Rodfather Diamond Blaze Is Repaired And Back In The Quiver ~ MHX Excellent Warranty 30Jul24

My goto and current favorite 4wt, the Rodfather Diamond Blaze, has been out of commission for 2+ months or so. I broke the tip section on a fish in late spring on 11 Mile HERE and submitted the failed parts to MHX for $25 warranty replacement. Despite availability delays of 6+ weeks, their response was great; they sent an entirely new $140 MHX-F864XF blank! Fortunately the tip section fit the already built rod's 2nd section so I have the other pieces in reserve if needed. The repaired RFDB power, speed, weight, and swingweight measure out the same as originally; it is back in the rod vault (where the RF Cutty has served well in the interim) for new adventures.

Dushanbe Teahouse & Comrade With Matt ~ Pliny For President 28Jul24

Kala & I headed to Boulder to meet friends for late afternoon dining at the Dushanbe Teahouse. Reservations were made several months in advance; the teahouse was constructed in Tajikistan in Boulder's sister city there, Dushanbe and offered to Boulder and rebuilt there. Wow. Cool spot and we attended with good friends. Thanks M&J for getting the rez. Food and mated tea was tasty.

Kala & I were late to the rez as I25 N was closed at Larkspur due to an accident. We, and everybody else returning home from WE travels, had to find an alternate route. Ultimately we got off on County Line and headed to Palmer Lk; we entered a 3 mile long queue of cars entering Palmer Lk and even were delayed further by a train, but eventually turned on to Parry Pk Rd/CO 105 headed north ~ we got back on I25 taking Tomah Rd back. Normally it's 95min to Boulder for us, today it was 250min but the incumbent team had opening totties and we arrived just 30min late to rez for the fun meal and talk.

MLC texted during our return to COS and we were able to grab a visit in Denver's Comrade brewery. Always good to catch up with the loquacious kid and doings in the tech world, and with him personally. He's soon headed to DEF CON in Vegas to break some stuff. Tasty West Coast IPA... no hazies here.

Finally today, MLC gifted me a hacker find, Pliny For President! Matt knows I like dry hopped IPAs, especially DDHs, and he found and gave me a Pliny TDH. Whoa, Kala and I tasted and it is fun. Slightly hazier than Pliny (OG) but still golden delicious and oh-so hoppy. Thanks kid; limited releases are respected & especially appreciated on a 100° day in Peregrine.

Fly Fishing The Conejos River In CO ~ Camping In The Rio Grand NF 23Jul24-26Jul24

Andy & I headed down separately to the Conejos/Rio Grande river valleys for some fishing. I was coming from Summit and he was coming from El Paso. I was late getting out of the Nest and was further delayed on the road and Andy turned around after his fly shop G2 indicated there's better fishing elsewhere right now. Sorry for being late Andy. I arrived at the Mogote CG off of CO 17 before evening and was stoked to pull into an awesome spot in the lower loop there. I was famished and made a quick sandwich and ate while setting up. The RODFTHR BC20X looked great among many 250ft tall pines and spruce and, nearly as tall, aspens. Wow perfect at 8Kft elevation. There were plenty of mosquitos around at dusk as I was close to waters of all kinds... including the Conejos itself. Deet required.

I've never been to this area and was psyched to try my hand on several sections of the river, and on the Rio Grande if possible. The river hosts browns, rainbows, and my sought quarry of Rio Grande cutthroats. While the river looked thin from my campsite vantage, a little walk in either direction indicated good runs and riffles. My dusk-time casts didn't yield on day 1 but I bumped into other fishermen as I was trial casting, and there were lots of rods in the campground. I rested well and enjoyed a game changer coffee, an inexpensive Nespresso machine in the BC20X ~ the only real issue is that it is 110v and needs to have the generator running; so be it.

I headed above the next CG upstream, Aspen Glades, as Andy's G2 suggested it might fish better up there. I don't count my brief trial casting blank-out the eve prior but I did return to that same rig: #14 UV chubby with bhfbpt and a caddis for droppers. I was exited when I saw a rise quickly and targeted the fish near the bank. Unfortunately the nice cutty rejected or didn't connect with the chubby, but there was a lot of splash. Soon enough I was hooking "ok" browns on all of the flies... there was every kind of mayfly born throughout the day while I fished the Conejos: red quill, PMD, micro-caddis, and big drakes. Choosing the droppers needed timing with these; I used FB hare's ears for the drakes, red copper john for the red quill, and so on throughout the day. I turned over some bigger fish who rejected the chubby but in the end it was lot's of small browns like this, but caught in a beautiful river canyon. I fished from the CG up to a private property sign.

I was again pretty hungry but had forgotten the onions when leaving the Nest, plus I needed to make contact with Kala to let her know I'd arrived safely (there is no service along the Conejos). I went into Antonito about 15 miles away to text and buy onions. Small grocery was nice and Kala was glad to hear from me. Back at camp I made a keen batch of Spicy Skottle Sloppies (wagu beef, onions, green chiles, hot cherry pepers, chili sauce & crisp onions) and enjoyed those with a VBC Hazy Lighting. After lunch/dinner I headed directly out on the Conejos above Mogote CG. I again caught several small browns ~ even less noteworthy than in the AM. Maybe it is the temperature but the water feels pretty nice; maybe it's the skinny water; maybe it's just my lameness in casting and fly selection. Tomorrow I'm going to have to change something.

I listened to tunes on the JBL3EX for a bit while contemplating tomorrow's move, as well as cropping images from today... hmmm. AJ Lee's new album City of Glass, her 2nd, is stellar. It's a bit of a different vibe as each of the player's of Blue Summit is given a song at the mic, and time at the writer's bench. These all were fun with Sully Tuttle singing a funny low one, Bakersfield Gates crushing one, and more, as were all AJ's songs - one pretty one featured Molly Tuttle singing and playing along. These NorCal ladies can really do bluegrass and their leadership to fill out killer "accompanying" bands is not the least of which that makes their records compelling. Do you think they coordinated record titles for their latest releases: "City of Gold" & "City of Glass?"

Back to fishing, I chose to really change it up and went all the way to the tailwater section of the Canejos, flushing from the Platoro Rez high and long way up a lousy road (30 mi on FR 450). Many folks were taking ATVs but I ran the Crusher Too the entire way. On the way up I was amazed at the beauty in this remote river canyon of southern CO... just spectacular. I first went all the way to Platoro Rez and scoped the tailwater. The uppermost valley of the Conejo has tons of beetle kill pines ~ around Platoro and above.

Back at the tailwater "start" one lady dropped in below me but I set out and saw no one else in this 1.5mi section from "put in" to the dam, to which I could wade completely! Starting rig here was classic subsurface nymphing with baetis & midges, or so I thought. I was quickly into a strong 17.5" German brown lady on Perdigon and was hopeful to see a rainbow pig or more hoped I'd spy a Rio Grande cutty up this high. Nope... 3 brown ladies "just" like this...

The Rodfather Cutty did well, except to not summon it's namesake. The water was thin even up here... rare were sufficient deeper channels to hold pigs IMO; the fish I caught were in riffles. The bug sign was again spectacular with all manner of mayflies hatching. Still a good time peeping with stocking contraption, down daisies, and an approach to the effluent from below.

Going back down seemed easier with some more tunes and a sandwich break but I knew I'd get to camp at 4:30pm going straight down. I needed to further change things up and decided that that was enough of Conejos. The next day I headed home early through more of the hazy San Luis Valley; it was strewn with meager farms growing lame weed laden hay. I went through San Luis itself, the oldest town in CO, and of course over La Veta pass.

A long strange trip it was but stuff worked and I caught some browns.

Norah Jones & Hurray For The Riff Raff Concert ~ And Other Vail Valley Fun With Bob 22Jul24

Bob & I had a great day in Vail Valley today. We hit the Gore Ck fly fishing in two decent spots ~ the mouth and the dawg park; we dined at Rocky Mtn Tacos and imbibed from the original Vail Brewing Co brew & tap spot; we enjoyed a great show at the Ford Amp. We'll start fishing... after a decent taste of green chili corn-beef hash and some coffee we jumped Vail Pass to Eagle Co. We first dropped onto Gore Ck at the mouth with the Eagle River. We "beat" a dad & son but just by 30 seconds and basically walked with them to our put in on the Gore. We "let" them have the upstream approach but didn't catch anything below them and ultimately skirted them to lead past the rickety bridge (which Bob took without issue). Bob caught a very nice brown, first on the day for the team. I lost a fat 17" rainbow on the chubby when she threw the hook and headed downstream hooked side haul (that I could not land among the big boulder dancing) but still posted a German myself.

We headed upstream to West Vail and the Dawg Pk. After rerigging with the cool bugs for the day we each frustratingly scared or spooked nice fish below the bridge; rejections... grrr. Undeterred we marshaled on upstream (though BR did suggest we head to lunch early ~ I ignored him). Bob got a bit caught up in a deep channel chase for some nice visible fish while I scored some more... including several rainbows.

Good outing on the Gore required some nosh at Rocky Mtn Taco's and and beers from the original VBC (Vail Brewing Company), the best in Eagle Co. It was that or 4 star dining and I chose low rent. We left the dawgs and headed to Eagle-Vail and VBC to meet up with the dogs. Yep, just like Summit Co, doggies are everywhere, but especially at the breweries. It was a blast with good nosh and groundwork for podcast breakthroughs, or at least the co-op thinking of such.

Once sated and tuned we headed toward Ford Pk, both needing showers but opting for parking deck nakedness behind the Crusher Too while changing into concert garb. We were early to the venue with way too much gear... I'd misunderstood seating in the bougie section and we toted seating for no reason; well not really no reason, Robert chatted up some dollies and offered one his seat in exchange for... nvmnd; she sat well as did we at center stage Q & M under the cover. Bob bought keen totties for the team. The venue is completely killer... much better than Dillon Amp, though ultimately the sound needs a significant tune IMO... mid-highs and treble are way lost to the entire amphitheater. I cupped my ears to pull in voices much of the show. Consider hiring The Dave of The NestMT.

1st up was a known great act (at least by me), Alynda Sigarra/Hurray For The Riff Raff. I may not have booked without her billing @ the show. She's folk come rock/pop/country and hails from New Orleans these days, but the PR initially. I own her recent album on vinyl and completely dig her songwriting and arranging. Her vocals and range of material is very fine. She's pissed about the environment and the general state of things ~ so yeah, my people. At the Ford Amp she was not dealt the deserved top vocalist feed to the audience I'd have expected. Further, the audience @ Vail is completely without respect ~ come on folks. Come to learn, throughout the night, beyond the disrespect, it is a fault of the sound system. Nonetheless, she was good, if not a bit drowned out by instrumentation. I met her and congratulated her at the end and was given her setlist with her artist's notes... cool.

I didn't leave the theater ~ it's 9 time Grammy winner Norah Jones for goodness sake. She had me at the debut album Come Away With Me, but the entire show was excellent. She was better at the piano, as expected, but capable on guitar... the songs she delivered there were very good. As normal, the biggest hits, that is from her 1st album, which cannot be compared to anything after IMO, were late in the show. They were great but it's of note that she's so stellar and wealthy/accomplished that there is no "one woman show" any more. She has spectacular accompanying females on rhythm and lead and harmonies/synchronies. Turquoise-clad Sasha Dobson on guit-box and soprano completely kicked ass (she is over the top good) and organ fill/2nd backer was cool AF. The beat boys in the the back of the theater were very good too. I love art expressed by the best we have doing their thing with depth and fullness like this. This was a great and well-produced show... thanks Norah for all that. Uhhh ~ Ford Amp ~ hire me for a sound righteously expressing female vocals (likely all vocals) well  to all patrons ~ something is wrong with your measurement mics, despite the completely killer venue... I'll come back, maybe.

I liked her sparkly high-top cons.