River is running glass clear at 82 C.F.S. Water temp. 40 degrees Hatches of Midges and Capnadae stone flies, ( Winter Stone ) # 16 & # 18. Notable catches- Lyle Tyler was the first angler to welcome February to Boxwood Gulch. After the first day of hot action, he decided to leave the ski slopes to his friends and return to Boxwood for another day of Rainbows and solitude he couldn't find at Colorado's ski resorts. Lyle fishes Boxwood 3 or 4 times a year in hopes of landing the elusive Palomino trout he has hooked twice but never landed. It didn't happen on this trip either, and Lyle has reserved a couple days in July in hopes of finally getting a photo of the Yellow Demon Fish. Total for the 2 days was 63 trout, with several of the 5 lb. caliber. Steve and Megan Sanders celebrated their 1 year wedding anniversary on Feb. 13th with River Ranch Outfitter guides Barry Conyers and Marty Bartholomew. Megan was the first to spank a Big Boxwood Bow in the famed Bridge Hole, while Steve and I concentrated our efforts on the Oxbow water. Steve was happy to let his bride ring up the numbers until after a lunch of shrimp cocktail, wine, wedding cake and stories of past trips to Boxwood Gulch. Steve and I have spent countless hours together roaming the challenging backwaters of both Boxwood and Long Meadow. It has gotten to the point where I simply mark the fish and ready my camera. Steve doesn't miss many. After releasing a hen rainbow estimated in the 6 lb. range, Steve looked at me and said, " This is truly the Jurassic Park of Fly Fishing." They have already rebooked Feb. 13th. 2001 for their 2nd anniversary. Total for the day. 72 landed. On Feb. 20th, a record was set by Joe Murphy of New York and Dave Burnham of Denver on the Long Meadow section. They also left their friends on the ski slopes and opted for the waters of Boxwood. These two anglers had fished the Boxwood section last summer with amazing results, but nothing could compare with the 125 trout they landed on the Long Meadow section. That's Right ! 125 As lunch time approached with 88 trout on the fish-O-meter, we decided that a cup of coffee and a couple cookies would carry us until dark. With the help of my partner John Hagen, ( fresh off of a 3 month goose hunting expedition) and 2 hard core anglers like Joe and Dave, a record was inevitable. Of the 125 landed, 22 were over 20" and 6 were over 5 lbs. I recommend the Long Meadow section for anglers who don't mind catching a fish every 10 minutes. The Boxwood section has also produced days of over 100 trout. Dr. Fred Miller, and Dave and Juli Murphy braved 3 snow squalls on Jan. 26th on the way to a total of 110. The only trouble guides Marty Bartholomew and I had was keeping our net bags from freezing between fish. The clubhouse came in pretty handy at times too. The Miller- Murphy group has rebooked March 13th, and are bringing some friends who don't believe them. I have seen fishing like this in winters past, and they are always followed by spectacular springtime angling. The Browns and Brookies who spawned hard last fall are in prime condition and are being caught on the larger patterns like # 10 Stone flies and streamers. I am expecting to see more profuse hatches in the near future because of the 50 and 60 degree days our valley of trout has been experiencing. Last week we started to use more free living caddis patterns and the fish are loving it. I'll bet the fluttering caddis adults start showing themselves before the 1st of April. I can't wait. Barry Conyers River Keeper

Update from 06/30/2010 June....the month of higher water. It scares some anglers because they never learned how to catch fish in off colored high water....We only had about 3 days of really dirty water. Many of our guides love dirty water and consider it the time to land the really big fish...and it is but we only had a few days of run-off conditions Some big fish landed in June...28 inch Brown, 30 inch Rainbow, 8 lb Cutbow, 8 lb Brown, 19 inch Brookie. Quite a few 22 inch + fish were landed on nearly every trip. The fish were either eating real big stuff like streamers, or size 18-20 emerger patterns. We did land some fish on Parachute Adams and Beetles. If you want to land big fish book your next trip in June. Our guides will share their secret tricks with you for catching and landing big Trout in higher than normal off colored water.

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