Shop

I had this idea… What would be an iconic wildlife photograph that involves fall colors. Ive spent countless days in Alaska with bears in  during fall colors and they are epic, but what could I accomplish back home in Colorado. My first thought, and I’m sure it’s everyone else’s would be the Rocky Mountain Elk. However since I know there are dozens of great fall color photographs already out there with elk, I needed something much more challenging. So I chose Trout. Obvious decision of course. I love fly fishing and know all about trout, their habits, food sources, etc. So I chose Trout Lake just south of Telluride CO because it’s absolutely beautiful and fills with amazing colors in early October. Basically I had to frame the shot by setting my camera half way underwater, make sure I had enough light to see in the water a distance and then just wait for the trout. Simple right. Hardly. This took 3 days, 4-5 hours a day to get a trout to come close to the camera in the right lighting. On the third afternoon I got a bit lucky and had a Goddard Caddis hatch come off the lake surface and the flies were congregating on a small section of water due to gentle breeze. So there’s where I setup the camera and of course that’s where the fish went to feed on the bugs. It was epic watching the trout smash these 3/4 inch long flies on the surface of the water.

Need a specific size not listed?

Inquire at [email protected]