Non-Dexterous Man vs Ganglion-Equipped Salmonid 29Mar14

In the epic battle of non-dexterous man vs ganglion-equipped salmonid, who wins? The sun shone on the Arkansas tailwater as this hobbled angler landed his first 22" rainbow of the year... it was not pretty but I imagine a fish >2X cast length merits the win. The PT is is moving into prime time and while I didn't experience a BWO hatch, larvae versions worked well. I was long-line nymphing and fact is, everything sub-surface worked when I saw the fish and hit the feeding lane stealthily and accurately enough. I caught fish on tung BH black ice #18, sparkle loop wing RS2 #20, BHPT #20, mercury BH black beauty #20 and olive krystal flasher #22. The day started at 28◦ but warmed to 70◦... the good action started at ~9:30am and lasted till I left at 1:30pm. It was a blast but stripping was much harder than expected and I tested my index too much - landing was easier than expected as I tucked the rod in my armpit and went all righty with the net (the fish had to be decently tired) - removing the fly was often hard and tying new bugs on was sloooooow. I caught many fish moving upstream from Valco Ponds; it was not too crowded; I lost only 3 via long distance release; below are some of the 'bows. I couldn't do the cool hand-holding-fish pic with the broken paw so they are all grounders... it helped me land fish anyway.

PT Redds & Icy Steep Tree 15Mar14

Went 2 for 6 in the AM on the PT. Lost one really nice one and landed the 17"ers. All hooked on mercury flashback black beauty midge. Saw two active redds, a decent midge hatch but no mayflies yet. Fish are moving out into the stream now but the flows are still really low and a bit murky.

Crashed into a tree when my binding released on a steep icy drop off Santiago at Keystone. Went to emergency at Penrose and then had hand surgery days later - a plate and 6 screws for my life's first surgery!

Timing Is Everything 01Mar14

Skied all over Breck on Fri on a gorgeous day after a decent snowfall on Thu PM. Won "skydude" pin or something like that for skiing all the black spots at Breck. My luck was excellent as I was basically in line for opening of Imperial lift and got to ski that early (but Lake Chutes wasn't open) and so too on 6 and Kensho. Also caught Falcon, E and TBar, all with fluff - I stayed on the north facing slopes to avoid the prior week's snowless sunshiney effects. The hike up terrain was opened by patrol almost just as I arrived at the top of Kensho and some did head skier right to rad lines on chutes there... I was a bit lazier and went looker right to the new deposits above Wonderland.

Then on Sat I hit Keystone in a blizzard. I70 was closed at Silverthorne creating gridlock even exiting Wildernest and too many folks being fed onto Rt 6. It took 2 hrs from condo (passing many lame vehicles unable to gain traction) to the top of Dercum in gondola. The day was decent there though wind howled on the Outlook hike-in ridgeline and sapped my enthusiasm for that... plus the lines went beyond weekend long. I took advantage of the rarely skied (as it's usually dirt) trees adjoining WayBack which was awesome too and scored some other tree runs off Dercum.