It's Not Colorado But... 29May15

Headed out between the rainstorms to a very full pond... 2 bluegills on a #16 stimulator... sunset was true Texas.

Hope you boys have a good weekend. 

Follow Up Spins 17May15

I capitalized on the quad pain from Blodgett this weekend with a couple of 20s on Sante Fe and so on. Had to go in the AM of course to miss the 14th and 15th straight days of rain and hail. Kala joined on Sun so that was cool. Our normal May yields like 1/4" of precip - this year we have >7"!

"Gimme Somethin' Hard ColoRADo" - SuperFly 14May15

Some of the CoWWs and guest star SuperFly climbed Blodgett, up 2400ft over 2 miles. It was a great climb through the southern talus field and onto the false front summit, and then ridge crossing to Blodgett Pk in a hail storm with thunder-snow. SuperFly dispatched himself very well, displaying all the prowess needed for the Cutthroat Challenge, and all the gear as well, including the Howler cap and "are you kidding me face." So much water was trundling down the Front Range that we even forged a few creeks creeks (or trails turned into washes) on this normally dry outing. The Cerevisiaevelo Piscator treated us to some Pinners chilled in a hail pile... awesome. My knee and body held up too after a year layoff so bring on the Epic Pass. The team all agreed that this was a great hike.


SuperFly and GR8FishMan hit 11 Mile and endured 3 hailstorms and 30mph winds to land some fish.Fishing was kindof slow really due to cold temps and cold water. This till the next time we can shred the gnar-gnar.

Mom's Day Lax, RS2s & Hydrostop 10May15

Kala and I watched a lot of great, and some not great, lacrosse games this weekend. The Sweeter 16 played in the first round of the NCAA D1 tourney. My and Kala's brackets are doing fine; Albany, DU and Johns Hopkins were amazing. Next weekend the quarterfinals are in Denver... Hmmm. I also tied a bunch of replenishing RS2s... here I offer a pic of these, my mainstay BWO emergers. Both are mercury glass beadheads but one is tied with Medora thread for the wing and the other with braided flash for the wing - I tie some without the mercury too. Finally a new technique: I just discovered Hydrostop, a Loon product which pre-siliconizes dry flies. I compared some dries on the Arki last outing to test it... some had been "Hydrostopped" and some had not. This stuff works like magic... much longer lasting than on-stream siliconizing and not as goopy.

Head Fake Flows 04May15

If you've followed our Front Range fishing blog for any time you know the 1st rule is to "check the flows," so I did - it was ~500 cfs on the PT. I saw nice weather, with a low providing cloud cover for the spring mayfly hatch; I saw flows had dropped from a gorging 1200 cfs to 500 cfs and held for 4 days. I saw prime weather for fishing perfection on the PT. Whaaaat? I arrive and cannot cross or barely wade - flow topped 800 cfs - sheesh, once more into the torrent I go. Did OK landing a silvery 19"er and others  but I missed many due to their swimming downstream of me coupled to my unwillingness to chase for fear of biffing in the bigs. I left early but my Awesome Midge and MHFB RS2 did the trick mid-day. Further, as evidenced on Facebook, Kala and I finally caught the Silverthorne pic I sought and my T captured the recognition that 1/3 of our economy is derived from Cal but we design with high standards in CO. Colorado is so cool... Cal too so I reprise tk here tracking over the SoCal desert with the only lake still full there in view... yeah too, he won his 1st comp recently in RW (relative work) where his 2-man team made more formations in less time, before pulling the ripcord, than any others... sheesh.