Colorado – Day 7
Arms sore and baked. We spent from noon to 3:00 in the hot summer sun slamming Kokanee Salmon on the East River above Gunnison at the Roaring J Hatchery. The fish weren’t feeding and some other fly anglers were trying to teach us to snag the fish. I left on my #14 red copper john and kept up my dead drifts and still managed seven kokes hooked gentlemanly…in the mouth. I must’ve lost 12 or so though. These fish were all about 16″ to 18″ long and fought like a tarpon. I was fishing a graphite 5 weight for the first time all week and I had to bury the butt of the rod in my belly. The fish bent the rod all the way into the grip and pulled like a truck. Kokes are a landlocked sockeye salmon.
