Ping Pong and Private Water!!!!

  Cat and I got the chance to fish some private water today and it started me thinking of my younger days playing ping pong. Growing up our local community center had a ping pong table and so I was able to play quite a bit and I thought I was pretty good. My brother and I bought a pretty nice table in 1995 and we started playing all the time. I was telling a golfing buddy, Jim Doidge, about my table and he said he played a little as well. I invited Jim over and He absolutely smoked me on my own table. If you have ever read any of my blogs and picked up on my competitive nature, then you probably know what came next.  Almost every night, a couple hard core hours of sweating, diving, and running into walls, and the best I could ever do was to get to about 15 or 16 points. Sometimes I would be up 5 or 6 points and Jim would get that little grin, compliment my play and run off the next ten. His favorite demoralizing shot was a mid chest slam that always left a mark. Brandon would watch and cheer hopelessly for his pops and chase down all the out of play balls. When Jim would head home, Brandon would say “can I play now daddy”. When Brandon got tall enough to look over the top of the table I started playing with him. Here is what reminds me of fishing private water. Brandon would serve with a big lob and then I would lob it back to him, very quickly Brandon got to where he could get it back into the vicinity of my end of the table. What would happen next, I am not real proud of to this day.  Three or four lob returns and then a hard overhand smash. I don’t remember ever hitting him with the ball but I am sure he heard it whistling by him. Yep, the points would have been mine but it just wasn’t quite the same as earning a winning a hard earned point off Jim.

  This was the third or fourth time we had fished this lake and we have come to find out that fish are smarter than you might think. The first time we fished it, several years ago; it was like those smash shots against my 7 year old Brandon, as we were tossing Ginormous dry’s to big hungry fish. The last few times including today it was more like playing Brandon after he had been practicing the last 10 years. 

  We got to the lake and set out a plan with me throwing a dry dropper and Cat tossing a Thinmint. Cat has been riding the streamer train ever since her night hookups at the Delaney’s. First cast and I heard the all too familiar “ciggle” as Cat battled an 18 inch tub to the net. I caught the next few and the Cat went on a tear. As Cat was catching all the fish on that side of the lake I walked over to the other and caught several right away. Cat moved over next to me and started hooking up on every cast. After about the fifth fish I said “okay, give me one of those streamers” (not my proudest moment) but I started hooking up quite frequently. After Cat caught all the fish on this side of the lake I went ahead and switched back to a dry dropper to end the day. Cat caught the most and Kevin caught the biggest but I still had a great day just soaking all of God’s country .

  One of my favorite parts of spending time in the mountains are the moments when I just look around and marvel at the masterpiece the God has put together for us to enjoy. From the Elk calls to the Coyote calls, to the beauty of the Callibaetis to the color of the damsels and even listening to the wind rustling through the trees gives me goosebumps and always reminds me of how small I really am.  Last night driving home we ended up within a few miles of the Spanish Peaks fire and our hearts just sunk as we could see the red glow of trees on fire. The image burned in my brain is surreal as it looked a little like a volcano that had just erupted and was spewing its burning red lava all over the mountain. I know the wild fires have been really bad the last few years but this was the first time I actually saw flames and my heart cried for all the victims of the fires over the last few years. Our prayers are with the victims and we hope that through tragedy, God’s beauty will eventually paint the landscape again. As always thanks for reading, Connell, Cat, Winston, and The Drift Fly Shop…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A quick update on our home water.  As of 10:00a.m. this morning the flows have dropped into the fishable range on the Ark, 646cfs. A few things to keep in mind before you make your trip to the water. If you have learned to fish over the last few years and you have gotten used to fishing this river at 60cfs…BE CAREFUL!!! Before casting, map out a plan where you want to fight a fish and do your best to stick to it. Second, rely on your memory as to what type of water the fish are feeding in at what time of day because even though the individual spots have changed, the fish feeding tactics have not. Thirdly, pay attention to the bugs around you, some of them have changed since spring and lastly, ENJOY your summer, you only get one shot at the summer of 2013!!!!!!1