This is where we start. I'm taking you down there.
Fishing started off fast for the brookies. I started with a lightweight purple nymph of some sort on my 2wt Elkhorn Traveler rod.
It was very cloudy and only in the low 40's for a temp, but it looked as though it could start snowing anytime. A flock of geese came in just gliding on down above me ready to land on a pond near where the truck was parked. I kept on moving upstream having a glorious time.
Another celebrity decided to say howdy to me.
I came across this little beaver dam with a large pool behind it.
It was so still and quiet here, and I felt as though no one had ever been here but me. But being this is part of the RMNP, that could never be true.
As I headed in deeper, I was about to make a cast into a small run entering a little area where I was standing in the middle of the creek, but I noticed my flies were wound around my rod and tangled up. So I was standing there, minding my own business and I heard two thumps. Something stomped on the ground hard...twice. I looked to my left and there he was, a young bull moose staring at me. I quickly went into my best Mr. Rogers impression saying things in a calm voice, "well hello Mr. Moose, would you like to be my neighbor? ' I'll be happy to move out of your way because I like you just the way you are." As I walked calmly up creek about 20 feet I looked back to see what he was doing, and for a second it looked as if he was coming at me, and I thought "Oh ( potty mouth word here ). I'm dead." But nope, he turned and was headed to the willows and I was able to get a quick photo.
See where the reflection of the top of the pine tree is on the water, that's where I was standing when I saw him, and you can see the creek isn't that wide there.
Well I gave him a second to get into the brush before I headed back, and then I heard the brush behind me making noise. "Surely this isn't the same moose" I thought. I turned and looked through the brush and saw a beast of a moose with his head up high, eyes rolled back, ears tucked back and swiping at the willows. Again with the potty mouth word, and I knew I had one shot because this guy was headed straight towards me in a deliberate motion.
Like I said, I had one shot, and I got out of there quickly. It's not a great photo, but you can see his antlers and the hump on his shoulders while his head was down. You can make out some of it's massive head through the brush. I didn't care about getting that perfect shot because I wasn't going to take a selfie with this guy. Just shoot and go. I really don't think he saw me, but I do believe, since it's rutting season, he did not like that younger moose being there, and I wasn't going to stand there and watch, no sir, I was way too close.
With all the animals I have encountered this year alone, plus this guy not too long ago,
and I have run into a few of them too this year, fishing for me could never be boring. No, it has become the new extreme sport.