What'r Ya Knowin?

The winter has been rather eventful, but SPRING is in the air. We've been seeing robins, bluebirds, and mice...

A few weeks ago I was taking out snowmobile tours. People would get these machines stuck, Jamie and I would have to dig our asses off to get them out. But, along came the Snow Bunjee. "Stuck Sucks." With this contraption there is no digging. A couple pullers and a throttle, done deal. Best investment I can think of when it comes to snowmobiling!


These days the name of the game is snow removal. With rising temperatures, the snow melts. Duh. The problem here is flooding. The snow piles formed over winter have to be moved. I guess it was time to learn how to really operate heavy machinery! I spend alot of time in the skid-steer moving piles of snow...


And the heavy jobs call for the backhoe. Hell Yeah!


The scenery isn't the worst. The bull moose have lost their antlers, but majestic to see, none the less.


It's not all work! I get to play my fair share...

Much to my chagrin, I've been doing some skiing. I'll have to say, I'm a little better than I thought I would be. After a few trips to the mountain, it's a little easier to get into the "Groove." Aww yeah...


Papa Georgio made it out here. What a treat!


Let's not forget why I came out here. The fishing has been pretty good the past few weeks, but things are about to get weird, shortly. With the warming temps, the rivers will be more and more blown out, decreasing fishing opportunities. It's this little thing called "Run Off."

Regardless, here's some pics of recent fish...



The river I've been fishing exclusively is the Colorado. In the Colorado there are around 5,000 brown trout per mile, while there are around 150 rainbows per mile. The rainbow population was drastically reduced due to Whirling Disease.

The Colorado has opened up through Hot Sulphur Springs. I FINALLY caught something other than a brownie! And it just so happens that the first rainbow I caught was tagged. That may not mean much to some people, but I think it's pretty damn cool!




Speaking of the rivers getting weird, we're feeling the first effects of it nowish?

Fished this past Saturday and the conditions were my favorite. Off-colored water, just a bit higher, and PERFECT for fishing. I slayed fish on whatever I threw in the water. Copper Johns, Woolly Buggers, Hares Ears, Pigstickers, Egg. It was nice to say the least...


The best fish I caught this past Saturday was a beautiful 'bow! He ate the Bugger and put up a nice fight!


Overnight Saturday never got below freezing and it rained. Melting snow and rain made for a sloppy Sunday on the Colorado. I barely made it through an upstream riffle from where I wanted to fish. I couldn't see where I needed to be standing. One step and I would have been over my head. Sketchy to say the least. I made about 10 drifts, the wind got up, and I called it a day. Blown Out!

Hopefully I'll be guiding my first trip come Saturday. Weather permitting, we'll be on the water and it'll be official!

Coming home the 11th-18th. Gonna see an old friend married and plan on raising some hell!!

Heading to Cody, WY for the Orvis Rendezvous April 19-21. We're gonna take a day or two afterwards to fish.

STAY TUNED

Fly-Fishing Fail

As it turns out, negative temperatures don't make for the best fishing conditions. Who would have thought?

Originally, I was going to have a nice long weekend off, but with a last minute booking I was back to working. I had planned on seeing Umphrey's McGee Friday night in Denver, and fishing Saturday and Sunday. Not to be.

I had yesterday off and there was no way I wasn't going to try to get on the water. Fly-fishermen aren't the most sane people on the planet, and I'm pretty sure we embrace this. A reasonable person would never think of trying to fish in this kind of weather.

The weather man has been a total ass lately. We've been getting snow dumped on us relentlessly, and it's been COLD. Had a morning last week that greeted us to -52 degrees. The forecast for the weekend is in the 30's, perfect for fishing. Yesterday, not so perfect. The high was 7 degrees, never reached that temperature. It was -10 when I woke up and had only warmed to a balmy -4 by the time I got to the water.



Undeterred, I donned my waders and got all my ducks in a row. I headed down to the hole I've been fishing almost exclusively to find the water like a slushy. The water was steaming and had a strange blue-green tint to it. Turns out this blue-green tint was the ice forming on the river bottom. And the water was so much warmer (a chilly 33 degrees) than the air, that it was steaming. I should have been smart enough to call it a day then, but the stubbornness that fishermen possess kept me pressing onward.





Seeing that the water was unfishable, I headed upstream to look for some warmer water flowing from the Williams Fork Reservoir. The hike to the confluence of the Colorado and the Williams Fork isn't very far, maybe a half to three-quarters of a mile. But, trudging through snow made this trek arduous.

I hiked up to the confluence to find the Williams Fork just as icy as the rest of the water. I did manage to jump a couple of whitetail deer, both does. Seeing those deer somehow made the walk worth it. I also came across a large flock of ducks in the river. I wasn't quick enough with the camera to snap a picture of either.



I never rigged up, and I never made a cast.

I worked up a pretty good sweat trekking through the snow, and soon got rather chilled. I headed back to the car in defeat.

But the day wasn't a complete and total bust. I decided to head to Golden, CO for a couple beers and a growler. Evolution IPA is delicious!

Life is Groovy,
Muddler

Karma Karma Karma

I like this poster!



There is no way to describe the feeling of somebody getting just what they deserve!

I got out on the water yesterday, and the weather was perfect! Bright blue skies, no wind, and the temperature rose to 25; which is pretty warm. The day before, the temperature never rose above 10 degrees. The wind was howling, so it felt much colder. It was -22 when I woke up.

I was excited just to be fishing! It felt like forever since I'd been out, and in all reality, it had been the longest stint of not fishing I can remember. I hit the water and rigged up. I fished for a little bit, but couldn't get the fish dialed in. I knew there would be a midge hatch with the sun shining on the water. Sure enough, cream midges about size 22 (which is tiny) started fluttering around the surface. I knew the fish would be keyed in on these little guys, so I switched to a pulsating emerger (which I brought from NC, deadly on two sides of the country). I quickly nailed one, but couldn't get another fish to look at it.

About this time, two bumbling idiots came shuffling down to the edge of the water, opposite the bank I was fishing. I know what happened. They saw my license plate, they were parked right next to me, and decided an out of stater didn't deserve fishing "their" water. I've seen and heard of this happening out here before. So, these two assholes stare me down and literally JUMP in the water right where I was making my drifts. They then proceeded to slog up the river, right through the water I was going to be fishing. Needless to say, I had a few choice words for them, although I didn't let them know it bothered me.

I heard these two guys saying things like, "Oh man, look at all the little green bugs!"

They could not have sounded more unintelligent fishing wise, but they still had their pretentious heir about them. These "little green bugs" were actually tiny cream midges. I will give them the benefit of the doubt though, I had to actually catch one before I knew exactly what color they were.

With the two assholes upstream and with their back turned to me, they didn't see what I knew was about to happen. I'd seen this happen before on a day just like yesterday. The fish started rising to the midges that were now on top of the water. There were a few rising in the run, but most of the action was taking place in the shallow tail-out. This was the water the assholes passed up. I just so happened to have the perfect fly, another transplant from NC, a cream midge dry size 22.

I slowly slinked downstream and started casting to the rising fish. It's tough enough to see a size 22 dry fly from the start, but throw in a deadly glare, and it's downright impossible. I just had to set the hook when a fish rose in the vicinity of my fly. I'm pretty in tune with my casting and know pretty much where my fly is, but I have to admit I set the hook on a few ghost fish! Anyways, I soon hooked into the first fish. It was a decent sized brown. I made sure to let out a little whoop to get the two asshole's attention.

They hadn't caught a fish.

The action was hot and heavy for about an hour and a half. I ended up landing 18 fish, and missed a few more. All the while, the assholes were fish-less and left scratching their heads.

The bite slowed considerably until there were no fish rising at all. About this time, asshole 1 and 2 came trudging down the bank towards me. I made it a point to wade over to the bank they were coming down.

They then asked me an awesome question, "May we fish here now?".

My response was, "Sure, but I've already caught all the fish!"

Then a stupid question, "Did you drive up from Denver?"

Mustering the most southern accent I could, I responded, "Naw, I'm from South Carolina. And I just schooled y'all up on your own water!"

I turned and walked away. I felt a little bad for sounding like a jerk, but I didn't really. I remembered what they did and how they acted, and the whole scene seemed a perfect way to justify their actions.

Karma's a BITCH.

I didn't take pictures of all the fish, just the nicer ones. I also ended up catching one more downstream on a size 20 flashback baetis. Nobody saw me catch that fish, and I'm cool with that. My appetite for revenge has been filled for a while!

This is a picture of asshole 1










Stay Tuned Folks,
Muddler

CABIN FEVER

Well, it's pretty hard to put into words how boring this place can be when not working! It's been snowing like crazy here lately, which makes the snowshoeing a major pain-in-the-you-know-what! The hike up is still not worth the ride down... I don't have the scratch to drop on lift tickets to the ski resorts, even with free ski rentals. The wind has been howling and the temps have been extremely cold, making fishing nowhere close to an option.

I got out the other day and shot my pistol, but with the price of ammunition, I wasn't able to shoot for very long.

I've always heard of Cabin Fever, but didn't really expect this amount of sheer boredom! I can't wait to go back to work tomorrow!

I've been contemplating a new tattoo for a while, and I was sure that I wanted a trout. A brown trout. Would it make sense to get anything else? I think not! After sitting on the couch all yesterday morning, I decided it was time.

Mom told me to buy something with the gift card she sent me, I'm pretty sure she didn't mean a tattoo...

I headed into Winter Park to meet with AJ, the tattoo artist. He said he was busy in the early afternoon but would make up a sketch and could do the deed around 6.

I was excited and a bit nervous as I walked into the shop. But AJ let me put on my iPod, which was jamming Derek & The Dominos. The pain was nowhere close to what I thought it would be, and AJ did a fine job! I'm really pleased with how it turned out!



This is definitely the biggest fish I've caught in a while, but it's hard to practice catch and release with something as permanent as a tattoo!

Now I'm thinking about what I'm getting next! Just kidding, Mom! Maybe...

Peace Out People,
MuddlerMan

What's Been Going On

Well, the holidays have come and gone. So have most of the guests and staff. There are a few of us left, and aside from the guests on the weekends, it's pretty slow around here. Not to worry, there is plenty to keep one busy!

First of all, there is tons of great beer to be had around these parts. This past Monday, had to drive a friend to Denver International early in the morning. Had another friend tagging along and we had decided to make a day of it off ranch. We had heard of a neat little brewery in Golden, CO. And no, it was not Coors. The brewery is called the Golden City Brewery, the second largest brewery in Golden. The only way to describe it is neat and little.

We sat down and ordered the beer sampler, which was a great deal for $7. The two beers we fell in love with were the seasonal Black Hops, which is a DARK IPA. The other was their flagship beer, Evolution IPA. I was not really a fan of IPAs before heading out west, but these people are really onto something! Had to get a second sampler, and left with a growler of Black Hops and a 22 oz of Evolution. We also managed a tour of their brewery, which was pretty cool!

We've got other breweries on our radar, the Odell brewery being the one I look forward to most. There is also one to never visit, atleast in my opinion, Grand Lake Brewery. Arf...


I've had to find other things than fishing to occupy my time on days off. It's just too damn cold, plus the rivers are frozen. Cabin fever is starting to set in and I'm nowhere close to seeing the end of the tunnel. Oh well, we've been doing some snowshoeing to the top of Baldy, which is the mountain with ski slopes right here on ranch. I'll tell you, the return on investment is VERY low when skiing without a ski lift. Before I was shown the "fast" way, it took me at least an hour and a half to get to the top, just for a 5 minute ride down. Now that I've found the "fast" way, it only takes about 45 minutes, still not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze...


But, once you get to the top, you are treated to some really breathtaking panoramas! Clear days on top of Baldy really can't be beat, you just have to be willing to put forth some effort.




And to keep from offending my fishy followers, here is a pic of my new stick. It's an Orvis Hydros 9ft 5wt Tip-Flex with the Battenkill Large Arbor III reel, and Olive Dun Wonderline. I got this rod for Christmas. Had Christmas Day off of work, so I HAD to wet a line. The only problem was, it was about 10 degrees. Undeterred, I rigged up. I made one cast, caught one brown, unrigged and took it back to the ranch. I've always thought it bad luck to catch a fish on the first cast. Weird, I know, but a superstition nonetheless. Anyways, I'm sitting on a 100% catch-rate with it, which isn't bad I don't guess!

On a sour note. I have since realized the rod is flawed and has been sent back to Orvis for fixing. The grooved O-ring the reel seat fits into was backwards, so the groove was facing the butt of the rod. I don't think it would have made much of a difference, but I didn't want to have to find out the hard way after hooking a behemoth!


I'll be out in the western-world for a good long while, I've been hired to work through the summer, which seems very distant at the moment. I am ready for the snow to melt and the weather to warm, but that too seems very distant. But, you won't hear me complaining! I'm stoked to be out here living the life I'm living! I just NEED to go fishing, or at least hurry up and learn how to tie flies!

Take Care People,
Muddler

Greetings from Colorado

Greetings folks, longtime no-talk! I've made my way to Colorado, and let me just say this place is amazing! The natural beauty is breathtaking and the cold really isn't that cold. Although I've been told to wait until the -30 degree days... not looking forward to that. I'm just at the south end of Rocky Mountain National Park, working at the C Lazy U Ranch. People here are super cool and laid back, and everybody likes to drink beer! I'm working as a ranch hand, which means I do whatever anybody tells me to. It's not a bad gig, I'm never stuck doing the same thing very long and I'm always outside.

Naturally, it didn't take me very long to get to the important thing, fishing. I'm located right on the headwaters of the Colorado river. It's hard to believe this is the same river that runs through the Grand Canyon.



This photo was taken on the road to Steamboat Springs coming out of Rabbit Ears Pass. Photos just do not do this place justice. The panoramic views are insane! I went to Steamboat looking for the Yampa River. It's about an 80 miles drive from the ranch. I got to Steamboat and couldn't find any public water, so I turned around and made the trip all the way back to the Colorado. Wasted alot of gas and time, and wasn't particularly happy about that. I've since found out where the public water is and plan on heading back that way as soon as possible. There are supposedly some bruisers lurking in the Yampa's waters.


This picture was taken one evening as I was heading back into the ranch.


FISH!!! These are a few of the fish I've managed to nab from the Colorado. The first picture is the best fish I've caught so far, and I know there are bigger out there. Right now they are really keyed into small nymphs and midges. On warm, sunny days there are midge hatches and the fish turn on. Unfortunately, the water is so cold, you can only stand to be in it for short periods of time. Unless you're catching fish, of course. Every fish I've caught has been a brown, and I'm cool with that. Browns are my favorite, I think people know that!





I figured out the self-timer on my camera. This is taken on the ranch looking North.


This is by far the best picture I've taken while out here. It reminds me of Trey Anastasio's song, "Mountains In The Mist." This picture was taken in Fraser, CO while looking for a fly-shop. Turns out we drove 20 miles for some Taco Bell. Apparently, the fly-shop closes down in winter to make room for skiing equipment. Who would rather ski that fish? Nobody I care to know!


I have the feeling I'm in for a long winter, but that's what I signed up for. I can't wait until the snow melt is over and the fishing opens up everywhere. There is so much water around here that it boggles one's mind.

Anyways, y'all keep it real, and I'll do the same.

PEACE

Feast or Famine

Wednesday, Sept. 29th: FEAST

I've had my eye on the gauge of a favorite stream of mine. With the rains last week the water was on the rise, and the weather was cooling off. I decided to make a day of it. Started fishing around 10. I fished the usual fishy places with no action. I missed the first bite, but it was a little feller. My fly was much bigger than his mouth... Came to another usually fishy place and missed two bites right on a row. I was getting pretty bummed and frustrated. I had my video camera with me, hoping to get some footage of a big brown being landed. I wasn't going to set my camera up until I caught a fish. Man do I wish I'd had it rolling at the very next spot.....This beast came out to play with the Terresticator


It was like a switch had been flipped!!! Just upstream I nailed this guy...



I caught a couple dinks, then had this guy nail the Terresticator. What a crazy looking fly to catch a trout on!



Sunday, Oct. 3rd: FAMINE

With the recent success on my "home waters", all I could think about was getting back on it. The only thing I could think about was getting that pig brown on video. This was not to be. I woke up early and got to fishing a little after 8. It was a chilly 46 degrees. I flogged the water to no avail. It was definitely one of the most frustrating days of fishing I've had in a while. I nymphed, threw streamers, dry flies, nothing was getting any attention.


I don't know if I ever posted my run-in with a gold panner back in the Spring, but I ran into the guy again Sunday. We both recognized each other and got to talking as I passed him fishing up. He said he hadn't seen a single fish come by, and he usually did when someone was fishing downstream of him. When he said that, I didn't feel so bad. Something was up with these fish. Wading back downstream to the trail, I passed the guy again. This time we got to talking about his gold panning. He told me about how he and two friends had gone a couple weekends back and came home with a little over an ounce between them. They split $1300 for the weekend. I told him I had the wrong hobby. We laughed and he showed me what he had found in the couple hours he was there. Not much, but gold none the less! I asked if I could take a picture and he obliged. My "gold mine" is literally that, a gold mine!




WHEW!!! Got this guy right upstream of the panner in the last 45 mins I fished. I caught fish when I was around him last time... I don't care where it was, it broke my skunk for the day right as I was losing hope! And a nice fish to boot!


Regardless of the fishing, it was a great day on the water. There were alot of bugs out. Saw some brown caddis, BWOs, a big black mayfly (don't know what, and couldn't get a pic), and all kinds of midges. I really think that with the water rising and the weather cooling down, these big brownies are spawning.

My mission is to film a big brown being landed.

Peace