Doh a Deer

We got out to enjoy this beautiful weather and look what we came across. Love me some Colorado!

Selecting The Right Camera Lens For Fish Photos

I've been getting a few questions lately about photography. Specifically, people want to know what camera is best to carry fishing? My answer is, and always will be, a Digital SLR (DSLR) -a Nikon DSLR in fact. Today I want to dive into what makes a good lens to own for taking great photos of anglers and their fish. The reason for my focus on lenses rather than camera bodies is simple. Ask any professional photographer if they would rather have a feature rich expensive camera body with average lenses, or a more basic camera body with great glass, and they will always tell you option B. I won't go into detail about the reasoning behind that; instead if you would like a little more insight about this philosophy I will leave you a link to check out at the end of this post.

From a fishing standpoint what makes a great lens, aside from high quality glass, is the speed of the lens. The wider the aperture the faster the lens. Aperture is often referred to as f/ or "f stop" , and the f/ is followed by a number. The smaller the number (f/2), the wider the ring opening and the more light that gets in. The larger the number, the narrower the opening becomes and less light gets in. Here is a great video showing a perfect example of what I'm talking about.




Not all lenses are created equal as far as speed is concerned. A lens with a maximum f/ of 5.6 means that the widest the aperture ring can open is f/5.6. This simply means that it won't perform as well in low light as a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. So why go for the faster lens with a wider maximum aperture? Because trout bums are notorious for fishing early in the morning, or late in the evening when there is hardly any light. Early bird gets the worm, or fish... Having a lens that can open all the way up to f/2.8 or wider means that you are getting brighter cleaner images when the fish bite.

If you take a closer look at the aperture video, or some of the above photos you will see another great benefit to having a lens capable of shooting at wider f stops. The foreground is in focus, and the background is blurry. This effect is called Bokeh. The wider the aperture opening the more anything in the foreground or background is blurry compared to the subject you are focused on. This is great for bringing attention to your subject.

If you look at the top photo of two of my clients holding a nice brown during a guide trip with me on the Dream Stream, you will notice that even though you can tell what's in the background, there isn't any detail in it, as compared to the two happy clients with the big fish. The photo of Kristen and our gorgeous toddler Bree is another great example. If you look at the background, the bushes that go around the bend start out really blurry at the far left where it's furthest away from my subjects, then comes more and more into detail the closer it gets to Bree on the right side. Again, remember when you are selecting your lens look for the lens that has the widest f/ or aperture you can afford. An ideal f/ would be anywhere between f/1.4 to f/2.8.

Last I would like to talk about what is an ideal focal length for portrait photography. It's been my experience that anything between 50-85 mm does the trick. Right now I am shooting with a lens that has a fixed focal length equivalent to 60mm with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. When a lens has a fixed focal length it is often referred to as a "prime" lens. Prime lenses tend to be more affordable than zoom lenses if you're looking for something with a wide maximum aperture. The trick is to pick a lens with a focal length that will get close enough to keep the attention on your subject, while allowing enough of the background to be in view to make the photo interesting. Both Nikon and Canon sell fixed 50mm f/1.8 lenses for around $200 that would be perfect for just about every situation you could come across while on the water.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule me for a guide trip email me at jonkleisflyfishing@yahoo.com

Here is the link to a recent article I wrote that might point you in the right direction as far as camera selection is concerned!

Tight Lines!


                                                                                                     -Jon Kleis

11 Mile Canyon Fishing Report 3-1-2013

Yesterday was our third official fishing trip of the year; it was our second in 11 Mile Canyon. Flows were in the low 40 c.f.s. and the water was crystal clear. Spotting fish was a little difficult because of massive glare bouncing off the 6 inches of fresh snow. We had a late start to the day so it was obvious that in the two spots we fished below the dam that we were fishing for scraps, but it was still a killer day!

Apricot eggs, Black Beauties, Mojo Midges, and Mercury RS-2s all fooled fish. There was a pod of trout rising in that slow moving water below the top bend that were begging to have their lip pierced by a size 26 Parachute Adams, but two anglers near the spot were fishing heavy nymph rigs so I didn't let the temptation of pulling out the dry fly rod get to me. A lot of the fish were anchored to deep slow moving pools with dark bottoms. I say most because we did manage a few fish in shallow faster moving water. 

Our combined fish count was 8 to the net, and at least that many "long distance releases" in 3 hours of taking turns starting at 1 in the afternoon. Safe to say, anyone with 6x leaders and tippet and a small amount of experience fly-fishing would have an epic day if they got on the water by 9 a.m. Just to give you all a feel for the day and how gorgeous it was up there I took a few minutes to slap together a quick video of some footage of Kristen landing a fish, and footage of a crane taking off that kept harassing us. Also please forgive the music! It was a drum track that I made on garage band that I never really did anything with, and I figured that some sort of beat is better than the sound of the underwater housing to our gopro cameras being jostled.

  

Mojo Midges and PMD Soft Hackles

This past week I finally got back into my tying groove. I always go into an involuntary hibernation for at least a month during the winter, and for a month during the peak of summer. This is a natural by-product of making a living doing something you're passionate about. Of course, I use the phrase "making a living" loosely. Either way, It's healthy to take a short break and let yourself get away from the stress long enough to remember why you play for a "living". Anybody who thinks being a guide is not hard work is sorely mistaken. End of short rant...

Moral to the story is that it's still fun to be a guide, and here are the photos to prove it...

PMD Soft Hackle

Kleis's Chocolate Mojo Midge

Kleis Mojo Midge in blue.

These are the bugs I've been tying! The bottom two might not be anything special to look at, but they are of a pattern I am extremely proud of, the Mojo Midge. It's about as durable as a size 22-24 midge gets, and hammers fish on our local tailwaters. The top photo is of a PMD Soft Hackle that I fish religiously as my first fly in a two fly rig during the summer. I take a great deal of pride in the fact that 95 percent of my fishing and guiding is done with flies that I have tied. Between a recent addiction to carp fishing, a love for stillwater fishing, doing special orders for customers, and all of the guiding and fishing I do, that is a ton of tying during the course of the year! If you want to help support me and my growing family, and contribute to my work load by ordering some of my flies -which I would greatly appreciate, then send me an email with your requests to jonkleisflyfishing@yahoo.com. Mojo Midges are also available in size 22 in brown, olive, chocolate, and black at Anglers Covey fly shop on the corner of highway 24 and 21st street. Thanks and tight lines!

Brings a Whole New Meaning to Pan Sized!

Jamie with one of many great fish from the Frying Pan!

Jamie, Marty, and Ben made another one of their regular trips to the Frying Pan to chase giant Mysis fed fatty rainbows. No exaggeration, it seems like every time these guys go up there and manage to get in the "toilet bowl" they come back with photos of trout like the one shown, or larger! This time he did me the huge honor of tying up some of my new Kleis's Mysis and giving them a shot for the first time on the Pan. Guess it worked out for them...  Follow this link for the whole story, and for more photos and insight from this Frying Pan junkie! Thanks again for showing such enthusiasm for my bug Jamie!

For a complete recipe and tying video for my new Mysis follow this link! I will be doing a tying demo at noon during the big fly fishing show at Anglers Covey fly shop on March 2nd. There will be a ton of great presentations and free seminars, along with prize give-aways, and more. Stop by and cast the new Helios 2 fly rod on our casting ponds, or just stop by to say hi. Doors open at 9 a.m.  For more info follow this here link! Thanks everyone!

                                                                                                         -Jon Kleis
                                   

Pueblo Tailwater Fishing Report 2-22-2013

One of many healthy colorful fish to the net below Pueblo.

We recently fished down by the nature center and had an awesome day. The water was low, and very murky from stream improvements being done up river. Fortunately, we are getting closer to the spawn, so fish were chasing eggs and pink sparkle worms with reckless abandon. There was a decent Baetis hatch that started around noon and lasted a couple of hours. Midges were everywhere, but we only saw a few sporadic rises -which might have had something to do with water clarity. We also pretty much had the entire stretch to ourselves. We counted 15 cars in the Valco Ponds parking area, but literally didn't see another angler all day down river by the Nature Center. You might not be able to sight fish below the stream improvement construction, but with flows this low finding fish is a no brainer. Dredge the deeper runs with bright stuff and you should have a killer day.

First Fishing Trip of the Year!

What an insanely gorgeous day it was! If you were stuck inside a cubical or a dusty old fly shop then you have my sympathies... No exaggeration, today was the most beautiful February we have spent in Elevenmile Canyon maybe ever! We only fished for 3 hours at Ed's Rock, and each landed and lost one fish a piece, but that's because most of the day was spent taking photos and battling snow blindness.

My goal going into today's trip was to just relax, try and catch a few fish, but more important I wanted to try and capture some decent photos of the ice formations that build along the bank, and to try and capture some of the beauty that most of us just glance at on our way to the fishing spot. Getting good landscape shots in the Canyon was a lot harder than I expected. You would think that because it's such a beautiful place it would be easy, but ironically that made it a little more difficult because we kept passing up opportunities.

Before we knew it we were towards the top and getting ready to fish, when the goal was to make frequent stops... It should come as no surprise that the most original shot (the one looking out from inside the tunnel) was Kristen's idea. All photos -except the one of that jackwagon standing in the tunnel- were taken by me, and of course my favorite is the fish shot with Kristen and Baby Bree! Here's what we got...

                                 -Jon Kleis