Sometimes, you just need to get away.
“So much of it is just getting out in the wilderness and away from the city," said Tucker Bamford, a professional guide for Trouts Fly Fishing.
Bamford loves fall in Colorado's high country.
When not on the clock as a professional fishing guide, he spends his free time navigating remote trails.
It's easy to see why.
“Look around, this is pretty much the epitome of the statement 'trout don’t live in ugly places,'" jokes Bamford. “(It's) just incredible scenery.”
When it comes to wetting a fly line, the views at high mountain lakes are tough to beat.
“So many of them too are like strings of lakes," Bamford said. "You can find an area where there’s three or four lakes that you can hike to during the day. If one isn’t happening, you go and find another," said Bamford.
We were sworn to secrecy about which lake Tucker directed us to, but what we can tell you is there are hundreds of alpine lakes like it. And the majority of them are full of wide trout.
“Yeah they’re usually pretty happy to see some food and you can kind of pick however you want to catch them and go for it," said Bamford.
But time is running out. The brightly colored "Brookies" and Colorado River Cutthroat are about to go back into hibernation.
“This lake that we’re sitting next to right now probably iced out sometime in June and the ice will come back on in October or November," said Bamford with a sense of urgency.
You’d better take advantage of it, or this season will be the one that got away.