The Lost Summer
Tomorrow
is the first day of September, which means that summer is for the most
part over. Of course, from an astronomical standpoint summer still has a
couple more weeks to left. But its come and gone so fast that it feels
like it never really began.
This
is probably because it's been over two months since I've done a fishing
float. The Upper Colorado River got so warm this year (for the second
year in a row), that a voluntary fishing ban was imposed which was just
lifted this week. Back on the 4th of July, I was one
of the first people to begin agitating for a closure, since river flows
were dropping while daytime air temperatures were climbing. It took a
couple of weeks for it to happen, but by then me and most other
conscientious guides had already stopped fishing the Upper C. The reason
that the "voluntary" ban was necessary was really to raise awareness
among the general public that there was a problem. The water
temperatures went over seventy degrees for three weeks, and without a
ban there were still plenty of people out trying to catch
already-stressed fish.
Of
course, closing the river down to fishing also pretty much shutting
down my own fishing and shuttle activities. Over the past couple of
years, as the shuttle business has grown I've slowly reduced the amount
of floats I've done myself. Since the weather seems to be windier and
hotter than it used to be twenty years ago, I'd rather watch the young
bucks out in that hot wind pulling hard against the oars while I drive
by in their air-conditioned Tacomas to their takeout.
Making
matters worse, the Hog Island driftboat I usually leave in the river
tied to my dock was up in Steamboat for most of the summer getting
several leaks in the hull repaired. I used it for a float trip in June
when the water was a bit low, and whacked a few rocks with it. It took a
little longer to get all of those cracks repaired, and so I wasn't able
to take it out each evening as I've become accustomed to with the the
dog and cat on board. This left me river deprived and out of shape. Its
been back in the yard for a few weeks now, and I'm a much happier and
fitter person as a result!
This
summer was also a little bit wetter than the past few, and that has had
some positive and negative effects. The good thing was that the
wildfire season so far has been much better than projected back in the
spring. There have also been other upsides, such as its been great for
beekeepers, since more rainfall results in flowers producing more
nectar. But the occasional short, heavy deluges that the monsoon rains
dropped on the river basin as they sped by also left the Colorado River
in an almost perpetual off-color state.
To
feed my fishing jones, I've chased little brookies and browns up on the
Piney River below the outlet from the lake, and down in the Deep Creek
canyon. Catching small wild fish on dry flies is a lot of fun, but it
is nice to occasionally make casts longer than twelve feet!
But
now, the weather forecast for the near future looks to be drier than
its been for the past two months. The monsoon pattern seems to have
broken, and with that the Colorado River should be finally clearing up
as well. Reservoirs upriver didn't have to release as much water as they
might have in a drier year, and are in good shape heading into fall.
This
has been in some ways a lost summer. But things were similar last year
as well, and September and October were wonderful. Here's to hoping that
the next two months will be so good that we all forget what we've been
missed for that last two. Which is, the splendid and sublime joy of
spending a day floating down the Colorado River, on clear and cold water
full of hungry trout!
Jack Bombardier
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