This trip started out on Spinney Reservoir where we and everyone within our line of sight struggled mightily to get a fish. We retreated to the river after lunch and Jeff long distance released a few and landed a few on what was otherwise tough fishing on the river, too! This trip was a birthday gift from Jeff's awesome wife, Michelle, and we just wanted to thank them both and once again wish Jeff a happy fishy bday! Thanks for your patience and friendship!
All original material posted to this website is under ©copyright and belongs to Jon Kleis. Original material includes: photos, videos, and written content. This excludes linked material such as links to paid works written by Jon Kleis and sold to a reputable licensed publisher, or links to other websites for the purpose of sharing information and cross-promotion. Please be respectful and ask for permission before using any content. Currently no individual or entity is granted permission to borrow content from this site. If permission were given, please give credit to the author/artist (Jon Kleis). Thank you for following Colorado Fly Fishing Magazine! We hope to continue to share many more fishing reports, gear reviews, photos, videos, and original articles -- all exclusively found here!
Gazette Article - How To Properly Handle Trout!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
Guess Who Finally Got Around to Catching Their First Fish of 2017?
Took us long enough, right?! We decided a forecast of 65 degrees with partly cloudy skies in February was a good enough excuse to call Bree in sick from school (teach em young!), and head up to Elevenmile Canyon to catch our first fish of 2017. We would have made this fish catching thing happen sooner, but every time we all had a day off together to harass some trout it would snow or be sooooo windy that our youngest, Abby, would need to be tied to a fence post to keep her from flying away. Yesterday was not only our first 2017 opportunity, but also Bree's first trout on her new fly rod that she asked mama and papa bear for on her bday. Without further ado here are some photos we took from our trip, followed by a quick report!
We figured this was a good excuse to give you guys a "Fishing Reports Are Like Buttholes" report for the Canyon.
The flow was hovering around the low 80 c.f.s. mark and was crystal clear and cold, which is usually what it's like in early Feb. We fished towards the dam in a spot referred to as the Money Pit. For the most part the trout were anchored to the bottom and only rising on a rare occasion. Kristen and I saw maybe 5 midges hovering above the water all day, and under those conditions fishing can be very slow without a hatch to motivate the fish. Despite all of that it took our oldest daughter, Bree, roughly ten minutes to land her first of the year on a size 22 red Bloodmidge. I then landed 2 in a row - one rainbow on a size 22 bwo Barr's Emerger, and the other a brown on a size 22 olive Mid-Drift Midge. And then Kristen worked her tail off to get her rainbow which also fell victim to an olive Mid-Drift Midge.
We used 6x fluorocarbon tippet, a number 4 split shot, and the smallest white indicators we had to avoid spooking fish. And almost every strike we got was extremely subtle. It's safe to say that between the 3 of us we probably lost more fish than we landed. Chalk it up to being rusty! In fact, I'm fairly confident that if I was relying on my strike indicator to tell me when to set vs. sight fishing and setting when I see signs of feeding, I would have left the day on a skunk. That's how picky those educated salmos were being! Moral to the story - if you find yourself in a similar situation set on any sign of feeding to give yourself a chance.
All original material posted to this website is under ©copyright and belongs to Jon Kleis. Original material includes: photos, videos, and written content. This excludes linked material such as links to paid works written by Jon Kleis and sold to a reputable licensed publisher, or links to other websites for the purpose of sharing information and cross-promotion. Please be respectful and ask for permission before using any content. Currently no individual or entity is granted permission to borrow content from this site. If permission were given, please give credit to the author/artist (Jon Kleis). Thank you for following Colorado Fly Fishing Magazine! We hope to continue to share many more fishing reports, gear reviews, photos, videos, and original articles -- all exclusively found here!
We figured this was a good excuse to give you guys a "Fishing Reports Are Like Buttholes" report for the Canyon.
The flow was hovering around the low 80 c.f.s. mark and was crystal clear and cold, which is usually what it's like in early Feb. We fished towards the dam in a spot referred to as the Money Pit. For the most part the trout were anchored to the bottom and only rising on a rare occasion. Kristen and I saw maybe 5 midges hovering above the water all day, and under those conditions fishing can be very slow without a hatch to motivate the fish. Despite all of that it took our oldest daughter, Bree, roughly ten minutes to land her first of the year on a size 22 red Bloodmidge. I then landed 2 in a row - one rainbow on a size 22 bwo Barr's Emerger, and the other a brown on a size 22 olive Mid-Drift Midge. And then Kristen worked her tail off to get her rainbow which also fell victim to an olive Mid-Drift Midge.
We used 6x fluorocarbon tippet, a number 4 split shot, and the smallest white indicators we had to avoid spooking fish. And almost every strike we got was extremely subtle. It's safe to say that between the 3 of us we probably lost more fish than we landed. Chalk it up to being rusty! In fact, I'm fairly confident that if I was relying on my strike indicator to tell me when to set vs. sight fishing and setting when I see signs of feeding, I would have left the day on a skunk. That's how picky those educated salmos were being! Moral to the story - if you find yourself in a similar situation set on any sign of feeding to give yourself a chance.
All original material posted to this website is under ©copyright and belongs to Jon Kleis. Original material includes: photos, videos, and written content. This excludes linked material such as links to paid works written by Jon Kleis and sold to a reputable licensed publisher, or links to other websites for the purpose of sharing information and cross-promotion. Please be respectful and ask for permission before using any content. Currently no individual or entity is granted permission to borrow content from this site. If permission were given, please give credit to the author/artist (Jon Kleis). Thank you for following Colorado Fly Fishing Magazine! We hope to continue to share many more fishing reports, gear reviews, photos, videos, and original articles -- all exclusively found here!
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Client Photos - Thomas at Deckers Feb 2017
So we decided it's a nicer presentation and more convenient to share a short video of the most recent client photos than it is to upload each individual picture to photobucket and then copy and paste each one here. Mr. Thomas had a great trip! All day it felt like it was summer in February, and when we left it was, literally, 65 degrees. The morning started out slow, but when the water warmed up the fish started biting, and as a beginner Tom landed 4-5 nice fish and long distance released 4-5 more, including a memorable 5-7 pound bow that we danced with for a minute but didn't get to net. Overall, this was a fantastic way to start my 2017 guide season!
All original material posted to this website is under ©copyright and belongs to Jon Kleis. Original material includes: photos, videos, and written content. This excludes linked material such as links to paid works written by Jon Kleis and sold to a reputable licensed publisher, or links to other websites for the purpose of sharing information and cross-promotion. Please be respectful and ask for permission before using any content. Currently no individual or entity is granted permission to borrow content from this site. If permission were given, please give credit to the author/artist (Jon Kleis). Thank you for following Colorado Fly Fishing Magazine! We hope to continue to share many more fishing reports, gear reviews, photos, videos, and original articles -- all exclusively found here!
All original material posted to this website is under ©copyright and belongs to Jon Kleis. Original material includes: photos, videos, and written content. This excludes linked material such as links to paid works written by Jon Kleis and sold to a reputable licensed publisher, or links to other websites for the purpose of sharing information and cross-promotion. Please be respectful and ask for permission before using any content. Currently no individual or entity is granted permission to borrow content from this site. If permission were given, please give credit to the author/artist (Jon Kleis). Thank you for following Colorado Fly Fishing Magazine! We hope to continue to share many more fishing reports, gear reviews, photos, videos, and original articles -- all exclusively found here!
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