I had only a few weeks remaining on my Colorado fishing license so I wanted to use up the days. Just like having a ski pass you haven't used all season so you go out on the closing day. (thanks for not crowding up the tram) I started my research and found an area that was remote, good runoff flow, and high elevation... there should be cutthroat. I started to drive knowing it was more recon into this wilderness than actually trying to slay some fish... who knew how wrong I'd be.
I tossed and turned all night, being at high elevation gets cold at night, even in July. Waking up with everything covered in frost, shivering, and needing to pee, I realized that my claimed 20 degree sleeping bag is not very warm, it must need to be 20 over 32 to be warm. (pos) So as the sun rose and illuminated and warmed my bag I stopped tossing and turning. I finally fell into a deep sleep in the warm comfort of morning, fishing was going to wait an hour.Big bugs bouncing from the ground into the air, sunscreen applied, line in the water... lets find some trout. I caught a few browns to start and was told by a polite ranger to not put them back in the water, they were trying to restore cutthroat here... perfect. As it stood, it was my first time purposefully killing fish, it didn't feel that great to do so, and felt like a shameful waste, but after all it was for the cutthroats so I dealt with it. I think I did a lot of conservation that day as there were a lot of brown trout hand grenades tossed around this day.
