Sometimes a person needs to
take a sec, sit back, reflect for another sec and then just burst out laughing
at themself. One of my favorite sayings of all time is that if you don’t learn
to laugh at yourself, you will miss the greatest joke of your generation. Today
was one of those days. As a so called knower of all things flyfishing(yeah
right) I expect every encounter with the water to be nothing short of
perfection. I was able to sneak out of work after lunch and headed straight
down to the Nature Center. When I got to the water I already had everything
ready to go. I began sneaking up the river and trying to spot fish on the other
bank when I just happened to catch a glimpse of something in front of me, it
actually startled me just a tad. Another two steps and I may have flattened
about a twenty incher. I quickly moved back and then snuck up to the side and
dropped my flies in front of his nose. He took it and immediately ran me into
the rocks and broke me off. I rerigged and moved up a few feet and recasted,
great take and snap. I rerigged again and casted back into the same hole and I hooked
another. At least this time he only popped off and left me with my flies.
Another cast and déjà vu quick run and he popped off. At this point, whether
Fieldman believes me or not, I just had to laugh. Ten casts with two breakoffs
and two fish unbuttoned. Amateur hour to say the least, I am sure the fish were
laughing as much as I was laughing at myself. I moved up a little further and
finally landed my first fish of the day, it was only about 14 inches but I
nearly broke out in the bull dance(from Happy Gilmoure fame). I expected that
now the ice was broken that I would not miss anymore but I could not have been
anymore wrong. The next two fish spit it back at me but then I landed my fish
of the day. It was a healthy, beautiful, big shouldered rainbow that measured
out at twenty one and a half inches. And yes, if you are keeping track it still
was not as big as Cats from Tuesday.
I moved up from there and
landed several more quality fish. The surprise came when I s found myself in a
killer midge hatch but the fish seemed to shut down. Not sure what was up with
that but still had a great time on the water today. As I keep saying, fishing
is very good but not easy. Fish can be had using small black midges and true
bloods. Thanks as always for reading, Connell, Cat, Winston and The Drift Fly
Shop…..
Hello all and as
always thanks for reading. Was really busy last week with the soccer tourney
coming to town and was not able to fish, so was really looking forward to
getting on the water today. Was sure excited to see the clouds this morning,
the warmer days seem to be bringing out the crowds. Cat and I fished with a
friend today and thought fishing was good but definitely not easy. We wanted to
fish the new improvements and so we started just above the Nature Center. Didn’t
see anything moving the first half an hour or so but at about 11:00a.m., the
midges started hatching and the fish went to town. The stretch just above the
flag hole was full of feeding fish. I hooked several and landed about half of
them. Jim moved up across from me and hooked a couple in just a few minutes; he
landed a nice 18 or 19 incher. We moved up river pretty quickly because we
wanted to cover a lot of ground. We landed several out of the Glory hole and continued
to move upstream. We got all the way up to Peyton’s place and that is where the
excitement started. Cat moved into the main run and spotted a piggy right away.
A couple casts with no takes and she then made a slight change to her setup. First
cast and BOOM!!I could not believe how
smart this fish was it took her straight into the rocks and was bumping the
rocks trying to break the line. She continued to bounce around as to not let
the bow get the angle that it needed to break her off. She maneuvered the fish
through the weir and I breathed a quick sigh of relief. She finally had fish
into slower water and she was able to net it up, a beautiful 22 inch rainbow.
Cat would tell you that it was her expertise and only her expertise that landed
that fish today.What I would have to
add is that she has been fishing one of my Winstons since Christmas when she
broke her Z-Axis. Is it a coincidence that Cat has landed two of her largest
fish over that time? Is it the great Connell juju from my Winston? Or is it
just that the girl ROCKS?
Well if that were a
multiple choice question there would be no wrong answers, just arguments waiting
to happen (hehe). We moved back down and hooked fish in almost every spot we
stopped. Even fishing my one of my other Winstons, I did not sniff anything
close to Cat’s twenty two incher today. Thank goodness for Cats modesty so I
was still able to thoroughly enjoy my day, even with only a twenty in the net. Fish today were keying in on the SOL, black
tube midge, juju bee and the True blood. Tried huevo’s for a while with no
success, maybe it was more my lack of confidence in that fly. If you are seeing
fish and they are not taking your stuff, try removing your indicator. We found
quite a few indicator shy fish today. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy
your time on the water. Connell, Cat, Winston and The Drift Fly Shop…….
With the stream
improvements starting on the Arkansas last week, Cat and I decided to take a
walk on the river to see how the changes have affected some of our favorite
spots. I am not very good with change and so when we got to one my favorite holes, I was saddened by
how the structure above changed the way the water was moving through one of my
favorite drifts. I started complaining to Cat and with her typical positive
outlook; she told me that she believes that sometimes it takes change to make things better. I
don’t know if it is because I am such a crappy listener or my ADHD but I
stopped listening and my mind drifted off to football. I always tell myself that I think to much about football but more than anything I was thinking about how somtimes chang can be a good thing.
A few years ago the
Broncos drafted a guy named Tim Tebow and I remember thinking what’s up with
that. I watched the guy in college but could not see how his skills would
transfer to the pros but the publicity and love for the guy was like nothing I
had ever seen. I could not turn on sports radio without most of the segments
being full of Tebow talk. Training camp started and very quickly I started
hearing stories about how bad he was and that the Broncos made a huge mistake.
Even though I don’t consider myself an opinionated person (yeah right), I made
it known to all who would listen that Tebow will never play in the NFL. The
Broncos had high hopes for that season but started out terrible. The fan
rumblings and calls for Tebow came fast and furious but the back scene news was
that Tebow wasn’t even second string. Well the season tanked and the coach got
fired and the new coach went ahead and played Tebow. A few plays here and there
but nothing seemed NFL worthy. 2011 started worse than 2010 and the screams for
Tebow were too loud to ignore and he finally got his chance. His first game was
horrible, I’m not sure he completed a pass until about four minutes to go in
the game. Two quick scores later and the Broncos won. The next several weeks
were up and down with Tebow mania being possibly the biggest think in sports
since a guy named MJ. One crazy come from behind win after another and even a
win in the playoffs. Tebowmania was rampant; I even saw one guy wear a WWTTD
bracelet. Well the season ended in New England and the star gazers were all
talking about how great Tebow will make the team in the next few years. The off
season came up and the Broncos began to pursue a guy named Manning and the
scream from the Tebow fans was nearly deafening. How could they dump Tebow
after how great he was, the team will be terrible now, my mother(of all people)
said she would never watch another Bronco game because Tebow is gone. In this
instance, I was pleasantly looking forward to Manning in Denver. The season
started just a little rocky and the Tebow fans were calling for the head of
Manning. Even I, a Manning supporter, turned off the tv halfway through the San
Diego game in disgust. Well as most of us know, the lights turned on and the Broncos
went on a roll, the forward pass was reinstituted to the Denver offense and
huge comeback win was followed by ten wins in a row. Unfortunately, the season
and a possible trip to the Super Bowl ended with a poor angle from a defensive
back. The Tebow cries seemed to disappear as the season rolled on and we were
all blessed with the appearance of a true NFL offense. Not only was it fun to
watch, but Manning dominated most of the games he played in and got most of us
Bronco fans hungry for next year to start and see the Broncos as world champs
once again.
With the new stream improvements upon us I could not help but worry about how they will affect the river. I have spent so many days guiding and fishing this river that I seem to think I know every nook and cranny of it. It is always fun taking a client into a spot and before they even cast explain to them where the snags are and what direction the fish will run. The expression is priceless when the fish and the river actually follow my predictions. Well once again Cat the optimist reminded me that it doesn’t really matter what happens because the techniques we use work at every tailwater we have ever fished here in Colorado. Cat went out and fished the newly changed area a little on Thursday and was very pleasantly surprised with some of the new structure. In one of the new structures she hooked the biggest fish she had ever hooked but could not get the hog landed. We tried to fish the area on Sunday and again today but it has been difficult to find an open space. I got in the weir this morning and hooked and lost a nice fish right away but very quickly a large group moved in and I decided to move on. After Cat fishing the new structure on Thursday and both of us fishing on Sunday and me for a short time today, I have decided it is time to lose the gloom and embrace the changes that are taking place on this river. It took a little time for us Bronco fans to get used to the forward pass again, but it sure was worth it in the long run. We were so happy with the new rock structure that we decided to name it Peyton’s Place. Yes I know it is a play on the name but hopefully it reminds us all that sometimes we have to usher out the good to allow space for the GREAT!!!!
The river has been
fishing off and on very good the last few times out. Sunday was a little more
difficult because of the amount of traffic but the fish seemed willing to play
if you could get into some fresh water. Today was much the same where I would
go and hour without seeing a fish and then catch five in a ten minute stretch. I
only caught one fish over twenty inches on Sunday and none today but have
caught a good deal of gorgeous 14 to 18 inchers. Fish are moving to eggs, and
still on the tiny black midges. As always, thanks for reading. Connell, Cat,
Winston and The Drift Fly shop…..
Cat and I
take the blessing of guiding and working in the fly shop very serious. We try
very hard to communicate to each and every customer on a level that we hope is
the most comfortable for them. It can be difficult sometimes because we have to
gauge each person separately and have to be careful not to talk over their
heads or to talk down to them.As a lot
of you know, there was a Flyfishing tourney on the tailwater yesterday.Cat was one of the judges and she had the
first section under the dam. Cat’s job for the day was to walk back and forth
and deal with any of the problems that may have come up. One of the sections
that Cat was walking past all day was a run called “Cat’s Run”, yes it was
named after Cat herself. Now as a judge, Cat is not able to influence the
contestants at all and is not allowed to tell them when they are missing fish.
(A silent situation we are not used to).After walking past Cat’s Run all day long and not seeing any of the
competitor’s throw a single line into the run her feelings were a little hurt. Are you kidding me, you don’t name a run after
Cat unless it is totally hot! Now I know that nobody likes a back seat driver
and the “pressure of a tourney thing” can be a little more difficult but I am
sure Cat wanted to thumb her nose a little at the contestants that were denying
her run for showing its glory.
So this morning we decided to give Cat’s Run
a little redemption.We got to the river
about 11:00 this morning and found the run full of fish. I hooked and landed a
16 incher on my second cast and then Cat called me up to a bunch of feeding
fish. The indicator on her first few casts seemed to spook the fish so she went
ahead and removed it and first cast she hooked and landed a 20 inch rainbow.
After she released it I jumped in and after a few casts I hooked and landed a
22 inch rainbow. Totally psyched, Cat jumped back in and landed another 22inch
rainbow. Back in for my turn and I landed an 18incher. A 16,18,20 and two 22
inch fish in the first twenty minutes on the water. I know she would never do
it outwardly, but I’m guessing inwardly she was sticking out her tongue and
giving out a little nanner, nanner, nanner. Skipping Cat’s run,tsk,tsk.
Well the glorious day did not stop there, the
fish got smaller but were just as fun all day long. Brandon showed up and had
some fun as well. Fish in the morning were keying in on the black tube midge
and the SOL in a size 24. After about 1:00 they seemed to switch over to a size
24 Marklar. The day was so fun that we went ahead and put together this short
video. Hopefully you enjoy. The river is a little early coming out of its
Winter slumber as we are already seeing some fish on redds and others feeding
hard to protein pack in preparation of their turn to spawn.If we continue to see the warm weather the
river should just explode over the next few weeks. Sight fishing is the way to
go so if you are not seeing the quality of fish you are hoping for then this is
going to be a great time to book a trip. Our trips do a great deal of teaching and focus
on giving you the ability to catch fish not only here, but in tricky tailwaters
across the state.
Many many years ago I
remember walking into a flyshop and inquired about upgrading my setup. The
owner, who still to this day I respect probably more than any other person in
this business, explained to me the ideal way to distribute your money among
your gear if you are purchasing around a budget. He explained that a person
needs to spend the majority of their money on the rod and line, and that since
the job of the reel is basically just to hold line it gets the smallest
portion. I took his words as Gospel and bought my first high end rod and line.
Back in those days, most of my fishing consisted of the upper Ark, small creeks
and one of my favorites, San Isabel. As I fished these waters I was convinced
that I was THE MAN, several times I had hundred fish days and if I walked away
from the water with less than forty fish I was having a bad day. With all those
little fish that buying advise held true as the cheap reel was never a problem
and I loved regurgitating the whole don’t worry about your reel statement to
other flyfishermen. After several years of that
type of fishing, Cat and I decided that we wanted to learn to catch big fish.
We made several trips to the Dream Stream, the Taylor, and the Yampa, unfortunately
with very little success. Then finally, after many attempts things started to
click. I remember being so excited after hooking and landing fish in the 15 to
18 inch range and then it all changed when I hooked a pig. Unlike any of the
other fish I had dealt with before this big guy was to the reel in a flash and
working on instinct I quickly tried to palm the reel. It slowed him for a sec
and then he exploded across the river, the reel screamed, backlashed and
SNAP(followed by a few choice words..... you can ask Steve Fieldmen what I
might had said :) ). I spent the next day and a half fighting the reel because
I could never get the drag set correct. When Cat and I got back to Pueblo I
headed straight to the flyshop and purchased a Ross Evolution. We headed back
to the Taylor the next weekend and I could not believe the difference when the
drag worked correctly. Since that day, Cat and I have purchased several Evolutions
and have felt like they were all the reel we would ever need...... I no longer
tell people that reels don’t make difference especially when chasing pig. Alex brought the Hatch
reels into the shop a while back and Cat bought one for her saltwater rod right
away. While playing with it I was immediately drawn to the look and the solid
feel of the reel. I went ahead and purchased one for myself in the smaller size
(Finatic 3plus) and got it in the other day. Today I got to get out and test
the reel on the water. One of the draws of the reel is with the way the
bearings are sealed the reels are good for saltwater and should not freeze when
they get cold (couldn’t test that today). I found feeding fish in one of the
first spots I stopped and after just a few casts I hooked about a twenty incher
that I was able to get to the reel very quickly. I played him for a short time
but he was able to get me into the rocks and eat my lunch, not the reels fault.
I hooked and landed three more and the drag worked flawlessly. A few more fish
and one spit hook I was very happy with the performance and smoothness of the
drag and found it very easy to adjust the drag. It truly felt like the reel
could handle anything this river could throw at me. I am happy with my new purchase.
I still have a special place in my heart for the evo, but no buyer regret here. For a quick river report, I
found the river to be in complete flux today with a different surprise around
every corner. I got below the first bend at Valco and found fifty or so very
large fish suspended in a total prespawn slumber. I moved back up and into a
set of rocks and found several aggressively feeding fish. I also found fish in
deep runs, hooked a few in riffles, and even found a dozen or so that were
actually on redds. It looked as if today was the opening day of spawn. If you
get out make sure you fish the entire river. The redds seem a little early to
me and still is up to the angler as to whether or not to harass them while they
are getting busy. Remember, the TU fishing tourney is on Saturday so if you are
fishing that day make sure you go below P Blvd. As always, thanks for reading.
Connell, Cat and The Drift Fly Shop
