Catching Up With Catching Fish

It has been some time since I posted anything. Nearly six months, I suppose. The last entry was our family vacation to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone in July 2016. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years have come and gone since then. I guess I do have some catching up to do. My blog, for the most part, has been a journal for me no different than the diary my mother or grandmother might have kept in their day.  

Emma, our only granddaughter, is now three and keeps us entertained and amused. A quick trip to Florida for her birthday in January. Our grandsons, Jackson and Logan, are 11 and 8 and soon to be 12 and 9. Where does the time go? We have enjoyed a few of their basketball games and family time at Christmas. 

So to catch up since last July I will start with our trip to Colorado in October. While travel is a favorite of mine, fishing is not. Fly fishing would be a favorite of my husband and youngest son, Scott. So I'm catching up with a post about their passion for catching fish. One of their favorite things! It is truly a sport for them as they catch and release most of the time. I can not remember the last time someone brought fish home for me to cook. The two of them had talked before about fishing for salmon when they start to "run" upstream from the reservoir near Gunnison, CO. Swimming back to the fish hatchery where they were spawned near the quaint town of Crested Butte, CO happens every August through October. Often these impromptu plans are some the most memorable. So we flew into Denver and traveled to Crested Butte for a weekend of fishing for the guys and sightseeing in town for the girls. Dinner out in the evening and back to the condo for a challenging game of dominos. We drove out in two vehicles so the guys would have transportation to the river to fish without leaving the girls stranded in a condo for the day. Great plan! Our return trip to the Denver area afforded me the opportunity for that travel and photography that I love! Before leaving Crested Butte, however, my husband gave me a personal tour of the fish hatchery and a hike to the river where they had been fishing for the previous two days.


 On the hike to the river, we met two young brothers fishing with their father.


They reminded me of our grandsons since they were about the same ages. 

Some information below about the type of salmon and the Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery that I found online. Definitely worth another trip, another day!

Kokanee are a land-locked form of sockeye salmon. Each April 2-inch Kokanee fry (or fingerlings) are released from the Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery into the East River. Their overnight journey takes them down the East and Taylor rivers to the Gunnison River and into Blue Mesa Reservoir and other waters, where they typically spend three to four years maturing. In late August, the salmon begin their trek back to the hatchery and the run usually lasts through October.

 

 The nets above guide the salmon into smaller channels and into pools that connect to the hatchery. 
The Hatchery was purchased by the Division of Wildlife in 1963. In 1966 when they started raising trout eggs the Gunnison school children gave it the name "Roaring Judy". It will take a little more research to find out where they came up with the name.

 Division of Wildlife personnel spawn the salmon at the hatchery, taking 3,000,000 to 10,000,000 eggs per year. These eggs are put into the Hatchery through the winter with regulated water running over them. In the spring they are put into the outdoor holding tanks until they become about 2-inches long and are then returned to the river waters or trucked to the other reservoirs.

In conclusion, our weekend trip to Colorado provided something for everyone. And, of course, my favorite thing of all is enjoying time with family. News earlier today of a friend's passing shines a light on the realization that these times are to be treasured and every opportunity to gather with loved ones should not be put off for another day.

 
Until next time there are more memories to be made.