Down Fremont Pass West 14Jul16

Recon over Fremont Pass into the headwaters of the Arkansas River was decent but super windy. Weird that the summer pattern with afternoon rains is currently broken and we have high and warm winds all day instead. I hit the Hayden Meadows/Ranch access of the Ark headwaters today and fished four hours 10-2pm (with a 45 min lunch/beer break) with the 3 wt Loomis - 7'9"; 3 wt and med flex was too little gun in high winds with big flies but landing was fun with these foot longs.  Flows are still high and cold here but several hatches occurred while I was on the river - caddis, green drakes, PMDs and some tiny gray thing. It was not epic but I caught a doz browns and a couple 'bows by changing rigs. My fave and most productive was a big drake with a BH FB hare's ear dropper (drake nymph) at 28" - this was a solid rig mid-day with both misses and fun hookups. The stimi and yellow sally dries in the AM scared 'em up but failed to hookup save one rainbow. The best fish were within 3' of the bank - freakin' Ark is often this way over the lengths I've fished it. Gorgeous meadow environment in the shadow of Mt Elbert and Mt Massive below Leadville. I did not find public access above Leadville (and before the Lake Ck joins) but it looked nice (and lower) from the road.

Wednesday's A Workday 13Jul16

It's open brush pickup time in Summit so I contributed a few dead trees to the effort (as I'm required to do). I have a chainsaw but who doesn't like a Sawzall? I hosted the asphalt guy (with Kala's considerable persistence to secure a date). He's supposedly the best in Summit and we need some patches over old tree and flower areas no longer wanted as well as other repairs. Now all we need is the job completed. I cleaned and refinished the flagstone entryway. Stone needs a penetrating and breathable sealer and I chose one which also "enhances" after some research. The entry was beat after a winter season so Kala and I thoroughly cleaned it so I could seal it and it could cure before some rowdies show up this weekend. Sweet... check the before and after pic. Though, I had a headache for 4 hrs after applying - was it aversion to work or chemicals?

How I Spent Prime Day 12Jul16

I hit the 11 Mile Canyon tailwaters and the Tomahawk SWA, both on the Middle Fk of South Platte, on my way to Summit County, on Prime day - rather than wait computer-side for a cheap TV on Amazon. 11 Mile flows were up nicely to ~100cfs and the canyon held gorgeous summer conditions... huge mating balls of mayflies struck the window and flew overhead as I arrived about 9:30am. I caught a half doz decent rainbows on my Winston 4 wt above the upper tunnels in just 100 yards of pocket water. Producers were WWSW and olive vinyl KF midge. I left about 12:30pm for lunch and Tomahawk. I got to South Park and it was a smidge crowded where I park so I thought it'd be great. Flows here were just a skosh high and the river was still off color and pretty cold but after lunch I threw everything I could think of in all manner of rig - double dry, hopper-dropper and all nymphs, with very little action. Similar story was reported by others. I brought some nice ones up to look at the dries but the best I got was nose bumps from bigger fish. The best fish are hunkered in the undercut banks. Weird. I did catch a few tiny browns represented as in the pic on my Loomis 3 wt but mostly it was a gorgeous yet windy day in beauteous South Park. Of course I departed early for $2 Tuesdays at Bakers'.

Wire-Wrapped Squirmy Worm 11Jul16

I've begun to use a new "San Juan worm" tie recently and mentioned it several times. It works very well and is much "wormier" than chenille and therefore better at catching fish than my Obi Juan tie, though tying with the silicon squirmy material is a bit challenging. Squirmy can be readily cut by tying thread so I've adopted tying it on with brassie sized wire instead. This also has the advantage of weight to sink the worm.  I'm showing fluorescent pink here (to try on stupid inlet trout) but the best colors are San Juan red (pale pink), blood red and tan, and bi-color ties of these. Here are the steps to tying the wire-wrapped squirmy worm (pics are in reverse order): 1) on 5487 hook #16 (down eye heavy nymph) with red 140 denier thread, tie in red brassie wire to hook bend and return thread to eye, 2) wrap wire 1.5 times on hook then loosely wire-wrap in squirmy (with 1" showing off hook bend) using 2 wire wraps then wrap wire 5 times around hook directly, 3) tie in squirmy again with 2 loose wire-wraps, then repeat 5 wraps on hook and 2 wraps binding squirmy near head, 4) wrap twice on hook near eye and secure with thread wraps then whip finish. The WWSW works great and this tie recipe/technique makes it a little sturdier and sinkable than others, but they are still somewhat fragile due to the silicon material and the nature of toothy fish.

Hot Fun In The Summertime 10Jul17

Flows on the Arkansas River below Pueblo Rez just dropped today to ~600cfs from above 1Kcfs two days ago so it beckoned me and I complied. While temps reached 100° there, at which time I departed, I caught ~30 fish before departing - just rainbows and cutbows. It wasn't too crowded but for a number of tubers floating the river and billions of grasshoppers... I went upstream from Valco, thinking the upstream water would be cooler; I fished 9:45am to 1:45pm or so. Most of the fish were 12-16" but I did catch one really fat ~20" lady behind the 1st very big weir. The flows are still high for completely comfortable wading, and still poor visibility with green opaque cast; I only crossed/recrossed once and therefore mostly fished the south side. My rig was the same all day given reasonable success and consisted of a BH peacock prince nymph followed by a rainbow warrior followed by a wire wrapped squirmy worm... the prince and squirmy took the most fish but rainbow got several including the biggest. After landing the big bow as a tuber crowd pleaser I promptly lost my second rig to the submerged tree in the big weir - I guess there's always a sacrifice at that hole; I know it has my offerings aplenty. Fish were ~6 ft deep mostly in drop offs. It's good to be fishing again.

Little Fish During Runoff 05Jul16

I visited the Curtain Ponds along I70 near Copper and caught some more small brookies. It was a rainy morning but I was still out there with the bikers. I tried a number of flies but the best was still the Orange Roughy wet fly. No pics. I also hit the Dillon Rez at the 10 Mile Ck inlet and caught a number of smallish stocker rainbows. The most productive fly was a San Juan red (really pinkish) wired squirmy worm. I am getting a little anxious to hit the alpine lakes and the post-runoff alpine rivers but that seems a week or so off I sense by watching flows.

Sailing The Fourth 04Jul16

Kala's sister Karla and her husband Kevin wrapped up their car trip of six weeks through western NPs with us in Summit Co. The crappy weekend weather deterred outdoor activity till later but we did play cool games inside till we were able to get out to hike McCollough Gulch and do some sailing for Independence Day. Good time with good family.