Tying Quasimodo BHFBPT 31Aug18

We're headed to Gunnison Co so I need some weight which mimics the venerable maycadstone fly... enter Quasimodo. The Q is a tungsten beadhead, flash back, pheasant tail (BHFBPT) fly which works well as a top fly on freestones - like the Ark, the Gunny, and the Fork. I don't know what fish think it is but I prefer gold and brass variants of this in #20 and #22. Here's a set ready to hunt.

Recipe/Ingredients:

• Hook: #20-22 TMC 2488H
• Thread: 70 rusty brown UTC UltraThread
• Head: 2mm copper or gold tungsten bead
• Tail: ~8 pheasant tail fibers
• Body: pheasant tail fibers counter-over-wrapped with copper or gold S wire
• Thorax: 2 peacock herl (I prefer mixing a reddish one with a green one)
• Wing Casing: pheasant tail flattened then topped by pearl mylar tinsel
• Legs: pheasant tail fibers folded back and trimmed

Here We Go...

Add tungsten bead (copper or gold - opening to back)
to 2488H hook and place in vise

Select (assuring even) 8 mottled brown-olive
pheasant tail fibers and tie on with 2 wraps -
also tie in size S wire in color matching bead

Fold back tag of clump of PT fibers - wrap over
the whole mess to 1/2 way pt of hook bend  then
wrap thread back to just behind bead

"Flatten" PT clump and wrap forward evently
to bead and bind in with 2 wraps

After binding, leave tag PT fibers pointing to ceiling;
then counter-wrap wire forward over PT body and bind
in - then helicopter off the tag end

Behind PT fibers. tie in size M pearl mylar

Tie back over everything -
to make room for a thorax ~ size of bead

Bind in 2 pieces of peacock herl and twist them
together ~6X

Wrap herl into a thorax ~4X wraps

Fold PT fiber tags forward over peacock thorax
and bind in just behind bead

Divide PT fiber tag ends into equal L&R amounts
split by pearl mylar brought forward overtop
of PT wing casing

Pull PT tag ends down and back while
whip finishing behind bead head

Trim L&R PT fiber tags to equal lengths just less
than hook gap in size - these are legs

DONE!

Tying The DCEZ WD40 29Aug18

The WD40 is a fine fly - who knows if fish think its a mayfly with tail or a midge with trailing shuck? - But it is simple and effective and I've made it a pure guide fly that's even simpler to tie... I've cut the material list considerably. I use black and olive most often without a beadhead - but I tie it with one sometimes. Here are some #22s ready to launch. Seems like really bad images - sorry.

Recipe/Ingredients:

• #22-24 TMC 2488H hook
• 70 black UTC UltraThread
• Tail: "2" strands pearl Krystal Flash
• Body: black thread
• Thorax: 2 peacock herl twisted together
• Wing: "2" strands pearl Krystal Flash

Here We Go...

Hook in vise - bind on thread - double over
a strand of KF and tie in leaving tail long enough

Wrap down to 50% of bend over KF - and then back
up creating slim slight tapered thread body -
leave a spot for thorax

Fold back the loop of KF and wrap it down

Tie in 2 pieces of peacock herl together and
twist them around each other 6 times
(for strength)

Wrap twisted herl 3-4X to build thorax then
tie in and bust off the tag end of herl

Whip finish and trim wings & tail KF.
DONE!

Tying The Rainbow Warrior 29Aug18

The Rainbow Warrior is one of my favs - is it a PMD nymph or just nothing but attractor? All I know is that it works and it is easy to tie and is a nice weighted fly for CO rivers. I use it especially when a river is turbid - silver seems to work better then - but I use it effectively too during PMD hatch weeks or just as attractor. Here they are ready to deploy.

Recipe/Ingredients:

• #20-22 TMC 2487 hook
• 70 red UTC UltraThread
• Head: 2mm/#20 or 1.5mm/#22 silver tungsten bead
• Tail: ~7 pheasant tail fibers
• Body: medium pearl mylar tinsel
• Thorax: rainbow sow scud dubbing
• Wing Casing: pearl mylar tinsel pulled over top of thorax

Here We Go...

Put bead on hook and bind on thread 

Select 7 PT fibers from "redish" side of feather -
Tear off together with ends even

Tie in PT fibers and adjust length (here tail is too
long) - then wind thread 1/3 down hook bend

Tie in mylar then wrap thread forward smoothly
to bead - wrap on mylar overlapping and bind in at bead

Fold mylar back and tie it down leaving a gap
equal to size of thorax (same size as bead) -
dub a noodle of rainbow sow scud to thread

Form thorax wrapping on dubbing and then pull
mylar over top of thorax and bind in at bead

Whip finish with a couple extra wraps to
allow a small red collar to show. DONE!

Ark @ Hayden Meadows 27Aug18

Late summer makes finding the right fishing spots harder. I headed to COS the back-back way over Fremont Pass and stopped at the Hayden Meadows section of the Arkansas River. This is the first decent headwaters fishing spot on the Ark but it is south of Leadville and Twin Lake effluent. I caught some browns like this on hoppers up top and BHFBPT and rainbow warrior droppers. The water seemed perfect but fishing was meh... though I did arrive at 11am and depart at 1:30pm, so that's a tougher part of the day for fishing. It's always nice to have a pizza & beer at Amica's.

Too Thin To Win On The Eagle 26Aug18

With the Blue raging below Green Mtn Rez and Muddy high too, I headed out to the Eagle River near Edwards. My first stop was the best stop - I parked at the June elementary school and hiked to the river and fished the Miller Ranch easement for about a mile. Remote release on a big brown and some nice 15" rainbows like the one shown and other small browns. Yet, the river is very thin and mid-day slowed considerably. Best flies in late summer were the BHPT and the WD40.

Spectacular Mother Falcon 24Aug18

I'm a sucker for NPR Tiny Desk and they just hosted a 15 piece band who's awesome. Mother Falcon is way worth the time.

Mother Falcon on NPR Tiny Desk

Stellar Interrupters On 91X 24Aug18

Current SKA stuff comes from LA or Latin spots mainly. Here, a fav band from the valley, The Interrupters, shred several tunes in a decent studio @ 91X live. Way worth it for the 3 songs - then take in the new album beginning with the hit She's Kerosine - it'll just sequence in YouTube if ya let it.

The Interrupters Live @ 91X

Dancing @ Pumphouse On The Colorado 24Aug18

I'd not yet hit the big water this year so I took out of the Nest for the Pumphouse section of the Colorado River. I should've looked at the flows as this section was running full on at 1500 cfs and wading was dancing and was sparse. Too much water but I headed up the Gore Trail ~1/2 mile anyway to check out "Disney World" where a bunch of rocks create a perfect playground (this is an area for trout , which I believe Greg went to on his first visit to the CO out this way). It was too high even here to do well so after catching one really beat up 22" rainbow (no pics in deference to his family) at a nice tongue I headed back to the Pumphouse ramps. I was pretty frustrated with rigs and trees and lack of fish but put in one last time and caught several browns including a decent 18"er. No top action and best bug was a cobalt bead silver surfer - I am beginning to see evidence of the fall (psuedo baetis = smaller) BWO mayflies and with the higher and a bit dirtier water, I went silver and rainbow warrior (which also nabbed a brown).

Big Fish Day On The Middle Fk 22Aug18

Ok... big for the Middle Fk @ Tomahawk. The big browns are yet to run up from the rez so this is a holdover. I caught a nice 17" german brown on a tiny San Juan worm @ 38cfs under an undercut bank at Tomahawk SWS on the Middle Fk of the So Platte. Woohoo. It was an inclement day here and I was mostly alone and caught many tiny browns and some "new" rainbows using a stimi top fly and mostly a red san juan and a rainbow warrior. I turned over a lot of "large" browns on the top fly but mostly rejections. Good day celebrated at Outer Range with some hazy dank NE-style IPAs on the way to the Nest.

Arkansas In Late Summer 20Aug18

With cooler days on the WE I was hopeful the Ark in BHSC would fish well. I headed out but had to add 30 min to the drive as the lower canyon was chocolate milk from Hayden fire runoff - above Coaldale the river was nice at 300 cfs. I went all the way to Rincon and caught a gob of browns and one rainbow on nymphs: stoneflies, psuedo baetis mayflies and black midges. I tried a couple big top flies but got no action there. The water felt the right temp but I really don't consider it epic by any means - are the 50 fish days on these waters over? It's been several years for that kind of action for me - plus the fish seemed smaller today. I left pretty early after lunch as the mid-day action slowed.

Mountain Music Fest 18Aug18

Kala and I hit the Keystone Mountain Music festival. Usually this is a great time and 2018 was no exception. The cooler rainy weather kept folks away we think as the crowd was much smaller (and we felt there were fewer vendors too). We ate peach items and listened so a couple bands before leaving ourselves. We arrived to The Dustbowl Revival from Venice Beach - they were very good with many strings, a couple of horns and a cool sound ranging from Ska to Blues; a lead duo did the singing and sounded good. They were followed by The Lone Bellows, a Brooklyn/Nashville group we did not like as well but who's placed their two albums on the Billboard 200; so they are doing something right.