The "Original" Nathan Streeter Fullback

For the pattern recipe and tying instructions click on “LoJ’s Fly Tying & Bug Stuff” in the LINKS OF INTEREST Section. ~ LoJ

Fly Fishing for Wiper

Wiper are a temperate bass and a hybridization of white bass and striped bass. They are a very exciting, but often maddening fish to chase with a fly rod. They can move into an area one morning to ravish bait fish, then vanish like ghosts by the next day. Use a 6 weight or heavier rod, often a sink tip or intermediate fly line, 1x or 2x leaders and some two to four inch minnow-like streamers.

To learn more about fly fishing for these wiper check out the link to a great article by Rob Kolanda! http://www.frontrangeanglers.com/newsletter/feb08/wipers.pdf

Bead Head Fullback

For the pattern recipe and tying instructions click on “LoJ’s Fly Tying & Bug Stuff” in the LINKS OF INTEREST Section. ~ LoJ

Backstabber Carp Flies!

We got a fresh batch of Backstabber carp flies in from Umpqua Feather Merchants! Just in time for the beginning of really great carp fishing here on the Front Range. I use this carp fly almost exclusively...with much success! The Backstabber is commercially available in four different flavors: Black Leech, Rust, Wine and Grey Minnow. I prefer to use the darker colors (black and wine) when the water is high and muddy. Most of the carp fishing we do on still water is sight fishing. Not only do you have to see the fish in the water, but you need to see the fly! Later in the summer, once the water levels begin to drop in our local reservoirs, the carp will often act more like temperate bass (wiper, striper) and corral small shad in back coves. This is when a Grey Minnow Backstabber can be deadly! The Rust version is a great crayfish imitation and I use it when the water clears up slightly, or in creeks and rivers (South Platte!).

Brown water blues?

Has the runoff got your favorite creek or river looking like a bad case of the "green apple splatters"? But you still want to get out on the water this long weekend AND you want to stay close to home...you know, family obligations. Now is the perfect time to dismount the trout horse and chase some bass!

There are largemouth bass in almost every local pond or reservoir. If you have always been just a trout fisher and the heaviest rod you own is a 5 weight...oh, well. Take that rod out, put on a 9 foot 2x or 3x leader and take out some of your larger trout streamers. They all will work!

Bill Leuchten and I swung by a local pond the other day (picking up his boat to head to Antero Reservoir in the morning) and we spotted some fish. I happened to have a rod handy (imagine that!). We made about 8 casts between the two of us and landed 3 small bass!

Antero Reservoir

Bill Leuchten and I hauled his boat down to Antero Reservoir on Wednesday. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Boulder...so we got there and on the water by about 10:00 and fished 'till about 4:30. We saw many guys we knew from the shop down there and everyone was hanging up on some very nice rainbows! Lord, those fish like to jump high!
Rob Kolandas' plump red Bi-Polar Chironomid was the fly I took all but a couple fish on...and I swear I tried every single commercially available damn chironomid I had in my box!
We did get a few in the late afternoon on a smaller (about #16) sparse black one that Bill found in his box...and he claimed to only have the one...

Booya! Antero

I made it down to Antero Reservoir on Saturday and had a great day out on the water. We had to share the water with a few boats trolling and about 20 folks in belly boats. Even with all those people there was not shortage of fish to be caught. We started throwing streamers in the morning then when our arms got tired and the chronomids turned on we sat back and dragged a bobber. Both methods produced fish, lots of fish. The day was perfect for fishing, the canoe made it out on the water and had no problems because the wind didnt start blowing untill around 4pm.

Got to see someone land a 28 inch bow that weighed 12lbs (on a fly), he had to pull up anchor and chase the fish to get it to the boat. The fish ran him into his backing, unfortunately he could not revive the fish after such an epic fight.

If you haven't had a huge fish break you off in a while head down to Antero, where fish break 0X and 3X with ease. Pack some scuds, chromomids, and a few of your favorite leeches/streamers and enjoy the fight.

An eeZee Caddis Pattern

For the pattern recipe and tying instructions click on “LoJ’s Fly Tying & Bug Stuff” in the LINKS OF INTEREST Section on this blog page. ~ LoJ

Dries on the Green

Here is a clip and a few photos from last weekend on the Green below Flaming Gorge. We saw BWO's and Midges coming off almost all day...The fish are smart but dont have their masters in catchin, in another few years we could see some really smart fish. More to come about the Green in a later post, let me just say that" Even Evil Knivel crashed a bike or two along the way..."
~Russ

Front Range Bass

With warm temperatures on the rise, Largemouth Bass are becoming more active.

Had a couple hours out over the weekend, and got on a few fish. I saw some bass in pre-spawn mode staking out areas to make a nest, with a lot of fish in the shallows. Even saw a few fish taking stuff off the top. All in all with the local water temps in the mid fifties Bass fishing is getting hot. Reports from Anglers all along the Front Range have been positive for most warm-water species. With run-off starting in earnest, it's a great time to take advantage of the great warmwater resources within a half hours drive from Boulder! We have a great selection of Bass flies, with several choices of streamers, baitfish, crawfish and poppers, so stop in and get the latest info on targeting these incredible fly-rod friendly, predators.

Olive Bellyache Minnow (Saltwater Style) Produces Jumbo Snook

A "KILLER" PIKE PATTERN

This is a "KILLER" Pike pattern from the fertile mind of Jay Zimmerman.

For the pattern recipe and tying instructions click on “LoJ’s Fly Tying & Bug Stuff” in the LINKS OF INTEREST Section on this blog page. ~LoJ

They do not play well with others!

"Restless during nap time." "Does not play well with others." These were the types of comments that would show up on my kindergarten grade cards...I guess that is why I have such affection for northern pike!

I was supposed to hook up with some mates and do some pike fishing early this morning, but the weather was cold and crappy. Everyone bailed on me except Jane Moody...but we did well, whacked some good fish. At one point she called me over to check out the commotion in the cattails. I couldn't believe it! Two good pike were mauling a third, smaller pike! I had to intervene by pulling one of the aggressors off and let the other swim off with his super sized #11 (the fillet-o-fish sandwich at the McDonald's drive through).

Flies for Cannibals

Once the water begins to warm up on your favorite pike lake the aggressive tendencies of northern pike will become intense! Pike feed on a lot of different things, but most of us fly fishermen use large streamer flies to emulate the resident forage fish. Often this is bluegill, suckers, young bass and perch...but in a lake that has a thick population of these toothy carnivores they will greatly decimate the forage fish populations. Sometimes this will get so bad that the local pike will eagerly turn to cannibalism! Some areas I have fished in the past there were no other species in the lake besides pike...they were eating their young just as fast as they were procreating! Guess it saves a ton of money on diapers...and groceries!

I have a fly in my pike box I call the Hammer Handle (the popular term for a young pike). It is really working well now down at lake Ladora. The water temp was 59 degrees there this morning. Great pike action!

I have a couple of these flies in our Front Range Anglers pike selection available in shop or online...along with a bunch of other great flies. The selections are on sale now, too. 25% off!

Fly Fishing in Cedaredge, Colorado

Larry Jurgens, Dick Orr and myself were graciously invited down to Cedaredge, Colorado to stay and fish for a few days on Fred Ferganchick's ranch. Fred owns and operates several ranches in the area...a beautiful spread right at the base of the Grand Mesa National Forest. He does turkey hunts, elk hunts as well as fly fishing. We had a great time down there and if you watch the movie I made for him and think it looks like a fun time...give him a call, or check out his website.
Hecoma Game Ranch, ph# 970-856-3693 web:(hecomaonline.com).

The Sea Trout Fly

Strange as it may seem this pattern is doing extremely well on Sea Trout and Snook. I have no idea why but it just plain works! I came up with it just fooling around with some materials I had at hand. In addition, I wanted something that would show up well in the off-colored water.

Yak hair (white and yellow) top and bottom, orange and yellow barred rabbit strip, a few strands of flash, some blood red marabou tied in behind the head & under the wing, lead eyes, and white thread.

Spring Baetis

Baetis fishing has been good throughout the Western part of the country. We have been getting great reports from the Green, Bighorn, Grey Reef, Roaring Fork Valley, Arkansas and everywhere in between. Locally the Big Thompson and South Platte has been seeing great hatches.

We have some new very sexy and effective BWO patterns in stock, come by and check them out!

Big Thompson Update

Fish the Big Thompson the other day from Estes Dam down to Drake. The flow was around 100cfs. Today the flow was up to 131 cfs.

Weather was great, overcast, and a little chilly this is your best chance for Olives, on overcast days.

Picked up fish on both nymphs and dries. Chris Sager was using a double Dry rig throught the day and got fish in slow water, behing rocks. I followed behing him with a double nymph rig, and fished the deeper water.

BTS and a poision tung worked all day for nymphing. A Caddis Adult followed by a Para BWO picked up fish on top.

A Tale of Woe!

Last night before bed I posted the comment about Sea Trout fishing in the evening and I mentioned a fly that was producing well. I just happened to look down at previous posts and noted the article Jay wrote about our preoccupation with tying streamers. Getting hooks right is always a concern and I though to myself I wish a I'd brought along some Gamagusu hooks. The fly was tied on a Dai-Riki #930 saltwater hook in a size 4.

This morning I hit the beach for Snook. I wasn't expecting much the wind was blowing and the surf was a choppy. I decided to leave the fly on from the previous night. Maybe the sea trout would still be interested. For an hour I caught nothing but small Jacks and a couple of Lady Fish. I made a 70 foot cast identical to previous hundred or so when the rod was almost jerked from my hand. No way this could be a Snook. It had to be a King Mackerel that wandered in close to shore. He peeled off 75 yards of backing and with considerable pressure I turned him towards the beach. At 60 feet I saw his silhouette in a wave and he broke the surface with a lunge. It was far and away the largest Snook I've ever hooked. She (the females are the larger fish) had to be over 40 inches and maybe 18 pounds or more. Every time I got her close to the beach she took off. After 10 minutes I got concerned that the hook might work itself loose or she would break the 20-pound bite tippet off on the rocks or by cutting it with her gill plate.

By this time a crowd had gathered to watch the fight. I though to myself 'great no one is ever around when I catch a nice fish and this time I can get someone to take a picture'. Moments later and 10 feet from shore the hook straighten and she as gone! I'll never know but I'm guessing I would have landed this fish if I had been using a better hook!

High 80's in Florida

Caught 5 tonight 18 to 23-inches on an orange colored Clouser style fly I tied this afternoon....will post a picture of the pattern when time permits.

One thing that's driving me crazy here is the lack of fly shops and hence a reasonable supply of fly tying materials. The only real option down here is Basspro which generally sucks unless your a bait fisherman. We have a better selection of saltwater flies and materials at Front Range Anglers in Colorado than anything I've seen here!

Paul

Norhern Pike on the Fly (Rocky Mt. Arsenal)

As the spring wears on the local pike fishing will remain good...but it becomes more and more important that you get up early. The best fishing will almost always be in the first couple hours of daylight. The pike will be in very close to shore, in shallow water in coves and along thick walls of cattails. I will carefully push through the thick cattails until I have just enough access to the water to make a short cast, then flip the fly out right in front of me and give it a couple quick jerks. Often there is a pike right there and there is a good chance of a strike that would have been spoiled if I had rushed out into the open. Only once I have tested the water right in front of me will I move out of the cattails. The next two casts will be longer ones down each bank. Then I will begin fan casting in all directions. In the lower elevation pike lakes the water temps can start to raise quickly after the sun is up for a few hours...this will often push the larger pike out to deeper water. Also, with a lake that receives a lot of fishing pressure the pike will begin retreating to the depths after a few clumsy fishermen slosh by. So, again, get there early!

Platte-Rogers Park Restoration

Today I had the privilege of getting a first glance at latest Boulder Flycasters project, the Platte-Rogers Park Restoration. So what does two years of planning and $250,000 get you in Boulder County, a lot. This new half mile section of Boulder Creek has received a face lift to say the least. What was once shallow riffles and barren of fish is newly renovated and has every feature that you could think of, plunge pools, perfect riffles, deep runs, and glassy tail out sections that will explode with dries during a hatch. This water is sexy for lack of a better word; don't expect an Even G. Fine Park type of habitat, this water looks and fishes like a canyon creek should, but better.

Within a half hour of fishing I pulled out four fish, remember this is only days after there was a backhoe driving down the river, not too bad. I also had the privilege of being one of the first anglers to wander the entire half mile stretch with a rod in hand. I ran into Mark Riley and Roger Svendsen two of the Flycasters who made this possible and got to hear first hand about the project and the future this stretch of water.

At 104 CFS there were spots where the bottom was hidden from view, creating habitat that will winter over some bigger fish. Even when spring runoff hits this will be the spot to go, and when we hit the dog days of summer and the flow drops to 40 CFS this section will hold fish. A 10 minute drive up the canyon drops you at the Platte-Rogers Park area where browns, brooks, and bows live.

It is now up to us, fly fisherman, to educate the fish and keep them in the river before the folks with bait come and clean up what should be in the water. Check it out it's in great shape and waiting for some traffic.

Northern pike...get out of bed early!

As the spring wears on the local pike fishing will remain good...but it becomes more and more important that you get up early. The best fishing will almost always be in the first couple hours of daylight. The pike will be in very close to shore, in shallow water in coves and along thick walls of cattails. I will carefully push through the thick cattails until I have just enough access to the water to make a short cast, then flip the fly out right in front of me and give it a couple quick jerks. Often there is a pike right there and there is a good chance of a strike that would have been spoiled if I had rushed out into the open. Only once I have tested the water right in front of me will I move out of the cattails. The next two casts will be longer ones down each bank. Then I will begin fan casting in all directions.
In the lower elevation pike lakes the water temps can start to raise quickly after the sun is up for a few hours...this will often push the larger pike out to deeper water. Also, with a lake that receives a lot of fishing pressure the pike will begin retreating to the depths after a few clumsy fishermen slosh by. So, again, get there early!

Streamer Hydrodynamics (for geeks only)

As you have probably gathered, we at the shop are not dry-fly purists...nor are we exclusive to trout. We spend a exorbitant amount of time fishing and developing new (and occasionally better) flies for saltwater and warmwater. Most of these flies are what can be lumped into the streamer fly category. "Streamer" is a very general term encompassing a wide variety of flies tied to imitate shad, young trout and sculpin to crayfish and leeches.
We have an almost daily conversation here at Front Range Anglers about new streamer designs and ideas (sometime on the bazaar side...if someone left the lid off the jar of Softex!). Part of our morning routine, apart from flipping the lights on and the OPEN sign by the front door and getting the coffee going...is dumping the fruits of our previous nights tying labors onto the conference table to be perused through and criticized by our co-workers. This very honest feed back (sometimes brutally honest) and constructive exchange of theories and ideas is maybe the best perk of working and being fully submersed into the flyfishing industry.
The biggest questions of a new streamer are always, "How does it look in the water?" and "Does it ride right?".
The most valuable tool a streamer guy can have is a test tank! You never want to waist time on more than one prototype if the first fly acts weird or doesn't keel correctly. At the shop we keep a small aquarium full of water for this purpose. At home I use the kitchen sink, or the bath tub. I can only justify filling up the tub if I have a bunch of different prototypes that have already passed the shop tank or sink tests...and I have the time to jump in for a soak when I'm done! (Another damn good reason to crimp your barbs!)
The most mountainous obstacles to overcome present themselves to the streamer tyer when they are attempting to "flip the hook" or make the fly ride hook up. This enables the fly to be fairly snag resistant and often the other materials will cover the hook, making the fly appear more lifelike. The best ways to achieve this has always been some sort of counterbalance, usually in the form of a dumbbell (although, Rob Kolanda has devised a technique using tungsten nymph body weights to do the same thing). The object is to put more weight on the top of the hook shank than the weight of the entire hook bend, spear and barb. This can be relatively easy to do on light weight hooks such as the Tiemco 8089 and the Gamakatsu SC15, but very difficult on super heavy hooks such as the Tiemco 800s and the Dai-Riki 810.
Two tricks I have learned for dealing with severe cases of Sideways Fly are the "lift kit" and the "eye tweak". The lift kit is a technique using two strips of lead wire to be tied between the eye and the hook shank to push more of a dumb bell's weight away from the center of gravity. This is sometimes necessary when you are tying with a preformed Real-Eye from Spirit River, because they have very skinny arbours, unlike cast lead dumbbells that have fat arbours. This skinny arbour actually allows some of the weight of the eyes themselves to be on the wrong side of the hook shank.
The eye tweak is nothing more than taking a pair of pliers and turning a normally straight eye hook into a down turned eye. This ensures the line will always be coming down to the fly at a 45 degree angle, helping the fly behave correctly. (However, I do not recommend doing this to a Dai-Riki hook. They are too brittle.)
One final thought for those of you getting creative on the vise...AVOID chenille, estaz and any other pre-made body wrap material! These things are unarguably trite. You want your new creations to have a sexy, lifelike and original appearance. Learn to use a dubbing loop to build your own streamer bodies.