Lightning Strikes Twice!!!!!!

  Another wonderful day on the river but today may have been to  the most technical I have ever seen it. I got to fish with Brandon today, Alex and Jason were supposed to join us but when we got to the river it was packed. We started above the Nature Center and I could see immediately that today was going to take patience and nearly perfect presentations and drifts. I crept up the river scanning for anything that didn’t seem right and I finally spotted the golden red side of a nice brown. First cast was perfect and he took it, not too much of a fight but a gorgeous 20 inch brown. I snapped a few pics but the zoom was all the way up and makes it look a little strange. The rest of the walk up was very similar, slow and methodical sighting and catching a few here and there. I caught up with Brandon at the Glory Hole and he had been doing pretty good. The BWO’s started really hatching and so I switched to a double dry rig with a parachute and a regular Adams. What a joy, the bows were aggressively feeding on the top. Brandon switched to an Adams and first cast hooked and landed a very nice bow. The Blue Wings hatched for about twenty minutes and then I switched back to a nymph rig. We started heading back down and I landed a 19 inch bow.

  At about 3:00, Brandon and I were fishing a run that was packed full of people earlier. We were catching a few here and there and all of a sudden I heard what I thought was beaver about 25 feet above me. Winston and I both jerked our heads up and I asked Brandon if he had heard that, he said he heard something, but didn’t know what it was. I started walking back up river and he came out of the water again, oh my gosh, he was enormous and like all great anglers I inwardly guessed him at about thirty inches. The fish was acting very erratic moving back and forth almost as if he was chasing bait fish. I started casting to him and after a few casts Brandon asked me how big I thought he was, I turned and smiled and said we will know in a minute. He took off down river and I chased him about thirty yards. Several times I would get him close and he would run again. Well I finally got him landed and it felt like lightning striking twice. I thought it might have been the one I landed a few weeks ago but after measuring it I saw this one was a full inch bigger than last weeks, measured 23 inches. A few more casts , but my day was complete. It is amazing how nice the walk back to the car is when you catch a fish like that, I’m sure if anyone saw me they would be wondering why I was walking like a “Prized Rooster”, chest sticking out and a smile a mile wide……..I know…..

  Like I said early in this blog, today was as technical as I have ever seen it on this river. Fish were not in their normal easy holding places. I have been seeing a lot of frustrated anglers moving up and down the river mumbling about all of the fish are gone. If you are struggling right now, then this may be a great time to hire a guide. I know we try to give great info at the shop but things are changing so quick throughout the day that there is no way we can give you all the great info just in the shop. As always thanks for reading, Connell

The Drift Fly Shop 719-543-3900

                                         23 inch Beauty!!!

                                        
                                         This was the 19 incher..

 

 20 incher....

       

                                    and one last look at the horse :)...

 

The Arkansas November 11th

  Another wonderful day on the river today, got to the river at about 10:30a.m. and about three casts in I landed a pretty 14 inch brownie. Weather was changing all day going from snowflakes to bright sun shine, had to be on your toes and pay attention as to what they were feeding on. At around 2:00p.m. a strong bwo hatch came off and Cat went to town on a double dry rig. Caught gobs and gobs of 13 to 16 inch fish but nothing real big to the net. Not really sure why but I landed quite a few bows that I had hooked under the chin. Cody showed up and after a couple of casts was nice enough to show me how to hook the fish inside the mouth(thanks Cody). As always, thanks for reading.Connell

 

Old School Fishing

I remember my first day having a fly rod in my hand and actually hooking and landing two small rainbows up under the damn, it was one of the coolest experiences I had ever had. The next couple of times out I got skunked and it felt much more like the way I had always fished. Every cast would be preceded with a little prayer and bargain with God, come on God, if you really loved me you would let me catch a fish…Oh well, it took a while and a lesson from former friend and things began to click. Faster than I had expected and the three fish days quickly became fifteen fish days. The cockiness began to flow out of me like a damn springing a leak.  I fished Grape creek a lot and got to where I expected every day on the water to be a fifty plus fish day. It probably didn’t help much when Cat caught the bug and wanted to kick my tail and talk smack to me. We would almost run up the creeks side by side throwing flies as fast as we could get them out of the fish’s mouths. I’m up to 78, Cat would say, and I would respond with you better pick up the pace, I’m at 92. Our stop at the end of the day would be at the Burger King in Cannon and as we would get out of the car I would look at Cat and Brandon and tell them how lucky they were that they would get to eat much quicker than me because it would take a lot more time trying to wash all the extra fish smell from my hands…hehe.

  Well all great things change over time and the numbers game turned into the size game. Now the smack talk is, I caught two 20’s and three 18’s, and Cat follows with I caught a 21 and two 19’s, and of course my rebuttal is that actually the 20’s were closer to 21. Big fish snobs we have become, until yesterday. Cat and I got to the water at about 10:30a.m. We were hoping everyone would be watching the Bronco game. We started just below the Nature Center and a few casts in I landed my first of many 8 inch fish of the day. My next few fish were in the 2 and 3 inch range and then finally I landed about a fifteen incher. Fishing seemed simple again; cast set and bring in the fish. Every riffle, rock cluster and weir was full of fish, a couple of nice fish and then five or six absolutely beautiful natural rainbows ranging from 2 to 12 inches. Cat was fishing the spillway at City Park and when she caught up to me she smiled and said that “today would be all about the numbers” and said she landed thirteen out of the spillway. Brandon showed up and very first cast landed about a 13incher. I was blown away by the color of the dinks yesterday, the river is actually reproducing natural fish.(something to keep in mind while fishing to the beds next spring). Well we exhaustedly made it back to Nature Center at about 4:30 and Cat told me the number she ended up with, and I turned, grinned and said I stopped counting at ten after her number… Yep it was just like old times only we stopped at Subway instead of BK...

  The fish were feeding hard all day yesterday; my rig for the day was a True blood, a RS2 and a cream size 24 midge at the end. It never seemed to matter, they were feeding. The next 6 or 7 weeks should be the best fishing of the year I hope you get out and enjoy this wonderful fishery here. It doesn’t matter if it’s numbers or size that floats your boat; this is the place to be. As always, thanks for reading, Connell

 

 

 

                                              The Colors Dreams are made of........

 

Definitely a Treat!!!!!!

  Isn’t it strange how things change over the years, as I have said in past posts, growing up my favorite day of the year was Halloween. It may be my old age, my no candy diet, or maybe just the fact that my boys are too old to trick or treat, but now I just want to go fishing and stay out til long after the trick or treaters’ go home. I know part of it is my political thought process and I don’t think I could legally celebrate the day the way I would like. I live in a neighborhood with about 7 circles and I think only about 30 kids in the whole area but from about 5:30 til 9:00 the neighborhood is packed with kids and cars that have come from I don’t even know where. What I wanted to do this year was put up signs all over the yard calling my house the “Obama, Reality, House of Horrors” and as the children come to the door I would confiscate half of their hard earned loot and with a grin, tell them I was giving it to the less fortunate. I would also take another fifteen percent and tell them they could have it back in thirty years, interest free in poverty style installments; oh who am I kidding, Grampa is going to eat that up. Now I can’t even begin to tell of the obstacle's I would put in the way of the large baggers, All in the name of "fairness".....

  Okay enough messing with people’s emotions, fishing was outstanding this afternoon. I was busy working my real job this afternoon so I didn’t get out til a little later. The water temps have dropped over the last few weeks but we are not quite to the blanket BWO hatches as of yet. I saw a few caddis, lots of midges and a few may flies and the fish just seemed to be munching anything smaller than a size 20. The FOD, the True Blood, RS2 and the Ninja were the flies for the day. It was the best land to hook up ratio I have had in a while, I guess it might have been the 20's and 22's and not the 24's. Landed gobzoodles of fish and 4 right about 18 inches, nothing huge but I'll take 18 inchers all day long!!!! Anyway thanks for reading and hope you all had a pleasant and safe Halloween.
Connell

 

Playing Hookie With My Best Friend

  Playing hookie, old fart style, Earlier this week I saw the weather forecast for today was predicted as rain and snow and it nearly made my mouth water. Was it the fishing or was it that I was going to get to spend the day with Cat, or was it both. BINGO!!!

  Cat and I got to the water at about 11:00 this morning and started hooking fish immediately. The day reminded me a little of golf, there are those days when you miss your first few birdie putts and the pressure starts to build and you begin to wonder if you will ever get another birdie. And then, just when you are getting ready to toss your putter into the tree, you lip in a bomb, and then next three putts are dead in the heart. I started 0 for my first 10 hookups today before finally hooking and landing a beautiful 18 inch rainbow. After finally landing a beauty, I decide I would just enjoy the day with the fish, Cat, and the day of not making sandwiches. The percentage never really changed most of the day with Cat and I hooking and fighting a “you know what” load of quality fish. We didn’t ever see any really strong hatches but did see intermittent hatches of midges, caddis, and a few BWO’s.  The thrill of the day came late in the day, I had moved a little way below Cat and moved into a riffle that ran next to the bank and the first two casts I hooked and lost rainbows. I moved down a few feet and casted and watched my indicator jump and saw a massive flash in the water, I set the hook and he started to run. The fight didn’t last too long and I netted a beautiful, measured, 22 inch male brown. Cat was still up river and I was lucky enough to see Sean just below me for the picture, thank you Sean, it's not nearly as much fun catching the pigs without the pictures. Cat and I fished another hour or so but my day felt complete. Back to work tomorrow…

                                         Almost forgot Size 20 FOD!!!!!!!!!!

                                        18 inch Ice Breaker!!!!!!

                                         A 17 inch Rainbow!!!!

 
                                        Cats best fish of the day, a 19 inch beauty!!!!!!!

 

 

The FOD Emerger

  With the BWO season just around the corner, the shop, and Cat and I have had several requests for the recipe and directions for tying the FOD emerger so Cat and I produced a short video on the tying of the FOD. A little background on the FOD, I began working on this pattern several years ago with the idea of producing a bug that could be fished just off the bottom, what I found was that it worked throughout the water column and worked great on even the most picky tailwater fish. I knew it was a success when a size 22 was my best fly on our family Taylor trip about three years ago. The name came from my brilliant wife Cat, a few years ago we had watched maybe the dumbest Jack Black movie of all time. The movie was about he and his brother Kyle searching for the “pick of destiny” that they believed would turn them into the next great Rock and Roll band. The movie to most people was horrible but it had Cat and I rolling on the floor. Well anyway, the next day we were up on Grape creek and I was fishing an early version of this fly and Cat asked me what I was catching fish on, I told her it was the new one I had been working on and she said we should call it the “ Fly-O-Destiny” and immediately I was hooked on the name. I, like Jack Black, believe that this fly is the key to being the next great fly fisherman……Jk, but I love the fly and don’t go anywhere without an assortment of them. The bug can be tied with a bead head as well, and I have done well with them in the color grey, light olive, purple and white and yellow for a PMD emerger. I hope you enjoy the pattern as much as I do and as always thank for reading, Connell

Fair Weather Dog

   As most of my readers know, I grew up in Nebraska and so was cursed into becoming a Husker fan but what you might not know is that growing up a Husker fan most years ended up with the same whiney quotes that would get us Husker fans through til the next year. “ Well, at least our team is classy, or smart , or our biggest claim to fame was that we were the most loyal fans in the world, yep no “fair weather fans” here”. I remember in the early nineties I met a former Husker linebacker and at that time a Bronco player named Mark Munford in Winter Park. I got to tell him what a huge fan of him that I was and we got to talk for a little while about the fair weather CU fans. He told me about some of the CU fans that would come up to him and get in his face about how the Buffs kicked their butts this year. Mark just laughed and said “I am sure you were one of the three thousand fans in the stadium when his Husker team was there”. Ninety Four through Ninety seven were great years in the O'Grady household strutting around with my Husker gear looking like a prized rooster pheasant. Well as time went on, I realized I was becomung one of those fair weather fans as well. Osborne left and Solich wasn’t the answer and then they hired Callahan. A loss to Texas Tech when the Huskers gave up over seventy and it all made sense to me, it’s no fun watching crappy sports. Rocktober was great and Cat and I did everything we could to get World Series tickets but have not watched a game since. So why am I thinking about these things?

  Most of our readers have seen the pictures and videos of my second most faithful companion Winston. Golden Retrievers may be the most amazing pets in the world. My kids have many times complained that I have more pics of my dogs than my kids. Winston follows me around the house, he sleeps next to me at night and when we go fishing he never seems to wander much more than a few feet from me. Walking around the river with my trusty and loyal sidekick Winston makes me bubble a little with pride. The rod bends and he is next to me making sure my technique is correct. When Cat is there, Winston will occasionally walk over to her and then very quickly come back to my side. On Thursday I got to fish with my son Brandon and it all started out normal but as we were walking up the river Brandon got hot, he hooked five fish in a row and then I saw it. Winston left my side and was sitting next to Brandon. I don’t think the Huskers, Broncos, or Rockies really care if I am a fair weather fan but it sure hit me hard when I realized that my Winston was a “fair weather dog”.

  Well luckily for me the Huskers hired a new coach and we had more river to fish. Around the next corner the universe returned to normal with me hooking fish and my faithful, fair weather dog at my side. I am still waiting for the return of the Huskers…..

 

 

  Fishing is definitely interesting right now. The flow has been cut to about forty coming out of the dam and doesn’t look like there is any relief in sight. The low clear water requires quality casts and perfectly drag free drifts. We are still seeing tricos returning to the water at any given time, I also saw a few very small BWO’s late in the afternoon. Midges are always on the table with the cream and black being the most common, did not see many caddis on Thursday. Fishing right now can still be good but I would not put it into the easy category. Get out and enjoy, thanks for reading Connell