Colorado Fly Fishing Magazine: July 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Finding the Hidden Beauty in Carp Fishing

You don't have to go all the way to 11 Mile Canyon to surround yourself with beautiful nature. In fact, what might at first appear to be a stinky, polluted, carp filled lake such as Pikeview Reservoir contains scenery worthy of photographing. All you have to do is look! Here are some photos from a recent family carp trip for your viewing pleasure.

Kristen deciding she wants to try her hand at carp!

Bree trying to be like mama bear... The force is strong with this one!

Break time and chillen on daddy's camera bag.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Another Spinney Video Courtesy of Justin Herrera

My favorite part is the beginning with the bull. Great work Justin! Thanks again for sharing!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

50 Best Tailwaters to Fly Fish!

There's a new book out now that I am very proud to be a part of! The book is titled 50 Best Tailwaters to Fly Fish, and is a basic run down of all the best tailwaters in the country! It will include directions, maps, hot fly patterns, beautiful photography, and a ton more helpful information for each specific fishery. Colorado fly-fishers are no strangers to tailwater fishing, and many of our favorite locations are outlined in this book. When asked if I was up for being the contributing author for both the 11 Mile Canyon and the Dream Stream chapters I jumped at the opportunity! Outside of my newspaper contributions this will be my first time getting published, and I can't thank Terry Gunn at Lees Ferry and Robert D. Clouse at Stonefly Press enough! Be sure to stop by your local fly shop to pick up your copy!

50 Best Tailwaters to Fly Fish from Kitchen Sink Studios ®, INC. on Vimeo.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Dream Stream July Bugs - Trico Duns

Freshly hatched Trico dun photo by Kristen. Click to Enlarge

What the fish see when duns are on the water -minus the blades of grass. Photo by Kristen

Tornado Over Pikes Peak!

So we normally don't post anything non-flyfishing or non-family related on Colorado Fly Fishing Mag, but my sister just sent me a text saying she saw a tornado over Pikes Peak today. Then she sent me a photo she took with her phone. Apparently it touched down a few times and mostly stayed in funnel form, but I'm bummed I missed it. The photo itself is not the best quality but to her credit she was using her phone and taking the shot through what looks like some rain. Here it is!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Dream Stream July Bugs - Midge

Photo by Kristen. Click to enlarge

Dream Stream July Bugs - Caddis

Photo by Kristen. Click to enlarge

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Check Out These Photos!

I just wanted to give a public shout out to Bill W. He did back to back guide trips with me -first day was at Deckers, and the second on private water at the Meadows Ranch on the North Fork of the South Platte. We had a ton of fun and I'm stoked for our next trip! Anyone who has been on the fence about doing a guided trip with me I hope that the chance to take home pics like this of you on your fly-fishing adventure is incentive to hire me this fall. Granted not all my clients take home photos like these of Bill because every situation is different, but I try my best. Here they are!

-Jon Kleis

Click to enlarge!

Bill's North Fork Hogasaurus!

Dream Stream July Bugs - Beetle

This might be the cutest little beetle I've ever seen... Photo by Kristen

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Dream Stream July Bugs - Shucking Trico

Today was a "hook up with a few fish and struggle because of fluctuating flows" kind of day on the Dream Stream, but we still made the best of it. My favorite part was when I looked over while I was fishing to see Kristen laying on her stomach in the grass with the macro lens on the DSLR taking bug photos. Cuter still was when Bree saw this as an opportunity to use Kristen as a bench to sit on while mama was shooting. We got the photos home, and considering that Kristen hasn't had a whole lot of experience shooting macro she got some really cool stuff.

So for the next couple of days we will be posting her work in the morning before we head out to harass fish. Today we will start with a few photos she managed to get of a trico mayfly molting. There are only three because I have a suspicion Bree was making life a little harder at the moment. Toddlers have a tendency to do that... Check it out!

In this photo you can see the empty shuck at the base of it's tail as it pulls free, and the shuck tearing over it's back. Also notice that the wings had already broken through.

It's soft wings are pulling through as it continues breaking free.

Again getting closer as you can see the base of the wing has pulled through the shuck.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Fishing Report For 11 Mile Canyon and the Dream Stream

There's water in our river! Whoohoo! 11 Mile canyon is sitting at 224 c.f.s. and the Dream Stream is at 262 c.f.s. Both stretches are fishing reasonably well. On the Dream Stream you will see a healthy mix of Yellow Sally stoneflies, PMD's, Caddis, and midges. There were a few Tricos on the water 2 days ago, but it's a little early to be thinking like a size 22 dead spinner. With flows where they are at it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring plenty of scud, sowbug, and worm imitations to fish as your lead fly on a nymph rig.

All of the same holds true for 11 Mile Canyon except during my guide trip this morning we were greeted with a decent Trico hatch at the "Road Hole", and fish were eager to eat them. The best chance to catch trout on dry flies was first thing in the morning as the sun came up during the emerging and dun stage of the hatch. Fish were also eating small olive Amy's Ants, and size 16 yellow Stimi's.

For questions concerning fishing these two area's, or to schedule me for a guided fishing adventure send me an email to jonkleisflyfishing@yahoo.com for rates and availability. Tight Lines!