Happenings

Well a lot has happened since my last post. Since then the caddis, stoneflies, and I even saw my first salmon fly of the season today, are coming off THICK at the ranch. My day off last week sent me to the Frying Pan to test my skills. I had never been to the river previously but I was so excited to experience another world class fishery. I took Cottonwood Pass to Buena Vista and then Independence Pass to Aspen and on to Basalt. That was the most amazing day of driving (not the quickest) I have experienced. Crossing over the Continental Divide twice and seeing some fantastic scenery was a treat. I would have liked to take more pictures but just keeping my car on the road, it breaks down to one lane at times, was enough to keep me busy. I slept at a camp ground up by Ruidi that night and was the first one on the river Friday at 6. I began at the famed toilet bowl and hooked many fish on my own deadly mysis pattern.

Just as expected landing them was another story. The jagged rocky bank wasn't like the Taylor where once you hook a pig you can run with him down stream. I stumbled and fell several times loosing fish in the 5-6 pound range even before anyone else was on the river. I even fished to an enormous 32ish inch brown that was actively feeding next to a 25ish inch rainbow but was unable to get a solid hook set to land it. Bummer but what a thrill. I also was able to land my fair share of fish topping off with a 22 1/2" brown.

The picture doesn't do it justice as my big net dwarfs the fish in it. Being alone it was the best shot I could get and I will add it and others soon. I fished the flats to let others fish the Toilet Bowl but found the educate different than I was used to, even on the Taylor. You could walk clear across the river on almost all spots and many yuppies tromped all over everyone's fish. Most of them were with guides. Go figure. It was getting way too crowded even for my taste so I was satisfied with my fish and left by lunch. On my way down I looked for the numerous public pull offs to fish but even all of them were full. MAN! The Pan lives up to its reputation of being an amazing river and extremely crowded and I am glad to have expanded my realm of rivers fished. The last few days have been filled with trips and a few interesting things. I ran into the Avery beer company owners at the ranch (my favorite IPA), broke my amazing custom made 9'6" 5 weight on a Taylor brown under the bridge, and removed a #12 fly from a gentleman's foot. I sure am glad I hooked myself back in March (check the posts to relive the funny incident) with a #4 streamer in the head and had Tony show me the proper way to remove a hook. Without that experience I would have not known. I may add a post later to explain the proper way to do that because it is bound to happen to every guide. All in all its been a great week and should get even better as my girlfriend Rachel will be arriving for a week of fun in the mountains. Look for pics and posts to come.

Caddis!

Well the last few days have been filled with maintenance duties rather than river trips for the most part. I did get out with a client yesterday for a morning trip. The fishing was tough but we managed some nice bows and cutts. As the title indicates caddis have arrived and are filling the air and tress around the river all evening. I fished a dry fly this evening and took a few fishing but most are still not rising consistently. Give it a few more days and we will see what happens.

I was able to attend the Tulluride Bluegrass Festival for a day to celebrate a friends bachelor party. What a great time! It was a blast to see some familiar faces again in such an amazing town. I had never been to Telluride and I was blown away by the scenery. I booked it home early Saturday to be back in time for a trip. Not the most fun drive back with sheep traffic jam and a not so understanding state trooper who issued me a speeding ticket.

6-18-09

I havent had any trips the last few days but on my last outing with Greg from Denver we were able to get into a nice female. We were also taking fish on dries which gets me fired up. the rest of the pictures were from the C&R the last few days. I was by myself so these were the best pictures I could manage.

I captured a bunch of underwater release videos with my new camera so stay tuned for those. I think they turned out really well in spite of their short length.

Some Trips

Well I finally have some photos to add from some trips the last few weeks. Eddie from Florida was my first trip and was I lucky to have a guy like him to start off with. He made things very easy and was able to do everything I said to a tee. We even opened up the day with a sweeeet double! A rainbow and cutty, that aint bad!

Here is Eddie with a nice bow as well.

Richard from Texas was also a ton of fun to guide. He was able to learn a bunch of new stuff about the sport and quickly applied it to put the hammer down on some bows and browns. Richard was also able to teach his grandson some new tricks he had learned with me and they both were soon catching fish unaided.

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Here is Joe from Arizona with a nice male bow. After Joe got his casting down he was catching fish a a steady rate all afternoon.

Taylor River Pictures

So Far...

I have had some computer difficulties which has set back keeping things updated sooner but it will be worth the wait. Andrew and I moved my stuff in up at the bunk house at Harmel's but I didn't start work until June 1. We put in a lot of time on the river fishing the Catch and Release area almost exclusively. The flows were huge and the fish were on the feed. I don't think anyone wants to read a play-by-play so I will go straight to the good stuff. I will have pictures up from the last 2 weeks or so ASAP so stay tuned.