Rivers & Mountains With Yoho 29Mar21-30Mar21

Jim & I headed out to 11 Mile Canyon for our first outing there this season. It sucked... we each probably snagged and lost one fish but featured no other hits. Except me, with 30mph winds I caught plenty of streamside brush. The river was cold and I could see some fish deep but there was not a lot of feeding or breeding activity, despite hundreds of massive redds. Others didn't have "luck" either - I guess we are a week away from strong fishing out there. We left early and hit the Silverthorne tailwater section of the Blue a bit in the afternoon. We fished from I70 to the dam and hit the Cop Hole as well, but with equally weak returns. Can the fish really feel the impact of a new low pressure front?

Fortunately our bad "luck" was completely covered with a nice dinner @ Sauce in Silverthorne, some decent hoops games & tunes on the Nest theater followed by a half a foot of snow for the next day's skiing @ Breck. We got to Breck mid-AM and conditions were excellent - we scored lots of runs in falling snow and plenty of stashes. The new boots are excellent - and a nice orange color match to my Liberty Origin boards and Solomon bindings. Plus, on the way home the roads were just wet so quick rolling. We decided to try Brother Luck's dumpling place called Lucky Dumplings and were pleasantly surprised on most of the tasty dumplings we chose.

Flows Are Up On The PT And A Gear Deal 25Mar21

After a foot of snow and a redo on my root canal I had to lay low for a couple days. It did turn nice today though so I lit out for the Arkansas River tailwater section @ Nature Center. Flows have been jacked by 3.5X to about 225cfs - great flows and manageable. Decent outing with medium-sized cutbows but it was crowded in the lots and on the river and the spawn is still "full on." Only one other team was having success really after chatting with some fisherman at parking. Mine were again on the #22 and #24 Awesome Midge. Little bug sign today and no mayflies yet really as water was cold from snowfall & chill spell. The bite was not on in full as the fish are adjusting to the new flows - it soon will be with a warm snap occurring starting now and the flows apparently holding. The Rodfather AllBlacks was useful with the fighting butt used as the 19"er took me pretty far downstream.

I also want to relate a keen gear deal I discovered. I am always running out of the duff that comes with the desiccant for drying flies. Loon Dust or Shimazaki small "bottles" are ~$10 and last me only a couple weeks. I found Shimazaki does have refills of just the powder (the crystals are heavy and needn't really be replaced) but it's expensive; like $35 for just 5g. I also found that archers dry their arrow feathers similarly to our dry flies. I found the Bohning Feather-Dri bottle of duff with 2X the quantity of Shimazaki for just $11. Recommended.

Streamer Gear Update 22Mar21

I have a 9' “6 wt” Orvis Helios One tip flex & Orvis Mirage III big game reel loaded with SA WF6S line for streamers. The rod measures out with an ERN of 7.8 and AA of 75°!! This is by far my strongest and fastest rod. I always felt I was under-loading the rod with a 6 wt line, and was getting jerked around by the fly as a result. I didn’t like it; I didn't use it. I recently updated the line to an SA Sonar 200 grain head (1st 30 ft) which is more like a 7-8 wt line (mating with the rod much more closely, thanks to measurement understanding) and it made a world of difference in casting; it’s back in rotation with confidence.

With off season research into streamer fishing, especially reading "Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout" from Linsenman & Galloup, watching a bunch of Galloup videos, and discussing the schemes with GLehmann, I am trying to up my game from "backup method" to "goto technique," 'cause the big fish want big meals.

Part of the yield for this season is also a gear change at streamer leader/tippet... I am not planning to "swing" woolly buggers like food but incite strikes as intruders. Slam it and jerk/strip it like a demon. I'll use not only a fast full sinking line of the right weight as described above (to bring the fake bait down & level) but I'm switching to just a three foot leader/tippet rig. I'm using a 1' leader of 20# and a 2' tippet of 12# flouro. Fortunately my fav Japanese tippet manufacturer, released in the US as TroutHunter, just released "Big Game" reels so I've just made up a bunch of the mega rigs ready to go. I'm just going with perfection loop to line and a triple surgeons to tippet. Flouro is great for draggin' over and around rocks... and disappearing.

Coupling new awareness and casting greatness from the updated rig, to the streamer class I took 2 years ago, are some other planned keys. I know #0 from years of hunting the bigs: know the water, cast to fish haunts, like transitions. Else, relative to a streamer attack, are: #1 go beyond the simple strip retrieve... add fishiness to fake bait: do the jerk and the jig, and #2 know your local flies: sculpins, crawfish, baitfish & fry and rotate colors till the bite.

 

UPDATE 3/26... Well, since I was bummed about having to remove a Rodfather rod from the vault to accommodate the streamer rig, I checked out an alternative. I found the Rodfather Rainbow (TFO BVK based 9' 6wt) with a small fixed fighting butt shot the 200 grain head well and is sweetly balanced with the Mirage III. So, I am un-bummed.

Slamming Summit With Wilkes 19Mar21-20Mar21

Tom & Leslie came to the Nest for the weekend. We all have 2 jabs done and enjoyed some time inside & outside. Night one I served a tasty new Dew Hope cocktail of honeydew, cucumber, mint, lemon and gin. I exposed Leslie to the Nest Theater and some music she liked while Tom & Kala solved the world's issues. The weather was pure spring sunshine at Keystone on Fri where Wilks & I slammed down 30Kft of vert via all the mountains. It was Tom's "one day per season" to ski and being a frugal guy he loves getting his fill on that day. The sun made it very enjoyable and very spring-like conditions. But again, we were there early enough for the crispies and stayed long enough to ski the base of mountain slush.

After a delicious but mango-challenged fish taco night from Dave (we had to hit the store 3 times to get viable mangos), we taught our friends Rummikub and they enjoyed it. Then, we slept well. Awakening to another glorious mtn day in Summit on Saturday, we did the Lake Loops on Dillon Rez.

Saturday night we enjoyed salmon & pasta along with a fine premier cru 2014 Vosne-Romanee pinot noir from one of our favorite stops of the burgundy tour.

Customizing Solomon S/Max Ski Boots At Home 17Mar21

While I had a great day in the tree and on Black Hawk, for the 1st time this season, my new S/Max ski boots made my feet numb in 8 runs.

I contemplated alternatives and did the dive on how to customize my boots at home. None of the great sites recommend heating these liners and customizing them. It seems this might just wear them down and take out some life. The recommendation is really just to ski them and they'll break is after several outings. Hmmm... but OK. These boots also have a graphite 3D core for a shell and are themselves customizable. The technical manual doesn't advise the home method but when do I listen to rules - they are guidelines. The center of the material must reach 176° F to deform well. So here's what I did... I preheated the oven for 200° and removed the liners from the shells. I then heated the shells in the oven for 10 minutes, during which time I assembled two 2" deep ice baths (to rapidly cool the boots after customization. I left the footbeds in the bottom of the shells while I cooked them - Solomon recommends that.

Get some gloves ready as the buckles are pretty hot right from the oven. When "cooked" remove the shells from the oven and on a stable floor, quickly but carefully, reinsert the liners into the boots. Step into the boots and buckle up & strap up normally. Take a skiing position for 5 minutes - don't move or walk around. Then, step into the ice bath and maintain a skiing position for another 10 minutes to cool the deformed boot down to "set it."

 

After the ice bath get out of the boots and put them in the fridge for another 10 minutes. Keep them upright if you can - but I couldn't. Once removing them from the fridge, they are ready for some runs on the freshies.

 

Field trial in new-fallen... what a difference a day and some customization make. I was more vigorous, more comfortable, more controlled and stoked. The new fit worked as needed without losing any feel or performance. I grabbed a bunch of runs on the 7" of new stuff @ Keystone. Spring conditions as the sun was out and the new snow got thick, but gr8 fun.

Gettin' Real With Eggs - Tying Otter's Milking Egg 14Mar21

I've now long used and prefer "squirmy worm" material to tie aquatic worms. My favorite is my two-toned Obi-wan variant of the San Juan worm. I randomly read of Otter's Milking Egg pattern, attended by some praise. It uses a similar gummy material for the egg as do squirmy worms. In search I found the exact team/company, in Denver, who innovated the tie, and bought the materials directly from them. I decided to go whole hog and tied the egg with a yolk/seed mimic as well as milking around the egg. Here I describe the tie with pics along with some tips for easing the task. First the finished egg.

 

Here are the ingredients for what I believe will be the more successful eggs in Colorado. 6mm eggs on size 12 scud hooks with Antron yarn for the whites and a tiny red glass bead for the seed. I used olive thread that matched the hook color.

I first pierced the gummy egg with a fine knitting needle at the spot where I'd plucked it from its string. Stay aware of the location of this piercing as you then need to set the red bead on the needle and use it to insert the bead into the egg. This is the fumbliest part of the whole tie ~ I dropped too many beads or they popped right back out. When done set this assembly aside with the egg still on the needle as you need to know that pierce location later.

Build a thread base in the middle of the hook, ending about at the bend. Select a sparse amount of Antron yarn and pull it apart and rebunch it so as to basically align the fibers. Tie the bunch at its mid-point to the back of the wrap and overwrap to make "2 tails" of Antron flowing backwards.

 

Apply a dab of cyanoacrylate to the thread base; then grab the egg assembly noting the piercing location and slide it over the eye all the way back to the Antron. 2/3 of the egg, including the yolk, should be on top of the hook. Move the thread forward to near the hook eye on the underside of the egg and wrap once.

Grab 85% of the Antron fibers (leaving a smidge of milk) and broaden/widen the bunch while you move them over the egg (covering ~180° or half the egg) and secure them with loose wraps. Compress the egg a smidge by pulling on the Antron forward and then tighten and move the Antron back as milking flow and tie tight warps. Whip finish.

Field trials this year will tell but I already sense that these are serious upgrade in realism for salmon eggs. Here I compare my classic egg tie with the new one and show the eggs and squirmy worms in the box. Browns tracking spawning 'bows in the spring and trout following spawning Kokanee in the fall will love these.

UPDATE 31Mar21... This is a field trial update as I've now used this "bug" on multiple outings. I need to make the milking Antron tighter to the egg on the top as it ten bunch into a single multi-threaded strand around the side and really appear just flowing out the back. Else, looks yummy and casts fine.

Back On The Spawn 10Mar21

Before snow-ma-geddon and 2nd jab jitters make it to the Front Range I hit the PT again. I awoke thinking 11 Mile but the 25° temperature difference sent me south. I still received a full onslaught of winds though - typically 20+ mph today - think wind knots and resultant rerigging, and streamers in your face. I ran the same play of midges in the AM and spey practice in the PM. Caught some nice fish on the Awesome Midge, including a fat 17"er, 18" escape artist, and a longer 19"er, among others. The cutbows are wild on the redds and it was difficult finding fish to cast toward. Gorgeous day again.

Here's a vid of some action on the redds - if you can dig it...

In the afternoon, beyond getting whapped in the head with a cast, I did raise my spey casting success to ~20%. Plenty of work to do but my butt repair is solid. Man, when you do hit the spey cast right it can really cover some water. I got to 20% success by mimicking a lacrosse toss with my bottom hand-upper hand levering motion. Work to do but the rod feels sweet when I hit the note.

Alpha Male, Shit Spey Casts, Broken Butt And Two Flats 08Mar21

I hit the PT again today with intentions of fishing with flies (OK, the Awesome Midge) in the AM and then learning the spey cast with the Rodfather THMS in the field in the PM. On the 1st count, well done - I caught a number of fish on midges, mainly the Awesome, but the vinyl in grey too, on an overcast AM out of Nature Center. I did have a big fish day by landing a 20" alpha male from one of the of holes I could fish (due to crowdation). Awesome catch as I downsized to the Rodfather Cutthroat 9' 4wt. The SA Anadaro head flew through the guides and retrieve on the Redington Rise was smooth like butter. I'lll show just the a couple but a decent morning... messed up some of the pics, that's why there aren't more big broadsides

Unfortunately the PM session of spey casting was cut very short when my THMS butt end broke in two. I didn't secure the added on butt piece with a center dowel, so it snapped off in my hand. No problem... already fixed. To cap the afternoon though, when I returned to the house I was in the middle of having two flats on the Crusher. I was able to get to Discount Tire before closing and they fixed one and ordered a new one for the other. Right now I am spareless. Sheesh, I must've hit a nail perfectly to flatten two tires.

Lax Is Back And So Is Lehigh 06Mar21

Mid February the '21 college lacrosse season started on time so it seems that a full season will be played. This year my alma mater Lehigh is ranked for the first time in a while. Today they bested their nemesis in the Patriot League, Loyola, 10-6 for the first time in school history. Woohoo... bring on Army & Navy.

New 'Bows On A Field Trial & New Boots 05Mar21

I took the Rodfather All Blacks (10' 5wt) out for a spin on the PT today. Another gorgeous day with decent results, though I did not land any alpha males. The All Blacks crushed casting, mending and landing though it's designer did miss landing 3 hookups today. Again the Awesome Midge was the main tool though Purple Reign caught one. While a couple days ago it was all males, today I caught two ladies. It was fun but crowded again and just 17-19 inchers from about 1/2 the spots I might otherwise fish. Here are four of 'em - 2 males (left facing) and 2 females (right facing). I'm stoked about the All Blacks and used the fighting butt in my gut on one fish which took me to the backing downstream.

It is also time to update my ~15 yr old Solomon alpine ski boots, given it's nearing the end of the season so I can find a deal, and my current alpine boots are getting loose and have already had new liners & sole pads and footbed updates. I was able to find new Solomon S/Max boots in my size on the interweb (and fortunately they fit great even w/out customization) for less than 1/2 price! They were a top reviewed boot these last two years and known to fit a narrow foot like mine. These things actually have moldable shells (and moldable liners)... awesome baby.