Hittin' The Blue North Of Town 17Jun21

I fish the Blue River N of Silverthorne a couple of times a year. I am always amazed at the excellent water that flows from Dillon Rez to Green Mtn Rez but how much smaller the fish are there (at least that I catch). I did OK today as to quantity but the fish I catch here are just much smaller - than even other "freestones" like the upper Arkansas or the Taylor in Taylor Canyon or the Roaring Fk downstream or others. It's weird to me 'cause there were plenty of deep spots I could not cross and plenty of great holding areas and the PMD and red quill bug sign was abundant. I'm not a fish biologist but something is weird. I went mainly below the campground several miles in a challenging to access area. I did best on a PMD rig (#18 rainbow warrior wight, #18 red BHFBPT with cream ostrich thorax, and #20 MHFBPT), noticing the mayflies hatching, though I caught some on a more BWO-ish looking flies too, before I got with the program. The brown with the tree behind ran downstream quickly and I had to vault the tree to control the fish (strong despite size). I used the RF 5wt All Blacks today but forgot the fighting butt at the car - a mistake as the rod is then a smidge tip-heavy.

Sailing The Rez 16Jun21

Well I replaced the bad battery and now the 10hp engine starts readily. I cleaned up Mon Ami and took her our for a quick spin on the lake today. Normal gusty conditions and still one-handed but it was nice being out again.

Big Shout Out For Some Very Best Live Tunes For The Ides Of June 15Jun21

First - Rostam crushes it on Tiny Desk. Don't worry about the small viewage; that will change. Acoustic African Authentic NYC. Rostam Batmanglij is the real deal nearly beyond measure - he's co-founder of Vampire Weekend and produced their albums until the recent offer; he's a producer on HAIM's recent offer and has been found on their live stuff (like SNL) sometimes. Think caliber of Lorde & Antonoff as to NYC skill set or Mark Ronson & whatever lady. Here he assembles some great musicians to play his stuff on NPR Tiny Desk and the result is awesome; sure he could use a lead singer (as he once had with VW) but the rest (writing, arranging, producing, etc.) is obvious; Rostam is spectacular...

Second - Basement tapes from Phoebe are always worthy. Published Feb 2013 with "Phoebe Bridgers Band' in a basement in LA we have the screams, the writing and an alt band somewhere in LA. She may be promoting but the lead is excellent as are his mates; Phoebe and her songs are the show though. Georgia and more from the fore, heretofore unseen...

Third - Hmmm what to ch00se for the ides of June. I'm a huge influencer (not) as I have 5 followers (see how I did that). I believe we bridge to comedy now... Taylor Tomlinson is hysterical wherever you find her but the NetFlix special "Quarter Life Crisis" sums killer set(s); here's the trailer - go there and more...https://youtu.be/eyg8_HBfVB0.

Fourth - Still Scary Pockets remains supreme. They attract the best artists every time. I'll play Rozzi later but now a recent release... with Elise Trouw, who's an awesome vocalist and percussionist.

UPDATES...

Fifth - Finalists in my "Helplessly Hoping" 3 part harmony bakeoff are Josh & his friends. Dropped recently. Awesome - no one is mixing loud here...

Sixth - Sure it's 15 years old; sure they never got a trillion views; sure you don't know them - but will love the vibe. Listen to a cello play percussion and more. Listen to INine play "If This Room Could Move" with meager production.

Seventh - Deep in the playlist but yeah - Molly Tuttle in school at Berklee. This could've been her final exam - but they likely tested more on guitar skills than this keen songwriting and lead singing. From 2013 "You Didn't Call My Name," who doesn't want to see her do her thing live?

Eighth - This singer (she can write as demonstrated here) is a un-ignorable generational talent - a voice struck by gods & demons. Watch everything she makes. Rozzi here does her "UpHill Battle" 'cause there's no "June" version live yet.

Ninth & Last - Re-release of Scott Pilgram Vs The World soundtrack, completely awesome movie, yields the great Brie Larson on lead. 'Nuff said... oh yeah, she can sing.

OK, that's the end for the entry - there are many more worthy but this curated lot is tight.

Fabulous Day On The Blue During A Rodfather Field Trial 14Jun21

Wow; while there were several other cars in the lot when I arrived @ 10am, as I hiked in I believe I saw them on the river. I went down further and was alone. I was seeking a favorite tongue spot by 11am for the BWO hatch. I had the tickets today for sure as I caught many fish (and that's rare for me out here) with several much larger cutbows, 3 over 20" ~ and my first two were 23"! Probably the alpha male and alpha female in the run. I caught more there, including nice browns and other 'bows, but only one more cutbow as stout as the first two. All BWO action, even as I wended my way back upstream to the car. The MHFBPT delivered and the CDC wing biot body BWO out-delivered today. Cutthroat Anglers gives it 3 of 5 right now but I seemed to have done better.
 

 

 

 

Even better was the fact that I had taken out the new Rodfather Stripper. Sure I loaded it with floating and went nymphing but the power in the new rod aided in my landing the big ones. I took 5 min or so landing the biggest two as I dropped 6X to the last fly and didn't really know what to expect from the tip of the RF 4pc 6wt based on Epic. The water is still just flowing 65cfs and is gin clear. It was obviously great, as was the new Orvis Mirage reel, and the fighting butt was useful if only to leverage on my forearm to give my wrist a rest. It's good to get a rod some experience early I find. :)

The Green Mtn Rez will not fill this year is my opinion; it seems still 20 ft low. Too bad but it makes fishing this section accessible, if not a little technical.

Vail Mtn Games ~ Atack 'Yaks, Dogs, Dine & Dead 14Jun21

Yesterday I found no parking in the four main lots in Vail and just blew it off and returned to Summit. Today I headed to the Vail Mtn Games early enough to easily find free daytime parking. It was a crowded place but I caught some prime viewing angles for some of my favorites:

• 8 Ball Kayaking where there are random boaters in your way as you sprint in a 5 man heat downstream 100 yards or so (especially fun when spring runoff is peaking on the Gore),
  

•  Dock Dogs Big Wave dog jumping where the longest jump wins (I saw a sheepdog jump 24' today; seems the longest jumpers land vertically ass first in the water),

• A stop @ Mtn Std, one of my fav restaurants in Vail (met some nice folks without masks)

• Checking out the live music. I especially wanted to see the Grateful Dead revue band, announced with special guest, and because Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros played Vail last night I though maybe... (but nah, he didn't show but the band was very good and joined by a guy who played on Shakedown Street).

What a hoot being out with folks again. The vibe in Vail was excellent and the crowds didn't bug me.

Nest Theater Part Seventeen - Custom Amp Faceplate & Cable Coverup 11Jun21

I finally got around to making a front faceplate for my 300B SET amp. As with the rest of the Nest Theater I used Russian birch plywood (this time in 1/16" thickness), stained black and finished with semi-gloss polyurethane. The faceplate came out great so I fashioned another sheet to cover the cable nest in the rear of the amp section. Looks much better all around. Not too much sonic impact from these mods. :)

CutBows On The Run 11Jun21

I headed to Summit Co again for events and duties. There's a wildfire near the tunnel & Silverthorne so I came the back way - and stopped at 11 Mile for some fishing on the way. Super busy and super windy today - I arrived at ~10:30am and fished till ~1pm with no appreciable bug sign. I caught a number of 17"er cutbows like this on Barr's emerger however... it was not epic.