If you haven't had a chance yet, you need to come out to the next Rocky Mountain Anglers Brews & Bugs event. These are a real informal and social way to kind of get introduced to the wonderful world of fly tying. And The Shop buys your first beer. What a deal. So come join some of the shops guides and resident tyers at our next event.Check the RMA Event Calendar to see the next great event.
And coming in JanuFebruary-ish, I will be teaching a much more formal (we will still drink beer though) fly tying class at the shop. This will be geared to the real beginner who wants to take it to the next level. We will be doing some in-depth patterns and developing some real fundamental skills. I will also put my own 'guide spin' on certain patterns to sort of recommend some newer patterns that are based on the flies that we will be using, with a little twist. I am really looking forward to it and hope to see some of you out there.
I will throw out some more details later.
Tight Vises!
Friday, December 16, 2016
12-15-16 Winter Time Blues Defeated
As some of you know, I have the (sense the sarcasm here) wonderful fortune of working at a ski resort in the winter time. Now what is so bad about that you might ask? Well, on the whole...it's a pretty good gig; especially as far as the industry that I work in goes. However...my other gig takes place in the summertime, in the river, with the trout. Enough said. And it's cold in the winter time at the ski resort and not very conducive to catching trout. Are you sensing my pain? So recently...when my heater went out, and then I tried to get it fixed, and the repair guy botched it, and then I went to the store at 5:00 a.m. to get a portable heater the next day, and then I plugged it in and it went kaplooey, and I immediately called the boss and told him I was sick. Yeah...sick of this $hit.
Not to mention Christmas stress. And Job stress.
So I said boss, I'm sick, I'll see you tomorrow. And what a coincidence...67 degrees in Denver. 67 minus 15 (or so) degrees to calculate Estes Park temperature. That = 52 degrees and that = > 32 degrees. That = Chris fishing today. That = Chris giving it back a little.
And oh my...it was so nice. I decided the minute I got there that if I didn't even catch a trout, I would be okay. It was just nice to be ditching class. Nothing beats that. So I realized quickly after showing up and downing my first Oatmeal Stout that I had the river to myself. Perfect for a food & beverage manager who needed a day away from people.
I rigged up a Hull's Mirage nymph and trailed a size 20 red zebra midge behind that. I was ready to throw some eggs and worms, even some sow bugs or baetis but the conditions never really called for it. Low flows, cold temps, and a ton of wind. I mean a lot of wind. I was happy to have my Hydrogen 5 weight Hydrogen which cast beautifully and cut through all but the strongest (roughly 60 mph) gusts. I set at about 4 feet deep as the flows were a meager 23 C.F.S. I started at the big bend across from the go kart course and worked my way up the straight away. Pretty slow going for the first 20 minutes or so. Being somewhat short on time (I didn't get up there til later in the day-calling in is good for sleeping in after you drink a celebration beer at 6:00 a.m.), I moved aggressively. I found myself above hole number 5 at a slick where I never have any luck. Once I moved in, I could feel it.
Sure enough, 3rd or 4th cast, a decent rainbow on the zebra. There was that feeling I sought out. Stress defeated. Life's Ass...kicked. After netting him and dealing with some more wind, I caught a slightly larger brown; bigger but not as healthy or pretty. Having felt that I had succeeded, I headed for the truck. I downed another Upslope and kept staring out at the section above the foot bridge. It just looked fishy.
I never fish that spot though. Took a couple clients in there before. Worked out alright, nothing special though. But as I drank and stared, I just couldn't help but think how fishy it looked. I was convinced. I pulled the rod out of the truck and went back out.
First cast, a real nice sized mouth came and hit my (hook-less) indicator. This ought to be real good I realized real quick. Next cast...I fell asleep and missed the most obvious bobbing (literally) on my indicator. I think I was amazed at the ease of the situation and forgot to set.
Not the next cast though. That cast yielded me a real nice, just colorful as could be 15" rainbow. Day complete. Success.
Ont he way home, I had an unbreakable smile and even let out a couple of yelp's of joy. More like screams but whatever.
Amazing what an hour and a half can do to change the 'tude. You know...if the boss would let me do that every week I would be a much more happy person. Have to work that into the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Until now...I'll just have to call in sick sometimes.
So I can come back well. Much more well.
Tight Lines
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Season Kickoff @ Blue River 3/30/2016
Guide season got underway a little bit early this season, and at a new location. Although we have had rights to the Blue River for a couple seasons now, I have yet to take a client up there. The Blue is still relatively new water to me. I have fished it about a half dozen times in the past 4-5 years, with a fair amount of success. So when I received the call that I would be taking a client up there for my first trip of the season, I was pretty excited.
Upon our arrival at 7:00 a.m., the temp was -3 degrees. That was definitely helping the amount of traffic as we were the only ones there. I suggested a quick trip to the local Bucks Coffee shop and then we got to it. I explained to my client that the takes would be light, and sure to turn on soon with the sun coming over the dam and warming things up. After getting into place at the bottom of the Gaging Station, we hunkered down and started throwing line. The gentlemen above me was starting to have luck and I eventually had to net one of his 5 pound fish for him. I asked what he was using (which I hardly ever do but was damn curious as he was having great luck) and it was the exact same as us...mysis. That really motivated my client, seeing that fish.
I decided to start tying on a new rig with the same bugs onto the second rod and right then I heard those words a guide loves so much, especially the first time of year in a new location that can be somewhat daunting sometimes.
"I got one". Jay exerted.
Before I could even start to direct him, he lost it. I stressed again that we are just going to let the fish do what it wants to. We are not pulling it. The goal is to use the butt end of the rod and the reel to help us I explained.
I stopped rigging and prepared for trout on. Sure enough, within minutes we had our second one on. I slowly talked him through it, this time being slightly easier than the prior as he was not as big.
I told him to let him take that one more run and the n we would have him. And we did have him. A beautiful 16" rainbow. My client couldn't have been any happier. I told him to get one of those big guys now. I made the slightest depth adjustment and again, within minutes, my good listening client obliged.
That indicator went down so quick that I knew what had just happened. I told him loudly and firmly, "Get that fish on the reel right now"! We had a monster. Jay did a great job of letting that rod and reel work for him. I told him in the midst of the fight that he had caught one like the guy above us earlier. I could see that look in his eyes. I continued to help him fight the fish, which was now on the other side of the river and upstream about 25 yards. He was heading to the current and I knew if he didn't get him out of there he was in trouble. i calmly told him to "work him downstream with your rod and reel". He started to do just as I told when suddenly, nothing.
I started laughing. But in a good way. "That was awesome!" I shouted. I gave him a huge high five, much to his dismay. I had to explain that "sometimes that happens my man" and that "the tug is the drug". It took him a minute but he got excited then.
"That was pretty cool" he said. "My arm was shaking".
I went onto explain what he did wrong for learning purposes but again stressed that this was far from failure. It was actually very very close to success.
"It ain't easy" I exclaimed. "But it sure is fun failing".
We ended up fishing for another hour or so before we went for a beer break at the truck. I could see that he was just stoked at losing that monster. Truth be told, it was probably the biggest fish I have gotten into up there minus the one that bull dogged me earlier this winter. That fact alone made me so proud as a guide. This is new water to me. I still have to use my brain when I go there. It's not like a Glacier or Boulder Creek to me yet. It's big water, it's a little intimidating and that fish put me on a different level as an angler and a guide. What a feeling.
We spent the last two hours down by 70 and the bugs were starting to come out as the rises were becoming more and more frequent. We ended up getting several bites on some BWO dries, emergers and midges, but we couldn't quite set that hook fast enough. It was a rush though as my client got to sight fish for 20"+ fish with a dry and catch them with nymphs and feel that burn.
Come 2:00, we called it a day. Jay had a great time. What a great first trip. As we de-waded in the lot we had 3 other fisherman pass by. All of them had the same story; no fish. I explained to Jay that I never like to see people not catch fish but went onto say that as I guide, if I can bring my client up into waters and then watch just about every other guy strike out, while my client is hooking up; that is a mission success. I felt like I had done my job well, on new water, with an absolute beginner in technical waters on a day when if you didn't know, you didn't catch.
First trip of the season...Good first trip. First guide trip to the Blue...Good first trip to the Blue.
Gonna be a hell of a season. Stay tuned.
Tight Lines-
Upon our arrival at 7:00 a.m., the temp was -3 degrees. That was definitely helping the amount of traffic as we were the only ones there. I suggested a quick trip to the local Bucks Coffee shop and then we got to it. I explained to my client that the takes would be light, and sure to turn on soon with the sun coming over the dam and warming things up. After getting into place at the bottom of the Gaging Station, we hunkered down and started throwing line. The gentlemen above me was starting to have luck and I eventually had to net one of his 5 pound fish for him. I asked what he was using (which I hardly ever do but was damn curious as he was having great luck) and it was the exact same as us...mysis. That really motivated my client, seeing that fish.
I decided to start tying on a new rig with the same bugs onto the second rod and right then I heard those words a guide loves so much, especially the first time of year in a new location that can be somewhat daunting sometimes.
"I got one". Jay exerted.
Before I could even start to direct him, he lost it. I stressed again that we are just going to let the fish do what it wants to. We are not pulling it. The goal is to use the butt end of the rod and the reel to help us I explained.
I stopped rigging and prepared for trout on. Sure enough, within minutes we had our second one on. I slowly talked him through it, this time being slightly easier than the prior as he was not as big.
I told him to let him take that one more run and the n we would have him. And we did have him. A beautiful 16" rainbow. My client couldn't have been any happier. I told him to get one of those big guys now. I made the slightest depth adjustment and again, within minutes, my good listening client obliged.
That indicator went down so quick that I knew what had just happened. I told him loudly and firmly, "Get that fish on the reel right now"! We had a monster. Jay did a great job of letting that rod and reel work for him. I told him in the midst of the fight that he had caught one like the guy above us earlier. I could see that look in his eyes. I continued to help him fight the fish, which was now on the other side of the river and upstream about 25 yards. He was heading to the current and I knew if he didn't get him out of there he was in trouble. i calmly told him to "work him downstream with your rod and reel". He started to do just as I told when suddenly, nothing.
I started laughing. But in a good way. "That was awesome!" I shouted. I gave him a huge high five, much to his dismay. I had to explain that "sometimes that happens my man" and that "the tug is the drug". It took him a minute but he got excited then.
"That was pretty cool" he said. "My arm was shaking".
I went onto explain what he did wrong for learning purposes but again stressed that this was far from failure. It was actually very very close to success.
"It ain't easy" I exclaimed. "But it sure is fun failing".
We ended up fishing for another hour or so before we went for a beer break at the truck. I could see that he was just stoked at losing that monster. Truth be told, it was probably the biggest fish I have gotten into up there minus the one that bull dogged me earlier this winter. That fact alone made me so proud as a guide. This is new water to me. I still have to use my brain when I go there. It's not like a Glacier or Boulder Creek to me yet. It's big water, it's a little intimidating and that fish put me on a different level as an angler and a guide. What a feeling.
We spent the last two hours down by 70 and the bugs were starting to come out as the rises were becoming more and more frequent. We ended up getting several bites on some BWO dries, emergers and midges, but we couldn't quite set that hook fast enough. It was a rush though as my client got to sight fish for 20"+ fish with a dry and catch them with nymphs and feel that burn.
Come 2:00, we called it a day. Jay had a great time. What a great first trip. As we de-waded in the lot we had 3 other fisherman pass by. All of them had the same story; no fish. I explained to Jay that I never like to see people not catch fish but went onto say that as I guide, if I can bring my client up into waters and then watch just about every other guy strike out, while my client is hooking up; that is a mission success. I felt like I had done my job well, on new water, with an absolute beginner in technical waters on a day when if you didn't know, you didn't catch.
First trip of the season...Good first trip. First guide trip to the Blue...Good first trip to the Blue.
Gonna be a hell of a season. Stay tuned.
Tight Lines-
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