Corned Beef and Cabbage

Well I had every intention of fishing for the better part fo the day today, but had to cut it short because I got word that my best friends mother died. Still, I managed to get in about an hour and 1/2 of river time. With the warm spell, much of clear creek is ice free and I decided that it would be a good place to concentrate my fishing efforts and use some of the new flies I tied up. Last night when I got home from work I decided to tie up some simple, yet creative flies. A few size 18 "Hot Wire Hare's Ear" (just make the body using a colored wire of choice), and a few size 20 creation of mine that I refer to as "The Luck O' the Irish" which is basically a very simply midge pattern with a tail. It has olive dubbing, a white thread body, and an orange tail which you can use a variety of materials for. Get what I did there? green (olive), white, and orange are the colors of Ireland's flag.

Shortly after getting started with a red hot wire hare's ear as my point and a luck o' the irish as my dropper, I hooked into a nice brown on the hare's ear.

This guy was in a slow deep pool, but was on the other side of the stream which made for a very difficult drift. I continued upstream and came to a very sunny section of the river with a nice seam right in the middle of the river. I waded out and first cast in I hooked up with a smaller brown on the luck o' the irish.

I guess trout can be festive too huh? Now if only they could drink green beer...... Must have thought that fly would taste like Corned Beef and Cabbage! lol! So this was about the time I had to leave but I saw one other pool that I wanted to try before I did. It looked fishy to me, what do you think?

I tried it for about 5 minutes with no luck, but I wanted to fish closer to the current on the far side, so I walked over there and let me tell you, I did NOT fish it. I did however see something that I have never seen before. 2 fish, of about equal size, were literally fighting eachother. They were completely oblivious to my presence, and even swam into my leg a couple of times. I tried to get a picture as best I could.

I am sorry for the poor zoom quality, but you can still see it. Right above the large submerged rock in the center of the picture, next to the foam, you can see what looks like a sideways "v". Those are the two fish going at it, they swam up and down that entire little pool and kept biting eachother, completly ignoring my prescene. I didnt stick around long enough to see who won and who became dinner, but it was a completely random and kinda crazy sight to witness.

Thats all for now, until next time god bless and tight lines!

KVeMAN

P.S. (like this is a letter lol!) please spread the word about my blog, I plan to update it very regularly.

And Away We Go!!

Well with the nice weather, not even the wrath of God himself could keep me from the water this weekend. Friday night I made plans to go, called a friend from Colorado Springs and we met at Deckers to see if we could get into some fish. In the end, it was the good times, scenery, the 5 zillion deer I saw (14 to be exact), and the relaxation that made the trip worth while. Mr friend had to leave around lunchtime so I spent much of the day by myself, which I don't mind at all.

The picture above is downsteam of Deckers, I hiked down the steep hill in search of the illusive myth in these water called "trout." Spent the better part of two hours down there and didn't even see ONE, there were a lot of prime lies, and a lot of slower pools, but all I saw down there was a cluster of sucker fish. Still, blind fishing to where I thought a trout COULD be beats most anything else I can imagine doing. Around 1:30 or so with the crowds approaching from all directions (which is why I was downstream of Deckers to begin with), I decided to head evn FURTHER downstream to the area I like to refer to as "the unknown." It still sees its fair amount of pressure, but not nearly to the degree as upstream.

I found me a lice little run and almost immediately, at the end of a drift I hooked into a fish, I saw him flash a couple of times, and then he threw the hook and was lost :-(. I continued fishing and by this time switched to a double rig with a Hare's Ear as my point fly, and a Poison Tung as my dropper. I found a very slow deep pool and what to ya know? I landed a nice little Rainbow on the Poison Tung.

I snapped this quick shot and then released him (as I always do with all the fish I catch). I then stepped a little further into the river to fish the far side of the pool and began seeing signs of very subtle takes, I would get too anxious and set too fast I think. So I let my flies sit in the water after a sublte strike indication and then there was a very obvious hit, I set my hook and was into a NICE rainbow, expecially for the area of the river I was on. It put up quite a fight and then just as I thought I was going to win the battle, I felt my line go limp. It was gone, I know it took my Hare's Ear, because I had no rig left, it broke me off!!! grrr.... by that time it was time for me to go (had to be back by 330), but all in all I had a blast!

The next day was a very nice one as well, I decided to take my dogs out, and my girlfriend and I set off to the Bear Creek.

I brougt my fishing gear and was lucky enough to be able to fish for 45-50 minutes. No fish were to be had, but I know I missed at least 1.

I scoped out a section that I had never fished before and as you can see there was stil la lot of ice on this small creek. But being out with my girlfriend and my dogs, I couldnt have asked for a better time.

I know they had a great time too. Next time I promise there will be more fish pictures for you to see!

Until then, god bless, and tight lines!

KveMAN

February 24th, 2012

Out fishing on the Colorado River and the Williams ForK River.

This is a test blog, will add reports and more pictures from future trips!