Overlap Season
In many mountain towns there is said to be a fifth season, in addition
to the typical four, called Mud Season. That’s true in much of Colorado,
but the Centennial State
can also claim to have a sixth
season, one I like to call Overlap Season.
This occurs when you can fish, ski or golf within the same period time
period . Overlap Season usually begins
sometime in March, or can be as late as April, but this year it began in
February. The snow is still deep, the
fish are biting, and the fairways are greening up. Although I’m not a golfer, I do try to make
the most of the skiing and fishing opportunities that I can. It’s an awesome
time of year to live in Colorado,
and makes me glad that thirty-one years ago this very month, I made it my home.
The Lower Upper Colorado River looks just gorgeous right now, low and
clear and as olive as Al Pacino’s cheeks.
Water temps are up to fifty degrees, and from what I’ve seen “fifty” is
the magic number in the springtime.
Fifty makes trout very, very happy.
But then your gaze rises above the water’s liquid allure, and up towards
the mountains, where the pristine white blaze of perfect, pristine show shines
like chrome. That snow beckons surely as
does the river, but there’s the knowledge that the window to enjoy those
perfect slopes is closing fast. To try
and fool a fish?, or go carve through some aspen trees at Beaver Creek? Hope to hold a crimson striped, spawning
rainbow trout I I your hand, or hop off a cornice at A-Basin and carve a turn
into some wind-deposited powder? So many
choices, and so short an Overlap Season to take advantage of!
How long the river will stay as perfect as it is now, on March 15th 2017, is
difficult to say. With the deep snowpack
we have, one would expect the water managers to start releasing water fairly
soon to make room for the Big Melt. But
it’s been a weird winter, one which has flipped the pattern of the past few
years. For the past several winters now,
we’ve had a lot of snow early in the season, and a lot in the spring, with the
middle stretch of January and early February being dry and cold, without much
snow. This season, it was awful early,
with Vail and Beaver Creek opening late and the World Cup races at the Beav
being cancelled due to lack of snow (and overnight temperatures to warm to make
it). But then the snow finally came, and by the end of February we were looking
at snowpack numbers we haven’t had since the epic year of 2011.
Now it’s the middle of the March, and not only has the snow pipeline
shut off, but the short-term prognosis is for more warm, dry weather. What that
means for fishing is that as long as the water in the reservoirs stays up there, the fishing should be
great! This might be the best spring
fishing since we had in the drought year of 2012, with one big difference. 2012 was a drought year and though it fished great back
then, the Lower Upper was dominated by brown trout. Low water conditions that fall led to the
release of 30,000 catchable-size rainbows into the river, and those rainbows
and their offspring are going to be spawning this year. This spring the river
has fished well, and should get even better once the bugs start moving. So if you want to make the most of Colorado’s
Sixth Season, get up here soon and make sure you pack your skis and fishing
gear. You can even put a golf bag in the
back if you still have room! So please give me a reason to leave my old Volant
Chubbs in the back of the Saab, and come fishing!
Jack Bombardier
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