The reports began trickling out of southern Colorado mid-June; reports of phenomenal hatches; the best salmon fly hatch in decades along with grey and green drakes. The Big River was playing the part of the temptress again. The Big River was on fire.
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2013 a Vintage year

My goal for 2013 was to have at least one overnight fishing trip per month for the entire ...

I haven’t written in a while which is bad, but the reason that I haven’t written is because I have been so busy fishing lately, which is not good but … … great. Just another example of what a “best and worst” summer and fall that I have had, but fortunately the good outweighed the bad, and in the end that is all we can ask for.
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For more than 45 of my 60+ years, I have spent part of my summer in the Southern Rockies. No matter whether I am with family, with a friend or by myself I cherish the entirety of the experience. I'm not big into detailed agendas or plans so each trip usually has a sense of spontaneity and adventure--if adventure is described as things not going as planned. Even though I abhor detailed plans--where should we stop, what shall we eat, how long will we stay here, etc. I find that over the years an informal structure to the trips has emerged. Of course that structure is dependent on who is on the trip but it is mostly driven by goals. In the deep past, before fly fishing, the goals centered around wilderness experiences, camping, hikes, and scenery shared with a growing family. Typically, I'm not one to look back and regret decisions made in my life with only a couple of exceptions---one being that it took so long for me to take up fly fishing in Colorado and that I didn't share this with my family when they were young. Now, it seems that my goals for each trip are tempered by this regret and I try to pack in as much river and stream fishing as I possibly can to make up for lost opportunities, while I still can. High on that list goals are wilderness streams. There is a sense of urgency--fueled not only by my advancing age but also by the fact that society's appreciation and perception of wilderness along with avocations like fishing is constantly changing. ...

Returning to Cochetopa Creek

A number of years ago my wife and I took a trip up into Colorado for a domestic vacation of hiking and fishing. We discovered a true gem of a small stream called Cochetopa Creek about 30 minutes outside of Gunnison in the heart of some of Colorado’s wildest and most beautiful country. We were staying at a cabin in Gunnison and on the day we decided to fish the creek we slept late, drank coffee and generally got a slow start on the day. By the time we made it to the creek it was noon. ...

Post Danica Blues

I'm sitting here trying do decompress after a couple of pretty intense weeks.

The Ephemera Danica hatches around end of May/beginning of June. This year I saw the first flies on the water on May 27.
Prior to that I have been on the water every day to see when it would happen this year, because you never know. The hatch lasted until yesterday. ...

ForkFest 13

Back in ’05, I have always wanted to say that like a true old timer, I asked a trusted “internet” ...

I had never thought I would have a bamboo rod in my life. They are heavy, cast too slow for windy days, and can’t be broken down to 4 pieces. On top of that, they are ridiculously expensive. At least that’s what I thought.

A few years ago, however, I suddenly became a bamboo rod owner. Not one, but two! The rods are gifts from two generous friends. One rod was a secondhand rod, 7.9 ft 3wt, with the name of a friend on it. Along with this beautiful rod, he gave me a Hardy Flyweight reel. A perfect combination. According to his advice, I bought a #3 silk fly line from a Chinese shop through e-bay, and took care of it for 6 months before beginning to use it. Now the rod is my first choice when I go amago fishing around here. I already posted fishing with this rod before.

This time I’d like to talk about the other rod. This two piece rod came to me as a blank with an extra tip section, with a reel seat, guides, and silk thread for wrapping. The ferrules and tops were already put and fixed, so all I had to do was to finish the rod. But it had been more than 20 years since I built my old graphite rod by myself. I started to study how to finish a bamboo rod. After looking at several web pages on the internet, I came to the conclusion that I needed a rod wrapper/dryer. ...

I didn’t know what to expect. Being the middle of winter, with all the recent snow and rain the mountains received lately, ...