Front Range Anglers

This site was created to help our customers & friends stay up-to-date on local fishing opportunities along Colorado's Front Range. It includes fly tying, techniques, and information of general interest to fly fishers. Input is provided by Front Range Anglers associates and various contributors in a position to help with reliable content. If you have an interest in providing content....click here
Find out what is going on concerning water resource issues pertinent to quality, flows, and access in Boulder County and adjoining areas....click here

Find out what is going on with the Boulder Fly Casters and the Saint Vrain Anglers

Monday, December 14, 2009

This Picture Blows Me Away!

If this Taimen was entered in our Fish Porn Contest it would probably win. From the description on the photo it appears that it was caught on the Tugar River in Russia. From looking at it I'd guess it's weight at 85 to 100-pounds and maybe 65-inches in length.....can you imagine a trout this large on a flyrod!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Front Range Anglers Clinic


This is an invitation to join me December 19, 2009 from 10 am till noon for a fly tying clinic at: Front Range Anglers
629B South Broadway Boulder, CO 80305
Phone 303-494-1375
If you are unfamiliar with the Boulder area give Mapquest a try.
I will be tying Baetis, Caddis and Chironomid patterns.
Larry O Jurgens

Friday, December 11, 2009

Winter Midge Hatch

I hope that this will get you through another week of cold weather on the front range. We are set to see a warming for a few days. Grab your gear and head down to the river for some fun! This video clip belongs to RA Beattie and shows why the Roaring Fork is known as one of the best rivers in the state no matter what time of year it is.


Monday, December 7, 2009

FRA Holiday Gift Guide



2009 Holiday Gift Ideas


Front Range Anglers understands that buying the perfect gift, let alone a fishing gift, for that special someone can be hard - that's why we have put together a list of potential gift ideas. This list has gifts that are hits among the staff here and are consistent sellers to our loyal customers. The idea is to lessen the stress of finding the perfect gift in addition to have a list that can be easily works well as a fisherman's wish list. We broke it down by price so you can easily find gifts that match your budget.

~Happy Holidays from the staff at Front Range Anglers

Gifts Under $15

  • Simms Trout Bottle Opener $5.95 Nothing is better than cracking open a cold beverage after a day of fishing, with a fish.

  • Western River Maps $9.95 Get the best information on the rivers you fish most or learn about a new river you are planning a trip to.

  • 20/20 Tippet Threader $9.99 For Anglers who's eyesight is not what it use to be, this helpful tools allows you to thread flies with minimal effort.

  • Mosquito Annoyer $12.95 It actually works! Keep the bugs off and enjoy the river.

  • 2010 Women in Waders $12.95 What office or home is complete without the women in on your wall?

  • Fishpond Pack it in/out Micro Trash Container $12.95 Fishing with a conscious, this clever tool helps to reduce the amount of trash that gets left behind on the river.

  • Nippers/Forceps A gift that every angler always needs and they never buy for themselves.

  • Tippet Post / Retractor Help get someone better organized out on the river.

  • Fishing Colorado's Major 6 Rivers A great DVD that highlights Colorado's best rivers and how to fish them.

Gifts Under $30

  • Fly Fishers Guide to RMNP $19.95 The most comprehensive book on fly fishing Rocky Mountain National Park. A must for every angler who enjoys high altitude fishing!

  • Fishpond Fishing Note Cards $24 Everyone needs something to say thank you, hello, and more on. What better to write on than fishing cards!

  • 100 Best Flies for Colorado 2010 Book $24.95 Hot off the press, this book makes choosing flies easy for Colorado anglers.

  • Umpqua Small Fly Box $24.99 A perfect addition to any angler's arsenal. Pack the bugs you need for a day out on your favorite river or lake.

  • Front Range Anglers T-Shirt $21.95 This is a killer t-shirt, but then again were biased!


  • Simms ExStream Wading Sock $24.95 Keep your feet warm and dry even on the coldest days. Made out of merino wool, these are naturally wicking and itch free.

  • Running Down the Man DVD $25 If you like saltwater fishing this DVD will scratch any itch. This movie is exciting and keeps you on the edge of your seat and is much more than just fishing.

  • Fishpond Card Set $29 Because there is always a rainy day, even on the best trips.

  • Neoprene Wet Wading Socks $29.95 Use your current wading boots and enjoy the feel of the cool water in the warm summer months.

Gifts Under $50

  • Rise 2010 DVD of the Year $29.99 This was one of the most anticipated DVD releases of all time. With plenty of rising trout, tailing Permit, and more fish than you can shake a stick at, Check it out!

  • Fly Fishing Journal $34.95 This is the perfect way to document the best and worst days on the river, not only to remember the good days, but really the most important part is knowing what flies were the most effective.

  • Fishpond Thermos $39 Keep your morning coffee hot throughout the day, even on the coldest days of the year with a stylish and functional thermos.

  • Simms Dry Creek Camera Bag $39.95 Keep your camera close at hand without having to wonder if it's going to be safe. Capture your fondest memories on the water or on the beach.


  • Sage Humidor $40 Know someone who enjoys a cigar? This mini fly rod tube acts as a perfect humidor for the river, boat, or around the office.

  • FRA Guide Fly Selections $41.95 30% OFF Our guides gave us there best flies and we put them together for our customers to enjoy. Match your species of fish with one of many selections. You wont find these flies anywhere else!

  • Fishpond Toiletry Kit $49 Keep all your toiletries organized and within reach on any trip. This bag is built and designed in the classic Fishpond style, looks good and works even better.

  • Fly Fishing Tailwaters Book by Pat Dorsey $49.99 Another grand slam by Colorado author and Guide Pat Dorsey. This could be considered the bible for any fisherman who wades beneath dams.

  • Simms Waderwick Fleece Top $49.95 Stay warm on the water or on the slopes with the super soft fleece underwear from Simms.

  • Simms Gore-Tex Hat $49.95 Stay warm on the coldest days on the river or out shoveling the driveway.

Gifts Under $100



  • Deyoung Fish Prints $65 These are prints from Montana Artist Derrick DeYoung's most well known paintings. All prints are signed, titled, and numbered, limited to either 500 or 150 prints per painting.

  • Umpqua Beginners Fly Tying Kit $69.99 A great idea to help round out a fly fisherman's tackle box. Create your favorite flies or try tying something new.

  • Brodin Ghost Net Hand crafted nets with clear bags that are easy on the fish and won't snag your flies when landing fish. Replace your old net with a ghost net and enjoy the difference.

  • Fishpond Windwalker Chest Pack $89 Our most popular chest pack from the best vest designers in the business. With a pocket and zinger for everything, it keeps even the most disorganized in order.

  • Fish Plates, Mugs, and Home Goods Decorate your home or cabin with the fish stoneware in different patterns from Trout to Tarpon on Mugs, Plates, and more.

  • Abel custom engraved Money Clip $99.99 These beautiful money clips come in a variety of colors with different custom fish engravings. These make the perfect gift for the anglers who has it all.



Gifts Over $100

  • Simms Purist Wading Shoe $119.95 This is the perfect shoe for wading in the summer months, spending the day out on the beach, or walking around town.

  • Peak Rotary Vise $143.95 A great vise for the beginner fly tier or expert. Designed by fly tiers for tiers and carries a very light price tag.

  • Redington Classic Trout 6-Piece Travel Fly Rod $180 The perfect rod for the traveling businessmen. A fly rod with a great feel, light price tag, and fits perfectly into your carry-on. Need I say more?

  • Simms Windstopper Guide Fleece Jacket $249.95 This might be one of my personal favorite new 2010 Simms items. A super tough, warm, and stylish jacket that is intended to be worn in the worst of conditions.

  • Simms Sportswear All of the most classic fishing shirts from the best, Simms.


Gifts for New Anglers

  • Basic Fly Fishing Book $19.95 Learn the basics and catch more fish. This is a great way to help get over the learning curve.

  • Measure Net Starting at $22 Never miss landing the big one and while the fish is in the net you can get an accurate size so that you can exaggerate accordingly.

  • FRA Fly Selection $41.95 30% OFF Our guides gave us there best flies and we put them together for our customers to enjoy. Match your species of fish with one of many selections. You won't find these flies anywhere else!
  • Beginners Package: Vest, Tools, and Fly Box $99.99 One shop shopping here, this kit comes with everything a new fly fisherman would need to head down to the river. Just add water.

  • Waders and Boots $210 A Simms wader and Chota boot combo for just $210. A great wader that will endure seasons of fishing.

  • Sage Vantage Rod, Reel, and Line Combo $395 A fly rod built to be the perfect do it all rod! Perfect for beginners or the experienced fisherman looking to add another rod to the line-up without breaking the bank. It also comes with a lifetime warranty.


For the Fisherman who "Has it All"




  • Basic Fly Tying by Charlie Craven $39.95 This might be the best fly tying book ever written. Not just for the beginner, but anyone who wants to learn more and become an expert fly tier.

  • Sage Humidor $40 Know someone who enjoys a cigar? This mini fly rod tube acts as a perfect humidor for the river, boat, or around the office.

  • FRA Guide Fly Selections $41.95 30% OFF Our guides gave us there best flies and we put them together for our customers to enjoy. Match your species of fish with one of many selections. You wont find these flies anywhere else!

  • C&F Fly Box $49.95 Help organize all the flies that you have or are going to have.

  • Cliff Justin Case Fly Box $89.99 One of the biggest best fly boxes around, I'm sure that you don't have this one...

  • Fishpond Fly Tying Kit Bag $169 Is your fly tying desk overflowing? Want to be able to organize and take your favorite materials on the road or just stash them away. This is the answer.

  • Abel Knife and Pliers Set $350 The greatest knife on the market made by the best.
  • Book a Guided Trip on Private Water There is a stretch of water or a lake with your name on it!


Still looking for the perfect gift? Let them pick out their own with a FRA Gift Card, use in in the shop or online. It makes shopping easy, get them here.


Top 3 craziest fly shop questions of '09

"This may be a crazy question!" is a statement I hear a lot in the fly shop...my usual reply is; "It won't be the worst of the day! Probably not even in the top three! Trust me!" So, now we are getting to the end of the year and I have put together the top 3 winning Crazy Questions I have been asked in the past year! Yes, I do record and rate them!
#1 "I was just in the shop an hour ago and bought a replacement set of soles for my size 11 Korker wading boots...and I think you sold me two different sizes. Did you sell me a size 11 Long and a size 11 Regular?"








#2 "My leader got twisted up behind the spool of my new Ross reel. I took pliers and a screwdriver and tried to disengage the spool...was able to remove everything BUT the spool! Can you help?"








#3 "Yes, I am calling from Golden and was planning on driving up to Estes Park this afternoon to fish the Big Thompson River for a couple hours. What time is it getting dark up there these days?"

Monday, November 30, 2009

LOJ’s Red Quill

This pattern will work for Red Quill and Mahogany hatches.



For the pattern recipe and the tying instructions click on
http://lojsflytyingbugstuff.blogspot.com/
or “LoJ’s Fly Tying & Bug Stuff” in the LINKS OF INTEREST Section.
~ LoJ

Dream Stream -- Aint Got nothing

Midwest Represent! Although these guys are number hunters and kind of dorks about the whole thing, they do land some large fish out of small water. Just get out and fish, dont try and make yourself a fly fishing hero, but damn those some hogs.

Save South Boulder Creek

Do you want to see winter flows in South Boulder Creek? Want to eliminate the fall fish kills when flows go to zero at the end of the irrigation season? Then you need to participate in the public hearings Denver Water has scheduled for public comment regarding the enlargement of Gross Reservoir. Normally, we would not be supporting the creation or enlargement of dam works but this project is an exception. Denver’s enlargement of Gross Reservoir is for storage of existing Denver water rights. As mitigation of the flooding of public lands, Denver has agreed to provide a 5,000 acre ft. environmental which will be used to create minimum winter flows on South Boulder Creek. The cities of Boulder and Lafayette are drafting an operational agreement which will provide 7cfs from Gross to South Boulder Rd. through the winter months. The agreement will also provide a minimum of 3fcs all the way to the Middle Boulder Creek confluence. This section of the creek has been dewatered for over fifty years. Detailed below is the Denver Water press release. Please come out and show your support and create a lasting legacy of instream flows for South Boulder Creek.

Please plan to attend the meeting in person Tuesday evening or send comments to the blog we can print and present at the meeting.

Larry Quilling

BFC President

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!


Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving from the staff over at FRA. Remember always get the biggest bird that you can and invite all your closest friends over to enjoy it!

Also keep in mind that FRA is doing a Black Friday shopping special!
We are offering $30 off a purchase of $200 or more. This is the perfect time to stock up on holiday gifts. Shop online here and enter the code BLACKOUT upon checkout or head into the shop for more savings. This is a one day sale that ends at 12pm on the 27th of November.



Have a great day and enjoy good eats and lots of drinks!

All Around The Blue River

This past weekend I had a chance to spend some time in Breckenridge with some friends. We would snowboard in the morning for about an hour and a half and then get on a piece of water by 11:00 (post bloody mary bar). I fished quite a few places with my time in the Breckenridge area and I was surprised by the action and the quality of the fish. 

The first place I had a chance to fish was the Upper Blue River right as you enter Breckenridge. I did not see a soul and the weather was in the upper 40's. I managed six nice browns in the 8"-12" range. There were also a bunch of Kokanee in the river; which I was surprised to see. The river consists of plunge pool after plunge pool and long runs in between. I was nymphing for almost the entire time and was mostly catching fish on a size 20 blood midge. 

Nice Brown Trout From the Upper Blue River

Little Kokanee all over the Upper Blue

The second chance I had to fish was on the Blue River below Green Mountain Reservoir. I was given the opportunity this past Sunday to hit this infamous tail water with my good friend Chad. We went right below the Green Mountain Dam and hiked down a real steep grade to get into the canyon. We fished mostly with nymphs once again. The hares ears and black beauties were really on fire. We managed quite a few nice fish from various deep holes, and we were only there for a couple hours. 

We did fish the Blue River in between Silverthorne and Green Mountain Reservoir and the fishing was a little tough. We did manage a couple fish though, and my friend Chad missed a bright red "monster" of a rainbow at the net. 

Average Rainbow from below Green Mountain


One of Chad's Browns from below the Dam

The Blue River was fishing very well this past weekend. If you get a chance, bundle yourself up and get into some healthy fish on the Blue River. 

Monday, November 23, 2009

Rise the Movie is HERE!

Rise the movie has landed at FRA as of today. This has been the most anticipated fly fishing movie of the year, with some of the best cinematography that we have seen in any fishing movie yet. Get your copy today online or in the shop!
Enjoy!!!

Carp on the Fly

In an effort to make mondays a little easier here is a new short from Colorado based RA Beattie fishing a section of the South Platte. Enjoy the two for one video this Monday.

Downtown Carp from RA Beattie on Vimeo.

Heads or Tails

Heads or Tails {Trailer} from Mad Phil Media on Vimeo.

A sweet permit video to help scratch the itch that starts to happen this time of year. Permit on the cheap with no boat and a lot of lungs.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Dream Remembered

When you wake from a dream that was so amazing that all you want to do is fall back asleep and continue to dream where reality seems to be too good to be true. This is how I felt after my last dose of the South Platte, I wanted to fall back into the water and continue to fish. So once again my sleep cycles were put aside in order to make it to the river before the sun was up. The only light shining upon the landscape was our headlamps beams that overpowered the full moon that hung over the glowing horizon. The morning was cold, ice dusted the planes and our breath froze the minute it hit the air. It felt good to fill the lungs with the crisp air, works better than a hot cup of coffee...I think? Andy, his twin brother Nate, and I walked quickly towards our hole in hopes of that dreamy fish.


As we rigged our rods the sun began to crest over the white mountains and the river began to steam in the long golden light. Within the first three casts boom, a nice brown. This first brown was followed by fish after fish after fish. The landing area became crowded with all of us hooking up. Just as quickly as the bit turned on it turned off, we warmed our wet cold hands, and broke ice from off our our rode guides.


The action continued to slow in the afternoon and then the bite was back, a hatch of beatis were erratically coming off and the fish were back. Another few nice ones and it was time to head out. Those few nice fish included two twenty three inchers and Andy managed to land a nice twenty-six inch female. Dreams do in fact come true. Until the season begins to change out of winter I will continue to stir in my sleep wanting more.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Flip Pallot - Unlock your casting potential

Flip Pallot - Fly Casting Lessons from Slater Productions on Vimeo.


The Contrast of Colors

The white flakes float and fall on the creek. You can feel your fingers crack and tighten as you tie a fly to your line. The ice is creeping in on your favorite hole, and you know the same will soon happen to your guides. You remember your indicator but your fingers don't feel the same anymore. You're finally set up, but you don't cast.
You stop and take a look at the beauty and splendor of this ice-capped creek as it tip toes through the snow. You take a deep breath of the cold mountain air and roll a cast into a familiar spot. You mend, even though your fingers resemble the icicles forming on the tree branch next to you.

Then it happens. Your indicator goes down and your rod is given life. You slowly bring a colorful Brown Trout to your hand as you forget about the cold. The contrast of the colors make it all worth the trip up the canyon. To see the browns, yellows, and reds against the radiant white background makes you feel the ever so familiar tingle. You gently remove the hook and watch her slowly slip away. Something inside of you snaps and you begin to smile.

Boulder Creek is fishing well. So, battle the elements and get out there!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Drymerger Baetis


Learn how to tie Brian Schmidt's Drymerger in the December issue of the Front Range Anglers News Magazine.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Fish Porn Contest

Win a custom Bragging Rights illustration from artist Mike Savlen ready for framing (1st. place), a TFO TiCr fly rod of your choice (2nd. place), and any RIO fly line you might like (3rd. place).



There are no restrictions other than the photo must include a fish (any species). The image file(s) (you may submit more than one) must be in a JPG or TIFF format and of good quality. The FRA staff will vote on the submissions and the winners will be announced in the April News Magazine. Entries must be received on or before March 15, 2010. Click here to attach your photo to an email.