Gross Reservoir Fishing

I headed out on the morning of the last weekend of October to Gross Reservoir with my friend Tate. Boulder's first storm had come through the region a few days earlier, dumping 6-8" all around. The shores were still a bit snowy that day, despite the 55 degree day following the snow. It was terribly windy as we got out of the truck, and we bundled up with all of our layers to stay warm. Heading around to the East side of an inlet to get on the leeward side of the wind, we fished the first inlet with everything we had, spoons, spinners and raps. Tate caught two little stockers there, to my none.

I was however more occupied with the quartz crystals I was finding along the shore. Pockets of quartz were visible in the granite, and they were lined with small milky quartz. Broken up pieces of pockets lay all around, some with crystals up to ~1.5 cm.  While most were heavily mineralized by either manganese or possibly a tungstate, some samples didn't have that typical black gunk.

As we moved down the shore, I had been getting a lot more "followers"chasing my lure back into shore, and soon enough caught a nice trout, eating size. The wind had calmed down to just a gusty breeze, and within the sunny areas was it quite pleasant. I thew the trout on a stringer and kept fishing.

Tate caught two more fish, but both were too small to keep. He was using a brown trout rapala and I was using a rainbow rapala when we caught those fish.

We fished around, exploring deeper waters and shallow coves and points, but found that most of the fish were centered around the windiest and widest point with a lot of rocks.

As it seems happen every time, the wind claimed a vast majority of my beer that I brought. Unattended cans somehow act like sails to the wind, ensuring that I only drink about 50% of what I pack in. Lesson learned: bring 2x as much beer as you think you need.

I took "Earl" home to grill. The fish deserved a name after accompanying me around the lake, being plopped in the water every time I stopped to fish and sometimes flung in the snow while I tripped over logs on the snowy shores. But as I gutted Earl, I found that it was a pregnant female fish, who hadn't been finding much to eat lately. Nonetheless, she tasted great.

Right before the snow came I harvested my basil from my garden and made some pesto. With a big glop of this into Earline's belly and some aluminum foil, I was set.

After it came off the grill, I peeled back the aluminum foil, and when the skin comes with it, you know it is done.

After dinner, I walked outside to cover the grill only to find a beautiful crescent moon, a great ending to my fishing experience.