sping break

It has been a few weeks and I remembered that I had started a blog.  No readers so its just kind of something to do while "I drink and think" at the end of hte day.  The past few weeks have had me thinking about fishing for other species more often.  I like fishing for everything that swims.  I realized that I have never caught a carp in my life though.  I see them all the time while fishing for bass and pan fish, however I have never actually fished for them.  Needless to say I have spent a lot of time on the internet recently.  The past three days have been a carp hunt.  I knew that I was a little early for the species but decided to give it a go.  I have been to 5 different ponds/lakes in three days and have still not hooked my first carp.  Today I went to a pond that I know holds carp, I woluld see them when I would fish before work in the summers or on a lunch break.  I didn't see one carp, I did get board enough to do some extream dry fly rainbow stocker fishing and yes somehow enjoyed it.  I met a dude fishing salmon eggs for the trout and asked him if he had ever seen carp...he said no.  I guess you only see what you want or would want to eat.  I agree that there are some species that you would only eat in a survival situation and carp may be on that list.  I remember eating a northern pike in canada on survival training (3 days, 3 matches, a hatchet, 1 orange, and one potato yeah I know real random list but love those matches) but hey I was hungry and had a fish.  It wasn't all that bad to tell you the truth.  Back to the fishing, I decided to move to another place that might be warmer and along the way stopped in to ask a real carp pro some advice.  I always feel a bit shallow when I ask for knowledge and I also wounder if it should be learned and not taken from another.  I will always wounder how the pro feels when confronted with the amateur searching for advice.  Is the attitude: here we go again, why don't you hire me as a guide and pay me, ask me more so I can share my knowledge, please go away now?  I may never know the answer to that one.  I fished where I had planned to during the afternoon and didn't get a fish on the first res, but did get some smaller bass and pan fish from the second.  I passed some guys who said the only fish they had taken was a carp.  I asked on what and they told me a night crawler about 30yards out.  I don't know anything about the depth of the res so I can only imagine that it is a very flat and shallow area on the east side.  In the smaller pond/lake I saw my first two carp chilling together in the shallows.  I poked my head and rod through the winter trees and attempted to bow-and-arrow a fly, they saw me...fuck!  I had no real shot at them and they weren't feeding to my understanding so no worries.  Today I questioned my excitement with going after carp, then realized what is there to question. The carp chase may take over my life, I hope my lady Trista will understand.

the big O

I wrote in my fishing journal today and then thought about the blog that I started.  The past few weeks have been fun and mid terms took the remainder of my time.  I fished the Colorado, SBC, BC twice, and the Williams fork twice.  Today I fished the Cheese and was humbled with the big O.  Today was one of those days when nothing worked.  The patterns were not the problem, what wasn't working was me.  My girlfriend is at a conference for the week and I have no commitments  for 7 days, beginning today.  The day started early with her departure and since I was awake I decided to make the drive to Cheesman.  I have only fished Cheesman and Deckers a handful of times but admire the area.  I arrived early, like 8am, so not summer early.  I hiked until it felt right and spooked the first ten fish I saw.  WTF?  The feeling was there and the bugs were there.  I however had no rhythm.  I just purchased my first rod that I don't need and figured I would fish it.  Its a 4wt but decided I would line it wiht a 5 becasue I don't own a 4 with a drag at the moment and its fast.  Needles to say not the best option but it  worked well under the conditions.  I just couldn't get the fish to bite or move for that matter.  I even went to the extent to bounce more than one fly off of a fish's nose.  Yeah 3 times that I can remember...I watched it hit the fish in the face.  At least at the Taylor they move out of the way.  No idea about that one, maybe I should throw eggs like the rest of the anglers today.  I noticed that a lot of anglers that I walked by had an egg on, and were blind fishing the canyon.  So even though nothing came together for me I managed a few hooks but no nets.  I sit here tonight hoping this isn't a foreshadowing of events to come during the Taylor trip next week. 

is the end of solitude in sight?

I have been fishing with a friend or alone for the past few months dependant on the day of the week.  I feel like every fisherman has a season that they look forward to fishing.  I realize that hunting, skiing, or family commitments construct that season, however the winter is my season.  I am unable to hunt for reasons that I will not go into, and I also have a very understanding partner.  This may influence my season of choice a small amount.  None the less, I love going to fish holes that are extremely hot commodities in the summer, while in teh winter having no regard for tardiness.  I realize that it is almost the end of Feb. and I have been a weekend warrior to the long haul spots.  In the winter we have the easy decision to take a weekend day to fish the hot tailwaters in colorado like the pan, taylor, spinney etc and can tolerate the "lack of crowds".  I seem to take this for granite every winter and forget the extreme solitude of the week days.  I am fortunate enough to be the old guy in school and have the opportunity to cut class and fish.  My friends on the other hand have the real jobs that I and perhaps others like us fear, and they can not justify or afford the escape.  I am never influenced by the misfortune of them, and only feel a small amount of guilt when I do fish in extreme solitude.
During this past week I had the opportunity to fish the icy BC twice.  I may be naive for following some recent bear tracks up river, but still had some fun and luck with the fish.  I also fished spinney with three other friends last weekend and enjoyed the fishing.  The amount of other anglers was unexpected.  There were only a few other groups above the barns that day and the fishing was good enough to fish 9-6.  I was surprised to find the hot fly to be a bwo pattern.  The emerger seemed to take fish every other cast in the right spots.  This is a mystery to me.  I can only fathom a relationship to an emerging midge pattern that was working during the day to be the reason, however it was every-or every other cast taking fish.  THe majority of them over 17 on the bwo pattern and mostly little guys on the midge.  This was one of those moments when your numb hands and double hauled day pays off.  It made the day worth the drive in fish and only made the company an added bonus.  I am strangely sad that spring and summer is approaching.  I do love the life in the warmer waters and the options.  But the winter is my favorite fishing season.  The six day work week that is my reality in the summer makes for guilt in my trips and the winter solitude is only accomplished with an elevated and hidden lake.  Sorry no pics on this one.  I will download some from the camera eventually.

Golf Trip

I made it out and back!  I arrived in San Diego on Friday and made the drive with John up to the Newport area.  I had never been to the "OC" until this weekend...all I can say is WOW.  I pulled in to the area and initially say four ridiculously hot women playing beach volley ball in bikinis.  I thought that was myth or legend.  Well anyhow we checked into the resort.  I was impressed with the amenities and service.  I have stayed in some nice places, and have worked in them too, and hands down this had the best service I have received.  Picture the four seasons and then regard it as the motel off of I-70 in BFE.  I played golf on friday and shot a 36 on the front of the north course, after a quick change we went out on the town in the OC.  Well I was certainly ill prepared for the bar scene.  I didn't realize that a two hundred dollar shirt and six hundred dollar shoes were a prerequisite for acceptable conversation.  I had a lot of fun and some good conversation in teh bars, while indulging in some fine tequila and beer.  Saturday was a rough start but soon the hangover was dissipating and the first 18 returned an 83...thats nice for a course that I have never played and the whole not golfing in 4 months.  I do owe most of the credit to our caddie.  He not only kept an eye on my stray shots, but he also read every put with minimal error.  We played with a man that had devised the idea of women as caddies or eye candy in golf that day.  He was one hell of a golfer and put John and I to shame with our golf games.  John and I played another 9 and decided that it was time to call it and go out and see the local talent.  I called for the resort car and asked if they could take us to a few bars and was expecting a van.  Boy was I wrong, a new Bentley pulled up in front of our villa and we hopped in and went for our ride.  I don't know that it has ever happened, a Bentley pulling up to the top bars in the Newport area, with myself stepping out in running shoes and jeans.  I have now been to the countries top cougar bars and can honestly say that plastics are wonderfully appealing to me.  The night is full of drunken clips that are replayed in the mind, but ended smoking a Cuban on the patio of the Gulfstream bar.  The place was great, good drinks and waiters with some decent talent floating around.  John and I limped home and woke up to play our final round of golf before the trip home and the big football game.  We were paired with a guy that was in town for a wedding, so we could relate our experiences to his for the round.  Again, I must say that having a caddie helped the game, starting the round with continuous pars from the reads he was producing.  The round ended and I kissed the 70's and sunshine goodbye.  I got taken to the airport and made the early flight by about a minute...sparing me the eleven-thirty arrival into Denver.    I had a few firsts this weekend and loved every minute.  I will miss the room service and culture, but most importantly I will miss the company.

The "Big Blue" while golfing.

Golf

Today I am getting ready for California.  I have been trying to get my golf case packed this morning and keep it under the fifty pound limit to avoid the extra charges.  If you don't golf or travel with golf clubs it is no easy task with a heavy plastic case and clubs.  Think about your last multi day fishing trip?  Was your large duffel with rods and clothing under fifty?  It was probably close once you added in your wading gear and all the extra things that you never use but think the backups are necessary.  I know that I will enjoy golfing, however all I can think about is how the fishing would be in southern Colorado and even out west.  The temps here on the front range have been single digit and below zero fro the past week and the SBC flows have been dropped to the kill level with the cold.  I havent fished in a week come tomorrow, which is very rare for me even in the winter.  Last week I fished SBC a couple of times, the Blue, and I made it to the confluence of the Colorado and Williams fork and I even had a chance to fish boulder creek!  The warmer weather here was a treat and Cali will be just the same for me.  The warm 70's of so cal will definitely be a treat and the golf is going to be rusty yet fun.  I haven't golfed in 3 months and hope the swing comes back quickly.  With my mediocre game at best, I seem to get paired up with locals that are single digit handicappers whenever I travel in teh winters.  It certainly makes an interesting round for them, but a little stressful when they want to play a skins match.  I'm looking forward to good company and the trip out of town.  I am most looking forward to investigating the ocean and I am told it is still surrounding our continent, but I havent checked in a while.  I fly home on Sunday during the Superbowl and hope the flight crew will give us updates or with the technology have it on the monitors.
 I am going to try to add some fish porn from the last week in an attempt to figure out how the uploading works.

SBC baby

The blue with the lookylous

Confluence

The first shot at the internet

   So... I have always wondered why people share their personal lives on the world wide web.  Well, this is my hunt for an explanation.  My intentions are to post things that have meaning in my life.  I enjoy being outside: hunting, fishing, skiing, and camping all in remote locations.  These activities are necesities to my sanity.  I will include aspects of my life in an effort to vent, brag and of course entertain.  While I understand that most blogs begin out of conformity, I will do this for an activity that may connect me wiht other interesting people.  I hope my grammar and fragments will not drive you crazy in my task.

   I guess I must tell you who I am.  I live in our great state of Colorado right now, in Boulder, and have been on the kick of fishing for the past few years.  Don't confuse my "Kick" of fishing for lack of fishing.  I grew up in the farm country of Maryland and Virginia fishing daily in the summers for warm water species.  I have spent summers on Atlantic islands surf casting and eeling the outgoing tides, while spending winters skiing and fishing the Rockey Mountains.  However, one summer living in Aurora I was given a fly rod "a gift" to introduce me to not only and activity but a culture.  I immediately began my search of knowledge with a fly rod.  The past few years have been filled with excitement as I gain acceptance as an angler with a fly at the end of my line.

   (The five minutes I have spent typing this, has made me question when I am supposed to stop typing.  I am questioning whether I should post one topic at a time or keep going until my mind has released what needed to be expelled?)