The Fraser River through Granby Ranch is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in Colorado. Sure, I know what you are all thinking, I have to say that because I work at Trouts and we have exclusive rights to guide on the water. While private waters such as Boxwood Gulch and Longmeadow Ranch are certainly worth the price of admission, Granby offers such a unique setting, to me it’s hard to beat. Will you catch the biggest trout of your life at Granby Ranch? No, absolutely not. What you will get to experience is a truly wild Colorado trout stream in one of the prettiest parts of the state.
Alright enough of me rambling on. Now let’s get to the point. The past week our Owner Tucker Ladd was up at Granby Ranch checking on things, doing boss stuff, in preparation for the upcoming season. He came back with news that the entire river was open, clear of ice and looked really good. He didn’t have the opportunity to fish that day but, wanted us to begin getting the news out that the Fraser River was ready to go. With Trouts best interest in mind, and maybe a little bit of my own, I suggested to our Outfitting Manager Dave Lovell that we should probably get someone up there to make sure it is fishing ok before we start booking trips. Given our two locations, Dave set it up for Trouts Frisco Manager Chris Fildes and myself to fish Granby Ranch on Monday.
Chris and I coordinated plans to meet in Granby Monday morning around 9:30 - 10 AM. The forecast called for sunshine all morning, then rain and possible snow into the afternoon. We arrived at the clubhouse, got our parking permit and headed down to the river. We were slated to fish Beats 2 and 3 for the day. As we got to the river, it was running a little high and stained. It wasn’t stained to the point it was unfishable, it was actually that perfect stain that stirs up bugs and gives fish the natural cover they like. Besides, this was to be expected, with the recent week of unusually warm March weather. We decided to rig up a nymph and streamer rod agreeing to alternate between the two rods as we worked upstream. As we got to the first run, our expectations were fairly high. We both assumed fishing was going to be lights out, however fishing tends to humble you as it pleases, so we worked that first run without any success. I looked at Chris and laughingly said, “This isn’t a good sign.” Thankfully that would turn out to be the only run we didn’t land a fish throughout the entire day.
We crossed into the next stretch of runs and both hooked up multiple times. We didn’t want to get overly excited so we both held our tongues until we got to the next run. After a few more successful stretches we began to get in the flow sharing the reckless banter amongst each other only fishing buddies understand. I’ll keep this fairly short and wrap it up by saying, the rest of the day was nothing but, outstanding.
Whether you want to go strip a few streamers or throw some nymphs, it’s safe to say the Fraser River at Granby Ranch is ready for business. Now here are a few pictures to tell the rest of the story.
