Colorado River Monsters (fishing)

I went out to the upper clear creek and it was all frozen!

 

Bummer.

It's snowing today, and my guides were freezing up, but the river was wide open and fishing great.

 

Heck yeah!

 

Mothers Day is another great day to hit the river...

 

Nut to butt

 

When I was a kid, I had a ton of desire to fly fish. Parents got me a rod, and not knowing what I was doing I broke it soon after getting it (don't recall making it to water... just trying to figure out casting in the yard). 30-some years later, I started fly fishing this year. I haven't picked up my spinning rod in many months.

They also got me a fly tying kit. I vaguely recall making some flies, and I probably tried to catch something with them using a spinning rod... just don't remember if I did. Well, another good thing to come out of this crazy year is I started tying. I'm in my infancy thus far. I picked up a second hand setup (tools and supplies) to get me started, and have begun adding supplies as needed. Thought I'd share the few monstrosities I've created thus far; I'm only 4-5 flies in so far.

After breaking open the box of second hand, I worked with what was there to create this odd ball which I'll likely attach to my wall-hanger bamboo rod and reel for show. It's a size 10 shrimp/caddis hook:



I like fishing ants for some reason, usually on warm water, and thought it'd be an easy one to begin with while also supplying me with flies I want in the box. So, I orders some size 18 dry fly hooks. The first one ended up with too large of a hackle; lesson learned but I'll still fish it:



And a couple more in different colors (after getting rabbit dubbing in something other than black) as I find the red ants common around the Front Range ponds I visit:





My first attempt at a foam ant was not to my liking, but I'll keep working on it.



With some time, I'll get better at this.

 

But they will all catch fish! If anyone is looking for great fly and gear deals. Ascent fly fishing is by far the best price and the owner is another tacoma bro. Great business, I just bought 50 tungsten euro flies for 95 bucks

 

Looking good
I'd get those stuck in trees for sure.

 

It take's some time to develop the fly tying skills. I remember sitting and tying 25 of the exact same flies, first 5 I usually trashed (cut/ burnt thread off).

Lots of You tube videos out there but I like Charlie's stuff (Angler's All to since Greg Garcia moved over there from Charlie's), local and he has books out to.
https://charliesflyboxinc.com/fly-box-2/

Bass Pro had a less pricy class with a good instructor and I have taken 2 of their classes. Pretty cool that the class decides fly's to tie after you get through the intro/ skill building.

 

Nice!

Last night I sat down and had my first attempt at tying a size 22 bwo. I’m usually too lazy to switch over to a dry during the winter, but this year it’s a goal of mine. Hook a trout on top with sub 20 fly in the snow

 

Speaking of Dry Fly fishing in Winter. Was talking to another Fly Fisher about Pueblo Tailwaters and they said Police are telling people not to park in Nature & Wildlife Center area anymore, tons of Break-ins while people are fishing.

 

Ridiculous that this happens. I've felt a little apprehensive whenever I've tried walking away from my truck while doing some urban fishing on the S. Platte in Denver. There is always some straggler eyeing the vehicle.

 

Update on Clear Creek.

I drove up the canyon yesterday to see if there was any open water. It's about 95% frozen over. A few spots that still get sun had open seams in the middle, but nothing was deep enough to be a prime lie. The big pools are covered. I fished for about 3 hours and didn't get a hit.

 

Did the same thing last weekend

 

I was feelin' lucky jigging a little white micro streamer through the seams. I was sure I'd be able to post some nonsense about fish still biting when it's icy out. No dice. Skunked for sure.

 

Has anyone tried drop-shotting midges on a euro rig?

 

Why not just use those super heavy Euro Flies that go with Euro Nymphing?

 

That's certainly the ideal, but I'm thinking about Cheeseman/11 Mile/etc. The fish in those tailwaters will rarely go for the big stuff in the winter. I got a few hits on mini-leeches as my attractor flies last year, but that was still on my traditional nymph rig.

 

Do they make skinny waders to go with your Euro nymph rig?



Nymphing is my least favorite type of fishing. I go to the tailwaters in the winter and catch fish on a size 8 streamer with 2x tippet while everyone is using 7x mono with a size 22 or 24 midge.

 

Lol, skinny waders were a thing of the 80s and 90s. I'm sure they'll come back soon.

Ever tried a streamer with a euro rig? Flawless presentation