Cutbows & DeBalskis On The PT 04Apr21

Well Sunday preceded heavier winds so I hit the PT again today. I caught some out of Nature Center where, oddly enough, I ran into the DeBalski fam and Richard Pavek and his sons. I'm a dumb ass and didn't get the shot of the DB fam lined up over a key run (where I understand they were pretty effective in the AM). I thought I spied Matt's car in the lot and sure enough. What worked for me in these prime 325cfs flows were the RS2 again as well as a #22 black mercury midge (really a MHFBZ - merc head, flash back, zebra). Among the bounty were two nicer 21" & 20" males - I know 'cause I measured on the Rodfather All Blacks system. I ate lunch at the St Pk @ Valco Ponds but did nothing there in the PM.

Ride & Dine With Kala And The eBikes, Then Thunderpaw 02Apr21-03Apr21

Kala and I hit the Sante Fe trail south to town to enjoy the day and catch lunch downtown. The ride was nice but the trail was littered with the big ebikes this outing. They can really haul ass but I'm unsure if the riders are all approved for such speed. One guy coming toward us had us slow down behind some rollerbladers while he beeped to pass them downhill. Hmmm... We did enjoy a 7.19 IPA and a nice lunch outside at Phantom Canyon for the 1st time in probably 18 months. Keep on vaxin'.

We trundled around the AFA on a nice hike in 70° between an important Lehigh lax win versus Army and the Baylor romp in game 1 of the final 4.

Rod & Ride Or Fish & Flail On Dubl Dave Day 01Apr21

On this most fabulous spring day Jim & I headed to Pueblo to fish the Arkansas PT and ride the Pueblo St Pk trails. We were 2nd to arrive at the Nature Center and headed upstream at 9:30am. That was too early and the water was very cold and the fish were lethargic. An hour later we saw plenty of fish on the redds and near them so targeting was open. Mid-day we also saw a couple of smallish BWOs and changed to RS2s. Jim hooked into 8 fish but didn't land one; he quipped "most fun I've ever had not catching fish." I caught several nice fish including a 24" male. I was near Jim at the time so got to call for a show pic. The gold measure bands on my Rodfather Cutthroat are at 18" & 22". Really GR8 fish.

After a fine Subway lunch at the NC about 2pm we decided to change and ride the lake. We parked and did our pretty standard 15 miler on Rodeo Ridge, Pedro's Pt, Inner Limits, Driftwood and South Shore. It was a blast but I flailed and failed to ride some of the longer South Shore climbs on the Broadaxe and got bounced around a lot the entire ride. None the less it was a fun outing on a beaut of a day.

 

So why was it a Dubl Dave Day? Jim used the Rodfather All Blacks in the morning and, with his dropper in the shop, rode my Superbike 95 in the afternoon. He liked both but I'll need them back for bigger fish and smoother rides. :)

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.