Woodland Lake Debacle

Report Contributed by Joshua Fortenbaugh

We hiked in Saturday the 19th and eventually found ourselves on a less than established path through snow, runoff, and scree. The normally 4-5 mile, 2-3 hour hike turned into a 6+ mile, 5 hour slog uphill into increasingly brutal weather. We stopped and set up my trusty 12x12 behemoth of a tarp in the shelter of some pines and drank a few beers. Set up our 3 season tents in some decidedly 4 season weather and got out the topo map. Determined that we were on a little ridge just above 11,000 feet between Skyscraper and Woodland. Both lakes were frozen, and I was less than motivated. I peeked at the turnoff to Lost Lake on the way back, but decided that a beer and a slice of pizza at Backcountry were what we really needed.

But...

Last weekend, took my girl out fishing. Her first time with a fly rod. Up to Crater Lakes. Eager little brookies. Lots of wind. Beer in the snow. We're going back for more.

(Send in your fishing reports! jayzimangler@yahoo.com)

When the cat’s away, the mouse will play (or fish)

Written and Contributed by Tevis Blom (a.k.a Black Death)

Well, my girlfriend is out of town, which means my fishing addiction is in full blown form that could qualify for an intervention. Night bassing, impromptu road trips across the state in the wee hours of morning, fiendish tail-water sightfishing behind outlet malls and at the famous toilet bowl, wiper chasing in a pontoon, a lonely carp, and a few hours of sleep in the back of the car all were part of my obsessive ‘bachelor’s fishing weekend’. The next time you are granted a reprieve from your relational duties, I highly suggest you put together a fiendish fishing weekend of your own to satisfy that craving. After all, fishing really is an individual activity. Personally, I’m still coming down…

Friday afternoon was spent at the Blue in Silverthorne: Eager brooder fish stocked a few weeks ago took a variety of standard #18-22 tailwater midges and even ate a few hoppers on top to spice things up. I spent most of the afternoon breathing brake dust from the I-70 overpass, but being alone at one of the best holes on the river, I stayed put until near sundown. No monsters were sighted or caught, but a baker’s dozen were brought to hand with 9 being between 15-20”.

A Good Times double cheeseburger and five hours of sleep at a crowded campground were enough to get me on the road toward the famous Frying Pan river by 3am. By 5:30am I was rigged up at the ‘Toilet bowl’ and slaying some chunky fish on leeches and rainbow warriors. Not many Mysis takes… white snot nymphs= stinging lips. My favorite fish of the day was not landed, but I got to watch a ~20” rainbow eat a hopper off the top and got to fight with him for about a minute of head shaking… smart guy just wouldn’t run and get on my drag! The Toilet bowl is not the romantic fly fishing experience we wax poetic about. It is akin to a fisherman’s crack den. The fix is good, but eventually the drone of the generator and the beat up fish remind the angler that a more wholesome experience waits downstream. On the way out, fishing at the Bend hole provided more solitude and some traditional fly angling with midge emergers under a big dry. A few smaller and less beat up fish were eager enough for my midges and rounded out my day on the Pan. As predicted by NOAA weather, 40+ mph winds came in Saturday afternoon and I was on the road back to the front range.

Sunday found me kicking around my pontoon on Union Reservoir for a change of pace. I made several futile attempts at following a few baitfish eating birds around in hopes of catching my first wiper. The wind would pick up and larger fish were busting prey up top, but being in the right place at the right time was crucial. Wind and waves blew me back toward the car, where I finally hooked up a crappie, and several smallmouth bass. Exhausted from the boat, I waded the south shore and hooked up a carp (I believe) which promptly broke off some old 3x tippet… All I saw was a flash of gold and scales. Never buy clearance tippet, especially Climax! No pics, only small fish landed that day.

Memorial day I headed to my favorite quiet little bass and carp pond. Heavy winds made for challenging conditions and poor visibility, but a small carp and a perch were caught close to shore to add to my weekend species list. Being the fiend that I am, I continued fishing past the long weekend and headed out for some PM bassin’ on Tuesday after work. A few nice large-mouth came to hand around 10pm. After five days I had quite a nice fish list: Brown, Rainbow, Cutbow(?), Crappie, SMB, Carp, LMB, Perch… no wiper yet! I miss my girlfriend dearly, but life is all about taking advantage of opportunities. So if you can, go out and get your fiend on, in a good healthy fishy sort of way!

Big Bass On Small Flies

In the fly shop I preach every day during the summer about using stiff rods and heavy leaders for bass fishing. You can get away with 0x leaders if you tie the streamer on using a loop knot such as the Rapala knot. Because the fly has the ability to jerk or swing back and forth more erratically or naturally than if the fly were tied on with a much lighter leader and a tight clinch knot. You can set the hook proper with a stiff fly rod and have a chance of controlling a big fish with heavy line...even once it gets deep into the cattails. Now, having said all that...sometimes light tippet and small streamers can be the right combination to hook the largest and smartest beast in the lake. Today my sister, Eva took the best fish of the day on 5x and a tiny white Dead Drift Leech tied on a #10 C400BL mini-jig hook. Just to prove my preaching wrong. The fight was intense and in the end she had to dive into the cattails to lip the brute once it wrapped itself deep into cover. Once I arrived on the scene she was dripping wet, hands shaking...but with the wildest carnivore grin I have ever seen on a woman. Good on ya, Eve...

Gift Horses

Never look a gift horse in the mouth, they say. An old saying that suggests you should not assess the value of a gift--or age of a horse--in front of the giver of said gift. So, when a friend and fellow tier who I see in the fly shop a few times a week pulled me aside the other day (a couple weeks ago, actually) and offered up his favorite, secret bass and carp lake...I smiled and was grateful. But I knew the area he was telling me about and was more than slightly skeptical. This particular animal seemed a bit long in the tooth, let us say. My friend was gifting me his secret because I have helped him out over the years with both fly tying and fishing (or so he claimed) and was eager to return the favor with something more substantial and permanent than a luke-warm case of Miller High Life. But he made me promise to protect the secret...before I had even fished it, so there was at least a little bit of curiosity and anticipation. It could be a good horse. Maybe?

The chance came last Monday to "go see a man about..." oh, I'm getting tired of this analogy already. My sister is in town and was eager to get out and have a crack at some fish a tad larger than the small brown trout we have been catching since she arrived. So her, Erin and I drove out to find this lake. Very loose directions. No map. But we found it and it looked good. Real good. Unmolested and lots of fun-looking structure and shoreline. Erin broke away from the narrow gravel path and headed directly toward the shallow end. I heard her say, "I like this place already." And on the second cast she was fast into a six-pound carp...rod bent and giggling. A few moments later I had a fish pick up a four-inch Texas Ringworm streamer and race off with it as I was waiting for the fly to sink. Needless to say, by the time I reared back on the reigns the fish was not there. Felt like a very big bass, though. Wow. Twenty yards down the bank I have another good fish inhale the Ringworm and this time I'm paying attention and set the hook. What happens next can best be described as Chris Farley attempting Chippendale tryouts. A largemouth bass far too fat for acrobatics attempting somersaults on the stage that is the surface of the lake. Comical, yet frighting.

We land several more big bass as well as crappie, green sunfish, bluegill and yellow perch before the three of us call it a day and head for the barn. (Wow...this analogy just won't die.) So, thanks for the gift, brother. You know who you are and now know where we were. Thanks.

A Tale from the Taylor River

Contributed by Ben Schloesser


In the second week of April my little brother was looking at colleges, so as soon we raced through some tours on the front range we headed up to the Taylor. This hen was hooked in the deep run just above the bridge. Saw it flash 10 feet directly upstream of me and got my heart going right away. It thankfully took my large weighted stone fly on my stone-mysis-mysis rig on the first pass. The fish went airborne (fully out of the water) 3 times, and there was less than 20 feet of fly line off my rod tip the whole fight. I usually save describing fish as 'beautiful' or 'pretty' when that's all they have going for them. At 28 inches, the fish was big and had many options for adjectives, but pretty came to mind right away.

Tax Day Carp

Written and contributed by Dana Stephenson

On my way to meet my accountant and to pay my taxes all that was on my mind was the weather. There were no clouds and no wind--a perfect day to go carping. As I passed a favorite lake I gazed forlorn at the waters edge...and saw a tail at least three inches out of the water. Instinctively, I pulled over and popped open the back of my ride. Finding only a four weight trout rod I strung it thinking, "pretty sure this rod has a warranty." I hurriedly walked to the waters edge and found the carp still feeding. I yanked out some line, cast and a few strips later POW! Fish on! I kicked off my shoes and had to wade into the lake to land the fish, but lucky for me a father who had taken his daughter to the park noticed the commotion and walked over to be witness to the spectacle. I got him to snap a picture. This grim morning had suddenly turned into as good of a day as it could be, taxes and all...

Water and Women

Fly fishermen have had this almost trite compulsion to compare the rivers they have known to beautifull young women they have known, or hope to know. It is understandable...the clear, moving water in a trout stream is intoxicating. The hemlocks or cottonwoods along the banks are graceful and inviting. And the pools and boulders are sultry, hidden and mysterious. Fishermen are attracted to these places just as men are attracted to beautiful young women and there is a large overlap there, so the overuse of the comparison is understandable. As a man and a fisherman I am no different, but I prefer to compare the waters I have known to older, matriarchal women...both real and imaginary. Especially the homewates I have had in my life. The bass ponds that, like caring mothers reminded me that I was still a clever boy even after a bad day in the confines of a public school house. Or the rivers like strong grandmothers who rein in our sanity when home on leave from the Army. Or the oceans that remind us when we are at or worst that life is not always clear and still has limitless possibilities. Yes, homewaters are like beautiful women...old, wise and there for us.

Ten Ways to Increase Your Time on the Water

It is customary in a fly shop to ask someone if they have been getting out fishing lately. I ask almost everyone who walks into the shop…just to get conversation going. It’s a bartender asking, “what’ll it be?” The overwhelming trend in replies to this question is not positive. More often than not it instigates a gripe session about not being able to get out on the water nearly enough. Now, I am aware that this response is sometimes just the weekend worrier or nine-day-a-year superstar attempting to sound like their incredibly hectic and busy life is keeping them from spending every waking moment on a trout stream…purely for the benefit of the committed trout bum asking the question. I get it, and thanks. But this article is for those seriously trying to devote more time to fishing.

10: Get Fired. Right? Who has more time to fish then the dudes under the bridge with the dirty stocking caps and abandoned shopping carts? I always stop and ask if anything is biting…and they spit and cuss at me. Then ask for change. Alright, in all seriousness, loosing your job is not a fun time, but if you do find yourself in a “between jobs” part of your life take advantage of it! It could be the lag time between a change of jobs, or the free-wheelin’ month after high school or college or military discharge. Don’t waist time stressing out…do what you can or need to do and spend the rest of the time fishing. Trust me, it will do you good. But, most of you are not at any of these young stages of life anymore and jumping up onto the conference table and doing the chicken dance with your suit pants around your ankles at the next Monday morning meeting to insure unlimited amounts of fishing time is not really a good life option. Sure, I understand. But you don’t have to take these suggestions to any extremes. Maybe you can find a way to let your fishing habit infiltrate the office. Throw up a flag with your colors in the prison yard, so to speak…hang your best “grip and grin” photo on the wall or on your desk. It will attract fellow addicts and let them know you are one of them. Or take your boss fishing. Convert those above you. If you can pull this off there are untold treasures that await. In the end, weather it be reducing your overtime hours or taking a lower paying job in a state that has better fishing opportunities…it is quality of life that trumps all else.

9: Convince Yourself Golf Balls Are Evil. Because they are…they will suck out your soul and your will to live, not to mention countless hours you could have spent floating down an amazing river casting fat grasshopper flies to hungry browns the size of footballs, or hiking to some high lake above tree line in search of your first 20-inch cutthroat! A lifetime’s worth of this given up for what? A single digit handicap? Really? Do you wake up in the middle of the night obsessing about the seventh hole at your local manicured golf course? Are your den walls covered in framed score cards and grip and grin photos of you holding a slightly scuffed Titleist? Sure, I poke fun for fun’s sake…and in the end remember fly fishing is a needy mistress and needy mistresses are only happy if they are the only needy mistress.

8: Get Better Friends. Keep your single, non-golfing friends and do your best to alienate those friends who invite you to church breakfasts or their kid’s high school plays. Get rid of them FAST…they may smile a lot and say encouraging things, but they are not out to help you. They want to see you married and driving a mini-van with dumb bumper stickers as soon as possible. Misery can’t stand that you get to go fishing on the weekend. On the other hand, veer away from those friends who pull into your driveway on a week night and do everything they can (to the dismay of your recently sleeping neighbors) to loudly goad you into going out on the town to “find some trouble”. These people—although they are a great deal more fun than the former—are equally counter productive to the fisherman. Foster the relationships with those who show up at 4 A.M. with fly rods already strung, coffee for two in a thermos and a wild look of possibility in their eyes!

7: Become a Teacher. Seriously…don’t they get the entire summer off? Well, they do, but most are paid so little they have to take part-time jobs during their off time. What I meant was become a teacher of fly fishing. You will be surprised at the increased motivation and drive you have when there is someone under your wing. You want to show them all those favorite spots that you may have unintentionally become bored with years ago. And you want them to see for themselves the sun rise on that one particular lake where the trout start rising like popcorn. Teach a best friend, or a new loved one…or, good grief, your kids.

6: Time Management. This I write mainly for myself…as it is the bain of my fishing life. Some of the tricks I have learned over the years of attempting to wedge as much time on the water as I can are deliberately prioritizing things I have to get done vs. what can wait until…well, whenever. And learning not too agree to anything on the spot. “When will you be arriving at your best friends wedding?” Yeah…I’ll try to make it… “But, you’re the best man!” Yeah…so…like I said… You really should be showing up for that one, but…it still allows for an out if you suddenly get word on some good fishing. You know, priorities. Besides, if “the word” is that good your best friend may join you! There are other things that will undoubtedly increase your time on the water. They are small things that eat up large chunks of time…hangovers and television. Do whatever you need to do to minimize or eliminate both of these monsters from your life. Get used to waking up early (sober) and not instinctively flipping on the idiot box. Remember boredom, above anything else, is what breeds fishermen.

5: When Nature Calls. This might be a delicate subject…I don’t know. If you are squeamish and never actually admitted to having a bowel movement, then maybe this section is not for you. Outdoorsmen, as a whole, tend to be fairly open about the subject. It is something we all have to think about and prepare for if we spend any amount of time more than a short, awkward jog back to the luxuries of indoor plumbing. You need to become comfortable taking the crouch behind a tree…sorry, but ya just gotta. Nobody is going to be putting up with you making a sudden run back to town. If you are in a drift boat all day this can cause even more severe time nuisances. Some “locker-room” advice I have heard being passed around is Limit Your Morning Coffee Intake and Jam Yourself Up With Pepto. Take these tidbits for what they are…and good luck.

4: The Spouse Situation. My best advice to you is stay single! Short of this…do your best to marry rich. Ha. Ha. Ha. Okay…we have that out of our system, moving forward. Assuming you have already upset all your best fishing buddies and gone and done the unthinkable…let’s make this all work out. The best and fastest way to get permission to spend time away from the house and family is to get on your spouses’ good side. Do favors without being asked (nagged) and go out of your way to make their day easier. This will usually make them more receptive to your follies. Also, regardless of how the fishing trip turned out, always come home in a good mood. Up until now I have been writing under the assumption you have not married a fellow fly fisher. That, of course, is the ideal situation. If you can find someone who really digs you and wants to spend every day off on the water…well you obviously have it all figured out, don’t you? But it doesn’t have to be that perfect to be that perfect. If your “significant other” has a reason to join you a field and you make them feel unobtrusive in doing so, you will end up having a much happier relationship and spending a good deal more time fishing. I have a friend whose wife got into nature photography. He goes fishing a lot now. He is happy. And he always has great photos of himself with fish!

3: Be Brave, You Sally. When you boil it down there are really only two types of fishermen: those who own fingerless gloves and headlamps, and those who don’t. Yes, I do mean there are hard-core fly fishermen and there are fair-weather fly fishermen. If you are serious about getting more time on the water you will consider the merits of going out at night and during the winter months. Fly fishing at night presents its own set of challenges. The biggest hurdles to overcome are the casting and line management. All your casts will have to be done by feel. There is no turning your head to watch how your back cast is doing. The best practice is to stand out in an open yard blindfolded and flail about. The upside is it will make you a much stronger caster. You will be forced to cast correctly; by feeling the rod load and knowing when to bring the back cast forward and when to release the line to shoot it ahead on your final forward stroke. Winter fly fishing is an entirely new bag of awful and in many cases—because of location—the average fisherman is spared the opportunity to subject themselves to the full brunt of awful. But, if you live within a days drive of a tailwater (created by a bottom-release dam) that offers year-round trout fishing…well, get yourself a pair of good gloves.

2: Become a Homer. Fish local. Easy as that. Too many fishermen have the idea lodged in their heads that they are not fly fishing unless there is at least a two hour drive involved. I guess it is the notion that fly fishing is done only in remote, or scenic, or somehow exotic places. Many times a guy wakes up next to an amazing little trout stream or bass pond, packs up all his gear and heads to a larger, more famous (and way more crowded) river—driving over a half dozen pristine, un-touched creeks—to have a mediocre day on the water and a long drive back home. The biggest problem with this scenario (even if the fishing had been great) is that it involved the entire day. If this is what every day on the water entails, then you are loosing out on all those half-day trips and after-work special places. You will most likely have to check your ego and settle for smaller water and smaller fish, but you will often find your favorite new place. And that is another thing…if you want to improve your fishing and increase your time out, you really ought to diversify. Chase whatever fish species you have available to you. You will be amazed by how a new twist in your long-practiced sport will infuse new excitement and enthusiasm. Be open to bass…and even carp. Don’t snicker. Carp are arguably the most challenging and addictive freshwater fish, not to mention most numerous and available. A fly fisherman with healthy species diversity can let the time of year, time of day or the weather direct the days’ fishing to improve the odds of success. If the weatherman is calling for an overcast, dreary day…head to a trout stream! If it promises to be a bright, bluebird day with no wind…stake out the nearest mud flat—you can sight cast to 10-pound cruising carp while pretending they are bonefish and that you are in the Bahamas, not a reservoir in Longmont. Or, maybe it is the end of a long, blistering summer day and you finally have a couple hours free from yard work. Bet the bass are hittin’!

1: Be Better Prepared. Always expect to have a chance to fish…and you will. Carry your rod and gear with you to work, on business trips and vacations. You never know. You can even plan your family vacations strategically. Hey, who knew our hotel was going to be right next to a trout stream? And hey, ho…I packed my rod! There are other, less conniving ways to be prepared. Dress more appropriately when heading to the river. Just because there is no wind and rain being called for doesn’t mean the weatherman don’t lie. It can shorten your day and cut into your fishing time…unless you’re prepared. Also, pack a lunch. This saves you some money for gas and flies, as well as coveted fishing time. You will always fish better and more effectively when you have energy. With a lunch in a bag up at the truck you can stop as soon as you start feeling weak from low blood sugar and get your grub on. And be back at it soon as you see the next trout rise! Unarguably, the best way to increase your time on the water is to live longer. So, prepare for the long run. Prepare to be healthy enough to fish hard when you retire. Do whatever it takes…get better sleep, quit smoking, exercise and eat better. The immediate upside to a healthier lifestyle is increased energy and ambition. Just don’t let this new-found enthusiasm get you killed during high water.

(Look for more stories like this in Jay's book The Top Ten Guide to Fly Fishing, Lyons Press. Click Here to Order a Copy!)

Little Brown Stones

Little brown stone flies...I should say. You already know the local trout streams are practically littered with...oh nevermind.  So, as spring progresses and the creeks start to open up farther and farther you will begin to see more diversity in the active bug life. Midges will still be the prime activity, but you are almost certain to see some tiny stoneflies crawling on your shirt collar. These bugs will be smaller than some of the smallest caddis you will see later in the year, but they will act as teasers to the resident trout who have had nothing to chase all winter. You will find that larger dry flies will begin to work consistently, as well as larger nymphs. Use a size 14 hairwing dry with a size 16 bead-head nymph dropped off behind.

Introducing The Booby Frog (Top-Water Bass Fly)

The Booby Frog fly was designed to look, move and float the way a real frog does on a pond, but stay easy to cast with a lighter fly rod and remain completely snag free. Arguably the most common and enjoyable type of top-water bass fly is some sort of cork or spun deer hair popper tied with the general size, shape and color of a frog. These flies have the ability to fool many un-pressured fish, but lack the subtlety and movement to do well on every body of water and in all seasons. Like a real frog, the Booby Frog does not always float…and when it does, it sets in the surface film of the pond at a 45 degree angle with it’s legs splayed out and just the big foam eyes popping out of the water. And the fisherman need only touch the fly line to get the front-facing rubber legs to twitch back—often being just the right trigger for the big bass lurking nearby. This fly has so much great movement and action in the water because the natural materials are not bound to the entire length of the hook shank. The Booby Frog is tied on a large stinger-style hook, but all the materials are tied in at the same 3/16^th of an inch of the hook shank directly behind the eye of the hook—this allows the frog body no restrictions in movement. Also, this frog may be the first ever to offer the bass fisherman a top water fly that rides hook point up (almost out of the water!) completely eliminating the need for any cumbersome and distracting hard-mono weed guards that only partially work. The Booby Frog casts easily with a common trout-weight fly rod and crawls easily and seductively over even the thickest weed beds, logs and lily pads.

Booby Frog Recipe:

Hook: Gamakatsu B10S Size 2

Thread: Danville’s 3/0 Waxed Monocord (Dark Gray)

Body Bottom: Marabou (Cream) Wapsi (MB002)

Body Middle: Marabou (Golden Olive) Hareline Dubbin, Inc. (M8BQ159)

Body Sides: Mink (or Squirrel) Zonker Strips (Olive Brown) Wapsi (MKZ089)

Body Top: Grizzly Marabou (Olive) Hareline Dubbin, Inc. (GRIZM263)

Foam Eyes: Rainy’s Olive Foam Boobie Round Eyes X-Large (BE-09144)

Legs: Montana Fly Centipede Legs (Speckled Yellow Medium) (0-5-125-807-2)

Hard Eyes 1: Loon Outdoors UV Fly Paint (Yellow)

Hard Eyes 2: Black Sharpie Marker

Hard Eyes 3: Loon Outdoors UV Fly Finish (Clear) (Or UV Knot Sense)

Booby Frog Tying Instructions:

Step 1: Build a 3/16^th inch thread base directly behind the eye of a Gamakatsu B10S Size 2 hook using Danville’s 3/0 Waxed Monocord (Dark Gray).

Step 2: Tie in the Marabou (Cream) so that the tips just touch the inside bend of the hook. Apply some Zap-A-Gap to the trimmed butt sections and wrap the tread around the marabou cluster and force it up at a 45 degree angle from the hook shank—the glue should help hold it in place.

Step 3: Tie in two clumps of Marabou (Golden Olive) on top of the cream marabou. These should extend out well past the cream marabou and 5/8^th of an inch past the outside bend of the hook, making the overall length of the fly—without the legs—3 inches. Lick your fingers and slick back the marabou allowing you better control of the material.

Step 4: Tie in a Mink (or Squirrel) Zonker Strip (Olive Brown) to either side of the fly. Trim the leather part of the zonker strip to ½ inch. This should make the overall zonker about 2 inches long. 

Step 5: Tie in two Grizzly Marabou (Olive) feathers on the top of the fly.

Step 6: Mount the Olive X-Large Foam Boobie Round Eyes onto the head of the fly using cross wraps of thread just as you would when mounting a lead dumbbell eye.

Step 7: Flip the fly over and tie in two sets of Medium Speckled Yellow Centipede Legs. Tie them in so that they extend out well past the hook eye and the rear of the fly. Tie off the thread between the foam eyes and the rubber legs using an extended-reach whip finish tool. Trim the front four legs to 1 inch. Trim the rear four legs to 2 inches. Apply a small amount of head cement to the thread built up between the two sets of rubber legs. Be careful not to get any cement on the actual rubber legs, as this will “rot off” the legs over time.

Step 8: Exaggerate the hole that runs through the foam Boobie eye so that the UV Fly Paint can ooze down in and have a better, more durable hold on the foam once cured. I prefer the butt end of my whip finish tool because it is already handy.

Step 9: Apply a small drop of UV Fly Paint (Yellow) into the opening of the foam eye.

Step 10: Cure the UV Fly Paint with the Loon Outdoors UV Power lamp.

Step 11: Create pupils using a Black Sharpie Marker.

Step 12: Apply a small amount of UV Fly Finish (Clear) (Or UV Knot Sense) over top of the now hardened eye. This ensures the black Sharpie pupil remains permanent.

Step 13: Cure one last time with the Loon Outdoors UV Power lamp. Finish with a final coat of Hard-as-Hull head cement to get a glossy look to the eyes.

Now go take him fishing!

Finesse Worms for Aggressive Early Season Bass

The snow has been sun cleared from the flat lands here in Colorado and the warm-water lakes are turning on. Pack a fast six-weight and some streamers in the car or truck so you can hit a local bass pond on lunch break or after work. The problem with the local-pond reprieve is, unless you know a secret gem or have access to private water, you will have to share your bass with others. This sometimes means you have to approach the situation from a slightly different angle (pun most certainly intended) than every other dude on lunch break. Back in the day—when I was stationed in North Carolina—the conventional lure of choice was a small and straight soft plastic like a mini Slug-Go worm or Bass Assassin jerkbait. We would rig it with no weight and fish it with a series of hard jerks that gave the worm a lively “walk-the-dog” action triggering aggressive strikes from normally tentative and educated bass. The fly rod version of this is a dubbing Finesse Worm. My favorite color combination is a dark olive Simi-Seal dubbing with a hot yellow Ice Dub for the tip. Use a two strand dubbing loop if you are using a 3/0 waxed monocord, or a four strand dubbing loop if you are using a 6/0 thread. This will provide certain rigidity to the finished worm, minimizing fouling tendencies and aiding in the flies ability to stay straight and “glide” farther after every aggressive strip during the retrieve. Make the worm from 3 ¼ to 3 ½ inches long and tie it on a Tiemco 777SP #4 hook. This is the ideal hook because it has a large, straight eye protruding out of a long, straight shank—perfect for jerkbait-type action. Tie an exaggerated thread head on these worms and even go so far as to add some Loon UV fly paint (or Knot Sense) or epoxy to create a tapered cone at the front…also to aid in the darting action. Fish the Finesse Worm on a nine foot 0x leader and use a Rapala knot or some other loop knot that will allow the fly to dart erratically

Learn how to do a furled dubbing loop!

Boulder Creek Opening Up

Boulder Creek is opening up farther and farther into the canyon with every warm day. As of yesterday the creek was open and free of too much snow well past the tunnel. The water is still low and there will be some shelf ice to contend with but the deeper pools--where all the trout will be holding--are wide open. Use small subsurface flies such as Poison Tungs and Zebra Midges for best results. By the way...the 2012 fishing licences are on sale now. Your 2011 one is still good until the end of the month, but you may as well pop into your local fly shop to get the new one. Randy or myself at Rocky Mountain Anglers will gladly print you a new license if you are passing through Boulder. We are the last fly shop in town that still does fishing licences (our competitor lost their licensing privileges for the next two years for attempting to defraud the Colorado Division of Wildlife...aw, snap!) So, stop in and get licensed up...pick up a few flies and have our experienced staff check out your gear before heading out. I promise you will get help from a real live fly fisherman...not just an unpaid intern! Awwww...double snap!

A Lesson from Joan

The best bit of writing advice I have received did not come from my late grandfather—a columnist and failed novelist in Sydney…no, not Nebraska—or my mother, or any high school English teacher, or Stephen King, or Anne Lamott, or even Strunk and White. Nope. Joan Rivers. Ha! Did not see that slider coming at your knees, did you? I don’t know if it was the quality of the advice she gave me, or more the impeccable timing and directness. But…it’s a roundabout story that starts here and ends with catching a big carp. I promise.

So…I do actually fish some during the winter. But I did not this year. I never really look forward to it, by any means…winter fly fishing is generally a miserable and sad sort of affair. Most of us here in Colorado do it because we can and because we can’t help it. If we are able to go fishing and there is at least an average chance of catching fish (even if they will be sluggish and our fingers will freeze) we will still do it. It’s Colorado being a very bad mother who never takes her child’s toys away and sends them to bed. They stay up ‘till two in the morning and subsequently speak gibberish and bite the other kids at school the next morning. But this year my toys did get taken away and I was sent to bed…with Joan Rivers—so to speak. At the end of last year I was offered a big writing assignment. A reputable publisher of things fly fishing contacted me and asked if I was interested in writing a book for them. The editor had the idea and even the title of the book in mind and just needed a stooge to write it. I panicked. There was no way I was qualified to write a technical book. I can keep it together for a paragraph or two, or tell a long-winded, disjointed story from time to time…but a whole book? And I couldn’t cuss? Forty-five thousand words with not a single, beautiful and therapeutic f- bomb? What? And it has to be done in four months? Really? My initial reaction was to decline the offer and retreat back to my comfort zone of unpaid, unedited blog blather.

That night I sat on the sofa, stoking the fire and stuffing popcorn into my face and watching free television on laptop Hulu…generally feeling and looking like a slug going nowhere. I was catching up on a show written and directed by one of my favorite stand-up comics, Louis C.K. (think contemporary Seinfeld but darker…he has no friends, two kids and never gets laid). This particular episode ends with Louie attempting to commiserate with and make out with fellow comedian, Joan Rivers. The old bird smacks him around a bit and talks some sense into him. He has just walked off a gig in a Trump casino because the crowd wasn’t paying attention and the lounge venue was pretty lame.

“I’m just tired of all the bullshit,” he tells Joan.

She smacks him around some more and points a very crooked and judgmental talon at him and yells. It’s a funny scene, for sure…but sitting there that night, looking and feeling like a pathetic blob with popcorn kernels collecting between belly rolls and couch cushions…I felt like the old bitch was yelling directly at me.

“You don’t quit a job,” she scolds.

It sank into my brain and later that night—while restlessly asleep—Joan kept on…at me alone this time. She yelled at me for being lucky enough to be an actual working writer (about fly fishing, none-the-less!) and turning down a paying gig! What was I thinking? Complaining that the time line was too demanding and it wasn’t my idea anyway…and it’s a “how-to” so…blaaaah. Good grief, man! It’s a paying job!

“What are you?” Joan shrieks in my dream. “A trust fund baby?”

I awoke feeling emotionally cougar-bitten, and brow-beaten. But knew, without any second-guessing or self-doubt…I had to take the job. Say yes. No matter what it was or how difficult it was going to be to have to compromise and work with a real editor again. It would be a long, hard haul…but I had to do it. I am a working writer. This is my job. End of story.

But, of course, it was not the end of the story. I busted my ass for the next one-hundred-thirty-three days straight. In-between customers at the fly shop. After dinner and on weekends. Right through some fantastic late-fall fishing, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the new year, my birthday…never took a day off. Couldn’t. And now it is spring again. March. The snow is melting fast down in the flat land, the carp and bass lakes are thawed and the rainbows are moving toward shallow gravel to spawn. And I have delivered my work…all forty-five-thousand painstakingly cuss-less words, a stack of photos and even some pen-and-ink illustrations…on time and with a smile. Done. I walked back into that dimly-lit lounge, did my bits, didn’t disparage The Donald or his tacky casino…and my ass got paid.

And my first day off in over four months is actually a sunny, nice day with no wind—maybe a better reward than my advance check or seeing my name on the cover of another book. Good weather. And actively feeding carp…!

Tying The Curmudgeon Crumpler

The Curmudgeon Crumpler may be the best trout dry fly you have yet to hear about. The “Crumpler” was originally created in an attempt to mimic large, gangly crane flies hatching in the high lakes of Colorado’s Indian Peaks Wilderness Area…but soon morphed into a more compact, hardy fly resembling a cricket or small grasshopper. This fly is tied on an Umpqua C300BL barbless competition hook, so has a very organic curve and an extended spear to hold trout without damaging them. This is my personal favorite fly to fish small, wild trout streams.

Step 1: Create a thread abdomen with 6/0 UNI-Thread (Light Cahill) on an Umpqua C300BL hook. Build up the back end significantly more than the rest. Half hitch and cut thread.

Step 2: Switch thread to a Danville's 3/0 Brown and fill out rest of the tapered abdomin. Coat entire thread base with a heavy layer of Hard-as-Hull head cement and let dry thoroughly.

Step 3: Stack a healthy clump of natural elk hair so tips are even, then tie in on top of hook shank.

Step 4: Tie a knot in two pieces of turkey tail feather so the knot is just above the color change in the natural feather fibers. Tie in and trim to proper length. Coat trimmed tips with head cement to keep them durable.

Step 5: Cut out two tapered oval wings from a sheet of MFC Wing Material (Plain Web) and tie them in on top of elk hair.

Step 6: Tie in a piece of badger hackle, then dub the thorax using black Hare-Tron dubbing.

Step 7: Wind hackle forward and tie off. Whip finish knot. Pow. Done.

Now tie up a half dozen of these in preparation for the season!

Pattern Created by

Erin Block

Mysteries Internal