire did a nasty job on my left lower leg.  It bled like a stuck pig and I really didn't look at it until I got back to camp for dinner.

The casting ended up being small dry floaters all afternoon that wasn't much fun.  There were a bunch of curiosity short strikes along with a handful of hook ups and releases, but this year's drought situation has really screwed up the fishing all  around the state.

When I finally made to camp and looked at my leg, I realized I should have headed directly to an ER right away.  The laceration was about 15 inches long and nothing but nasty.  Since it was a long way to get out and off the river, I figured I'd might as well fish for a bit in the morning and then head home shortly after that which it was what I did.  The fishing was a bit better due to cooler temps, but it wouldn't go down as an "epic" kind of day.  Here's the short two minute video of the expedition:

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