Dream Stream/Taylor River- 8/5/12

Planned a full day of fishing for Sunday, and when I say full day, I mean it.  Left the house at 3:30 AM for South Park.  First stop was the Dream Stream, chasing browns and cutthroats during the day.  Fished until about 4:00 PM, packed up, and headed to Buena Vista for a quick dinner.  After refueling, we headed over Cottonwood Pass to Taylor Park Reservoir for a little night fishing.  Got on the water about 7:30, enjoyed an awesome spinner fall, and then fished by headlight until 3:00 AM.  Highlight was a 25" brown that I sight fished to.  Awesome time enjoying beautiful Colorado.

Gorgeous morning on the Dream Stream!

 Looking down Buena Vista side of Cottonwood Pass

Fish of the night! 25" of powerful brown.

Releasing the brute

Last fish of the night at 3:00 AM

Dream Stream- 7/22/12

Been a while since my last post.  Been busy getting married and moving into a new house.  Only been fishing twice in the last month, and only tied a few dozen flies.  Oh well.  The two times I have gone fishing have been pretty epic.  I fished the Blue through Silverthorne, and hooked into some of the biggest fish I ever have.  Only managed to land a few of them.  Those fish are so smart, they know exactly what boulder to wrap my leader around, and poof, they're gone.  Still a blast though.

Fished the Dream Stream today with my dad, and had an absolutely great day.  Saw my first Trico hatch, caught my first cutthroat, and finally watched my dad get it.  He landed about 10 fish, including a gorgeous 20" Bow.  Flies were pretty simple today.  Caught almost all of the fish on some annelid patterns.  Throw a double annelid rig into a riffle, and hook into 4 fish.  Had a blast playing the feisty Dream Stream browns.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

First cutthroat.  Not a great pic!

Double annelid rig all day

Fish of the day! Acrobatic rainbow!

Deckers Carp Fishing?!?!?

Nice surprise fishing Deckers today!  My buddy caught this on a size 24 Mercury Midge!! Who would have thought!

Juanna Be Hopper Juan

Wanna send a huge shout out to Juan Ramirez for hooking me up with some of his packs for the Juanna Be Hopper Juans.  I bought some of the Hopper Juan packs from him at the Fly Fishing Show, but I wanted to tie some of the little brothers.  Spent the evening tying a few of the Juanna Be's up, and I think they turned out pretty good.  Cannot wait to throw these on Bear Creek this week to see how much the fish like them.  You can check out Juan's incredible blog at hopperjuan.blogspot.com.

Upper Colorado- 5/25/12

South Padre Island Fishing

Had a chance last Saturday to do some fishing around South Padre Island for a few hours.  I really wanted to fish the flats for redfish, but I didn't want to spend 500 dollars to hire a guide, so we went out on a boat and fished for Red Snapper and Grouper.  Not the Rockies, but at least it was fishing.  Highlight was catching a Bonita while trolling out to the Red Snapper zone.  Fish fought real hard.

Bonita

Red Snapper

Mayfly Nymph Side

After spending almost 10 weeks in South Texas, I am coming back home on May 11th for good.  And I am coming ready to fish!!  I am nearing completion on the other side of the Umpqua fly box, meaning I have tied nearly 500 flies since I've been down here.  I tied mostly classic Colorado nymphs, but messed around with some of the other cool patterns out there.  Also, I have a few newbies that I played around with (not to say I didn't borrow some ideas from other tiers).  I cannot wait to get home and try them in the mountains to see if they work out.  I will be showing some tying steps for the ones that I have created in the next few weeks.  All I can say is I have never been more excited to get home, and attack the rivers, and I know I will be ready to roll as soon as I get home!!

From Bottom Right: Pheasant Tails, Biot Emergers, Turkey Tail Nymphs, Beadhead Flashback Pheasant Tails, Mercury Flashback Pheasant Tails

Dorsey's Mercury Mayflies, Gray and Olive Mercury Sparkle Wing RS2's, Ramirez Glossy Back Baetis, Pennington's Stuffed Olive Nymph

Ramirez Glossy Back Baetis, Pennington's Stuffed Olive Nymph, Craven's Flashback JuJu Baetis, Cutthroats' Nymph TBD #1, Tyvek Baetis

Tungsten Skinny Nelson, Cutthroats Nymph TBD #2, Cutthroats Nymph TBD #3, Gunkels's Shot Glass Baetis, Cutthroats Nymph TBD #4

I still have one full row to fill up, and I'm thinking that variations of Barr Emergers will fill that row.  The bottom row is a collection of throw aways.  I will probably give those to my father, and fill that up with another pattern when it feels right.  In the last 10 weeks, I have either done two things, work or tie flies.  After looking back at what the box has become, I am happy with the results.  My fly tying is continuing to improve, and I look forward to building off what I have started.  It makes me more excited to start the next box, and just keep stacking them up.  You better watch out Colorado, cause I am coming for you!!

Deckers 4/16/12

My flight back to Texas wasn't until late Monday, so I took the chance to head up to Deckers to fish for a while.  I spent an amazing morning on the river by myself, not seeing another angler until noon.  I brought about 10 to the net with a mixture of midge and BWO nymphs.  Flies of the day were Top Secret Midge (#24) and Mercury Flashback Pheasant Tail (#20).  My time in Texas is starting to come to a close, and I will soon be back in my beloved state of Colorado, chasing trout all the over Rockies.  Until then, all I have is the memories of fishing trips to get me through.  Enjoy the pictures that I got!!

Gorgeous morning in Deckers

First fish of the morning

Midge Box

My job has recently taken me very far away from my beloved Rockies, and forced me to miss out on the fantastic spring fishing that I have been reading about.  South Texas is home for me for a few months, leaving me to only dream about the caddis hatch on the Ark, and the rainbows on the Dream Stream.  Luckily, I brought along some of my tying stuff to keep me busy down here while not working.  I bought an Umpqua Fly Merchants medium box, with the goal of filling up the entire box by the time that I get back to Colorado.  My plan is to fill one side completely with midges, while the other side will be a mixture of BWO, PMD, and caddis nymphs.  It took me three weeks to finish the midge side, and I think it turned out pretty swell.  I focused on small patterns for the midge side, tying nothing larger than a size 20.  Most of the patterns are South Platte River patterns, focusing mostly on midges that I have had success with in Cheesman Canyon.  I feel confident that I go to most tailwaters in the state, equipped only with this fly box, I will be successful.  Being down here in South Texas,  at least tying helps me to stay connected to the sport that I love, dreaming about the day I get back to Colorado, grab a fly rod, and chase trout in the mountains.

My tying desk in the Marriott I've been calling home.

Midge Side of Box

From Right: Dorsey's Mercery Black Beauty, Ramirez's UV Pearl Jam Midge, South Platte Specials, Variations of  Garcia's Rojo midge, Shuck Khan midge, and Kleis' Mojo midge.

KF Midge Emerger, Dorsey's Mercury midge, Cream thread midge, Yong Special

Assortment of Yong Specials, Assortment of Barr's Pure Midge Larvae, Red Hot midge, Red Mercury Brassie, Cinnamon midge, and a white variation of Mercury Blood midge

Dorsey's Mercury Blood midge, Christmas Tree midge, and annelids