Pueblo Tailwater In Wind & Cold 09Apr21

I hit the PT again and surprisingly was 2nd to arrive at 9:30am armed with my 10' Rodfather All Blacks. Kala declined the invite when discovering there'd be wind and just 50° temps - and there was. Wind knots & tree trimming galore, but also plenty of fish. Mostly caught smaller ones today like these 18" males and the 17" female. All were decently stout and strong but not 20"ers. The action was pretty continuous from the cool AM to the nice PM. In the morning they hit the ObiJuan squirmy worm or the #22 Awesome Midge or the #22 MHFB zebra. Mid-day I experienced a minute BWO hatch but that was enough to trigger some takes on #20 MH RS2. Then the midge entered the target list later in the PM. Flows were dropped a smidge and are still great at 222cfs. A nice outing that might've even been better had Kala joined or I landed the nicest fish of the day. After an 8 minute fight I was about to net a ~22"er but he got under the net and through my legs and broke off when the top fly caught my waders - total fail ending on my part - the pic is the closest I got to him.

Dry Fly Time In 11 Mile 08Apr21

It was a pretty nice day in 11 Mile canyon - today held "only" 56 cars. Nonetheless I was there too, stopping on the way home from Summit. Again I had few holes in which to work but did plenty of catching today, but can't provide too many pics. I again installed the camera backwards and didn't discover that till later in the outing - for the early part I therefore just captured sunshine over my shoulder. I caught a couple of Snake River cutthroats ~17" like the one shown. I also caught some rainbows & cutbows but the nicest was a fat 18"er lady as shown. The small brown midges worked as before here but a modest BWO hatch occurred and while I tried with RS2s and FBPTs, I couldn't get them with that technique. I switched to dries (re-rigging tasks are never taken lightly) when I saw one sipping spinners. My parachute BWO didn't work so I switched to a seemingly deadly CDC wing with sparkle thorax and caught two from the same area, including the fat lady which I knowingly targeted. I like it when a plan works.

Last Runs? Who Knows? 07Apr21

Were these my last runs of 20/21 ski season? I don't know for sure but despite 2-4 inches of fresh, recent prior high temps and a more recent chill and storm made some runs treacherous. What a dichotomy - if the cat had groomed, it was nice; without a grooming, mostly hidden ice under the dust made everything sketchy. I perhaps was a bit wide in my ski choice today at 120mm as I either didn't have sharp enough edges or didn't turn them over far enough as I did slip out several times. I wasn't really slow while I was at Keystone, which will close this weekend, and down mountain opportunities won't allow me to close it so today may be it for this Summit fun zone. And, while there's a great inbound storm next week - I plan to fish prime time hard on the Front Range tailwaters then and may miss skiing. Sure, Breck is open till late May but I'm unsure of likely conditions at this lower spot. Today in overcast conditions I did switch to red chroma-pop lenses recently acquired on eBay from a Phenom abandoneer - awesome. And, I hereby continue to laud the fit and performance of the Solomon S/Max 100s - superb.

11 Mile Of SPlatte Is Super-Popular 05Apr21

I hit 11 Mile Canyon again today looking for fish. I caught several 17"er cutbows like this one on #24 Top Secret and #22 Ramirez Money. I was fortunate to find the one hole I fished as this day was super-popular in So Park... there were 62 cars parked in the canyon! It's an oft overlooked spot at which I've succeeded prior as well. I looked up and down but found no more openings, and the wind rolled in early PM so I headed to Summit for the next storm.

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. :)