Caddis!

We had the pleasure of hosting Arrow Electronics on a guided trip to Elevenmile Canyon yesterday and the caddis were everywhere! We started fishing around 1:30 and the caddis were already hatching. The hatch intensified throughout the afternoon and were still going strong at 5:30 - 6 when we left. Buckskins, caddis candy, and a little caddis pupa I tie worked well.

Lisa, Tate, and Andy were all first time fly fishers. They did great and we got some fish in the net! So glad that summer is finally here!

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!

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 

Back To Landon School on the Dream

Ben and I have been so impressed on our previous trips with Landon on the Dream Stream that we now have a standing spring and fall trip. Our spring trip this year happened at the end of March and it was an absolute blast.

I'm not sure what else to say about these trips that I haven't already said. I've learned so much on the three trips we've done with Landon. It is an absolutely amazing feeling when you start picking out the "99 percenters" (fish that 99% of people don't see) by catching a hint of white or just something barely unnatural in the water and then relaxing your focus to get an idea of the outline of a fish.

I think the other thing that I've noticed is that Landon seems to remember exactly where we left off on our last trip and picks up right where we left off. He has a really good ability to remember where his clients are in different areas and jump right in where needed on each trip.

Maybe the last thing to mention is that I think it would be very hard to find someone that knows this stretch of river better. On every trip Landon has had a game plan before leaving the parking lot. These game plans take into account a lot of things such as what the weather was like the evening before, what the current and foretasted weather conditions are, how many cars are in the parking lot, where larger groups of anglers are headed, what fish (by name I think) have been seen and where, etc, etc.....

I recently picked up "101 Trout Tips", Landon's latest book, and it's interesting to read about some of the things I've learned from these trips on formulating a game plan. It really helps to learn a lesson on stream and then to reinforce that lesson with text or vice versa.  I think the more times you see, hear, or read something the more you understand about what the teacher is trying to get across. This really helps you to not just think you've learned something but to actually be able to apply what you learned in new situations. That, in my mind, is when you truly understand something.

On this particular trip we had a heavy does of fog in the morning. Landon had us walk downstream in order to get in position to intercept any lake fish that were using the fog as cover to move upstream. He knew that if the fog burned off into a bluebird day (which is exactly what happened) that the fish would settle in to the deeper runs. It was amazing to see this develop as the morning went on. As soon as the sun started to burn off the fog (as seen in the pictures) our flies started getting hammered! We were positioned in a deep bend run and it seemed like the fish knew they were going to settle in and were in a hurry to eat before the sun burned off all of their cover. This plan netted us the biggest fish of the day. Very cool.

Overdue Deckers Day

Took a quick trip up to Deckers with the gang. We had a beautiful day and there were plenty of people out enjoying it. Was tough finding open water above the bridge so we headed downstream to our normal "Plan B" spot. I set Alicia up in a run she has done well in on a few trips and she did well again! She's really picked up fly fishing and is a true natural. So much so that she caught the nicest fish of the trip (which she has done multiple times)! I thought it would bother me but it's actually really cool to see her doing well.

#18 Red Two Bit Hooker did the trick this day. Best rig was a San Juan or Egg followed by two bit. Love Deckers but it's been pretty crowded. I think I may have to start hiking into Cheesman Canyon again :)

Back For More on the Dream

We decided to hit the Dream Stream again this weekend looking for some big lake fish. We didn't find any monsters but we did pick up a few nice ones. Hard finding open water. Everyone was very polite and didn't run into any issues but we had to walk a ways between runs. 

Dad hit the nicest fish of the trip on a streamer just above the gauge. Really nice brown with really nice spots and some serious shoulders. My nicest fish came late in the afternoon. This poor guy stood out like a sore thumb and didn't fight too much. I'm thinking I may have been his second abduction that day....

Not the hottest day of fishing we've had but we caught some nice ones and enjoyed a good dose of sunshine.

Warmer Day on the Dream Stream

This trip we had the Old Man, Mike, and Ben along for the ride. Much warmer start to the day. Of course we didn't leave at the ass crack of dawn as some people would have had it.... By the time we got to the river I think it was in the twenties. Not bad at all!

Weather was better but fishing was fairly slow. We fished all the way down to Eleven Mile Res and the fishing got a little better the last mile or so of river before the inlet. I only saw one larger fish (doesn't mean I didn't walk past many many more) and spent about a half hour trying to get him to eat. I finally grabbed my streamer rod and took a cast. He followed it all the way in to my feet and hit at the last second! Cool thing to see. I thought he was going to turn and run but he couldn't resist. Nice twenty inch cutbow in the net! This guy still had plenty of energy though and took off before I could get a good picture of him. Turns out the pic I got was better than the one I was trying to frame! It's a great feeling seeing a fish swim off to fight another day.

I finally ran into Justin Brenner and  Doug Fisherman (by the way if that's your real last name that's friggin awesome) on the water. If it is your real last name, where you ever a Major in the Army? That would have been sweet! Captain would also have had a nice ring to it! I've been Facebook friends with those guys for a while now and we finally wound up on the same stretch of river on the same day. I actually turned a corner on a bend and saw some guys fishing and when I got closer one of them hooked a fish. Hook pulled out right before I got up to them but I saw the tail and it looked like a really nice fish. The guy who lost it didn't look phased at all. Then I realized who it was.... Justin has caught some freaks of nature in this river so I don't think he was too beat up over losing one! Later that evening I saw a picture of a nice fish Doug had landed so I know they had a good day on the river. Hopefully I'll be fishing with these guys soon. Cool Dudes that are really good Fly Fisherman.

On the way out we had to stop and hit the weir run. This time we had four guys squeezed in. My Dad had landed a few nice ones before the rest of us made it back to include this fatty of a bow. No encounters with any monsters though this trip.

Another fun day on the Dream Stream for sure. Only going to get better and better as we get closer to Spring. We should be seeing some great fish porn from this awesome stretch of water over the next few months. I know Justin and Doug are good for some. The plan is to be posting some of it ourselves but we'll see! Going to take a lot of fishing but someone has to do it.

Cold Start Hot Finish on the Dream Stream

Not quite the coldest we've ever fished the Dream Stream but at two degrees above zero, it was cold enough. Not as cold as last March though when we showed up and it was eighteen below! Either way fishing was pretty much impossible until it warmed up a bit.

Mike, Mary, and I started off below the bridge but we were only able to land one before we decided there was just too much ice on the water. We headed up to the top parking lot and took our time crawling out of the truck.

It took a while to warm up but the water was clear up by the dam and Mike was able to hook up pretty quickly. We worked our way up to the dam and picked up a few but it we decided to head back down below the bridge to see if the water had cleared.

Water looked great and we started hooking up pretty regularly as the temperature rose. I wouldn't say
we were on fire but we didn't have to go too long between fish. We found a few really fat cuttys.... NOT very subtle takes. They hit hard and fought hard and kept us fully entertained. By the time Mike and I had worked our way back up to Marty at the bridge we had each landed seven or eight.

We had to make the traditional stop at the weir run and Mike and I got in a little numbers
competition. We were each hooking up pretty much every other cast. Lots of dinks but you know your having fun when your buddy is willing your fish to spit the hook! We went fish for fish for about an hour and wound up with twenty fish! Well Mike did anyway. I came in a close second at seventeen. We landed some nice ones too in between the dinks and even got to see a monster brown laugh at us for a few seconds.....

Super fun day that started off kinda crappy but turned out great. Of course you know what they say about a bad day of fishing and this day was far from that.

First 201520 Courtesy of Deckers

Behind multiple trips on the blog! Have a few really good trips to write up so I figured I better get at it. This trip was the first trip of 2015.

Ben had his son Andrew in town for the Holidays and we decided to drive up to Deckers. We got up there and rigged up and as soon as we were rigged up we remembered that Andrew didn't have a license...... So we decided that Ben and I would fish for a half hour or so and we'd go hit Rainbow Falls since you don't need a license there.

There is a run I've seen many times up at Deckers and it normally has one or two bubbas in it. Not the case this day. I'm sure it has a name but it's just on the other side of the big hill you drive over if you pass the first parking pull off. Its a nice slow bend up against a rock face. The head of the bend has a perfect riffle into a drop off. There are two currents that meet up at the drop off and it is absolutely gorgeous.When we first parked there were a few guys fishing the run but by the time we were rigged up and realized Andrew didn't have a license they were gone. I think that had a big part in the, "fish for half hour since we're here" plan.

I actually started towards the tail end of the bend and worked my way up. It took me twenty minutes to get to the head of the run and really notice how nice the drop off was. I took two casts and WHAM! Something big hit and took off like a bat out of hell! It wasn't on very long. Maybe five seconds. I never saw the fish. I knew it was a good fish though and since it broke me off and since I'm writing this from memory that has sat for a month and a half I'll call it a good thirty inches.... easy.

Fast forward a week and we were back at Deckers looking for redemption. Same run, same rig, same flies, same cast. It only took a few casts and I was hooked up again. Nothing huge but a really nice eighteen inch rainbow. I knew there were bigger fish on that drop off...

After a quick pic I made the same cast and WHAM! This time I was ready. Line was on the real before I made the cast. Good thing too since this fish did the exact same thing it did a week ago. I really think it could be the same fish. This time I knew its game plan though and was ready for the long run against the far rock face. After about a five minute fight Ben made the net scoop and I had my redemption. A really nice twenty inch rainbow to bring in 2015. Going to be a good year!

Dream Stream with Landon

Ben and I got to go fishing with Landon Mayer again on the Dream Stream. Our first trip with him was so eye opening we decided to book a fall trip to go after big browns. Ben and I had originally planned to get a 4 day mega trip in this weekend but our little trailer project that we were working on took a tad bit longer to finish than we thought it would.

We originally planned to hit the Dream with Geno on Friday, work on the trailer Saturday morning and fish Spinney on Saturday evening for pike, hit Spinney or Antero on Sunday, and finish up with Landon on the Dream on Monday. Well our half day estimate on the trailer was about a day and a half short. When it was all said and done though it was worth it. Trailer turned out sweet. Will haul two inflated pontoon boats and has a gear rack and an 8 rod rod holder up top. It was a LOT more work than it looks but it'll save a ton of time when we take the pontoons out.

By Sunday evening we were a little zapped. I'm glad Landon wanted to start at 9:30. Even leaving the Springs at 8:00 seemed early but we were both excited to get a little redemption for losing a big brown that Friday.

Landon was geared up and ready to go when we showed up at the middle parking lot. We gabbed about losing the big brown while getting suited up and decided that we'd just have to hook another big one to make up for it. Turns out that would be easier said than done on that day.

Landon had fished on Saturday and as Ben and I suspected it was a zoo. The fish had been worked over pretty hard the two days prior and we could tell almost right away that the numbers of fish we could see were way down from two days earlier. Plus we had several large groups working through the upper part of the river.
 
It was a tough day but we did a lot of walking and Landon found us some good fish to cast to. I had a shot at a 20" plus brown but I was late on the set. Ben hooked a big cutbow that followed his fly for at least 4 feet but he came unbuttoned at the last moment. We did land some fish though! And it was a blast sighting a fish, getting into position, and having two lookouts watch for the take!

This cutty was hanging out next to the brown I missed. I had to crouch down behind a willow to make the cast and Landon and Ben saw the take. I set the hook and realized that I couldn't stand up with one hand on the rod and one reeling up slack line. Eventually I got up and realized I was already up on the bank and way above this fish which made him pretty easy to land. Really nice colors on this fish! Love the pac man mouth too.

We (Landon really) did spot two big browns but they were SUPER spooky. I got one cast to one of them but the other one disappeared as soon as we saw him. We fished hard all day and were rewarded with some nice fish but it was slim pickings as far as happy fish went.

Ben closed out the day casting to some color in a deep run. Landon and Ben couldn't really tell what species it was but knew it was a pretty good sized fish. I caught the tail end of the fight and got a close up of this river monster. Gnarly!

It was a tough day on the water but I learned a lot. Really made me realize that you can do everything right and still have a challenging day on the water. At the end of the day though the fish we caught meant a lot more than the ones that come easy.

5280 on the Dream Stream

Had a great day on the Dream Stream with Ben and Eugene (Geno) Ray of 5280 Anglers. Ben's better half had given Ben a guide trip through 5280 for his BDay and we realized a few days later that Geno guides for 5280! We have known Geno for a few years now. Really cool, laid back guy who we've been wanting to fish with ever since we met him. Ben actually did get to fish with him once and that is actually how we met Geno. We did a corporate trip through the Angler's Covey about 3 years ago in Elevemile Canyon and Geno (who guided for The Covey at that time) guided the group that Ben was in. Ben caught the biggest fish I've seen come out of Elevemile Canyon on that trip so I know Ben has been anxious to get back on the water with Geno!

Ben and I hadn't fished the Dream Stream before this trip this fall. We figured we wait to see if the crowds died down any. Plus we knew we'd be fishing with Geno. The bad news was that the crowd was pretty big... The good news is that they didn't stop us from at least having a shot at a huge brown.....

We got a fairly early start and the water that Geno wanted to start us on was wide open. It was a little chilly but when the wind died down it was pleasant. It didn't take us long to get on fish. In fact it didn't take us long at all to get on big fish. VERY big fish. 

Geno had Ben lined up on a really nice bend hole. We had taken a few casts but we couldn't get a great view of the water. The sun had started to come up a bit so Geno decided to hit the far bank to see what he could spot. Didn't take him long to spot a massive male brown holding in about 3 foot of water. It was pretty much directly in front of  Ben but just a little further out from where he had been casting to.

Geno told Ben where to cast and Ben's fly's got bit....... and spit by the big ass brown. I don't think any of us were ready for it it happened so fast. BUT he didn't spook. He went right back to were he was to keep sucking down tasty river morsels. Ben cast again and I was watching his indicator when it paused. I think all I got out was a, "oooo, ooooooooooo", Ben set the hook and Geno announced that the big ass brown was now buttoned up on the end of Ben's line!

I saw a huge swirl with lots of yellow, orange, and red. This thing was huge. Geno put it at 27" conservatively. I got up on the near bank to get a better view and got a great view of the toad as it turned it's body broad side to me. It was a trophy for sure. Big shoulders, massive kype, full spawn coloration.... exactly what you go to the Dream Stream for in the fall.

I started taking pictures when the fish neared the surface and managed to catch a glimpse of him in the picture on the  right. Not sure what part of this fish I'm looking at but the pic doesn't do the fish justice. That is other than the color you can see... I felt really good about where the fish was and how he was behaiving. It was still pretty early and the water was cool. He wasn't lethargic by any means but he wasn't freaking out either.

Then things took a turn for the worse..... Mr. Kype put his head down and took a surge downstream.... directly into a stump covered with vegetation. It only took a second or two for him to break the tippet once he was hung up. Gone.... I saw Ben drop his rod in despair. This time he wouldn't be coming back. He disappeared into the weeds and that was that. Anyone who has lost a good fish knows this feeling and it isn't a good one. But it's better to have hooked and lost than to never have hooked at all and I think Ben learned a few things about fighting big fish. And the day was young.

Ben was laying in the fetal position on the side of the bank in shock, mumbling incoherently so I decided to take a few casts through the run. What a run it was. Nice slow bend fed by a rolling riffle. There was a nice drop off at the head of the bend and half a dozen medium sized boulders placed in the hole. It was the perfect holding area.

It didn't take long to get a hit and I was hooked up. I told Geno that I didn't think it was that big and

he told me that sometimes they will surprise you. Well..... Geno knows what he's talking about. After fighting the fish for a minute or so we got a good view of him and it was a nice 20" plus male cutbow! I did feel a little bad for catching a nice fish while my buddy was sobbing uncontrollably on the bank but not bad enough to not land this beauty... Sorry Ben. I love you Man!

The day was still young though and Ben recovered nicely. We went on to catch some very nice fish. Ben had another bout with another slightly smaller brown but that was not to be either. He did wind up catching a really nice brown towards the end of the trip which helped ease the pain a little.

We had an absolute blast with Geno and I'd recommend him to anyone. He had us on fish all day. I had totally lost track of time but Geno wound up fishing with us for like 9 hours! That is a hard working guide! He taught us some really good techniques and we had a lot of laughs. Can't wait to do it again guys!

Wildcat Canyon Zen Fish

Mike shooting some line

It's been almost a year since I've been back to Wildcat Canyon. It's such a beautiful canyon and from what I can tell it does not receive a lot of fishing pressure. It's a bit of a hike (3 miles) to get back to public water but it's an easy hike (easier on the way in) and it's a very peaceful walk in early in the morning.

Larger bow

The last time I fished this water I packed in my gear but this trip I just wore my hip pack and an old pair of running shoes. You don't need a ton of gear to fish this water. I brought a 4 weight but a 3 weight worked well for Mike and we all actually caught fish on Ben's Tenkara rod which was a fun experience.

A #18 flashback Hares Ear worked great all day. San Juans were the preferred attractor fly. The best water is from where the trail dumps you out on the river downstream about a mile. After that it gets pretty rough. There are plenty of runs in this section though and each run seemed to be good for at least a bite. Most fish that we caught were 8-12" but I did land one rainbow that was 15-16". I'm sure there are even bigger fish in this stretch.

Had a cool zen moment fishing the Tenkara rod with Ben. I'm not sure where we got the term but Ben and I have talked about "zen sets" where you just know you have a bite and set the hook. Some runs are just so good and some drifts feel so right that it has to equal a fish. I was watching Ben cast the Tenkara rig and in the middle of a perfect drift in a perfect run I said, "Man I just got that zen feeling. I can't believe that wasn't a fish". Ben went to pick up to cast again and..... fish on.... We both looked at each other and laughed. So when in doubt, zen set! Doesn't cost you anything and it could score you a fish.

Zen Fish

Speaking of Tenkara.... I haven't really paid it much attention till this trip. Cool concept but I like my gear so I haven't put it down long enough to give Ben's Tenkara rod a shot. This weekend I took the time to give it a shot and it was really a lot of fun.You'd be surprised what you can reach with a 12 foot rod. We were actually fishing a two nymph rig (sacrilege!) on it and we were getting silky smooth runs with 0 fly line in the water.

Everything was very familiar until the indicator went under. What the hell do I do now!? It was a fleeting feeling that I needed to do something more. Then I realized the beauty of Tenkara. You don't do anything but keep even pressure on. Nice! No fly line to get on the spool or drag to worry about. Just keep even pressure. Fun way to catch a fish. Now it's just a matter of how big of a fish we can land on the ol' bamboo telescope rod thing. :)