La Cumbre On The Return Trip 29May18

Tom & Leslie and Kala humored me on the return leg of our drive from PHX to COS with a stop at La Cumbre and Pho 79. Pho 79 is a Vietnamese place I chose for lunch. La Cumbre is a very fine craft brewery in Albuquerque and one especially talented with IPAs. You may have had their Elevated IPA, it's available in a few spots in CO and is very good. I had really enjoyed Project Dank on tap at Richardson's (and once prior in COS in a bottle) so was in pursuit of the on-site experience and some of this tasty project IPA when stopping by at the taproom & brewery today. Project Dank is only produced in March of each year and sold out quickly but some southwestern spots, including the taproom, are still tapping kegs. They didn't have any Dank to go but I did enjoy a couple pints while there. El Cumbre had a cool vibe, great labels and very good IPAs - I tried all they had but still drank the Dank (check the taproom menu where Dank is declared with IBUs of "a lot.") ~ so good.

Oh yeah... saguaro and barrels are bloomin' to beat the band right now. The are prolific in drought years especially, as they "think" they need to procreate due to tough times - in typical years there are fewer flowers but the Sonoran Desert had only 3" of rain last year when the average is 7".

Finally today, I tried a really good NE style IPA called Boom Sauce from Lord Hobo Brewing in Massachusetts. Matt recommended it and it is very good. 

Phoenix Trip 24May18-28May18

Kala & I traveled with Tom & Leslie to Phoenix to celebrate my sister's 60th and Josh Gordon's wedding with Hannah Rosen. The ride down was pretty quick with multiple drivers. Along the way we stopped to visit Tom's brother Anton and his wife in Katy in their gorgeous home in the Boulders in Carefree above Phoenix. I dined with Swish (no pic) and we dined at Cowboy Ciao with my MTST exec staff (no pic). We stayed @ Karen Koenig's house hosted by her youngest Jeffrey as she was out of town - she did stock the outside play area with IPAs for me - sweet. We grabbed a few moments with her retired ex and my old friend David Koenig. The J&H wedding was awesome at a funky mod downtown hotel called the Found:re. Speeches were some of the best I've heard and while Steve's was excellent, Josh's brother David's was hysterical - a family of copywriters makes for good copy. It was gr8 to see many of S&A's people again in such a supportive environment. Yeah, that's us at the wedding after-day-party in PJs (to please the bride). At Lethal's we test drove a Jag XK8 in which she was interested but passed (no pic), and we hit one of our fav restaurants, Richardson's (no pic), featuring NewMex food.

So Slow & Crowded In 11 Mile Canyon 22May18

What a difference a week makes... the campground is almost full and it just opened; all the pullouts in the catch & release section had cars; I saw precious little bug sign; I saw only a few fish and none seemed feeding hard; I saw no-one catch a fish, yet there were several guides with clients. I don't exactly know what happened - flow is painfully low and fish are spooky but that's been true prior - perhaps the recent ferocious hail and low pressure has a hand in it. I fished for 2 hrs and got one strike; fortunately I handed her - a 15" rainbow on a black vinyl #22 midge. I'm off to the Sonoran Desert to enjoy the 103° temps and catch up with my 60yr old sis' and old friends.

New Regrettes 22May18

The song's been out there but here its acoustic and a little tighter.

Regrettes - Red Light

Here's the electric version from Kimmel. The stage shows the new album cover.

Regrettes - Red Light

Lax Championship Final Four & More Next WE 21May18

For the 1st time in about 20 years the NCAA D1 lacrosse final four were those expected by the seeding committee. It's been a decent tourney thus far and while I had sentimental favorites which have fallen already, I am not surprised by the finalists. It should be a great weekend @ Gillette Stadium in Boston with the 2 D1 semis on Sat May 26th and the D2 & D3 championships on Sun May 27th, then the champ game @ 1pm ET on Mon May 28th. Here's the bracket thus far.

The LaxBuddy 2018 challenge is hotly contested right now with Kala and her brother-in-law with perfect brackets. Yet, we all have different final winners so it comes down to that for sure.

Tyin' The Vinyl KF Midge 21May18

Other than the Awesome Midge, the Vinyl KF (Flasher) is my most productive midge imitation. The vinyl body is shiny like a real midge and naturally segmented and it is much sturdier than the Awesome Midge. I tie it in #22 and #24 sizes and in 4 colors: olive, black, root beer and grey. I'll provide instructions using the olive for example but the other colors are tied exactly the same but just with alternate colored materials for thread, body and thorax - pearl Krystal Flash is always the same. Here are some soldiers ready to attack - color looks weird here, they are more olive than they look here in the flybox. All these images are a bit weak... deal with it.

Recipe/Ingredients are very simple...

• #22-#24 Tiemco 2487 hook
• 70 olive (or olive brown) UTC UltraThread
• Head: none
• Tail: none
• Body: UTC olive vinyl rib in size midge with XS copper wire overwrap
• Thorax: olive brown superfine
• Wing: 2 strands of pearl Krystal Flash

Here we go with typing instructions...

Put hook in vice and bind on thread to middle

1st tie in XS copper wire with 5 wraps (remember
to have wire extend full length of hook to eye);
next tie in vinyl rib stretching it as you wrap
thread to just beyond 50% of bend (leave a tag
end of vinyl half as long as distance to eye -
you'll wrap over this as you go forward)

Wrap thread forward over vinyl and wire -
vinyl will stretch naturally as you wrap forward -
rest the bobbin on thread holder arm

Wrap vinyl with adjacent wraps while stretching it
pretty tightly to get an even and shiny body -
binding this in and trimming is the tricky part:
without loosing tension on the vinyl, tightly wrap
twice over it with the thread and then once in front -
now without loosing tension on the thread, stretch
and trim the vinyl close.

Over-wrap the copper wire forward; bind it in
with 2 wraps of thread and helicopter off excess

Fold Krystal Flash in half and tie in wings with 2 wraps
then a locking wrap in front (not shown)

Trim KF strand off close, then add a thin tube
of dubbing to thread for thorax

Wrap dubbing for thorax and whip finish -
then trim KF wings to just short of bend - 
the Vinyl KF Midge is ready to fool fish

Here's the black Vinyl KF midge.

Random Fly Tying Tips 21May18

Still tying many missing flies from the spring campaigns - and my shitty casts into trees or drowned logs. As I tie I do some things naturally and some things need relearning each time I sit down - I thought passing some random nuggets along might aid someone.

Size & Proportions Count... Make sure to use the right beads and wire sizes together with whatever hook you've chosen. Things can be different of course but guidelines are below.

Hook Size	Bead Size	Wire Size	Lead Size
#14	2.3	BR	0.015
#16	2.3	BR	0.015
#18	2.0	S	0.010
#20	2.0	S
#22	1.5	S/XS
#24	1.5	XS

When sizing a thorax it will likely be about the size of the beadhead or a smidge larger. If there is no beadhead then make it that size anyway. Dubbing thoraxes are a must skill - sizing the noodle of dubbing is a learned skill but I like the noodle small and tight and I almost always just dub with spit rather than wax. When making mayfly tails, make them about the length of the hook shaft and have them start at the top of the bend or just after. When creating mayfly legs make them them as long as the hook gap. "Always" tie materials in the full length of a fly in order to have a consistent and smooth body. Nymphs are smooth on top so don't have wild shit pointing up from the hook - that's often why material mimicking a wing casing are useful to make a clean fly on top.

Techniques... Handling thread and its tension for different situations is a learned thing but critical to consistent results.

• You need only do 3-4 wraps on a whip finish but you can use a few more if you need buildup - watch to not block the eye of the hook (it's a pain in the field to not be able to thread the hook on easily).
• Do at least 6-7 wraps to bind thread onto the hook. I strongly prefer threads that "flatten out" and almost exclusively use UTC UltraThread in 70 or 140 (larger) denier.
• Tie down materials with 2 wraps and perhaps a locking wrap in front of material before cutting off excess. Remember to maintain tension on the bobbin thread so as to not let the material slip. Use thumb and index finger to hold thread into right spot if needed before synching down hard.
• Typically tie "all" materials on top of the hook; it's so much easier to manage that way. Use thumb and index finger to reposition to "on top" as needed. An exception is wire - tie that onto the side to give the body width rather than height.
• Learn to use a bobbin rest arm with your vice, there's no better way to get the thread out of the way for wrapping material and still maintaining thread tension.
• Have just the materials and tools you need to tie the target fly with out on the bench in reach - put other distracting stuff away - except the beer; have it within ready reach - do not exceed one sip per completed fly.

Tyin' My Cheeseman Emerger Variant 21May18

I learned this "guide fly" (aka so simple it's brilliant) from Chris Ramos - a gifted guide from SoCO, especially when it comes to coaxing the beasts from the Cheeseman Canyon section of the So Platte. My tie varies from his a bit and I'll show the olive whereas Chris often brings grey too. This is a thread-body micro-mayfly emerger for finicky (and deep) tailwater trout (but frankly I think they could be taking it equally for springtime emerging midges with trailing shucks)... who cares, it's easy to tie and regularly fools 20+" fish. The CE is easily in the top three of my "goto" tailwater imitations - at least when tied in my variation. ;) Here they are ready to attract our big tailwater cutbows.

Recipe/Ingredients... are very simple

• #22-#24 Tiemco 2487 hook
• 70 olive UTC UltraThread
• Head: black nickel tungsten
• Tail: 2 fiber of olive Krystal Flash
• Body: olive thread topped with straightened KF material
• Thorax:3/4 olive superfine mixed with 1/4 olive ice dub
• Wing: ~1/3 thickness of white Antron yarn

Here We Go...

The hardest part is getting the tiny 1.5mm bead on
#22 or #24 hook - stuff is small and fit is tight.
So... do that and then bind on the olive thread
and wrap back to the bend, then back to the
bead then back to the bend forming nice body

Fold a strand of olive KF in half and tie it in
at the end of the body/bend - leaving a
shank length of "tail"

Take out the twists of the KF strands as you
stretch it over the top of the body - then bind
KF strands in behind the bead and cut off excess

Tie in a piece of 1/3 thickness of a strand of
white Antron, leaving room for a thorax - trim it
clean near the bead (unlike the image here,
this is tricky unless you start with a clean end )

Dub on a very slim tube of the thorax dubbing
mixture of 2/3 olive superfine and 1/3 olive ice.

Wrap the dubbed thorax to about the same
size as the bead.

Whip finish then trim the Antron emerging wing
to just shy of the bend

Trim the KF "tail" to length ~ shank length

FINAL GR8 DRC CE

Tyin' The Merc Head Flash Back Pheasant Tail Mayfly Nymph 20May18

I am out of many bugs and need to do some tying. So during some replenishment I'll do low-tech tying instructions for grins... here are the tying instructions for one of my favorite mayfly nymphs (it's great during pre-emerger times, but Destiny's Child and the merc head RS2 are better during emergence IMO). During spring my desired size is typically a #20 and during fall it drops to a #22. By using mainly natural materials for most of this fly, a very "buggy" and swishy imitation results... it is often not as durable but its a deadly mayfly-alike especially dead drifted through the riffles above a deeper hole or run.

In The Box Ready To Deploy

Recipe/Ingredients

• #18-#22 Tiemco 101 hook
• 70 rusty brown UTC UltraThread
• Head: mercury glass bead
• Tail: ~8 pheasant tail fibers
• Body: wrapped PT fibers with counter-wrapped S copper wire
• Thorax:2 peacock herl pieces twisted together
• Wing Casing: pheasant tail fibers pulled over thorax with M opal mylar mirage tinsel on top
• Legs: pheasant tail fibers split and tied in pulled down

Here We Go...

Place bead on and bind on rusty brown thread

Tie in copper wire and wrap to bend;
I like to just stick wire 1/2 into bead to secure

Select 6-8 PT fibers; align perpendicular to stem
and yank them off

Size tail = shank, then tie in fibers with 2 wraps,
then wrap thread in from of PTs to bead
(I'm a little long in the tail here)

Carefully wrap the clump of PT fibers around
shank smoothly & bind in @ 4/5 point

Counter-wrap (strengthens fly) copper wire 5-7X
and bind down; helicopter off tag end wire
(take care binding as counter wraps tend
to unwind on bind-in)

Tie in pearl or opal M mylar tinsel facing to tail

Wrap over PT fiber to point them rearward
in prep for a thorax and wing casing

Tie in 2 pieces of peacock herl and move thread
forward to just behind bead

Twist/spin peacock herl pieces together ~6X
(again, for strength)

Wrap peacock ~4X then bind in behind bead and
trim excess (I usually just bust it off)

Pull PT fibers over peacock thorax flattening
and widening them; bind in behind bead

Separate PT fiber evenly to each side with
mylar in the middle and bind in mylar 

Hold PT fibers down and back with thumb and
index finger and take 2 extra wraps

Whip finish fly (hold fibers down & back if you can)

Read to slay 'em