The Inaugural Ashley Busby Memorial Fly Fishing Trip
07.01.19
Regional
Rocky Mountain South
The inaugural Ashley Busby Memorial Fly Fishing Trip took place June 27 – 29, 2019. It is a new multi-day trip that combines fly fishing at Rainbow Falls, the Sporting Times Ranch and North Rainbow Falls/Trout Creek and featured food, fellowship and great angling in remembrance of Ashley Busby. The trip was put on by the Ashley Busby Foundation to support Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. Ashley tragically died on March 15th 2018. Her father, Brady Busby, writes about these very special few days below:
My daughter Ashley tragically died last March and in her honor we started the Ashley Busby Foundation. We sponsored equipment and I planned a three day event for participants from Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. I was privileged to have the eight veterans join me to Celebrate Ashley by three days of fly fishing some of my favorite places.
My good friend Richard Johnson owns Rainbow Falls Mountain Trout near Woodland Park, Colorado. We planned a different type of trip where we fished the evening hatch on his beautiful property. Richard and the whole Rainbow Falls family are huge supporters of Project Healing Waters. It was also the last place that I fished with Ashley before she passed, so I am blessed to be able to spend so much time there.
On day two we spent the day near Canyon City, Colorado at my friend Cort Stevens Sporting Times Ranch. We all were a little warm by the blazing sun, but everyone was catching lots of fish and had smiles on their faces.
Day three was a new trip hosted by the housing community of North Rainbow Falls. My relative Tony Williams spearheaded the efforts to get us access to the new venue. They were gracious hosts and everyone had a great time.
All in all I think the three days of back to back Fly Fishing in different areas really paid off and the participants really honed their fly fishing skills. They were all happy and tired in a good way. I think Ashley was proud.