Weather was just too nice the other day not to get on the water. Drove up to the Big Thompson River and met a couple friends below the dam. Was sunny, but the wind was blowing like a SOB! Lot of cars in the parking area...think I counted two dozen at one time. On a Monday????
If any of you are considering a gift of jewelry for the male fly fisher in your life...please take my advice. Don't do it! Get him a new ceramic bobbin for fly tying, a fancy fly box or just a bunch of hooks! Tiers always need more hooks.
String up your bass rods now before it is too late! In another month or so the local bass ponds will be too cold for good warm water fly fishing. But October afternoons are still a great time to get out and whack some bass!
You can take the trout bum out of Junction, but you can't take the Junction out of the trout bum. Yuk, yuk, yuk. Anyway. Patrick Knackendoffel moved out to the Front Range a couple years ago from Grand Junction to go to school and guide for us. Patrick and I drove into downtown Denver the other day to scout for carp in the South Platte river...but got side tracked by big trout! You may be surprised at the quality of the fish in the middle of the city! If you live in or near Denver you ought to be involved, or at least aware of the efforts of the Denver chapter of Trout Unlimited. They are investing a lot of time and energy into that stretch of river. 
The best laid fishing plans can go awry in a hurry...weather and stream flow are the usual offending suspects. The best way to deal with these is the be prepared with contingency plans. Be sure to take proper flies and rods for fish species other than what you had intended to target. But, more importantly, be EMOTIONALLY prepared to bail on the primary body of water, or fish species, if things have not worked out! I recently had to heed my own advice...
g computer technology was a fairly recent integration into the culture of McCook, Nebraska. So, it was quite late that night before we pulled up to the boat ramp at Red Willow Reservoir. TK slept in the bed of his truck and I claimed some flat real estate under the boat trailer. First light came surprisingly early...and we got the boat in the water before the sun was up. Our sole task was to learn the lake as fast as we could and figure out the wiper. And hope the cold front the night before hadn't put the fish in a funk. Ten hours of hard fishing later, we came to the forced realization that the hot wiper reports were definitely pre cold front...all we had to show for our efforts: two white bass, two largemouth bass and two small wiper (and I do mean small...like 4 or 5 inches!). 
aggressively tailing in shallow water. They were wise, but not wise enough to resist a well-placed Backstabber carp fly! Every fish took us deep into our backing and we quickly forgot all the futile hours chasing the phantom wipers! 
Yes...the caption is a joke. Some of the many joys of back country fly fishing are untouched streams, no other people and plentiful, naive trout. Maybe the most fun, but overlooked perk of a long hike into the bush is your wide open fly selection. I tied a few dozen of the most bazaar and/or ugly dry flies I have ever seen in preparation for our overnight trip into the Rocky Mountain National Park the other day. I caught so many cutthroat I lost count!
Sabrina Stratford goes out with Jay Zimmerman and top gun carp guide Patrick Knackendoffel in search of her first ever carp on a fly rod! She hooks a real hog on a 5wt using a Backstabber Carp Fly! Colorado carpin' at its best!
I have been raving about this fly for years now. They are one of the best and most diverse bait-fish streamers I have ever fished. They have proven their worth on big trout, bass, salmon...and just about every other species we can find to throw them to! Rob Kolanda just got back from the East Coast chasing blues and stripers (disguised as a family vacation) and fished these Bellyache Minnows almost exclusively. 
Fall is almost here and the brown trout are already getting angry!The fish are getting ready for the fall spawn and in the coming months anglers will find brightly colored brown trout sitting in shallow riffles. One of the best ways to take advantage of this glorious situation is to strip streamers or dead drift leeches. One of our favorite ways to catch brown trout in the Yampa Valley is to throw the meat and potatoes set up: an attractor fly such as a brightly colored egg or san juan work trailed by a black or purple leech. Stop by the shop and pick up a few patterns for success this fall. If you tie flies the shop is stocked full of marabou and special dubbing materials for creating leeches. In particular, Shane Stalcup's sparkle leech dubbing makes a leech that is both flashy and produces good movement in the water.
You may have noticed a larger number of very young trout in some of the local creeks and rivers. This is a great thing to see! In turn, you have likely seen more trout on average a bit larger than you regularly see. These are glaring indicators of a healthy fishery and the benefits of a few good water years strung together. So, cross your fingerlings (yuk, yuk) and hope for lots of snow again this Winter!
Big frown. Summer is about over...time to go back to school. But don't get all clinical and start drinking the hard stuff just yet. I have always contended that mid August to mid October is the very best time to fish here in Colorado. All the high lakes are open, most of the river flows are low and the fish are gorging themselves on bugs more than ever! Also, now is the time to reap the benefits of the epic snow pack of last winter. Run off was very healthy...and that always means awesome fall fishing.
One of our top guides, Patrick Knackendoffel has been running guide trips up Boulder Canyon almost every day this summer. He tells me the fishing is off the hook right now...all his clients are coming home happy and smelling a bit like trout. Pat says he is sometimes throwing big grasshoppers along the edges all day long! No need to switch up or try nymphs!
Fished the Big Thompson just below the dam at Estes Park on Monday. I usually spend most of my time down in the canyon (east on 34) mainly to avoid the crowds and rampant violations of stream etiquette. But I hadn't fished that stretch in awhile...so I pocketed my attitude, put on my best grin and jumped into the fray. And had constant action all day! The fishing was so good I decided to drive back up on Tuesday! The money fly was a #18 BTS Pale Morning Dun fished with one small piece of split shot about six inches above the fly.
Weeee! We're in the season of big mayflies! You may be noticing some of these beauties on your favorite river...they are Green Drakes. Two great imitations are the Hair Wing Green Drake and the 20-Incher nymph.
Drove to Basalt early Monday morning and fished the Frying Pan for two days. Spent most of my time lower down in the canyon...away from all the other fishermen. River was at 200cfs (perfect) but tricky wading down where I was.
Water temperatures will continue to warm up throughout the summer. Early mornings and late evenings can be fantastic opportunities to find largemouth bass eager to crush frog poppers in your local bass water. If watching aggressive fish swallow an amphibian imitation on the end of your leader does not sound fun to you, then I recommend you seek help immediately.
Experimenting with different types of retrieves and presentations is important. When everything comes together perfectly, topwater bass fishing can be an incredible fishing experience. Lip that fish, show him off to your dog or jealous fishing buddy, and then quickly release. High fives and fist pumps are acceptable. Its ok, you know you want to.
Most of the high country lakes here in Colorado are clear of ice and the fishing has been outstanding, as usual! Our high elevation waters are absolutely brimming with aquatic bug life...this makes up for the rather short fish growing season. The trout are usually more than eager to eat, but I certainly have some GO TO flies in my box when I am heading for the high ground.
Carp will take all manner of flies depending on the availability of food sources. At times dry flies imitating mayflies or midges or terrestrials are the ticket. Other times it's subsurface patterns including streamers, nymphs and crustaceans (crayfish, scuds, snails etc). Day-in and day-out the last category is the most consistent producer. Why? Carp are opportunistic feeders and won't pass up an easy meal when feeding on the bottom.
Many fishermen claim that Fall is the season for throwing the big, gaudy streamers (and it certainly is) but even now I will always carry a few heavy leech and sculpin imitations. Often, I will move up a river working a dry, or dry/dropper and then turn around and fish a streamer down stream through a particularly juicy stretch. This trick can trigger a strike from some of the fish you missed with the dry or nymph, but also lure out some of the larger resident fish (you know, the one that lives deep under the undercut and only comes out at night...or if an irresistible slab of prime rib limps p
ast!) Be sure to switch to a very stout leader. The strike will not be subtle! My favorite fly is the black Mini-Sculpin...it is good and heavy and is tied with a ton of rabbit. Looks ever so sexy moving through the water. 
The warm water fly fishing is getting going again! If you haven't been bitten by the bug yet...don't be squeamish, give it a try! There are few better ways to work off the winter kinks than to pop down to the nearest pond or city park and have a go at the inhabitants (no...not the kids and afternoon dog-walkers). I always have a rod in the truck now that we have a few hours of daylight left after work. The last trip out was great! I landed several catfish and a nice two-pound bass in a lake behind one of our local high schools! There were a couple kids taking pot shots at me with a home made potato gun...but I proved to be a hard target...and they were slow to reload. Amateurs... 
The evolution of carp flies has been a slow process. We have seen a couple carp specific patterns launched into the commercial market several years ago...and they have remained there, filling the one or two designated "carp" bins of local fly shops. This has usually been enough to appease the majority of fishermen. But now, with the rapid gain in popularity, there has been a serious scramble for reliable and super productive carp flies. I have seen (and fished) many great flies tied by local carpers that would fit the bill...and some of these patterns are FINALLY becoming available commercially. My not-so-humble contribution to this new insurgence of carp flies is the Backstabber. I take a couple hundred fish every year on the leech version alone. I tie mine on a #6 Gamakatsu SL45 with 1/8 inch black Dazl-Eyes tied onto the top of the hook shank to counterbalance the fly...this forces it to ride hook up. I use SLF Hellgramite dubbing on the body, two tufts of black marabou as the wing and dark olive (or brown) soft hackle tied in at the front.
Catfish are the forgotten game fish amongst us die-hard fly fishers. I have fond childhood memories of my dad taking me down to the boat basin back in Huron, Ohio to catch bullhead and channel cats...my job was to have plenty of worms dug from the garden before he got home from work.
dn't try to maul me... Turned out to be a tame gerbil! I kept the little rodent in my shirt pocket for the rest of the fishing trip.
If you find yourself in Steamboat, Colorado in the month of June...be prepared for heavy runoff! But, all is not lost. There are many great opportunities for the fly angler, just not the Yampa River in town (the main source of income for fly fishing guides in the area). I was in town this week and the flows were over 3000 cfs! 
The current Colorado record channel catfish is 33 1/2 pounds...but that may soon be topped! Check out this monster taken on a fly from a local pond. It may be just a tad short of the record, but maybe next year!
dozen good Boulder Creek brown trout in no time! Stop in to the shop and have him show you how to tie this fly...he calls it the "Belly Ache Minnow".
Tight Lines,
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!"
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!
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. 
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!
