Colorado Fly Fishing Blog - The Flyfisher

Sight Fishing for Redfish in New Orleans

Louisiana is home to perhaps the best sight fishing for Redfish in the world. 

Recently, I was fortunate enough to take to the flats of New Orleans with Captain Rocky Thickstun.  The adventure began before dark when Rocky picked me up at our hotel on Bourbon Street.  After saying our hellos, I told Rocky that I was a trout guide back in Colorado…

“Are you a good angler?” 

Rocky inquired just hoping that he had a halfway decent stick in the skiff today.  It was a less than perfect day for fishing; intermittent cloud cover and high winds were set to plague the flats.

“I can see fish, I’m certainly no great fisherman, but I’m persistent.”  I replied hoping that I wouldn’t make too much of a fool of myself today.

“Don’t trout set these Redfish!” he said.  “I fish a lot of trout guides and most of them blow their day by doing a trout set and pulling the fly away from the Redfish.”

“I’ve salt water fly fished before.”  I quickly replied trying to convince Rocky that I wasn’t a complete hack at this game. 

“I’ve seen that trout set shit go on all day!”  Rocky snapped back at me.  “If you trout set you won’t just miss some of the fish, you will miss ALL of the fish!”

So off we went on a cruise through the flats, flying through the marshes of Southern Louisiana. 

The dolphins and waterfowl add to the mystique and beauty of this utterly unique environment.  I knew it was going to be a day to remember when we saw a Red Tail Hawk grab a duck from the water for a little morning snack.

“It’s a hunter’s day.”  Rocky whispered before he shut the motor off.

I climbed to the bow with a nine weight and fly in hand as Rocky polled the flats and we scanned the water for our prey.

There is a reason they call this fish the Redfish, a big fish looks like a giant red log swimming across the flat.  My first cast was in the money…

“Strip, strip, strip, strip!”  Rocky yelled from his platform as I trout set the fish, pulling the fly from his mouth and watching the fish vanish forever.  Rocky then proceeded to curse me for not listening and reminding me that if I did not strip set these fish I would go home empty handed…

The next opportunity came and my cast was terrible, well behind the fish.  I made another cast and missed.  And then another, third times a charm and the Redfish inhaled the fly and the fight was on!

There might not be a better made fish for fly fishing than the Redfish. 

These salt water creatures were simply crafted for the sport, cruising in shallow water and eating flies with reckless abandonment.

And so we polled on, through the clouds and the winds making for one tough, challenging but rewarding day of flats fishing.  A hunter’s day indeed…

For more information on sight fishing for Redfish with Louisiana’s best, Captain Rocky Thickstun please call or email me.

Tight Lines,

Tyler Bowman

The Flyfisher Group

tyler@theflyfisher.com

720.253.2494

 

 

 

Colorado's Best Winter Tail Waters: This week Cheesman Canyon

It is winter time in Colorado, but that is no excuse to put the fly rod and waders away! 

We are fortunate to have a wide array of tail water fisheries that remain open and productive throughout the winter months.  Over the course of this winter we at The Flyfisher plan to keep you up to date and informed on our favorite winter tail waters.  For daily updated fly fishing reports, water conditions, helpful tips and recommended fly patterns be sure and book mark Colorado Fly Fishing Reports.  Our reports come from our Flyfisher Pro Staff Guides (Colorado fishing bums) and are updated on a daily basis.  When planning your next trip be sure and stop by for the most up to date fly fishing conditions in Colorado.

This week we will start off featuring one of our favorite tail waters, Colorado’s famed Cheesman Canyon. Perhaps one of the most famous and iconic rivers of the west, Colorado’s South Platte will educate, challenge and humble both new and experienced anglers alike.  As the saying goes, “If you can catch trout in Colorado’s Cheesman Canyon, you can catch them anywhere in the world.”  Heavy fishing pressure, gin clear water and diverse bug life makes the South Platte one of the most technical fisheries in the world. 

Cheesman Canyon is the most sought after and routinely visited section of Colorado’s South Platte.

This is one of the most technical tail water fisheries in the state, demanding that anglers sight fish with small tail water flies and fine tippet.  The Canyon is accessed from the Gil Trail, requiring a short hike to get on the water. 

Fish are seldom seen rising in Cheesman but good dry fly fishing can
still be had, especially during hopper season where the canyon’s rainbows and browns just can’t resist a foam hopper bounced off a canyon wall. 

Plus hatches of small stoneflies and caddis make for some great summer surface action but as a general rule of thumb a good nymph fisherman will catch most of the fish.  Ideal flows for Cheesman are when the water is up, around 200-400 CFS.  When the flows are high the fish in Cheesman go crazy for worms and scuds and nymph fishing with a variety of San Juan Worms and scud patterns makes for some outstanding fly fishing.  Winter is one of our favorite times to hike into the canyon as the crowds are light and winter time hatches of midges and blue winged olives make for some exciting days on the water.  Catching a fish in Cheesman is always a reward no matter what your level of skill!

For the most recent information on fly fishing Cheesman Canyon, http://www.coloradoflyfishingreports.com/reports/?reportid=2356

Tight Lines,

Tyler Bowman

The Flyfisher Group

www.coloradotroutfisher.com

Fly Fishing Downtown Denver Carp!

Today was a beautiful day in downtown Denver!  Fellow Flyfisher Guide Service guides, Ethan Emery and Randy Pruitt and I joined up with Lateral Line Media in an attempt to find some tailing carp.  The water was a little higher and more off color than we expected but sure enough right out of the gates we saw some nice fish moving across the sand flats of Denver’s South Platte.  

I have done quite a bit of carp fishing in lakes and ponds, looking for tailing and mudding fish but I am new to carp fishing rivers.  In the past I have always done well with smaller leech imitations and flies that mimic classic Bonefish patterns tied in drab colors.  However, the carp we encountered on the Platte were behaving more like trout, grouping up into large pods of fish and feeding in the middle of the bigger runs and longer riffles.  So at the suggestion of Ethan and Randy we rigged up some nymph rigs consisting of leeches, mayflies and of course San Juan Worms and after targeting where the fish were sitting we started getting some nice hook ups!  Joey of Lateral Line Media was on hand to document the day, so be sure and stay tuned for some awesome Colorado carp fly fishing footage!

Tight Lines,

Tyler Bowman

The Flyfisher Group

www.coloradotroutfisher.com

 

 

Colorado Pheasant Hunting Forecast 2012

For those of you that like to “blast” as well as “cast”, Colorado’s Pheasant hunting opener is just around the corner with the season beginning November 10th.  Last year was a record pheasant hunting season in Colorado, with some of the highest populations recorded in the history of the state.  However, the drought of 2012 makes it highly probable that this year’s pheasant season
will be tough going.  The drought has most likely impacted pheasant populations; lack of water means reduced chick survival across Colorado’s pheasant range.  Overall, this means that pheasant populations will be down across the state but a few isolated hotspots may have not suffered great impacts from the drought.  

Yuma, Kit Carson, Phillips, Sedgwick, southeastern Logan, northeast and extreme southeast Washington Counties are productive areas that pheasant hunters should concentrate on.  Extreme southeast Colorado, especially eastern Baca County, can also be productive for pheasants and hunters may find scaled quail in this area, but quail numbers might be extremely concentrated this year due to the drought.

Case in point, this year is going to be tough going for outsmarting wily roosters.  However, the birds are still there and any hunter with a decent dog and a lot of persistence should be able to knock down some roosters.  Get out there and hunt!

Tight Lines and Good Shooting,

Tyler Bowman

The Flyfisher Group

www.coloradotroutfisher.com

 

Winter Fly Fishing in Colorado: Try fishing a Bamboo Fly Rod!

It is that time of year and as I write it seems that winter is just getting closer. 

As a Colorado Fly Fishing Guide winter is a time of year that I look forward to and is a most necessary time to prepare for the summer angling season.  At this point in the year my fly boxes are bare and a lot of my gear is in dire need of repair.  On the list for winter projects this year is to finish building a bamboo 4 weight, a rod that I started years ago, but have yet to find time to finish.  My friends, bamboo rod aficionados and Denver anglers, Shawn Bratt and Mark Shamburg helped me flame and split the cane, build a custom grip and fit the ferrules, but life got in the way and I have yet to finish wrapping the rod!  However, this winter it is going to be a different story…I’ll be posting pictures of my bamboo masterpiece come spring…

Fishing bamboo really is a lot of fun and learning to cast these more precise fly rods will help any fly caster better their skills.  Bamboo rod builders are in a league of craftsmanship all their own and their rods are true works of art.  Lately, I have heard a lot of anglers claim that bamboo fly rods are just too slow action to make the accurate casts that are needed for modern day fly fishing. 

However, this is simply not true!  Modern day builders like Mark Shamburg of The Confluence Rod Company are using more modern and progressive rod tapers to create bamboo sticks that generate higher line speeds and tighter loops.  These rods cast with the efficiency and tight loops of modern graphite and boron rods, but still maintain the classic touch and feel of bamboo.

Tight Lines,

Tyler Bowman

The Flyfisher Group

www.coloradotroutfisher.com

 

 

Surface Film Ants - South Boulder Creek

Early fall is possibly the best time to fish dries on South Boulder Creek. My personal favorite dry fly pattern is a Peacock PMX in a #12 or #14. This pattern can often pull trout out of any hiding spot regardless of the fishing conditions.

My favorite two fly rig is a PMX with some kind of ant pattern trailing behind in sizes #16 - #20 mainly in black. Many times a fish can be drawn to the surface with a good dry fly presentation, but will often refuse or simply slap at the fly with their tail. Using a small ant pattern that sits on the surface film or even slightly under will produce a surprising amount of fish at the end of the day. Using an ant trailer will entice them to feed on a small surface terrestrial instead of slapping your fly, causing you to set, and quickly steering your rig ten feet high in the pretty willow bush behind you. 

After pumping hundreds of stomachs over the past four years I have found a significant amount of ants in my samples. I usually start finding them as runoff begins through the middle or end of September. Mid August through the second week in September has been the peak.

Ant patterns can be fished either with a nymph rig or dragging behind a dry of any size and flavor. I typically only fish them on nymph rigs when the flows are up and there is more water to work with. When the flows drop, as they currently have been on South Boulder Creek, I really like to switch over to a dry with an ant dropper. I do not dress the ant, I simply tie it on, pinch the barb and play it as it lies. I usually tie an ant on about 14-18 inches behind my lead dry. This is a great rig to fish on any Rocky Mountain stream, especially the Front Range, and I hope you have as much success with it as I have.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at cody@lincolhillsflyfishing.com

Cody DeGuelle

Fishing Runoff in Colorado

Run-off can be a very intimidating time to fish a river, and the power of the heavy currents should never be underestimated. However, high water is also a great time to fish. A lot of the favorite runs and riffles will turn into raging whitewater rapids, but this translates into pockets and inside bend runs that are typically in non-existence during normal flows. Often these new fishable areas are cloudy and murky due to sediment so seeing fish is often not possible, but don’t be fooled, all of these areas are packed with fish. Typically what happens during run-off is a mass congregation of fish from a certain stretch into one small protected area.

Fly selection for run-off is very simple. Due to poor visibility the flies that you fish should always be larger than you think. My choice during run-off for all of the Rocky Mountain drainages is a Stonefly (#2-#8),pink worm (#10-#14), and usually a chartreuse free-living caddis pattern (#8-#14). Large copper johns, princes, and pheasant tails are also great choices.

When reading the water to determine where to wet your line is a skill that determines how many fish will end up in your net at the end of the day. Of course pools and back eddies are great choice, but they can be difficult to hook fish out of due to their swirling currents. So have your eye out for a feature that I like to refer to as a “flooded riffle”, on the inside of bends. These “flooded riffles” typically support a lot of fish and is where they usually move to feed.  When fishing during runoff it is important to read the current and most importantly the foam/bubble lines. Reading the foam/bubble lines will allow you to see what is happening at fish level. Look for moderate to slow moving lines and align your drift directly on top of them. Also look for foam lines that fan at a certain point like a yard rake. This indicates a small submerged structure that is fanning out the drifting insects to multiple fish stacked side by side.

Remember “foam is home”!

Releasing Fish

At The Flyfisher we practice catch and release.
• Match the size of your tippet to the fish you are targeting. Play and release fish as rapidly as possible. A fish played for too long may not recover.
• Keep the fish in the water as much as possible. A fish out of water is suffocating. Internal injuries and scale loss is much more likely to occur when the fish is out of water.
• A release tool can help you avoid touching fish you do not plan on taking pictures. It also helps you keep them in the water longer.
• Fish barbless hooks whenever possible or pinch down the barb for easy removal.
• Use a net for landing larger fish (17+ inches) it will speed up the landing process. Rubberized bags are best to protect the fish from abrasion.
• When you do handle a fish, do so with your bare, WET hands (not with gloves). It is best to leave fish in the water for photos. If you must lift a fish then provide support by cradling one hand behind the front fins and your other hand just forward of the tail fin. Minimize the time out of the water, and then hold the fish in the water to recover. When in the river, point the fish upstream while reviving it. When the fish begins to struggle and swim normally, let it go.
• Keep your fingers out of the gills and hold the fish firmly and level, this will reduce the amount of struggle and wiggling.
• It goes without saying but, do not drop the fish on the rocks.
• Take the time to revive a fish properly making sure that it can swim away. Many caught and released fish are killed simply because they are released without being properly revived.

Customizing Your Fly Fishing Gear

    It seems like the longer I fly fish the pickier I become about my gear. I like my rods to be able to perform in a number of different situations...throw nymphs rigs with ease and accuracy, cast dries in the wind, handle big fish without bending to the cord. I like my reels to have a large enough arbor that I don't feel like I am a cartoon fisherman when I reel in on a charging fish, yet not too large that it distracts from the rods performance and balance. Lines need to be uber versatile and mend with ease! These things are normal and it is exactly why the market is flooded with choices in equipment these days. But with so many choices why have I had such a hard time finding things that I like?
    My quest for the perfect fishing pack system started about 5 years ago when I converted an older Kelty lumbar pack into a fishing bag by attaching some smaller items to the belt. I added a camera bag to both sides of the front buckle to add some storage. There was ample room to add tools like my thermometer, stomach pump, catchum-release. I then stitched in some O rings on the inside so I could bungee my fly boxes in, in case I forgot to zip it closed. After blowing out a number of zippers though I had to look for something else. I went to the shop...nothing. At least nothing I liked anyway. I looked on line...nada! I was stumped until I walked into my garage and just happened to glance over at my carpenter tool pouches from my construction days. Immediately the ideas began to flow. What resulted was a flurry of internet purchases and trips to Home Depot. In the end, the modular angling system was born. Look for something like this to be available for purchase in the next few years. It is awesome - It can hold lots of gear in whatever way you want, and most importantly puts all of the weight on your hips where it belongs.
    A similar story surrounds my lanyard. I bought it, used it, didn't like it, so I changed it. I added about 12 inches of nylon coated bungee cord to add length and some stretch. I then added a few beads to personalize it a bit. A few extra clips here and there and finally I was satisfied.
    So what is the reason for all of this tinkering? I'm not sure really. I guess I have never been one to accept things when I am not satisfied with them. I always try to fix them instead of abandon them altogether. Just look at my Suburban..if I weren't a "tinkerer" there is no way I would have 220K miles on an original engine!

Ethan Emery
Angling University Director

Fly Fishing Purist | The Progression of an Angler

I have been fly fishing for 33 years. I fished nothing but dries in the beginning, for almost 15 years I never put on a nymph. I did not consider myself a "purist," that is just how my father taught me to fish. Back in the day we had "great" success so there was no need to change and I have not yet learned to explore. We caught tons of fish, a few big ones too and I was satisfied with the situation.

When I was in my early twenties I emerged from my father's shadow. Like in "A River Runs Runs Through It" when Brad Pitt broke from his father's metronome casting rhythm into a rhythm all his own. I can still close my eyes and see Pitt standing on top of that rock shadow casting in the sunlight. I broke rhythm too, except my break included lead weight and an indicator and later a conehead and strip of bunny.

It was 1991 when my dad took me to the bait water on the lower South Platte and taught me to nymph for the first time with baby crawlers. He said it would be easier to learn how to see the strike by fishing crawlers because the fish would hold on, tight. He said I still needed a good drift and presentation to get them to eat and the crawlers would accentuate the strike. He was right. Twenty years later I am an expert angler, skilled with dries, nymphs and streamers and I no longer need to tip with worms to see the strikes.

I still put on dries occasionally but, only when probing with attractors and hoppers or when there is a hatch that dictates I do so. I catch more and bigger fish now. Fish big enough to get away, even when fishing 1X and big hooks. My game has changed and so has the competition. I love my new reality and matching whits with fish that can really get away, even after you get them to the net.

In much the same way I have come to love Suckers (read The Forgotten Fish | Suckers Have Lips Too) I come to love nymphing and streamers. I am no dry fly purist. However, in my mind I am the definition of a fly fishing purist, the picture you see in the dictionary next to the word.

Fly Fishing Purist: One who loves to catch fish on a fly.

Now in my late thirties I have begun to realize that my hours on the water are numbered. I love to fly fish, I love to dry fly fish, I love to nymph and I love to fish streamers. I love the presentation and I love the strike. The fight is not too bad either. I have already begun to teach my daughter (4), son (2) and soon to be daughter (due in July) what fly fishing means to me.

I stay hooked up. It is because I fish to the species available in the style required. I am working to clarify the definition of a "purist."

Purist: One who pursues fish on a fly and stays hooked up!

mattieb

You know you're a fishing guide when...

   Any fly fishing guide worth their waders has a few crazy stories about things that they have done to prepare for a trip, fix gear on the stream, or simply customize some piece of equipment to fit their needs. I for one have used tippet on the river to repair my last dry fly, , casino gambling card leashes as fishing tool bungees, and 5X fluoro to floss after a stream side meal. I even cut hackle off of one pattern then reused it to finish another pattern when I realized I had forgotten some fly tying materials on a 2 day trip. I even witnessed a friend repair a gash in the hull of his drift boat with duct tape, and it worked! My list goes on and on.
   My most recent guide behavior lead to something my kids referred to as "Wet Boot Pie." Allow me to explain; It is winter and I have been going through my gear and sorting it into three categories: replace, repair, or reuse. When I came to my most recent set of wading boots there was no debate - REPLACE! This will be my fifth consecutive year of needing new boots, and in an attempt to save a few bucks I am sending them back to the manufacturer. According to the repair instructions all equipment is to be clean and dry before shipping. Clean? No problem; wash them out in the kitchen sink - something my wife greatly appreciates. Dry? Hmmm - how about the "Warm" setting in the oven for an hour or so. When my kids saw me putting wet fishing boots into the oven they inquired as to what I was doing, to which I replied "baking wet boot pie of course."
   Like most great MacGyver-like ideas, it worked. My boots are now dry and ready for shipping. Maybe someday there will be an award for the best make shift fishing idea. Until then, I will stay the course of innovation, even if it causes non-guides to look at me funny. I'm not worried though. True geniuses are often not appreciated until after they are gone. Who knows, maybe one day all repair instructions will include the following: clean and bake, before shipping. 

Ethan Emery, Director
Angling University
Denver, CO.