Crane Fly Nymph Macro Shot

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Stonefly Macro Shot

Still doing work on the bug photos!  Here it is...

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Adult Baetis Macro Shot

Check out my recent photo of an adult Baetis! I am really starting to figure out my new editing software.  Sky's the limit now I just need to keep taking it to another level with my Nikon D90.

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How To Tye The Scudzilla

Hey everyone check out this "how to" video of Rick Murphy tying his signature Scud Shrimp pattern that he calls the Scudzilla.  One of the things that I have learned from Rick is most of the time Scud Shrimp swim with their bodies extended and straight.  Moral to the story is that the typical hunchback style Scud patterns you see aren't always a good representation of what the fish are seeing in our lakes and reservoirs.  Another thing you will notice if you see Scuds in our local waters is that they grow to very large sizes, and this especially holds true for the nutrient rich reservoirs in park county which is where this pattern really shines.  Now is a great time to throw eggs, chironomid  pupa, and last and maybe most important the Scud Shrimp.  For all the materials needed to tye this simple and effective stillwater pattern stop by Anglers Covey off of highway 24 and 21st street.  For availability and to schedule me for a guided trip send me an email at jonkleisflyfishing@yahoo.com

Flyfishing Bachelor Party

Here is a cool video from todays corpo trip in 11Mile Canyon that fellow guide and friend Dave Herber put together.  These guys bachelor party for the groom was a fishing trip!  Doesn't get any more awesome than that!  Even though it was a tough day for me personally I was still stoked to be a part of this.  Here it is...

Clothesline Carp Trap

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were playing a giant carp across from a bike path and a biker ran into your outstretched fly line as you were playing the fish?  Apparently a concussion, a broken pelvis, and other injuries.  You read this right.  A guy going for a pleasant bike ride along the South Platte was inadvertently clotheslined by a flyfisherman.  Who can't appreciate that irony?  You have to wonder if the fish in question saw the cyclist coming and wanted to exact his revenge on humans for jabbing a hook in his lip.

EMT's initially thought kids set up a clothesline across the trail as a booby trap.  By the sound of things a flyfisherman later confessed to the accident, and all was well aside from the broken bones which were sustained by the biker.  Three questions that immediately come to mind that weren't addressed in the reported story by channel 9, other than was the guy on the bike ok were: what was the fisherman using, how big was the fish, and did he land it?  All kidding aside it must have been one serious fish if the guy playing it was running across bike trails to land it.  

According to the story, the gentleman on the bike just grazed the fly line and wasn't completely "clotheslined" by it, but took his hands off the bars as a reaction and then crashed.  I can't imagine what was going through the fisherman's mind as these events unfolded.  One minute your playing a giant fish and the next you're needed to provide medical assistance to a guy you just crashed with a fly line booby trap.  Do you finish landing the fish?  In a complete moment of ironic fate such as this where two men participating in two completely different outdoor activities clash, how do you handle this situation?  

For some reason I keep thinking about my recent First Aid class.  On my list of things to do as a First Aid trained flyfishing guide are to, make sure the area is safe and clear, followed by sending someone for the first aid kit, and to call 911, etc.  Nowhere on that list did our CPR instructor mention as a step to first land the fish.  Of course I'm only kidding and making light of a serious and ironic situation, and thankfully the guy on the bike wasn't killed or hurt a lot worse than he was.  We will live our entire lives and probably never hear a cautionary story of urban sports such as this again.  For more on this from channel 9 including a video of the "scene of the crime" click here.              

Thanks for reading and tight lines!  No pun intended...

   

My Opening Day Experience At Spinney 2012

The weather we have all been enjoying the last couple of weeks which gave us an early start to opening day at Spinney Reservoir was nowhere to be found on April 2nd.  Instead anglers were greeted with 30-50 mile per hour winds and snow.  The morning drive up Ute Pass was still a gorgeous one because we literally drove under a rainbow hanging over the base of the foothills which I took as a good sign considering our quarry.



We get to the Reservoir and the legendary crowds I have seen and heard about on opening day weren't there.  This was in large part because the guys with the boats didn't want anything to do with the freezing cold wind.  I started the morning throwing the only white Bouface streamer we had left in our box and quickly lost it on what looked to be a rainbow of at least twenty-two inches.  After that I set up a tandem egg rig and proceeded to break flies off on fish and clean wind knots the rest of the day.  Did I mention breaking ice off my guides every 5th cast?  Que the guy getting his picture taken with a hog just around the corner.  Yep it's gonna be one of those days...



An hour and a half and a couple of sixteen inch cutbows later I decided I wasn't going to clean the mess on my line and instead chose to warm up in the car.  You see I have spent many winter days on the river freezing my butt off and re-rigging.  Let me tell you that dealing with winter conditions on a reservoir in South Park is a totally different beast.  There is nowhere but your car to run to for shelter from the wind, and the wind coming off of that giant mass of super cold water cuts you down to the bone with no mercy.



All this makes it sound as if somebody asked me to go up again I wouldn't, but I would in a heartbeat.  The fishing was fantastic and I highly recommend anglers get up there and take advantage.  The fisherman a.k.a. me however was having one of those days that we have all had so chalk up my opening day experience to operator error.  Plenty of people were braving the conditions and hooking up with nice fish.  The flies of choice to break off and leave in a trout's mouth for future anglers to take home are...
White, Black, or Olive Barr's Bouface, Egg patterns in all colors, and Olive scud imitations in a size 14.  Here is to future less stressful and hopefully warmer trips in Park County!


Tight Lines!!!