St. Vrain Angler News & Muse November 8, 2005

Greetings!

I hope you are well. I'm getting this out a bit late today, and there are several reasons which will become apparent as we move ahead. It is a beautiful day today with a clear blue sky. There's fresh snow up high and I'm pretty sure some ski areas are getting ready to open as soon as they have more snow.

Been fishing? Anyone out there have some pictures or a story to share this week? Please do. I'll look at it and post it as time and space allow. There are some new, pretty pictures is today's missive.

Try our Tying Midge Kit or Fishing Midge Kit. What the heck; try both! The laminated info sheet came out great, as did the tying instruction handout and the materials kit.

Here's what we have today:

Last Thursday evening I hosted and taught a Midge Tying Class. There was a very good turnout for it and everyone reported back that they had a fine time. We started with supper at O'Shay's - Fish & Chips won the evening there - and continued in the shop with the class. We discussed tying small flies, special techniques and materials and then tied several fly patterns. I was actually very pleased with how the flies came out. A few of the folks had done quite a bit of fly tying, but some had just started, or hadn't tied small flies before, or hadn't tied flies for awhile and so on.

Everyone enjoyed each other's company and we decided to do a fly swap! Each of the folks in the session will tie 12 flies of one pattern and size and then each person will get one of everyone's fly pattern for recipes and ideas. Cool beans, huh?

We all finished the sessions with smiles on our faces and quietude in our hearts. A few folks arrived in a stressed state of "I-did-so-much-today-and-had-so-many-demands-on-my-energy" state of mind and left relaxed and joyful. That's a good thing and a good reason to join us for one of the next tying sessions.

Specialty Tying Classes

Here's what is scheduled. These sessions promise to be fun and full of good information.

1. Tying Midges: A repeat performance will take place on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at St. Vrain Angler. We'll begin at 6:30 and finish by 9:30. Class includes handouts, instruction, materials and much more! Tuition is $25.00. Join the fun. Call 303-651-6061 or fill out the form at Specialty Tying.

2. Tying Attractor Flies: The folks who attended the last Midge session said they'd like to Attractor flies, so that's what we'll be doing. We'll tie Stimulator, Wulff, Humpy and Trude patterns. You'll learn to handle hair, tie wings, build large flies and so on. I'll talk about how to fish the flies, too! Tuition is $25.00. Join the fun. Call 303-651-6061 or fill out the form at Specialty Tying.

We'll schedule more one night tying sessions each month throughout the winter. Stay tuned! Specialty Tying

Midge Special!

Each daylight hour becomes more precious this time of year. Daylight is fading and darkness is at hand. This makes fishing time shorter, which is probably just as well due to cold air, water and toes. Warm soup sure tastes good right about now.

The lovely brown trout, at left, was one I caught last week when fishing late one afternoon with Frank. Can you see the fly in the corner of the fish's mouth? It's a little midge dry pattern, and the fish took it with confidence. After our greeting and photo session we let the fish go. He swam off to figure out what in world went on, which probably took about eight seconds, and then returned to being a brown trout, unthinking but knowing how to survive in his environs.

Here's a midge special for you. Take advantage of either - or both - offers and enjoy tying and fishing with midge patterns. We sure love fishing with these small flies this time of the year.

If you can't attend Tying Midges session, try our Midge Tying Kit. Each kit has enough materials to tie six flies of one type in two sizes. That's a dozen flies per style. Here's what we provide:

OR our Midge Fishing Kit. Each kit contains the following:

How much? The Midge Tying Kit is $9.95.

The Midge Fishing Kit is $24.95.

Order now! Call 303-651-6061 or fill in the form provided. We'll call you for credit card info and mail your goodies right out!

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Hackle Swap Time! We're forming another Hackle Swap. This has become famous near and far and I hope you'll take advantage of this tremendous value. Here's what we do: I purchase full Whiting Farm Saddles in various colors and sizes. Generally, we get the number of saddles that there are folks in the swap, then one evening we pull all of the feathers, count them into stacks and share one stack from each saddle with each person who's signed up. So, for the price of one saddle you'll get multiple colors and sizes to tie various flies. This is a great value for our customers. Sign up soon! Tuition is $80.00 per person. 303-651-6061 or Sign Me Up!

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I am available for Private Fly Tying instruction or Private Casting Instruction. Please drop me a note with your interest and we'll set a time. I'm happy to help with any tying or casting dilemmas you find yourself horned on (on the horns of a dilemma, get it?) and will all I can to share tips and techniques that will solve fly fishing problems.

Private Casting is $100.00 and most sessions last for about one hour. Private Fly Tying will be charged at $75.00 per hour, or $50.00 per hour per person if more than one person attends.

Please drop me a line at angler@peakpeak.com or call the shop at 303-651-6061 to reserve your time. Thanks. Dale Sign Me Up!

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Over the weekend Shan and I went to visit Miss Rachel in Durango. She'd arranged for me to teach a session on Music Composition and 20 students showed up for it. We had a good time talking about music, what makes it work and so on. When we were done a recital by the Piano and Violin professors took place. They played very well to a full house. It was fun.

On Monday morning I was asked to teach an Orchestration Class, then a Theory Class. This happened when the Theory instructor came in, found me finishing the Orchestration session and asked if I'd stay and talk to her class about music. It was great!

After that, Shan and I left and drove west through Mancos to Delores, then up through Rico to Telluride and on to Montrose. I stopped to say hello to my old friends at Scott Fly Rods there, and to see if they were still making push poles, which they were not. The short drive to Delta would not be complete without saying hello to Tom Whiting at Whiting Farms, so Shan and I surprised him with a visit, and he surprised us with some new product and so on. I'll tell you more when I get back.

Here's one thing you could get: a stuffed Whiting Rooster! Every home should have one. Call me at 303-651-6061 or drop me a line at angler@peakpeak.com for more info. As you can see, Tom has plenty of beautiful birds which are waiting for a nice place to roost!

The drive back was uneventful, which are the type we like and enjoy. I will tell you this. The drive from Mancos through Delores and up to Telluride is spectacular! Beautiful! We have lots of small streams that we need to fish, and sooner than later. Beautiful. I'll also tell you that driving from here to Durango via 285, over Wolf Creek Pass an on is much shorter and faster than coming back through Telluride, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs and so on.

Durango is a lovely town with lots of small businesses, cafes and bookstores to roam and enjoy. The Animas looked great, but alas, I was busy writing and teaching. Next time....

While I was down there, working on a new web site I lost the old one. Well, today has been interesting, trying to revive the old one. I hope it works.

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Tomorrow, our wayward, hurricane delayed and business deflected group leaves for Ascension Bay, Mexico. We had been scheduled to go when a little storm swept through the area, and now we find that most of the flight down that way have been cancelled. Still, ours is going, and so are we. Unfortunately two of our original group have had to cancel for this time, but want to go again later.

Last time, Joe caught this nice permit, and we hope to get a few more this time around.

How about you? We're going to do Christmas Island in January - the 10-17th - and Ascension bay again in February - I don't have specific dates, yet, but will.

Interested? Please drop me a line at angler@peakpeak.com

Thanks!

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Estes Angler News!  Many of you remember Grant Rollo, who worked for me at the Estes Angler several years ago. He was - and remains - a bundle of energy. One of Grant's goals was to own his own fly shop. Last week I sold him the Estes Angler. He is now the proud owner of the shop and looks forward to continuing the great tradition we've set of fulfilling fly fishing dreams in Estes Park and in and around Rocky Mountain National Park.

I was building Grant a new web site that will be posted at www.estesangler.com when it is complete, and in the process lost all of stvrainangler.com Oh well. I've spent the day trying to write, this, working on the new site with Grant and trying to get the old site back. I hope it is all there.

More info will follow; I just wanted to let you know what was going on.

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That's it for today. Sorry this is so late; I hope better late than never applies. I'm really looking forward to this outing to Mexico. I'm ready for hot sunshine - even though we've had our share here, there's just something about the heat, humidity and breezes on the flats that I've come to love.

I've written several more pieces for Colorado Fishing & Hunting News; you can get the magazine at local outlets. I'm still working on more info for the Terms & Definitions Page on the site. I hope you'll visit there and see what you like, ask questions you have and so on.

There are several ideas bouncing around in my head that I'll share when we return from Mexico.

Hasta Luego, amigos e amigas!

I'll talk with you again soon.