Rocky Mountain Fly Casters Meeting 1/20

I'll be the featured tyer at tonights RMFC TU meeting. I'll be spinning up a rainbow double deceiver, although I'm debating changing the name to the Ken and Barbie streamer. Hope to see some of you there!

Did You Miss Me?

I've been on the water a ton in the last month or so, and heres just a bit of it.

I made several trips to thow big flies in town, and bith times, they were less than willing to eat. I ended up going out and midging  one day, and after 3 hours of not catching jack, I whacked one on my first cast with a streamer.

I've also been on the ice a ton, and not just on the front range. We headed up to North Park one weekend, and although it wasnt the most productive trip, we did get into some decent fish. 

I've also spent a good bit of time here around town on the ice, mostly on Boyd, and a few out on St. Vrain. Boyd was great the first week it had ice, but then went to crap after everyone else got out there.

 I also got the chance to go chill with a bunch of guys from fishexplorer down at St. Vrain, and we did pretty well. Got into loads of trout, and I think everyone had a good time. 

Anyways, that kind of sums up in short my last month or so, and I hope you guys have been on the water a ton.

Tight lines,

Rob

Tying classes and tailwaters

Sorry about not posting much recently. I've been on the water a ton, and haven't gotten the chance. Anyways, I recently got the chance to go through a mentorship up at Kirks Fly Shop. My first day heading up to the shop was  Saturday, and it was an awesome time. When I first arrived, Kirk was on a conference call with a local radio show, but hid dad, Gary, was there and we got a loose game plan played out. When Kirk first came out, we talked fishing a little bit, and the conversation quickly went to tying. I grabbed one of my boxes, and handed it to him to check out. he quickly pointed out some bigger rojo midges I had tied for the Delaneys, and said "Lets tie those today. You'll lead the tying class." We went over to the vises, got materials set up for everyone, and started spinning up bugs. as people came, I started the class, and we knocked out a few rojos each. After that, it was onto the more seasonal bug, a midge dry. We went from #12 hooks down to #18s and 20s, and it got interesting. I stuck with the easiest midge dry, the Griffiths gnat. Everyone tied a few each, and after a while, it was time to switch up. The hot fly on the Big T currently is a little midge called the Famous Amous, invented by one of the locals. Well Amous just so happened to be at the class, so we ended the day tying a bunch of them up. After everyone left, we all sat around, talked, and eventually, I headed out. 

Now the Big T has one of the few tailwaters nearby, so I was of course going to take advantage of some open water. However, it sounded like the inlet was open as well, so we hit that first. The fish were spooky, but after some hunting, I spotted a pod of around 16 fish. I sat on these fish all day, and watched as they moved up on a midge hatch. At first they were munching emergers, so I was throwing a #22 bunny midge at the few risers, and pulled 2 bows. But as the hatch got underway, I changed up to a pattern I've been experimenting called the winged midge. The fish were all over it, and I pulled 12 fish on it. as the fish went down, My dad came in and picked up one nymphing, and after that, we left the spot to hit the tailwater. 

The tailwater is pretty dirrereft from most area rivers. Lets clear one thing up real quick; I consider the firs 1/4 mile of river from the dam down to Mall road to be the tailwater. Anything below it is the canyon in my eyes. Anyways, we parked below the dam, and I hooked up real quick on a #20 famous Amous. Unfortunately, he popped off. I worked the tailwater hard, but between people in prime holes, heavy wind, and the fish just not playing, it didn't end up coming together down there. It was still a killer day, and I cant wait to help out up at Kirk's open house this coming Saturday!

Tight lines,

Rob

Ditch carping

I have been fishing small creeks and ditched around town for quite some time now. I have found that they are great for chub fishing, but I always had a suspicion that there were other fish in there. Last fall, I got 2 new species, a little largemouth and a pure bluegill. , I didn't think much of it, and went on with my chub fishing throughout the winter. I fished it up until runoff started, and then left it be. But when runoff should have started to die down, it kept going. it went on for almost 3 months, and I had given up on fishing it this summer. I decided to hit it in early September, and immediately saw changes. I was rigged up with a hopper dropper for chub, but something immediately caught my eye... a tail up on the far side of the pool. I bushwhacked my way back through the brush to get to that fish, and that was the start of my downhill slide into ditch carping madness. 

I unfortunately spooked that fish, and through that that was my only chance. I made a half-hearted throw into a secondary current seam, and let my fly drift along. I gave it a short strip, and felt weight back. I set back, expecting a snag, but the rid went right back down. The fish was only like 16in, but it was a start. 

Cut to a week or so later, and I was out there again with carp on the mind. I was drifting a hybrid under an indicator in the main current, making cast after cast. after about a half hour, the indicator went under, and I set back, only to get smashed! The fish definitely had more weight to it, and considering that I had a light 5wt to fight him with, I was a little concerned. Well after a heck of a fight, he finally got close enough to be netted. It was a solid 24+in fish, and I was ecstatic! 

I tried again a few days later, but unfortunately, the creek was blown out, so we went elsewhere. I went out Monday, and hooked up right off the bat. Unfortunately, He flopped out of my net right at the shore. I went out again yesterday, and hooked up 3rd cast. I saw the fish roll on its side, and swung. Well it turns out that half of his mouth was gone! 

I sent hm back, and after a while, switched over to a glo bug uner an indicator. Well first cast, I whacked one around 24in! 

Ditch carping is truly a blast, and I encourage you to give any ditches in your area a shot for carp!

Tight lines,

Rob

Brown Town

Fished in town for a bit tonight. Smaller BWO hatch going off, and most of the smaller browns were going after them. Missed about a 12in one on a #20 para BWO, and got a small chub on it. I ended up going to a meaty streamer, and ended up with about a 17in brown. He ate a #2 olive el sculpito. The water has dropped a ton since the last time I fished it, and the fish are stacked in deeper holes. 
Tight Lines,
Rob

The Poudre is awesome!!!

My dad and I headed up the canyon this morning hoping to hit some nice browns. We stopped off mid canyon on the way up, and ended up with a few stocker bows up to about 13in, most on a #6 hothead olive bugger. We then headed up the rest of the way to our final destination. I whacked about a 13in brown right of the bat on a big articulated streamer in some deeper water. 

I broke off a nice fish about a half hour later, and thought that was it for the day. Well I was thoroughly mistaken. I threw past a bigger fish sitting in the current, and to my surprise, he turned and smacked it! The fish was about 22-23in, and ate a big articulated streamer. 

About 10 mins later, something that looked like a sucker pulled up on the gravel bar. I drifted a midge over him a few times and he finally ate it. This led to surprise number 2 of the day, a 17in whitefish! Not only what it my first whitey, but it came out of the Poudre too! 

I got one more small fish it eat a midge, but that was about it for the day. I'm not going to say where on the river I was, but I will say that it is one of the more popular holes on the river, and it was super rewarding to finally get into some huge Poudre fish! All were released, and I even saw the big one holding behind a rock as I walked out at the end of the day.
Tight lines,
Rob

New Video: Tommy Lynch's D&D

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year, chances are you have heard of Tommy Lynch's D&D. Its just a mess of flash, deer hair, and other fishy materials, and the fish cant help themselves from eating it!

Tommy Lynch's D&D

^^^^^^^

Video Here