Opposite Boy Beats The Storm @ Dillon Lake 27Jul14

Circumnavigated the 20 mile loop around the lake this morning in the repaired X bike - no chain jumps but it didn't index well; work to do... climbed Swan Mtn Rd without issue. There was a yacht club handicaped race today on Dillon - mostly J boats with crews were running in weak wind. I took the opposite path of the race boats and was single-handed. I started late but the sails were easy to raise without wind. I actually got into the doldrums downwind and had to resort to motoring to wind once... sheesh. That was long after the race had ended... it picked up again as a storm approached - I made haste and fortunately made it to port for totties before the storm.

Once Again Into The Fork Tailwater 26Jul14

I hiked into Williams Fork River by 10:20am or so... traffic was a smidge busy on the way to Kremling. I spent ~4hrs on the WF today and fishing was decent despite the mid-day timing. Flows @ 100cfs were < 1/2 they were last week  and I caught fish in different spots but I caught more in total. Evidence is still sketchy as I forgot camera again and just took phone-cam shots... the fuzzy 'bow was big fish on the day, say ~18', but I didn't get him all in lens and then drop kicked him back into water before 2nd chance. All up I caught 9 foot long or bigger browns and a couple of nice 'bows. I saw grey mayflies, but not many, and one egg laying caddis... I had a rig with Obiwan weighted, black ice weighted, olive midge, RS2 and Cheesman emerger at the end. Yep, 4 or 5 flies and indicator most of the day. Nothing on the midge or worm this time. The last 2 took the most fish including both rainbows (which jumped nicely a couple times for good fun) but the black ice played too. Landing was less sketchy this week due to the flows but my hobbled body certainly makes me less agile and pained on any twist or stomp in the river. Thank goodness I didn't biff. It wasn't too crowded but I did see 4 other guys as I fished upstream only from the trail approaching the river.

 Now I'm just waiting out the storm to get back to the boat for a sail - it's looking a bit dubious.

Grand County Was Somewhat Grand @ Williams Fork River 20Jul14

Sunday afternoon I drove up to Parshall and hiked over to the Williams Fork River... flows were ~250cfs so still above ideal for this water but comparatively better than other rivers. This is a 2 mile tailwater from rez to the Colorado; it's famous for springtime migration of huge Colorado River rainbows; I hoped some were left over. I tied on an Obiwan worm, a green mayfly flashy weight, a FBPT and an olive JuJuBee midge, in that order, and used an indicator. Initially I hiked downstream from where the trail hits the river but the fishing back up yielded little but a 12" brown on the PT. That's OK because on my last visit here I was skunked. I kept heading upstream both longline and shortline nymphing and finally got into some bigger fish in slack and riffles after passing the put in point. I ultimately caught just one other 12" brown and three very nice rainbows (16", 18", 20") with two on the worm and one on the midge. The 'bows were a bit skinny but strong and landing in the fast water was dicey. No pics this time... forgot the camera. If you go, take bug dope as there are a brutal # of mosquitoes; also be prepared for the 30 min hike over to the river.

Navigating Lake Dillon 20Jul14

After dropping the kid's hikers in Breck at 2AM (he bagged 3 Mosquito 14ers today plus the nearby 13er) and after being stopped in Breck @ 2:22AM and after sleeping a solid 5 hours, I awoke to head to Dillon to fix sailboat rigging. There was a nice breeze though so I headed out under all original Doyle sails single-handed and touched both the Blue and Snake arms of the lake.

I got back to the car at 2pm and prepped myself and the new Xbike for circumnavigation of the lake. The Wilier-based bike was awesome (went counter-clockwise) but the chain jumped off 2x on the Swan Mtn climb, allowing some roadie to smoke me (but he did it while complimenting "cool bike"). I fixed it and climbed fine while hand-adjusting my derailuers and descended great to Keystone. The bummer was though that the chain broke 2x on the spin from KS back to Dillon Marina (field repair was crap I guess). Porting parts from another bike is also sometimes an issue - gotta at least replace the link.

At least I was near the end. Colorado is so cool - Italy maybe a smidge less. ;)

Tough Way To Go Italian 14Jul14

Well the Wilier came and I now have an X bike again. Nice Enve fork (like the rims on my Yeti), and all the other components but cabling moved fine. Geometry is very similar. It's a tough way to get an Italian frame but here's the after and before of the situation. I guess I need a white or red water bottle. ;)

Mon Ami, Tomahawk & 11 Mile 13Jul14

I cleaned the exterior wood and installed a BT & USB stereo on Mon Ami... quite a change. Tom Wilke and I sailed her in some decent wind.

Hit the Tomahawk SWA on Sunday mid-AM... what a difference picking the right bug makes. The water was even higher and while there was no surface action a couple of copulating green drakes landed on my vest. They're huge, I tied one on and 15 fish later I rested.

After lunch I went to 11 Mile... a storm had just passed but I did catch a half dozen or so rainbows on a smallish black KF Flasher while there for several hours. Always fun to double up on the day.

Skunkish But Not Skunked @ Tomahawk SWA 05Jul14

It was a pretty nice but cooler day and the Middle Fk of the So Platte was still very high at 320cfs (at 3X what I usually fish it) but flowing clear. Caught some but "slow" is generous really. What a view looking up to the Mosquito Range over South Park.