Cold on the Blue

This trip was probably the first really cold morning fishing we've done this winter. The first one is always a little shock to the system. Luckily for Mike, Ben, and me there wasn't any wind. If there was I think we would have heard a few more tunes in the white buffalo. At least Ben and I would have. Mike was on the river before Ben and I wadered up I think!

We hit the wire and wound up fishing that all morning. We had enough action to keep us busy for sure. Plus after about 9 or so there where bubbas everywhere upstream and down. I love this stretch for sight fishing. There isn't a ton of water to cover in this run but if you don't put your flies right on a fish you won't move much. You can blind cast all day and catch a few trout or you can pick out individual targets and catch quite a few. Not to say that it's easy though. The fish blend in very well and to add to the challenge, at least for me, the fish look different during different times of the day.

We all wound up spoting and catching nice fish. No crazy fly selection. Egg patterns and midges. It was a quick day but a good one. In the morning cold the fish were very lethargic and not too hard to land. Around lunch they started warming up and it became a little more challenging to land the bigger ones. Towards the end of the day I hooked a big female who absolutely lost her mind.

Another fun day behind the outlets.

Big Red Taylor Blob

The Old Man, Marty, and I snuck over Cottonwood Pass one last time this year to hit the Taylor. We encountered some snow and slush on the pass on the way over and I knew this would be the last trip over the pass this year. The White Buffalo handled the conditions without a problem. After sitting in my Grandma's garage for many years there were a few issues to work through mechanically but I think (knock on wood) I've got them sorted out. With the new roof rack and Big Sky Rod Box it's become a sweet fishing vehicle! I think my Grandpa would enjoy the upgrades.

Fall is probably my favorite time of year to fish in Colorado. Big hungry fish seem to come out of the wood work. So do the crowds but sometimes you can hit it right and find some room and some big fish. This trip just happened to be one of those times!

We headed over Friday afternoon and even though the weather was a little nasty going over the pass as soon as we started dropping down towards Taylor Reservoir we saw blue sky. I was actually hoping that it would stay a little nasty with the low clear water but the sun was a welcome surprise.

I took a little walk up above the bridge looking for pigs in the hog trough but didn't see anything huge. We fished for a while in the avalanche hole without much action then decided to head downstream a bit to a run we've done well in over the years. I stood up on the road and took a good look at the near side of the run and the tail end of the run. Lots of mid sized fish in the tail end and a few bigger shadows in the deepest section but again nothing too huge. I decided to cross at the bottom of the run and check out the other side. I crossed and started making my way towards the head of the run looking in the heavier water for some color. I made it almost to the top of the run when I spotted a MASSIVE red blob. Holy Crap!!! That is what we are looking for!

Of course as soon as I saw him, he saw me and pushed a little further out into the current. I thought he was going to pull a Houdini and was just about to sling some choice words for wading up the far side too quickly when he stopped, turned back upstream, and held his position. I started walking backwards very softly! I got back a ways to where I felt comfortable and just marveled at this huge red blob. This fish was REALLY colorful. I pointed him out to Dad and Marty on the far side of the river and they could see the color easily. This thing was big and red.

I watched as he moved through the run. He'd hold in a position for a while and then move downstream a few feet and then would come back upstream. I could see the white of his mouth as he was eating. I got really nervous. I made a few casts and he scoffed... Slowly moving away from my flies and then back to his holding area. I reminded myself to take it easy and not whip him to death. I figured if I made one or two descent presentations to him without hooking up that a fly change was in order. That was the game for the next 40 minutes....

What the hell. Time for a big ass egg pattern. First cast and all I saw was white mouth. I almost pulled the fly out from in front of him but hesitated at the last minute. A split second later I lifted the rod and he was on.... and hauling ass upstream! I didn't hear it at the time but Marty said, "that thing is heading for the dam"!  I couldn't stop him. He made a long run upstream and towards the far side of the river. At one point Marty got close to him but as soon as the net got close he turned and swam right at me. Crap!!! He was back on my side of the river about 20 feet in front of me before I knew it. I had to strip in slack as fast as I could. I was frantic when I finally tightened back up on him. I thought he was gone.

After holding for a while in the deeper section of the run he started making his way back upstream on my side of the river. He made it up past a boulder and I had to stretch to keep my line off the rock. I slowly worked my way up to him and got the rod almost on top of him from my side of the boulder. He was holding. I told my Dad that he could probably step around the boulder and net him since I was getting good leverage. I knew I wouldn't be able to see what was going on when my Dad stepped in front of me. All I could do is ever so slightly apply more vertical pressure to try and get his head up enough.... It seemed like a life time before I heard, "I got him"!!!! He turned around and all I saw was red slab. Unbelievable! No way we just landed that fish.

We got him in some calm water and took a quick pic. Heavy old boy who had been around the block a few times. Absolutely gorgeous red sides. Huge chompers with a nice kype. The Old Man pulled off one hell of a net job and then turned around and snapped a quality photo! I held him in the run and he slowly moved off into the deep. What a moment.

I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the evening. We fished a while longer but I wasn't really paying attention. I just kept playing the whole thing over and over again in my mind. It didn't seem real. Around dark we packed up and headed to Gunnison for the night.

We were at the river at daybreak the next morning. We decided to hit the avalanche hole since it was open. Dad and I were on the water first. Marty came up a few minutes later and started fishing up above me a bit. Well started fishing isn't the right way to put it. He took one cast and hooked up! It was still pretty dark so we couldn't really see what he hooked into but it wasn't acting like a small fish.

A few minutes later and he was in the net. I went to lift the net and realized that Marty had just stuck a REALLY nice brown. This trip was getting better and better! I've had a few epic days on the Taylor over the years and this was turning into one of those trips. I had to look at the camera and see the fish in the flash. Holy cow! FAT colorful brown. Marty's smile said it all.

We concentrated on the avalanche hole and above the bridge for the rest of the morning. We caught some nice fish but I didn't see any other toads. These fish know how to get around the river. Sometimes you see a ton of huge fish and sometimes you don't. I think there is a lot of luck involved with hitting it right.

We did head back downstream later in the day and I saw my big red blob. I was happy to see him back in the run feeding. He was having nothing to do with us though and as soon as we got anywhere near the water he was gone. Off to get bigger.

On the way back we were treated to a really pretty sunset on Cottonwood Pass. Sometimes the whole world seems to smile at you. Almost a perfect fall trip on the Taylor. The only thing that would have made it better was for Dad to hook into a giant but that just wasn't in the cards this time. I think he was happy though netting that fish! Big pressure when someone you're fishing with hooks a big one. He has pulled off some crazy net jobs on this River and will never forget this last one...... "I got him"!!!

Swing and a Miss!

Took a quick trip down to Pueblo to do some research for the upcoming Angler's Covey streamer class and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the fish are healthy and looking for some big bites. This was the biggest one I hooked into that morning and would have liked to have gotten a closer look. I'm thinking this fish was a good 20" and FAT. I was fishing a 7wt and it put a nice bend in it. End of the video shows NOT how to net a fish. Should have been below the fish but you live and you learn. Just happy to have a close encounter with this meat eater.

Pueblo Streamer Bite from Jamie Roth on Vimeo.

Floating the BT Cruiser!

Got to fish with one of the nicest guys you could meet this morning and watched him put on a Trico clinic in some pretty tough conditions!

I met Bob Taylor this spring during the Colorado Fly Fishing Guide Academy course at the Angler's Covey. It was immediately apparent to me that Bob was going to make a fantastic guide. You know what they say about first impressions and Bob made a good one. I've since become good friends with Bob and am very thankful to have met him. Great personality, very strong work ethic, quick learner, true featherhead, fun, and very down to earth. Bob, God forbid you ever need an e-harmony description but if you did, there it is.

Oh yeah, he can really fish too! I've fished and guided with Bob a few times now and have learned a lot from him. I'd recommend Bob to both beginners and experienced anglers. He's a great teacher and just a really fun Dude to be with on the river with.

This morning Bob had a few Trico test patterns to try out. I decided to bring my 3WT and see if I could land a few larger fish on it. I've had plenty of fun with it on small streams but I was curious to see how it handled some mid sized trout. The 3WT combined with one of Bob's patterns equaled a lot of fun. A fat 14" trout in current on a 3WT is something everyone should experience. Head shakes felt massive. Downstream runs sounded hilarious. The drag on my little Battenkill sounded like a big mosquito in my ear! I've never had to reel so hard to get 20ft of line on the reel. If you want to make mid sized trout a little more challenging, go with a smaller setup. Just be careful not to overplay a trout if you hook into a big one.

As for the clinic - Bob picked off some really nice fish on what I think sould be called the BTC (Bob Taylor Cruiser) Trico. It was fun watching him pick a target, drop the fly on the perfect line, and watching the water explode after the take. You make it look easy Bob!

This male cutbow was the biggest of the trip. Really nice fish. All the fish we landed looked really healthy. It's awesome to see healthy fish in our tailwaters. The high summer flows really did them some good I think. Fall is going to epic this year. I'm looking forward to fishing with you again Bob!

If you want to get in some crazy good Trico dry fly action before old man winter shows up give Bob a call! - 719-321-9698

If you're still undecided just check out this brute that he put me on! :)

P.S.
If my boss is reading this - I only snuck out for the morning and caught up that afternoon! It's a sickness. Please understand.

AC on the Dream!

Great morning on the Dream Stream today with Alicia and Marty. We decided to fish a few hours and see if we couldn't find a few risers. It wasn't on fire but we got into some nice fish. I ran into Angler's Covey Guide Earl Hecker who was Guiding Greg Fuller who I met teaching the Orvis 201 class last weekend. Greg has jumped in head first learning to fly fish since moving to Colorado a week and a half ago and is doing awesome. Earl put him on some nice fish today to include this sweet brown. Very cool meeting new friends through fly fishing and then running into them on the water. Was awesome to see Greg learn from Earl. Greg will be teaching us stuff soon!

I decided to walk up towards the dam and ran into another Angler's Covey Guide Zach Tokach who was putting his guys on big fish. His clients were doing well on dries. Zach took the time to point a nice fish out for me in the run above where he had his clients set up. Not only was it a nice fish but it was MOWING on Trico spinners! Friggin awesome! Can't say enough about the Guides at the Covey. Really lucky to get to work with such a great group. Fun day!

Big Mo

It has been a crazy few months for this featherhead! I am so far behind on the blog. But - although it's been a bit crazy it has been a few of the best months in my life as far as my river addiction goes. I've gone through guide training, shadowed some of the best guides in the state, guided on some corporate trips (to include one client that didn't speak English (do you know how to describe a drag free drift without using words?), and have guided my own trips. Unreal! I've also started teaching the Orvis 101 and soon 201 classes out of Angler's Covey as well. Dream come true. The guys at the Covey have become my extended family and I couldn't be happier to be working in this scene. So needless to say my little journal has been neglected. But there are a few good trips that I really want to write up first of which is my first trip to Montana!

I had an opportunity to get out to Great Falls Montana on business and I figured there was no way I was going to be in Montana and not take a day to fish. I figured why not start with the Missouri. I read up on a few sections and emailed a few outfitters and I got a really quick and honest reply from Garrett Munson Montana Fly Fishing Outfitters. I received a few reply's from other outfitters just telling me what I wanted to hear but Garrett gave me the scoop on current conditions and where the best fishing was. Easy decision, sign me up.

Garret hooked me up with guide Darrel DeLeon and we hit it off. Darrel lived in Colorado Springs for a while and knew a lot of the same guides I do. This is actually Darrel's first year guiding on the Missouri but it sure didn't feel like it.

We launched just below Holter Dam and Darrel rowed us way out to the other side of the river to hit a good run. My first impression was that the Missouri is really crowded. Lots of boats. Darrel stated it was a slow day that day actually. I'd hate to see a busy day. Good thing is that Darrel knew some good runs that were wide open. Most boats were hitting the same channels but we got out on some freshies and hooked up almost immediatley.

The bows in this river are friggin strong! Really fun fish to fight and catch. We had a few very large jumpers hooked up that I just couldn't land. We did wind up catching a ton of nice fish throughout the day. We even got into some great dry fly action further down from the dam. We caught mostly bows but right at the end of the day we landed this nice brown.

The day went in a blink of an eye and it was super fun. I'd recommend Darrel to anyone. He taught me some really good fish fighting techniques that I've used since. Always something to learn in this sport and Darrel was a great teacher. Hope to fish with you again Darrel!

First Guide Shadow Trip!

Had the pleasure of shadowing Mr. Jon Kleis on a guide trip up to Elevenmile Canyon last week. After attending the first Angler’s Covey Guide School, I have a goal of shadowing at least six guide trips and this was the first of those.

We showed up at the shop early and met up with father and son Rick and Ben. These guys are from the east coast but Ben now lives in the area. They mentioned that they had both fly fished before but had not been up to Elevenmile Canyon.

I followed Jon and group up in my truck. We were doing a half day trip and I decided that I’d stay and fish in the afternoon.

After a quick drive into the canyon we were out rigging up. These last few weeks have given me the chance to really learn from a bunch of different guides. It’s interesting to hear how different guides describe different things. I remember during Julie’s session at guide school she mentioned that you should have five different ways to explain the same thing. Good piece of advice. I’ve seen this work first hand a few times now. Guides will say something and sense that it didn’t really click. They’ll put it another way and the light bulb goes on.

I may need wader stilts

It was awesome listening in on Jon's pre-cast block of instruction. I could tell that Jon had done this a few times before. He has a really good way of covering what is needed without going into the weeds. In other words he leaves room for learning. I think I’m going to incorporate that into my guiding style. Go over what is needed and let things play out on the river.

After that Jon got Ben and I into position and took Rick downstream. It didn’t take long and Rick was hooked up. That was the queue for Ben and I. Ben hooked up shortly after that. It was really interesting watching Ben as things started to come back to him. It had been a while since he fished and I could see him become more comfortable with the rod. Just like riding a bike!


After a quick break to let a thunderstorm pass, we hooked up a few more times. By the end of the trip Ben, from what I could tell, was back where he was the last time he fly fished. He was casting calmly and letting the rod do the work, he was getting perfect downstream sweeping hook sets (perfect way to describe a hook set that I learned from Jon this trip), and was keeping even pressure on the fish after hooking up.

What an awesome morning. I swear it felt like just a few hours on the water. Time flies when you’re having fun and I think everyone was getting a good dose. Couldn’t have asked for a better group to shadow! Really hope we all get to fish together down the road.

That afternoon was just icing on the cake. I stayed behind in the canyon for a little fishing. I ditched the indicator and started picking out individual fish. They were more than willing to hit a leech pattern or Barr emerger. It was a beautiful afternoon. Couldn’t have asked for a better day.

Photos by Jon Kleis 

Colorado Fly Fishing Guide Academy!

A while back I ran into Jon Easdon while picking up some goodies in the Covey and he let me know of a Guide School that the Covey was organizing. He asked if I would be interested and it was a no brainer. Absolutely!

Becoming a Colorado Fly Fishing Guide, especially for Angler's Covey has been a dream of mine since I was 12. Most of my Christmas lists around that time had nothing but gear from Angler's Covey. Christmas mornings consisted of lining up reels and casting (badly) in the backyard no matter what the weather was like.

Twenty some odd years later and this dream is very close to becoming a reality! Last week blew any expectations of a guide school that I had totally out of the water. I have to admit I was very nervous going into it. I had doubts if I had what it takes to guide along side some of the best guides in Colorado.

Enter Robert Younghanz and Neil Luehring. I've known Robert for a while and have taken one of his entomology classes. I knew Robert's teaching style going in and I knew we'd have a lot of fun during the week. I met Neil on the first evening of class and was immediately comfortable talking with him. He has a very calm teaching style and has a knack for explaining things that really connect the dots. Neil and Robert worked really well together.

What did I learn???? Where do I start... I can tell you that there is a huge difference between being a good fly fisher and teaching someone to fly fish. There are also a lot of other things you need to consider as far as the business aspect of guiding is concerned. We covered it all. From setting up an LLC to social media to safety and gear requirements. We heard from guides with 30 years experience and guides with 3 years experience. We learned about photography and things to keep in mind when guiding female clients. Flies, casting techniques, trip preparation, customer service, etc, etc... It was a TON of info.

I have GOT to FISH!

We hit Pueblo and Deckers on Saturday and got a good dose of entomology from Robert. We teamed up and did some role playing on the river guiding our fellow students. This was a really good way to work some kinks out before jumping in with a real client.

I'm pretty sure Robert and Neil knew we were chomping at the bit to wet a line after a week of talking fishing and a day of being on the river. They cut us loose at the end of the day for an hour of fishing and it was like the running of the bulls when we turned for the water! Robert mentioned a nice run that he liked just upstream and we were off. I think he did that on purpose :) My new buddy Bob took about three steps to the river and immediately started schooling us. Age errr.... I mean experience sure does pay off :) Love ya Bob!

By this time everyone knew each other pretty well and I have to say that it felt like a group of old fishing buddies. I was totally blown away by how awesome our group was. I'd go fishing with these guys any day. No egos or grandstanding. Everyone was very cool and we had a great time. So glad to make what I know are going to be some life long friends.

Lunch is served!

Before I knew it Sunday was upon us. I couldn't believe it. It was Saturday night around 9PM and I had to tie flies, get a lunch together, and pack for the next morning where we would be GUIDING A CLIENT!!!! What!!!!!???? So this is what being a guide is like :)

I think we were all nervous but I was a lot less nervous than I was before going through this class. I had a game plan. I knew how to approach different situations and how to describe certain techniques. I had a toolbox to use. This really did boost my confidence and we all know what confidence does when you're fishing. Same thing with guiding. Not being cocky but being confident. Big difference.

On top of the world

I met Eric riverside and we were off! Eric had never cast a fly rod before but was a very quick learner. He went from never casting to landing a trout in about an hour! His first ever trout on a fly rod. I can't tell you what that moment felt like. I'm not sure who was happier!

I can't imagine working towards this feeling as a way of living. It's a lot of hard work (yes it's not a day of fishing on the river). Reminds me of a Tom Petty lyric, "I don't mind workin but I'm scared to suffer". Guiding is  hard work. But good work with an absolutely HUGE payoff. Not talking about money. Seeing Eric learn to cast, control his line, set the hook, fight and land a fish was surreal. I've always known the tug is the drug but teaching someone else to find that kind of joy on the river is just as potent. I look forward to many years of chasing that moment down again and again.

Fun Weekend at the East Portal

Mike, Ben, and I had an awesome two and a half days on the Gunnison last weekend. We finally planned a camping trip with Mike who has a pop-up camper. Talk about camping in style. Can sleep six, has a heater, fridge, stove, lights.... We must be living right! Still took a day for me to figure out that I could put my waders on in the camper instead of doing a balancing act on my raincoat though.....

We took off early Friday and when we pulled in we had our choice of camping spot. I think there was only one other car in the parking lot. Sweet! First thing I noticed is that they fixed the spillway that was damaged last summer. I preferred fishing that spot before it was damaged so it was good to see it fixed.

Mike backed the camper in to our chosen space like a boss and we got to setting things up. Everything went off without a hitch, minus having to make a foil fuse for our creature comforts, and we were fishing in an hour.

We started off at the spillway and it took us a bit to figure out what was going on. I had stoneflys on my brain and even though it was later in the afternoon and only mid May, that's what I started throwing. I think the trout laughed a little when they saw that. Wait till June and wake up early if you want to toss big bugs.

Ben and I did a quick seine and it was more than apparent what we should be throwing. Size 20-22 dark baetis nymphs and scuds! There were a TON of dark (almost black) beatis nymphs and a few large dark olive scuds in each sample. Time to re-rig. That's what you get for assuming you'll show up and start slaying them in the middle of the afternoon on huge stone patterns! Hey, stranger things have happened......

At about that time I started noticing BWOs coming off. This was going to be good. We switched to pheasant tails and RS2s and started hooking up pretty quickly. We landed some nice bows but the action switched off pretty quickly. It did seem that the concentration of fish was not as heavy in this section as it had been on previous trips. Or should I say concentration of fish we could catch. We decided to call it an evening.

We got back to our camp site and Ben started cooking up some chicken that he had marinating. It was good. Damn good! We really went all out on food this trip. First camping trip of the season, first time taking Mike's camper out. We did it up right. So much so that Mike had to take a few pics! Chicken, steak, bacon, eggs, cowboy crepes.... And I think we may have actually LOST weight on this trip. Not the easiest river to wade.

We decided that we would head downstream in the morning to see what we could find. I've been to the East Portal a handful of times and we had always fished the spillway up. We've always done well so we didn't really have a reason to go downstream but we thought we might be able to find some good water to fish so we decided to go exploring.

Downstream is way better.... Just a ton of good water. It was fairly crowded though so we had to pass up a lot of it. I decided to just walk a while and get past the bulk of the crowd. I'm glad I did because when I finally stopped it was on one of the prettiest sections of river I've fished. I could stand in one spot and hit three different runs. It wasn't just a pretty spot either. It was chalk full of brick red 16-20" rainbows that were willing to hit a fly hard. No subtle takes for the next two hours.

These fish were amazing. Absolutley beautiful rainbows and browns that hit like a freight train and fought just as hard. One of the runs I was fishing from my sandbar perch was the inside seam of the main river channel. When fish would hit in this area they would take a quick turn to the current and torpedo downstream. Line peelers for sure. I kept thinking, "get your arses down here Mike and Ben"! For the next hour or so I had this little slice of
heaven all to myself. I must have landed a dozen fish by the time Mike made it down.

I had been watching a very large brown rising at the head of the pool I was fishing. He was out of reach from where I was standing and I didn't want to move so I just watched him steadily rise to BWOs... Mike FINALLY made it and I knew he had a dry fly rig so I pointed out where I had seen the rises. Mike took one cast and got a bite! I think it surprised him a little and he set a little too fast. He didn't make the same mistake when the brown rose again on his second cast! Unreal.... It wasn't to be though and the weight of the first few head shakes snapped the line.

The disappointment didn't last long though. I gave Mike a few RS2s and he was dialed in quick. He landed some absolutely stunning rainbows over the next hour or so. Some of the best fishing in recent memory.

We had to walk away from catching fish...... Ughhh.... Ben hadn't made it down and we hadn't eaten lunch. We figured it was at least noon so we walked away and decided to go find Ben. He was upstream a ways and had spend the morning catching some nice fish on dry flies. We made it back to camp and started getting lunch together. I asked if anyone had the time and Ben looked down at his watch in amazement. Four PM!!! LOL.... Time traveling on the river. We would have to treat our shock with a huge steaks.

We headed downstream on our final morning and hit the same spot we had found the previous day only from the other side. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as good from this side so we worked our way back upstream. Mike was soon dialed in and hooking up on RS2s. Ben was killing it on dries just upstream from Mike. I hooked a few but was really just enjoying being in such a beautiful place watching my buddies land river gems.

It was a great weekend and I wish I could do it over again. Time absolutely flew by. Our only worries were how long to leave the baked potatoes on the fire and how many RS2s we had left. Small first world problems. So lucky to have the opportunity to decompress in the mountains of Colorado. It's an addiction but a good one. Already looking forward to our next trip to this amazing canyon.

Great Morning TOUGH Afternoon on the Ark

Ben and I headed back up towards Cotapaxi to try to get in some more dry fly action this weekend on the Ark. Plan was good, reality was not so good.

The morning started out very similar to last weekend with stone fly imitations getting hit REALLY hard till about 10:00 AM. One thing that was different though was the water clarity. The water was pretty dirty below Cotapaxi and only marginally clearer up towards Salida. I think that slowed down the nymphing in the morning some but we still managed to get fish in the net pretty regularly. This bow hit a flashback two tone stone (hares ear with peacock Ice Dub thorax really) on my first cast. One of the prettier bows I've caught in this stretch.

We took a break around 1-1:30 and decided to get our dry fly rigs. Around this time a storm started blowing in. Wind picked up and blew a lot of people of the river. Between the dirty water and the front moving in things just stopped all together. It was a very tough afternoon. I finally hooked a brown on a streamer after about three to four hours without a hit. Dirty water + front in this case = humbling afternoon :-) But as they say, just being out on the water beats most anything else.

Caddis on the Ark

Decided to go find some hatching caddis on the Ark this weekend. I've been hearing a lot about how good the fishing has been so I decided to go check it out for myself.

I headed up early Sat morning and started fishing about ten miles downstream from Cotapaxi. As soon as I stepped out of the jeep I saw caddis flying around. Good sign! I didn't however see anything rising when I started fishing. I decided to start with my nymph rig which consisted of a Tungstone and a caddis larva. I was pleasantly surprised when I started hooking up on the stonefly. I didn't think I was on the river early enough but they were definitely favoring the stone fly over the caddis until about 10:00 AM. Trout were ON the bottom so I had to add weight a few times before I started hooking up.   

Mike and Ben met me around 2:00 and we had great dry fly action till about 3:30 - 4. What a blast! We had feisty browns chasing down our caddis as they swung at the end of the drift. Pretty hard to keep your fly in front of them long enough to get an eat. Once I started waiting till I felt a tug I started hooking up no problem. So fun seeing fish chase down your fly. The fish weren't huge but they had plenty of energy and none of them came in without a fight. Mike was on FIRE for about fifteen minutes. It was almost every other cast!

After an hour and a half of really fun fishing someone flipped the switch and the top water action was over. I wish it lasted longer but we enjoyed it while it lasted. We headed down and fished through Canyon City on the way out and picked up a few little ones but didn't hit the heavy caddis like we had upstream. The money dry pattern was a size 18 Puterbaugh Caddis. Love this fly. Easy to tie, durable, and catches fish.

Always fun hitting the Ark this time of year. There were a lot of people out but with one hundred and two miles of gold medal water we were able to find nice runs without a problem.

Ben's Trip to La Paz Mexico

Trout to Rooster Fish – lessons 1-5

The gorgeous launch site

For most of us readers on Jamie’s Journal we are trout focused with dreams of huge fish on a fly rod. Saltwater fly-fishing offers just that. Here is my story of my attempt at big Rooster Fish in the Sea of Cortez, La Pax Mexico

It all started a couple years ago at the Denver ISE (International Sportsman Expo) when Jamie and I were working with Richard Johnson’s Rainbow Mountain Trout booth. I noticed Tailhunter International’s set up (http://tailhunter-international.com ) located right behind ours, so I stopped by and chatted with Jonathan and Jill, a very nice couple indeed.  In 2015’s ISE I let them know I may be headed down and after things fell into place I booked a trip. Since it was my anniversary/vacation I only went out for 1 day, verse the suggested 3 days Jonathan and Jill recommended.   My wife is very cool with my fishing addiction, but I am also smart and didn’t push it to 3 days. We were spending our vacation about 70 miles from La Paz. This was a “test trip” for Jamie and the rest of the group.

We arrived into La Paz on Thursday April 15h – had a GREAT meal at Jonathan’s establishment call the Tailhunter Restaurant (http://tailhunter.mx ). Yes he is a busy dude with the Paga fleet and restaurant to manage. This doesn’t slow him down a bit, he treated everyone with warmth and kindness rarely found these days.  If in La Paz, it is a must stop.

On to the fishing.

Tailhunter International runs a big fleet of 30 or so Paga’s, and will tailor to your wants, fly or traditional, Tuna & Dorado or Rooster and Jacks and Bonitas, guess which I chose? I was a little early in the fly season, but OF COURSE I had to temp the fly gods and go after Roosters. We left at 5:45 AM for about an hour drive and hit the water about 7-7:15 or so.

At this point all I could do was smile, sit back and enjoy the sites and expectations of the day ahead. I noticed a few of the guys wearing the sea sick patch, all I had was Dramamine, so I figured one tablet should be enough to off set any issues. After picking up bait off we went. First stop was a chance at Jacks and Bontias. Moncho (my awesome guide) stopped by what looked like every other place on the open water and started to chum the water with live sardines, really no other way to get fish near the boat. He has been guiding for 20 years, no need for GPS with these guys. I chose a blue and while 0/2 Clouser and started chucking my freshly spun up 10 wt…and the lessons started.

The water is clear blue, and these are fast, really fast swimmers, so once the sardines hit the water the game fish (who knows which before you hook them) start to boil the surface. Blind cast into the mess and start stripping. First lesson, double hauling is your friend, and though I can double haul, slinging a 10wt is a totally different chore than a 5 wt. I did “practice” a bit before I headed down to Mexico, but there is never enough practice before hand.

It took less than 5 min for my first ferocious take. It shocked me and I did not get a hook set. OK, game on…..the next take, I stuck it.. The first fish of the day @ 6-7 min or so, “this is going to be rad!” he took about a 3 second run and I was in my backing. I fought it for 5-6 min and landed a small Bonita. WTF, that fight could not have been over a small 5-7 lbs fish, it then stuck me, oh crap what happens if. . . .

Then things went south. On the next Bonita, he ran just like the last one but when the fly line to backing knot was ripping through the
eyelets I felt a pop and POOF everything was gone. What in the hell happened. I look at my reel (Lamson Guru 4.0 – more than enough for these fish) and the pig tailed spiraled backing told me that it pulled the knot. Say goodbye to a $80 fly line, so if you catch a Bonita with a light blue RIO line, that would be mine. All I could do was laugh. I did bring an 8wt a “back up” rig, so I strung that up and went back at it. Lesson 2 – keep your drag loose, I had the 10 wt set up with a tighter drag and could have been the cause of the breakage. I was running 14lb fluorocarbon on this rig vs 18lb on the 10wt.

I hooked another Bonita and fought it for about 20 min, the rod was pretty maxed out, with the butt section horizontal and the tip was in the water for most of the fight. I was very concerned on breaking the rod. My decision was to make a bastard set up, 8 wt line on my 10wt rod, at least I would have a stronger rod for fighting. Lesson 3, this really doesn’t work too well, you can go up and down one wt but two wts is really hard. Think of casting a thread using a broomstick, yeah you get it.  At this point I was feeling a little sick, although the water was fairly calm, my stomach was not happy, so I popped one more Dramamine that seemed to do the trick.

Moncho said “Rooster time” it was 9:30 or so, and off we went. Picked up more sardines, and moved close to the shore for the prize fish. Moncho started chumming and WHOA, those are crazy aggressive fish. They EXPLODE on the top water. So I started to cast my ass off, the lack of a decent double haul impaired my accuracy and the “9wt” rod matrix did not help the situation.  Lesson 4, stripping has a new definition folks, you literally can not strip fast enough. Make sure you are comfortable tucking the rod under the arm and two hand stripping, which I am not. I had about 6-8 super fast takes but just could not strip set for my life. All the takes were on white and blue Clousers, and a white Closuers. These guys are rockets in the water, you can see their dorsal fins and about half of their back out of the water when they are feeding. The sea birds dive almost on top of them because they force the sardines to jump out of the water.

About 2 hours and hundreds of ugly casts, Moncho simply says “troll?”. Although I was determined to land a big rooster on a fly I gave in and took a break and we trolled. My arm was dying and I wanted to at least hook one of these beautiful fish. It took about 10 min of trolling and I hooked my fist of four 25+lbs or so Roosters. The first thing that hit me it would be a handful to land one on the bastard rod. No chance on the 8wt it would have been destroyed, the 10wt correctly configured would have been a blast, but a 11 or
12 is not overkill!

By this time it was about 2PM, and the Dramamine was really kicking in. Lesson 5, DON’T take Dramamine, it made me into the walking-dead-fisherman. I was fighting to stay awake on this AWESOME day. Moncho and I went between attempting with the bastard rod and trolling. Of course trolling was the most affective, I landed four nice Rooster. He said these were decent but they get 3X this size.

On the way back in, Moncho said, you want a baby Rooster, of course I did, I HAD to land one on a fly rod. After about 3 min, this cute little guy took my fly like he was a bad ass, 100% site fishing, you see them and cast. Really fun, think of 16” trout on crack!

We were on the water for 7-8 hours, but it felt like 2. When I was back on shore I was in la-la-land due to the Dramamine. We landed the Paga’s loaded up and headed back to La Paz. What a great day, even with my struggles.

I slept for the entire ride back to La Paz and looked drunk when Jonathan asked how we did.  He was concerned I did not have a good day, always focused on his clients. We headed to hotel and did a quick change and headed off to Todos Santos, the other side of the peninsula – about an hour drive. What I did not notice was that left my fly rods in the hotel bathroom. It was the next day before I even noticed, and the term “once in Mexico always in Mexico” came to mind. I called Jonathan, no luck no one turned them in. What a bonehead move, how could I have done THAT, the Dramamine was flowing pretty well I guess.

Jonathan was so concerned that he offered a $50 reward to the hotel staff (1/2 weeks pay for them) and guess what, they were turned in to the desk a couple days later. He did NOT have to do that, but has earned a life long customer for that simple action.

To summarize my lessons.
1)    KNOW how to double haul, practice practice practice
2)    Keep your drag looser than you want.
3)    Make sure your back up rigs are up to the task
4)    Stripping, you can’t strip fast enough
5)    Dramamine = zombie fishing adventures

I WILL be back down, and will land a nice Rooster on fly. This was still a GREAT day and would not change a thing, learning lessons the hard way is sometimes the best!

Who is in?????

Ben