Happy Earth Day - Spectacular Spring Conditions @ Breck 22Apr19

I was a bit dubious on Breck claiming to plan to stay open until Memorial Day. But that's a month from now so I headed over with Vail & Keystone closed. The spring conditions are spectacular at Breck and I do believe they can do this thing. I skied the top of the mountains all day on keen sun-drenched corn as I awaited the pending PM storm. I tired by 2:30pm before it ever arrived but the gathering clouds were evident. All my runs were off T-Bar, Kensho and Imperial and into the solid top-of-mtn playland of bowls, knobs and cornices like Whale's Tail, Wonderland, and the like. Awesome. Didn't do any of the hikes due to post-holing discomfort and the fact that plenty was accessible directly. I'm soon off to WY for spring tailwater fishing but I am hoping to grab this again after returning.

 

I stopped at ORB to grab Kala and I some tasty DDH DIPAs on the way home - always a treat to visit and enjoy the Life Above. I have noticed a new thing at ORB - collaborations with other brewers being often available - on this board Stuff and Green Eyes were the best IMO.

Comparative Songstresses 19Apr19

Ok, one of the top bands on the planet is currently a K-Pop punk, hip-hop sensation form SKorea named BlackPink (cool name, no doubt, heh heh). The amazing electronic sound and girl dances are capturing many - WTF. This might be over-produced AI-derived stuff. Here I'm gonna compare BP (222M views) with the WR (200K views) in a bake off - you decide...

Kill This Love

Little Surfer Girl

Skiing & Fishing With Yoho In Summit 18Apr19-19Apr19

My friend Jim joined me in Summit for some fun. Scheduling was all around forecast arrival of a nice spring snow storm - until the storm divided and missed us almost entirely. NP. First we skied one of the last days @ Vail this season as they close Palm Sunday. It was decent spring conditions (at least in the PM) with nice corn. We had fun on the front side and enjoyed plenty in the back bowls with sunshine; Vail is cool/huge/close/missed and I scored 25Kft of vert (yeah down - mostly on groomers as we didn't fancy the ice). We enjoyed a great mid-meal dining experience on Gore Ck at the excellent Mountain Standard in Vail, before enjoying some hazy IPAs at ORB on the way back to the Nest.

Friday was beautiful and we set out for different sections of the Blue after gaining "insight" from Cutthroat Anglers and dining at the new Mountain Lion spot. Our first stop was the corner right above the reservoir at the junction of Rt 6 and the road to Heeney - nope; neither of us, nor the 6 other anglers there, got even a hit. We ventured back to town to the Blue River tailwater where Jim hooked into a nice rainbow - that was the only hit between us though and, it was crowded too. 'Till next time youngster.

Recon @ Jurassic Park 17Apr19

With Yoho coming up to ski and fish, and the storm splitting and missing us in CO, I stole out to recon the Blue River fishing below Green Man Rez today. It was brisk but nice and didn't even require a coat on arrival late at noon.Unfortunately flows had been bumped from ~200cfs to ~300 cfs and the water was off color and "snotty" with dislodged dead moss floating in it extensively. Between that and my bad casting and poor presentation I was only able to muster one nice rainbow on over the 2.5hrs I fished there - I think it took the midge. It was slow the whole time with little bug sign and almost no visible fish sign; I made it more frustrating when I over-horsed the fish and did not land it. Closest pic I have is the one shown. Recon successful though - Yoho and I will have to fish elsewhere. Canyon was goregeous in any event.

Here's the movie (PW: GR8F1sh)...

I stopped at ORB on the way back and laid in some beers for Yoho's arrival. As always from ORB - a super tasty Sluff DDH DIPA.

Fine Spotted Snake River Cutty On The Go 15Apr19

As I prepped and traveled for the storm into Summit Co through So Park I stopped at the 11 Mile Canyon section of the So Platte. This is nearly home water for me; it's not "on fire" yet due to spawning but I did observe a nice baetis hatch at increased flows near 100cfs mid day. I went to the top of the canyon - the last bridge - where I typically start for the big fish. I was lucky to find parking as the upper end was packed even on this Monday. I could fish only a few of the deep holes where the fish who weren't having sex were holding and feeding. There was lots of spawn sign. I managed to catch a nice, super-strong, 18" fine spotted Snake River cutthroat, on a midge. Ultimately I left the zoo for less trampled waters near the tunnels and while I saw a number of fishermen there too, I was able to find more spots to fish. I caught a number of 14" rainbows and browns like those shown - all on the top secret midge. The fish are not spread out yet in the canyon and the water is still pretty cold.

Today was a field trial of my new VestCam setup. My prior one worked fine but the large magnetic attachment scheme bothered my collar bone and it fell off a couple times, fortunately in shallow water for the retrieve. I drilled holes in a standard HeroCam "boot" and secured it to my vest with small zipties; it seems to work great but it is a little less stable than the predecessor.

CoWW Outing On The PT 12Apr19

We took the slot between snow storms today to hit the PT (Pueblow Tailwater section of the Arkansas River) as a team on the 1st day of the spring CoWW outing. The day really warmed nicely for us with sun all day and while the fishing was not tremendous, it was decent for some. The cool temps yesterday made bug development a bit slow today, plus flows were bumped to ~290cfs today, but there was enough midge action to entice some bigger fish onto my mercury midge. I saw precious few mayflies and got no action on my BWOs. We fished out of the Nature Center and I sight fished to a number of sizable cut bows and landed many - shown are some nicer ones. We enjoyed a fine lunch in the sun with "Caught In Thought" IPAs from Cerberus. The after-lunch action was very slow. We had dinner at Brues as per tradition when in Pueblo - it was hoppin'. We also canceled the Saturday outing as snow is again expected tomorrow. Sheesh.

Scott thoughtfully gave me a nice gift to compliment my pending road trip to WY - aptly name The Crusher.

Another Recon On The PT 09Apr19

This recon outing was not as ominous as yesterday's... I actually landed most of the hooked fish! I only started at noon but fished 4 hours and caught a number of nice fish, but still lost the first two. So, landing was better but size was lesser, yet still good. Most took Destiny's Child (BWO) but some took midges (Awesome, Mercury & grey Vinyl KF). No fish >20" today but got one 19.5"er and some 18"ers. I hope the weather is bearable for the coming CoWW outing - I think the river will be in good shape. Nature Center was more productive than Valco which showed more spawning signs still and the water was noticeably colder... I caught mostly recent stocker rainbows there but one nice cutbow before heading home.