Williams Fork, 2/11/2012

[_colorado]

Being tired of the sluggish action at 11 Mile this year and reading some good reports, I decided to head over to Williams Fork for a change of pace and some laker action.

We left the Springs at 5AM while it was snowing and blowing and the temp hovered near 10 degrees.  The weather continually improved and, once over Berthoud Pass and past Winter Park, it became a blue bird morning.  The wind had died down and we looked to be in for much nicer weather than the Front Range.

I began fishing in 58FOW and had immediate action on a white jig tipped with sucker - typical fare.  It was fish after fish.  When the action slowed I moved a little ways and opened up a new hole.  I saw a fish appear about ten feet off the bottom and it went down to intercept my jig as it was falling.  I was feeding the line down the hole by hand since I hadn't even cleaned the slush from the hole yet and the bail was open on my reel.  When I saw the fish appear on the Vex I halted the jig,  felt the fish and set the hook by hand while closing the bail against me knee.  It felt like a good one and it came to the hole quickly.  Imagine how surprised I was to see this big brown poke it's head through the hole.  It went 23" and was solid.  When I cleaned it at home it's belly was full of crawdads, some in the 2" range.  I counted 16 of them in various stages of decomposition.  The crawdad on the right was still alive in its belly, even after the long ride home.







We had no problem finding lakers just about everywhere we opened a hole.  They weren't large but they were picky.  My buddy got a 23" laker,, the biggest of the day.  It was extremely warm on the lake and we didn't even need our huts.  I took off my bibs and coat from 10-3PM and even saw one fella in the middle of the lake wearing shorts.  It was warm. 

[TimK]

Nice fish, love the stomach contents pic, always interesting.  How many lakers did you end up icing? 

[arkansas angler]

Beautiful brownie. Good call on heading up the hills. Its always nice when the long drive pays off.

[bgflys]

Nice day. That lake is magical.

That has to be the first brown I've seen come outta there. I know they are in there but they say there are lakers in 11 Mile too. Now there's proof.

You were blessed with great weather and some really nice fish. Thanks for sharing your day.

"B"

[_colorado]

The lakers were steady all day but would only really hit small stuff.  I took one home and my buddy took two home, I believe.  All the lakers were in the 14-23" range.  Between 1-2PM I had just about continuous red bars on my Vex - but they were all in the 16" range.  It was fun action with the Vex after about a dozen super-slow trips to 11 Mile this year.  I wanted to walk out to the channel but there were about a half-dozen groups out there so we hugged the shoreline.  It was wonderfully relaxing.

I forgot to mention that I moved to 11-13FOW in the afternoon to fish for pike.  I had one come through that looked like it was in the slot size.  It hung around for a minute, refused my offering, then took off.  Water clarity wasn't great, maybe 8 feet.  About 3 inches of new snow on the ice; it was still easy to move. 

[coboy]

Excellent report colorado! Nice brown.

[ITO]

We fished the same day. With the same results. Around 20 between 2 of us.
Still can't believe how nice it was up there, I was down to my long underwear and jeans by the end.
Setup in 30' and had consistent action until noonish.

Guess they moved deep in the afternoon.

Kept 2. Just finished up a bowl of Lake Trout chowder. YUMM.

[_colorado]

Hi ITO 

Hey!  A belated welcome to the Shanty.  Nice reports.

They would move on us too but I only had to go and open a new hole 100 yards away to find some more.  They kind of liked to hover around the large white tube jig but didn't hit it.  I dropped a second smaller jig and that's what they hit.  One was an attractor.  Kind of weird.

[Big Mo]

Hi all, _colorado nice report!! How was the ice?? I am heading to Denver to visit my son and grandson this weekend. My son has been going to 11 mile but as everyone knows it hasn't been to good. We might make a change and head up to Williams. Thanks for any response, Mo. from Montana.

[_colorado]

Big Mo - 18-20" of ice everywhere I drilled!  Be sure to bring your Vex (or equivalent).

[Big Mo]

Thanks _colorado. Could you tell me how far the lake is from castlerock in miles and time please. Mo.

[arkansas angler]

Mo- it's 130 miles and between 2.5 - 3 hours depending on traffic and weather. Good luck if you go.

[Big Mo]

Thanks arkansa I sure appreciate the feed back, Mo.

[elkdeerbear]

Awesome brown trout man. Were gonna try Twin Lakes this week. Last couple trips were cancelled due to weather or appointments.

[TimK]

How far out from the east boat launch would a guy have to walk to get out into deeper water? I think I might try williams fork tomorrow but I couldnt find a contour map online to look at.

[wyobrink]

Any more recent reports?  Thinking about hitting it this weekend.