An Essoteric Playlist - Click Thru 16Aug21

 

 

 

Amazon Wardrobe & New Shades 19Aug21

First, I tried the new Amazon Wardrobe feature which allows choice of a number of items from Amazon without having to pay before selecting something (or nothing). I ordered 4 of the nearest dimension Costa sunglasses to possibly fit me. Unfortunately none were as small as the Costa Mantas I favor. So, I returned everything to AMZ for free. Good service but it took several weeks before the items were shipped to me ~ don't expect Wardrobe to be fast. Second, I then found one of the few remaining pairs of Mantas on eBay for a reasonable price... new and unused in gloss black, but without my Rx of course. I bought them and wrote Costa about new lenses with my Rx and they directed me to my retail location... Europtics for me. I went to Europtics and bought copper with silver mirror (higher definition) lenses for the new Mantas, this in order to compliment my existing grey with blue mirrors (true colors). The only issue is that true Costa 580 Rx lenses are $200 each eye! Wow. Got 'em. Now I need to decide whether to update my old Mantas with less scratched lenses... hmmm.

Building The Rodfather Colorado ~ The Quintesential 5 Weight (drc #11 - 9' 4pc 5wt fast) 21Jul21-18Aug21

My rod building is strong and I now seek the most excellent and versatile rod for all over the Rocky Mtn's larger rivers. Introducing the Rodfather Colorado, a fast 9' 4pc 5wt with small removable fighting butt. Sure I like the spectacular Rodfather 10' 5wt All Blacks but it just is more specialized than a 9 footer. The lower swing weight and lower overall weight of the 9 footer is my sweet spot ~ I can tell especially when tossing all day. This is a Sage Buster for sure but is named alternatively.

I used my favorite finer materials, including the REC nickel silver reel seat with stabilized box elder burl insert and removable fighting butt hardware ($70), polished Snake brand guides ($40), and the awesome CTS Affinity X blank ($280) from New Zealand.

 

A new handle design specific for this rod is the "Always Forward."  Its three forward pointing arrowheads were created in sub-assemblies with lots of detailed sectioning and re-gluing. The custom turned full wells grip and smaller fighting butt feels, performs, and balances like a dream. The "beige" box elder burl insert is a stunning offset for the deep blue rod.

 

The color scheme had to reflect Colorado ~ so, mimicking our flag and our land, the rod is deep blue (like our sky), guide wraps are crimson (like our red 'C' and red rocks) and yellow (like the center of the 'C' for our sunshine & gold); ferrules were spiraled in red-yellow.  I added a white stripe on the butt segment, under the hook keeper, indicative of our snow-capped mountains represented by the center stripe of the our flag.

Bringing all this together yields one of the better 6wt rods I've thrown. That's right... for whatever reason the blank is too strong to be a righteous 5 weight ~ by a good margin. Hmmm... my other Affinity X blanks did not measure out this far from target at all. CTS isn't Orvis or Sage after all. The Colorado comes in as a righteous fast 6wt with an ERN of 5.9 and AA of 68°.

I will still mate it to the cool Hardy 4000 Ultralight CADD loaded with Amplitude Infinity line (weighing in @ ~5.5/1800 grains) - the line is lighter than desired for this rod but it allows a decent match to it while remaining light overall and the whole rig is cool AF IMO. I'm celebrating completion of this iconic rod with an excellent Rotating Imperial IPA from Melvin, the Boom Shakazacca... tasty. All the while I'm pondering what to do about the wicked stray from spec in the CTS blank and the hole somewhat left in the Rodfather 9 footers at the vital true 5wt spot.

UPDATE 25May22 - Ok, I love this rod and I cannot be made to hate it, despite the 6wt head fake. I can't load it with the Hardy as that's reserved for my heavy fives ~ loaded with 5 adn 1/2 wieght Amplitude. I searched my bin and found a lightweight reel with enough capacity for a 6wt ~ its the Aoka XS. It was intended for the TX bays for redfish, but was too light there (I had to borrow Rob's 9wt for the RFRF, which could've even used a 10). So, I repurposed the cool AOXS to the RFCO with great results - It's now loaded with Orvis Hydros WF6F (30' head gr weight of 160g) which mates perfectly with the RFCO. I love it now... balance is better: casting is finer; love is greater.

Stripper Gets New Butt 16Aug21

The Rodfather Stripper fighting butt was busted on a tumble landing a big brown on the Green Mtn canyon section of the Blue river this spring. Her butt is repaired.

The PT Was HOT! 16Aug21

While it reached 100° today at the Nature Center, and I did leave mid-afternoon as a result, I still managed a passel of fish. The main issue is that they were all pretty small with most dialing in around 16-17" like those shown; all cutbows today. Flows are down to a very manageable 350cfs but the river is smurky and warm. I only saw craneflies and tiny grey midges but fall mayflies worked best for me on a purely nymphing rig. I wielded the All Blacks and am getting the hang of firing 80ft! I did rip a hole in my net bushwhacking through the trees - and one cutbow even escaped through it.

3 X >20 Trout @ Rainbow Falls 13Aug21

Andy Holley, Yoho and I hit the spring-fed waters of Rainbow Falls today. It was a great outing on a warm but glorious late summer day - no dog days here as we all scored many strong browns and rainbows and Andy scored a double triple with 2 palominos and many more browns & rainbows. Andy was "calling his fish" and landed most of them. Jim & I were stumped on the triple. It was unlike our last outing though as we did best on double dries and many fewer on nymphs. Best rig was a smallish elk hair caddis tailed by a trico spinner, Griffith's gnat or other tiny dry. I did catch one on a chubby early though. The water was teeming with trout as we parked in Andy's fav spot at the effluent of the ponds. I didn't catch fish as big as prior on this day, and the water was a little lower and murky, but the fish were mostly ~18" and plenty healthy. Amazing spot. Ultimately I futilely strictly targeted the palominos in attempt to score the triple - when else would I say "grrr - another big brown took it." Too, here, the browns were beginning to get pretty randy already. It warmed steadily and we left at mid-afternoon to let them rest. Thanks Andy for your generous outing with the exec membership!

And with a little help from my friend here are the Crusher forging, the reason it's called Rainbow Falls and one of Jim's nice rainbows.

 

Dog Days On The Eagle River 12Aug21

It's a bit cooler up here but still plenty warm. Today I hit the Eagle River near Minturn. I was wielding the normal small summer weapon: the Rodfather Brook 3wt loaded with a chubby and some nymphs. I caught a number of fish, mostly browns, both on top and below the water. None were large with biggest ~15". The river was warming pretty quickly so I did depart @ 1:30pm as opposed to stressing out the population.