Just Reflections & Shadows Artsy Stuff 15Dec15

I'm taking a photography class at Bemis. Meh, the instructor is pretty scattered. I did some artsy stuff at the COS Fine Arts Museum. Here's a sample of only the shadows cast by exhibit pieces.

Blood Moon Monk 08Dec15

Mix of Black IPA and Quad Belgian ale - Baker's can brew - it's awesome. Love the color of a blood moon. ~70 IBUs and 8+% ABV. I'm here for $2 Tuesdays but had to pay $4 for this special concoction. New School here is still my fav IPA from Summit brewers - and it was $2/pint. Half price sirracha shrimp po boy on Baker's baguette was tasty too.

Coffin's Tailwater Flies 07Dec15

These are my six most productive Colorado tailwaters flies other than a "weight fly" or an RS2… three BWO mayflies and 3 midges. All of them are fished “wet” and intended to dead drift or dynamic drift at the level of feeding fish. These flies have taken the most and the largest fish from the Arkansas, So Platte, Blue, and Williams Fork rivers for me this year. These are all my custom designs, though all are variants of stuff tied by Colorado guides and tiers.

Awesome Midge
This unusual midge is made mostly from materials often tossed. Tied #22-26 this is my most prolific producer on the PT and is a variant of a tie I learned from Smethurst. It’s made from rusty brown thread, a body of stripped peacock herl coated with Hard As Nails, “wings” of pearl Krystal Flash and thorax of a blend of grizzly hackle duff and peacock herl fibers (dubbed on with Loon super tacky wax). The thorax is so natural and “swishy” in the water and peacock herl is perfectly grey-brown and segmented.
Blood Midge
This is not the classic bought in stores or online. Tied on the #18-22 TMC202R hook, my three key variants are a mirrored red XS glass bead, an underlayer of pearl mylar below the red D-Rib and gills of Medora thread protruding from the front of the bead. Whether an attractor or THE bug big fish are seeking, the translucent segmented red ribbing with underlying flash and front gills are irresistible.
Jimi’s Axe Midge
Renamed from Blessing’s Purple Haze due to my size and materials changes, I tie this in #20-#22 and use smaller ones as the season moves on. It’s really either a mayfly with flash tail or more likely a midge with trailing shuck. I use root bear midge Krystal Flash as shuck, purple & blue holographic mylar for body, a custom blend of purple & black UV ice dub for the thorax, and either black hen hackle tips or raven tips for the hackle-tied legs (material must be NOT stiff). Fish it in a bit faster water and light will sparkle off the purple and fish will inhale it.
Cheeseman Emerger Mayfly
Chris Ramos’s design for Cheeseman Canyon is a micro-mayfly for super-technical waters. It is a perfect, easily tied, fast-sinking fly for most tailwaters… a smidge better in spring when the BWOs are more olive-ish but paradoxically, it’s smaller than most BWOs hatching then. I tie #22-#24 with a black-nickel tungsten bead, olive thread body with pearl Krystal Flash tail and flashback, small white Antron wing and custom blend of olive superfine and peacock ice dubbing. Simple and perfect.
DRC’s Fly of Destiny (FOD) Mayfly
Tied initially by O’Grady of the Drift Fly Shop in Pueblo, this has quickly risen as a go-to BWO pattern for me alongside my mercury bead RS2 Medora emergers. I tie it almost exclusively in #22 though I will likely add larger versions for springtime. I tie it using gray-brown thread and a gun-metal blue XS glass bead; the tail is 8 pheasant tail fibers (which are carried forward and make the wing casing and legs/wings too). The body is simply thread with XS copper ultrawire ribbing. The thorax is callebetis (gray & lavender) UV ice dub. Not a crawler or emerger… or is it either, or both.
Silver Surfer Mayfly
This is an Kingrey-derived all-flash mayfly emerger. It is intended for days when the water is off-color and visibility is low. It has produced beyond my expectations in these conditions. I tie it #18-#22. I use grey wet hackle fibers for the tail and tips of same for the hackle/legs. The body is silver holographic mylar overwrapped with blue S ultrawire, and the thorax is silver ice dub. The colors don’t occur in nature so I am unsure why it works so well but I sure know it does.

I Can't Say Enough About This Schitt 07Dec15

I completed my live testing of the tiny Schitt DAC and Amps. As the blog post title implies, I am thrilled. I chose the Vali tube amp ($119) over their Magni 2 solid state amp ($99) but both were unexpectedly awesome. The Vali is paired with Schitt's Modi 2 DAC ($149 for Uber version - to get wall power vs USB power) and drives my AKG 702 cans wonderfully; .6w was plenty of power. The Vali made these faithful reproducers smoother. They sound better now mated with this Schitt than with my original outfit for them (Eddie Current SS amp + Cambridge Magic DAC) coupled to the Win7 media-server PC (and costing more). There's a mellow glow of the tiny tubes inside the amp giving the box a glow and warm touch. The only weird aspect of the set is that while they are of the same exact form factor, they are finished differently... the Modi 2 is brushed aluminum and the Vali is dimpled anodized, wtf. I also did A-B compares on optical vs USB cabling from my Mac to the Modi DAC. As expected, I couldn't tell a difference (heck they are both just delivering bit streams) but it was cool to discover the fact that a Mac outputs digital optical through a hidden dual-purpose mini-DIN jack. With comparisons completed I'll move the outfit to Summit. Test material was my own mp3 and flac library as well as Google Play's ~380Kbps service stream. I highly recommend the Schitt Modi 2 and either tiny mated amp. This Schitt is so cool. [And you all need to recognize the perfected depth of field in the image ;)]

Final Schitt installation spot in Silverthorne with Google Play streaming Vampire Weekend via USB bitstream. Recognize nothing more in this image other than composition as it was an ill-lighted, auto-driven iPhone shot.

All Small From The PT 03Dec15

It was a nice day but that made the Pueblo Tailwater pretty crowded. I went to Valco and fished several spots (but the big holes were occupied) and caught about two smallish fish per hour. Nothing of any size. All the bugs worked fine... rainbow warrior, red midge, DRC's FOD, RS2 and Jimi's Axe were all productive. I did catch one tiny brown on a dry during the BWO hatch. The crowds and mediocre catch have altered my plans - I doubt I'll go back for a while, at least not in good weather.

I used the new Patagonia boots today on the PT. Given low flows it was not a big challenge but the fit and function were excellent. As reported, grip on streambed and rocks, even yucky ones, was excellent. The grip on mossy logs was not however - I'll have to remember to step over, not onto, wet wood. I had to do a ton of walking today in search of open water and while the boots are a bit heavy they are not uncomfortable, despite the metal on the soles. All in, very favorable; good news.

Desktop Audio Reimagined 02Dec15

Once More Into The Audio (& Apple) Abyss... I sought an "entry level" desktop audio system for the Silverthorne study to accompany my Mac and standing desk. Oh yeah... who knew NorCal was reinventing audio as well as computing. I not only discovered that Mac has HD digital audio out via an optical TosLink connection hidden in the headphone connector but also that Schiit (yep, pronounced "shit") of NorCal has ultra-valued DACs and headphone amps built in America. I'll be comparing a sub-compact tube amp called the Vali against their solid state amp called the Magni 2, and I'll be driving them from the optical port of my MacBook Pro at 192KHz through a desktop DAC called the Modi 2 Ultra. All in, electronics and cabling will be <$300 and my transducers will be the venerable AKG K702s (~$270). My general rule in video/audiophile-ville is to pay the same for electronics as transducers as displays. Ultimately the two component stack will be only ~3"x4"x5". This won't rival my magneplaner Audeze headphones with the WooAudio WA7 tube amp/DAC driven from a dedicated Win 10 Surface (which I can listen to for many hours without fatigue) but it won't suck at all. I hope I prefer the "warmer" tube amp but output will be only ~.6w into my 60Ω headset vs 1w from the solid state. The stuff kindof matches the Mac and Thunderbolt display... America is so cool (I know, the headphones are Austrian).

Planning to Fish 01Dec15

Welcome to December. I recently acquired two excellent books as to fishing in Colorado. You may know Landon Mayer as a great guide out of COS, or as a tyer, or as an author, or as a guy always shown with huge fish. I just read his excellent 2011 book Colorado's Best Fly Fishing - I wish I'd had it sooner. He profiles most of the 170 miles of Gold Medal water (and other water) in the state and he describes well the hatches and which streams have the best of each. This is great for planning 2016 and a desire to diversify from the "local" streams only... more later on that. I am also reading Mike Kephart's book Colorado's Lost Lakes and Secret Places. This is a decent book on the high country around the state and was acquired again with an eye on planning fishing trips. I'd have to say the Landon's is a "must have" for CoWWs as it is highly relevant and informative. Given those books, and some others in my library I will be stopping at Blue Quill Angler this coming Saturday on my way to Summit - many of the authors will be there 11am-2pm and I'll meet them and have them sign my books (my gosh I have Gierach, Dorsey, Mayer, Engle and Kephart). FYI if you wanna join; Blue Quill is Dorsey's place. Too, I'm gonna hit the PT later this week.

Waders & Specs For Old Folks 24Nov15

As my Guide wading boots have been resoled a number of times and when dry they are hard to put on, I have searched for the next pair. I sold my last rubber-soled G4s "experiment" to DD - super easy on & easy off, but slippery for me and just not the right fit. I went to Angler's Covey and tried the G3s but rejected them again (as I did prior) due to fit as they hurt my ankle. All's good as I believe my next pair has just arrived in the mail, Patagonia Foot Tractors. No one had them in COS to try so I went to Backcountry. They were much more expensive than Simms so I hope they work. Around the house they are like slippers so fit seems stellar - the toe box is very big for warmth in thicker socks but fit for control is still great. What makes these so unusual is that they are outfitted with aluminum bars on the sole of the boot. The bars are somewhat maleable and are designed to grab rocks - reviews have raved about this aspect (including a 68 year old western states fisherman who swears by the gen 1 version). I bought the gen 2 version created this year. They might be a little heavy but who notices that in the river - and hiking on dry land long distances might not be as comfy as my Guides. I hope they work for me.

Also, DD will be glad to learn I finally availed myself of the VSP and bought a new pair of glasses. This is after like 8 years in my last pair. Some German metallurgist guy left their aerospace industry to make hypoallergenic frames and optics. OvvO... superlight titanium alloy.

Magnum P Ale 23Nov15

First taste of an Amber I brewed 2 weeks ago.-Mouth feel is nice but could use a bit more CO2. Its only been on the CO2 for a couple days. Good finish.-Color came out perfect for what I was shooting for.-Pretty bitter, but not too much. I haven't brewed with Magnum Hops before and I think I will again for sure.  I was going for slightly more hop flavor. - Good fruity smell, not as much hop smell I was expecting from the Cascade hops.- light alcohol at about 5% as expected with the light grain bill.

Extract Recipe

Grains:

6.6lbs LME

1lb Caramel 20L

Hops:

1 oz Magnum 60min

1 oz Cascade 20 min

1 oz Cascade  5 min

Yeast:

Safale 05

Moonrise Save 23Nov15

As forecast I went to the PT on this gorgeous day in Pueblo. I caught a sufficient number of smallish fish out of Nature Center in the AM on silver surfer, DRC's FOD and black ice weight... in recognition of the BWO hatch. Did I say small fish... in a pretty crowded environment... with a decent fall BWO hatch on... grrr. That said, I went early enough to grab the first weir and did jack and then the carp hole and did jack. I fished all the way to the Valco bridge skipping folks as needed... I headed back to the car for lunch early and drive up to Valco. Also somewhat crowded upstream from Valco but I still managed to coax some fish in - still smallish relative to what's REALLY in the stream. I reached the hatchery feed, and a good unoccupied deep hole just below it, about moonrise. Things began to change... I hooked 3 big fish in a row (with an astonished nearby fishless couple as onlookers) but didn't land them despite 10-15 minute fights each and having one at my feet (but below the weir). They were really fighting long and hard and I could not cajole them to shallow water. I was getting nervous. Then I hooked another and finally landed him (blood red midge larva) after another big battle. And then another breakoff of something really big which raced through the water like a torpedo. And then landed a 20"er, but kindof skinny, on Jimi's Axe. Moonrise above Valco basically saved the day for me finally with some true PT activity... so cool.

Happy Birthday to Me 21Nov15

I finished my custom tournament spec "Colorado Is So Cool" cornbag game set today. [Yea - it's called cornhole everywhere else but at least back in the day that had a undesired connotation, so I've renamed it cornbag.] I suppose "everyone" needs a cornbag game set to accompany drinking beer and Kala gave me the perfect IPA glasses (shown here with Modus) to assure each cornbag toss is funnier than the last. The beer meisters as Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada collaborated with Speigelau to fashion these IPA-specific glasses. Supposedly the ribs jostle the beer releasing hops and citrus aroma which the narrowed rim keeps near your nose. She also gave me some Belgian ale tulips too which appropriate for IPAs; we are gonna compare). "IPAs Are So Good."

Whoa... then we went to the Smiling Toad brewery... a very unassuming place south on 8th street from #24. We had IPAs - the BEST I've had in COS! IPA Freely is their headliner, Fulcrum is their double and Winter Red is their red. Freely is excellent and citrusy, Winter Red is as good, ne' better, IMO than Pike's red; the Fulcrum is "ok." If you have a chance to hit this spot (and you do 'cause you often ride in the area), I highly recommend it. Then, I tried a Madarin Modus in the alternative glass style - also very good - and the glassware worked well too. Great birthday with Kala.

Windy, Warm and Nearly Worthless 20Nov15

I got out to the PT again despite the forecast for wind. Forecast was accurate... it was howling and gusting, making casting nigh impossible. And, it kept the hatch mostly off. It was a comfy day though as it was warm and sunny. I arrived on the water at 10:30am and did score a good hole but really did little there; there were quite a few fishermen, some guided. I did catch fish on the silver surfer, DRC's FoD and a blood red midge above the Nature Center but mostly smaller fish (smaller even than yesterday, like 10"). I did manage to get one nice 18" 'bow on the red midge deep in a hole above Valco in the afternoon after I moved up there. It was 63° when I left at 3:40pm and 33° degrees when I got home. I think conditions are telling me something - "move on to skiing Dave." Still...

Prep for Late Fall on PT 18Nov15

I'm coming off a "win" at Keystone... successful re-entry onto snow. And I'm headed to the PT tomorrow despite CO Dept of Wildlife planning to do elctro-shock fish inventory around the Valco bridge. In prep for the outing I sense I need to add some winterish bugs to augment the purple Jimi's Ax that worked well last outing. Visibility is still just ~18" so flash is in order (but it always is).

I need a small BWO emerger to compliment my mercury head RS2 and I found a recipe from O'Grady at the Drift Flyshop called the Fly of Destiny. I mimicked it some but added a metallic blue bead as a head and changed materials a bit (#22 TMC2487 hook, rusty-dun/gray-brown thread, metallic blue glass XS bead, 8 pheasant tail fibers for the tail then left in for the wing/legs, XS copper wire ribbing, UV callibaetis ice dub (kindof grey and lavender UV)... put on bead, start thread, tie in tail, tie in wire, build slim thread body, wrap wire, move thread in front of remaining PT fibers with several wraps, dub callebetis UV ice dub thorax, fold PT fibers over thorax for wing casing, tie in fibers behind eye and separate 4 fibers on each side of thorax sweeping back, secure fibers and then whip finish). This one should be awesome with low winter flows when BWOs are hatching, like now... let's just call it Dave's FoD.

I need a cobalt blue headed midge larva with a little more visibility than my highly imitative Awesome midge I tie for for spring. I don't know what to call this blue-headed green midge. It features a cobalt blue glass head, a green thread body with krystal flash rib wrap, and peacock UV ice dubbed thorax.

These flies plus some silver stuff if viz is really bad and some larger red midge larva should be my rig. I'll report results on all the new ties in a subsequent field update.

Ok... I hit the PT about noon at the Nature Center. It was crowded and I was relegated to fishing between the good holes/weirs. I caught quite a few fish but none too big - most ~14". I fished upstream pretty quickly, moving around guys as needed, and caught up to the electro-shock raft. I turned back intent on getting to Valco before it got too dark. I was pleased with the performance of DRC's FoD; it took most of the fish till later in the day. It is not as rugged as I'd like though - the PT fiber wing casing tends to shred. The glass bead version shown above actually seemed to work a bit better this particular day. The bug activity was astounding... I should've arrived earlier to get some good spots and hit more of the BWO hatch (I thought I'd be there in plenty of time but was not). The flows are very low but visibility is still only mediocre. In the PM at Valco a new #18 red vinyl midge on 202R hook took a couple nicer fish as did the cheeseman emerger (I was thinking the mayflies are pretty small). I didn't fish the cobalt blue headed midge. All rainbows... very few fish were really worthy of imaging but my camera is back at Fuji for repair anyway.

Skunked on a Late Arkansas Outing 08Nov15

While Greg made us almost real fishermen with a 10" brown to net (plus another), Daryle, Jim and I couldn't muster even a strike on our variety of flies flicked past their noses. The water was cold @ 38° and flows were "recently" bumped by 100cfs, but that's no excuse for this gorgeous fall day in the Arkansas river valley in Big Horn Sheep Canyon. We visited (I can't say fished) Pinnacle Rock and Five Points for this downfall. Insulting after injury was a stop at Royal Gorge Brewery (good stuff and vibe actually in Canon City) for beers, wings and to watch the Broncos falter.

One Weight Decisions 02Nov15

Hitting the small streams this past season begged for something even lighter and smaller than my 3 weight... I went on the hunt. I narrowed the choice and compared the TFO Lefty Kreh Finesse 1 weight ($190 new but no tube) with the Sage TXL-F 1 weight (discontinued price ~$400, normally $650 - their "Little One" is the replacement ultralight at $850) after research. The TFO is ~6'9" long and the Sage is 7'10" and both have lifetime, no questions, replacement warranties (important to me), are 4 pc rods and are 2+ ozs. It really wasn't a fair contest at the end of the day - I could cast more delicately, accurately and further with the Sage - perhaps its the length but the taper seemed finer acting too. I also chased down a Sage Click reel (also prior gen) - here I got a $280 reel on sale for $200 clearance then presented a 25% off coupon to score it for $150. My Click II weighs 2 1/3 ozs and balances the TXL nicely. I would've liked bronze or lime to match the brown rod color - but not for +$100, so black it is. The setup is loaded with Rio LT 1 weight line (unusual departure from SA GPX for me but they don't make a 1 wt). I may not be able to get this setup on the water in 2015 but I am excited for it's packing and small stream potential - perfect for Indian Peaks Wilderness and RMNP. As a consequence of finding the Click at Sierra Trading Post, I had it shipped to the new store in town to avoid shipping charges ;) - the store (@ Powers & Barnes) is worth a visit as the prices are awesome (if you don't know STP already) and the selection is very good right now (ski apparel, etc.)... Kala scored a well reviewed GoreTex Marmot rain jacket for <50% of REI price for instance. If you go, find the 25%-30% off coupons.

West Creek Brook Trout 01Nov15

Today I stole out (mid-day, late - sorry GL) for West Ck (outside Woodland Pk) and while I was lost for an hour on 4wd roads I finally arrived. The trip is basically among an ATV & dirt bike haven with campers all toting the toys. Below shows orange following the roads I took in and green shows where I fished... the water is a couple miles between two private pieces of property. The water was very cold and I was pleased to find brookies so close to home - who knew? They hit both the BH pheasant tail dropper and the smallish royal coachman dry. West Ck is a super small (4' across) stream totally slammed with willows, so going is bushwhacking. There are some beaver impoundments where "larger" fish were holding. It was a glorious day on the Front Range again so being out was awesome. I started in just sneakers but returned to get neoprene socks and wading boots as the area was marshy enough to make travel better if properly outfitted. All the parts of the 1 weight haven't yet arrived so the 3 was used to rip lips before I got the hang of the small fish again. Fun but I only spent a couple hours fishing and had my fill - probably because the willows made travel and casting pretty challenging.

Livin' The Dream 31Oct15

Greg and I took in the Rocky Mtn Fly Fishing Rendevous up in Denver on Halloween. We heard some good speakers but the guy from 5280 was a substitute for Jamie and basically described how to fish - not how to win on the So Platte. Nonetheless, he didn't suck. We saw Pat Dorsey who pitched heavily from his new book (a copy of which I already own), and Steve Schweitzer who spoke sharply on RNMP fishing (Louise and Fifth are Lks we need to visit). We also learned Arrowhead Lk is the most requested backcountry campsite in the park, because there is just one... reservations for BC sites opens on March 1st. We also witnessed some strong tying and new fly recipes in the "tying theater" including Hopper Juan and a good stone from Carl Pennington. Rick Takahashi's bench and tying was there too. We both snagged Steve's latest book on the Indian Pks Wilderness fishing and got cool signed copies from the authors. Following the event we enjoyed a superior DIPA, Eternal Hoptimist, at Living the Dream microbrewery. Good stuff... the place was abuzz, the college games were on, Pavlo's Taste of Ukraine was in the parking lot, dogs were everywhere.