Adams & Leech

Yeah, sure...sounds like a law firm advertising on daytime television. "Were you in an automobile accident over a decade ago and are now experiencing slight lower back pain? Call us!"

But seriously. Try this rig on for size...an Adams dry fly with a small, sparse leech pattern dropped off the back end. Use about 12 to 14 inches of 5x tippet tied to the bend of your dry. This allows you to double your Time On Target (to use a military term) during each drift. Cast quartering up stream and let the rig drift past you the same way you would with any dry/dropper. Only with this one keep the flies in the water once they reach the end of their natural drift. When the dry fly starts to drag against the current the leech will come to life! Be sure to use a leech pattern with little to no weight. This prevents the sinking of a small dry fly. If you feel you want the leech to sink a bit quicker, try applying Henery's Sinket, or some other type of fly wetting agent. The leech patterns I tie for this application are about as simple as a fly can get...just use one small tuft of black marabou. Tie it in at the rear of the hook shank to form the tail, leaving an extra long marabou butt section, which you wrap up the hook shank and tie off behind the eye of the hook. Fast and easy!

Fly Fishing in Cedaredge, Colorado

Larry Jurgens, Dick Orr and myself were graciously invited down to Cedaredge, Colorado to stay and fish for a few days on Fred Ferganchick's ranch. Fred owns and operates several ranches in the area...a beautiful spread right at the base of the Grand Mesa National Forest. He does turkey hunts, elk hunts as well as fly fishing. We had a great time down there and if you watch the movie I made for him and think it looks like a fun time...give him a call, or check out his website.
Hecoma Game Ranch, ph# 970-856-3693 web: http://www.hecomaonline.com/index.html
Watch a video and learn more about the ranch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i-P4bnZ-2g

Have You Seen The Light?

Fly fishing for carp is rapidly gaining popularity...across the country. Sight casting to large, wary fish on the flats...without leaving your home town! Carp are the hardest fighting and by far the most intelligent freshwater fish. If you think you are a master fly angler...a god on the spring creeks....a wizard on the tailwaters...carp will put you in your place. Don't be a sally! Put your ego to the test. Give it a try. We have some top notch carp flies for sale...if you think you're ready!

Fly Fishing off the Rocks

All the local Front Range reservoirs are really beginning to warm up. Once their water temperatures get into the low to mid 60's (They are right about 62-63 degrees as of two days ago) the crappie and smallmouth bass (as well as some young carp!) will begin to get active and take flies aggressively. You often find them in large numbers, pushing and corralling minnows and other young baitfish up against the rocks and rip-rap of man-made dams.

I have never understood why more fly fishermen don't take advantage of this great local fishing resource. I usually only have conventional gear/spin fishers as company when I go.

This has with a ton of local warm water lakes and resevoirs. Take a 6 weight (but a 5 will work) and a handfull of Bellyache Minnow streamers!

Norhern Pike on the Fly (Rocky Mt. Arsenal)

As the spring wears on the local pike fishing will remain good...but it becomes more and more important that you get up early. The best fishing will almost always be in the first couple hours of daylight. The pike will be in very close to shore, in shallow water in coves and along thick walls of cattails. I will carefully push through the thick cattails until I have just enough access to the water to make a short cast, then flip the fly out right in front of me and give it a couple quick jerks. Often there is a pike right there and there is a good chance of a strike that would have been spoiled if I had rushed out into the open. Only once I have tested the water right in front of me will I move out of the cattails. The next two casts will be longer ones down each bank. Then I will begin fan casting in all directions. In the lower elevation pike lakes the water temps can start to raise quickly after the sun is up for a few hours...this will often push the larger pike out to deeper water. Also, with a lake that receives a lot of fishing pressure the pike will begin retreating to the depths after a few clumsy fishermen slosh by. So, again, get there early!

Rocky Mt. Arsenal web site:

http://www.fws.gov/rockymountainarsenal/fishing/fishing.htm

Watch a video fly fishing for pike at the Arsenal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD2tREe4bfk&NR=1

Big Thompson River Directory

Big Thompson River, Colorado Click Here! The Big Thompson River is one of the more popular small rivers on the northern Colorado Front Range...and it is a very healthy fishery thanks to the catch and release regulations and decent flows for the last...



Petticoats & Two-Bit Hookers (Big Thompson River…and the long last week of March) Click Here! I woke up the other morning with a crazy notion. I had a weekday off and the fishing had been good and the reports filtering though the fly shop were getting more and more upbeat. People were getting out and getting fish..
 
 

Windblown Wanderings on the Big Thompson Click Here! It is Spring. Although the two inch fresh blanket whose thickness is still being added to as I write, would moonlight you no hint. But yes, it is spring -- and is my least favorite season...
 
 
 
   

Fishing the Big Water Thompson Click Here! We all got spoiled with the excellent and dependable fishing on the Big Thompson River. The flows were just about flat-lined at 120 cfs for well over a month. And the Blue Winged Olive mayflies were pouring off in droves. I heard about and saw more great fishing days and large trout than any year to date...
 
 
 
 
Past Fishing Reports
(To Help You Predict The Future!)

 

Big Thompson Fishing Report (June 26, 2010)  Below the dam at Estes Park is flowing at 130 cfs and, more importantly, it has been flowing at that steady rate for almost two weeks now. I have always contended..

Big Thompson Fishing Report (November 8, 2010) Flowing at a steady 50 cubic feet per second and has been now for a solid week. It had jumped up kind of unseasonably high there for a few days. But it is all good, now. And the fishing has been good...