The Killers Concerts 02Sep16-03Sep16

Matt and I spent Labor Day WE catching the amazing Killers live shows in Aspen. At BellyUp Aspen we experienced one of the most exciting concerts I've ever attended. BellyUp is a ~400 person gate venue with spectacular sound - we secured the best seats in the house - 30 ft away with completely unobstructed views above the mosh pit. The playlist and performance was powerful and amazing - this was a very special engagement. Matt rightly expressed he felt were on some special list of industry insiders - and we were. The guy next to us was the venture capitalist who sponsored the show and there were celebs around the house. For me it was finally getting to catch the Killers live show - and spectacularly in a venue not soon forgotten. Here they're playing Spaceman - my fave.

For Saturday we also secured tix for the JAS Experience in Snowmass where the Killers were Saturday's headliners (Friday was Train and Sunday is Stevie Wonder & Duran Duran - hmmm). We stayed in Snowmass Fri night and Sat AM caught some limited release brews at the Ranger Station there - Watermelon Lime Ale and Hop Kitchen, an unfiltered Mandarin IPA. We endured some rain and cold for the JAS show but again the Killers were outstanding. Big venue sound system and powerful stage lighting were cool. New set list - different arrangements - some new songs. It was outstanding but in comparison to the night before nothing could. I vowed to find the other venues in the country like BellyUp and get their event listings... just wow. Too, a great overdue weekend with the kid.

Desktop Audio Update ~ Schitt Vali 2 01Sep16

I updated the Silverthorne headphone amp to a Schitt Vali 2 tube amp. I'm already liking the amp with stock tube but not as much as my Vali 1 yet - but I have 5 "new" 6DJ8/E88C tubes ready to try. This time the finish is brushed aluminum exactly like my Modi 2 DAC so now it's a matched stack. I also installed a small Rolland powered monitor (which can even mix stereo signals into one) for near-field non-headphone days or to otherwise fill the room.

Taylor River Pink Hogs & East River Kokonee! 31Aug16-01Sep16

After a good day on the Gunny, despite the bear encounter, I spent the next day on the Taylor. I headed up to the C&R/trophy section and was the first to arrive at 9:15am. The canyon is pretty deep here and sun doesn't hit the water early. Still, there was plenty of fish moving and even rising to tiny flies. I would not call it epic conditions but I did best my last skunking on this section and caught several very nice fish. Weird as it sounds given the prevalence of rainbows here - all three were browns. They ran 19-22" and were very pink from their diet of shrimp. I caught them on FBPT #20. I got rejections on my BWO dry but in later talking to a guide I sensed my offer was too large. He likes the mole fly in #20-#22 here. It's hard up there - tiny flies, no indicators, flat water, perfect drifts needed... sheesh. NO PICS - the flash card failed and I lost all the pictures from that day unfortunately. While there I also met a female celebrity angler, Maddie Brenneman, she guides out of Granby... a cute girl with a nice cast being guided by a local shop to promote, hawked by a cameraman. No fish when I left. Who knew it was a job getting 400,000 likes on FB with a fish? - I get like 20 sometimes and I have to take the pic myself :). After lunch at the car I went downstream into the canyon proper and caught some decent ~12-14" browns and rainbows. I was back at camp to catch the PM showers.

Today I headed to the East River to try to catch the Kokonee salmon run up from Blue Mesa Rez. Boy howdy, did I ever catch it; what a blast. I caught a dozen salmon over a 1/2 mile of river below the Roaring Judy Hatchery! Most were on a #20 FBPT dropped at the end of weighted flies. I also caught some browns and rainbows - again ~12". This is wild trout water and therefore unsupported with stocking or other altering behaviors. I wish I'd landed a brookie or a cutthroat to land 4 species in a day - oh well, the salmon was very special. The Kokonee are running up from Blue Mesa via the Gunnison to the East River. The fights these fish put up was awesome including aerials and fin-skating on top of the water. They are not yet super red but do have kype jaws. Most were ~18" and strong. WEAK PICS - I was carefully using my iPhone and I mostly sucked at it. I stopped at Eddyline in BV on the way to Summit Co today and tried the pumpkin ale as well as the grapefruit IPA - meh - stayed with the Crank Yanker for my pint.

A Bear Ate My Lunch - Literally 30Aug16

I'm camping in Taylor River Canyon below Taylor Park, in a nice, developed campground ~ and overnight a bear ripped the rear side window off the Crusher, climbed in and ate all my food! He destroyed my food box and cooler. He forgot to clean his paws and claws on entering my vehicle so some of my stuff got bear-scuzzed... like my fishing hats and backpacks. As if the Crusher could get more ghetto - it now features a duct-taped rear window. So, I had no food and "had to" head to High Alpine Brewery for their excellent pizza and Green Gate IPA.

It must've been good luck despite my hour-delayed start for cleanup and repairs as I had a good day on the Gunnison River fishing. Too, here's a trout lesson featuring browns from the Gunnison River: we have two primary strains of brown trout in NAmerica. The German browns (Von Behr) have orange/red spots and the Scottish strain (Loch Levens) has black spots - both were brought over in the mid-late 1800s and now run prevalent around the west. While it's a cool bear story - there's some trepidation regarding my return to the site tonight with new food - he "knows" the Crusher.

Weird but good day wading the Gunny. I started at Neversink and my "first" fish was a big 19" Scottish brown, close to my put in, on a squirmy worm at ~10am. It was a nice spot and I reeled 6 more browns this morning. My best fly was the quasimodo, a BHFB curved version of the pheasant tail that I'd begun to use instead of a BHFBPT. Seemingly a trico hatch or midge hatch had preceded my arrival and the mating balls were epic - I thought I'd missed it and would need to change to spinners - grrrr. Then a BWO hatch started and I caught more on the quasimodo and rainbow warrior underneath. I even got hits on the red chernobyl ant I used as an indicator. I dined on Subway (since the bear ate my chipotle turkey) and enjoyed another Treasure Chest (saving boobies while enjoying grapefruit/hibiscus/prickly pear-infused IPA). I moved downstream to Cooper Ranch and strangely caught 6 rainbows! Here I was using nymphs led by the stonefly - like the Ark, the upper Gunny runs like a big freestone. I fished so little of this great watershed today (and saw no Kokanee) but will move to it's major tributaries the Taylor and the East for the next days.

On The Ark @ Pinnacle Rock 22Aug16

With flows falling to ~500cfs I chose to hit the Arkansas River in BIg Horn Sheep Canyon today. The morning was nice but above 80° and the PM included sprinkling at 1:30pm and rain at 3:30pm. I took but did not unleash the wading stick - dunno whether that was flow rate or stupidity; I was able to select crossing spots and did so a couple times. I started about 10am with a red chernobyl, red CJ copper and a variety of droppers. The best flies on the day were the red chernobyl (fun hits 10-noon) and the rainbow warrior. The water was off color from recent rains I assume, so I did go to silver beaded stuff and more flash, including the rainbow warrior. I think my choices during stained water is proven, at least to me. I probably caught ~20 fish on the day and lost another half doz, all browns and all 8-14", but decently strong. Shown are representative fish - one each on the "hopper," copper and dropper, plus one other for measure. Fall is looming and the Ark is shaping up - it wasn't a 50 fish day - but soon it may be possible.

I also looked into the why some browns I catch have orange/red spots and others do not... this is the basic finding... many red spotted browns in the US descended from the German strain, Von Behr. The black spotted strain are Loch Levens, from Scotland. Color variations due to environmental conditions and the mixing of various strains can be found.

Salmon-Willows Pack Trip 12Aug16

Some of CoWW's most intrepid and timely master fisherman (Jim Yohanan, author Tom Wilke - ok not so much a fisherman - but a fearless alpine leader bound for Capitol on Monday, Greg Lehmann and me) stole a weekend in the alpine. CO late-summer at 11.5K feet elevation deep in the Gore is sublime. We hiked 2.2 extra miles out of Willowbrook TH then 5.5 miles up to our campsite and hiked and fished five alpine lakes at treeline. We caught fish everywhere - including a CO cutty in a connecting stream! Spectacular views, terrain, weather, sites, debates, meteor showers and friends made the jaunt into Eagles Nest Wilderness and our weekend memorable. Biffs in streams & lakes, big fish, numerous fish, electric yellow, cool nights, vertical pitch cirques, awesome Pearsids "shooting stars" in perfect dark, fine food, 3 lost dog leashes, a butt busting 2.5Kft climb, and 100s of beautiful brookies beckoned a recall. Almost any flies worked but we favored tossing dries. My best was the lime trude; Jim scored with elk hair and parachute Adams and Greg used "the one" (PT peacock partridge soft hackle) almost all weekend. Salmon Lk and Willow 1 have fewer but bigger fish (I caught a 15" and a ~16" and GL caught a 17") - they are a bit tougher to catch. Salmon requires a 45' cast to reach the edge of the ledge. The other three lakes are teaming with brookies. I also did well in the connector stream from Willow 2 (large dubl lobe) to Willow 3. Together we caught hundreds of fish this fine weekend.

Bluegrass, Brews and Browns 06Aug16

As the clouds and rain finally subsided after a couple days I headed over to Keystone for the 20th Bluegrass and Brews fest. It was a blast but without Kala or other mates I likely bugged some folks who'd engage me. Three stages of bluegrass and 40 CO breweries to sample... nice. The freaky pic is selfie of me in front of Jeff Scroggins Band on aux stage - excellent. Sunday allowed an outing to the Gore in Vail. I hit the section on the west end of the frontage road first at ~10am. Meh. I nymphed and didn't get a hit all the way to the bridge - water was too cold and no bugs were coming off. I packed up to dine at Dawg Park a couple miles further upstream. It got warmer after lunch and nymphing began to work but I lost four fish in a row to start; including a big 'bow who broke my line in the fight. Grrr. Finally I began to land some browns and a decent rainbow. Best flies were the RS2 and the FBPT as mayflies started hatching. It was a smidge crowded in the dog park as it was Sunday and there was a dog wash stand open. Decent, but far from epic, outing.