St. Vrain Angler News & Muse April 12, 2005

Greetings!

I hope you are well this fine Spring morning, and that fishing is on your mind. That's what we're going to talk about with hopes of getting out and doing it. Soon. And then again. The past week has seen temperatures from the 20's to the 80's with everything in between. Our media crowned the little storm on Sunday the blizzard of 2005 - aren't they creative? - and the snow we got is almost gone. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 60's again. Bravo for the moisture it brought. I'll bet the wheat farmers are thankful and full of hope.

The picture of a carp is appropriate as the carp are feeding, tailing and cruising in local reservoirs. This is a fish that is tough to hook and fights hard when it is hooked. Our friend Andrew is going to do carp classes on an appointment basis, so sign up soon.

The other news many have waited to hear is that the wipers have started at Union Reservoir east of Longmont. The fish being caught have been about 16 inches, and are very fat. Wiper fight hard; when you hook one, you know one is hooked! Fish them for the first and last hour of sunlight. The fish are in shallow water, cruising in schools. When one is caught, chances are another will soon follow. We have a good supply of the right flies in the shop, as well as rigging and casting tips. It's time to get out for wiper. Now.

For carp and wiper use about a 5- or 6-weight rod that you can make relatively long, accurate casts with. A floating line is fine, and a leader that tapers to 3x or so is going to work. Sight cast to carp, and blind cast for wiper. Move the fly as a carp responds to it, watching the fish's reaction to the fly. For wiper, strip the fly in, varying the speed until you find the length and speed of strip that works, which means the fish get hooked!

When a carp of wiper is hooked, you will be, too. I still ask myself who has who here when I hook a fish of most any sort.

Fishing is fun. Let's go fishing.

Last Saturday we hosted the first Introduction to Fly Casting Class of the year. It went great! Everyone came back to the shop to report that their fly casting confidence had improved and that they were more hopeful of getting the fly on the water quickly and accurately. That's always good to hear.

The next Intro to Casting Class will be on Saturday, April 23 at the shop. For an explanation of what we do, please read from this page - Introduction to Fly Casting To sign up, please give me a call at the shop at 303-651-6061 or follow this link and sign on. Sign Me UP! I'll call to verify your spot in the class.

I'll be teaching our first Line Control Casting Class on Sunday, April 24. Space is limited for this session, so please register soon. I'll only be doing one Line Control Class a month. Line Control Casting Class has information on what we'll cover. Again, you can call the shop at 303-651-6061 or follow the link Sign Me UP! to get signed up.

Tomorrow we'll be doing the first First Adventure Class for the year. It was supposed to go on Sunday, but as we all know that was not the best day to fish. It was a good day to tie flies, relax and watch Tiger win another Master's, though. Wow! That was fun. The session tomorrow is full, but more classes are available. Please read all about it at Fly fishing and sign up at Sign Me UP!

I have had several requests for private Fly Fishing Classes, and we will accommodate them. If you'd like to do a session with a family member or friend, please let us know and we'll schedule it. You'll learn about fish, water, bugs, knots, flies and tactics in a classroom setting, then go to the water to see and practice what was discussed that morning. Great stuff friends.

The Casting and Fishing Classes are great for beginners or folks who want o get going again on the right foot. Join the fun! Do it soon! Remember, it is 2005 - not 2002, or 2003 - The Year to Go Fishing! Go on. You have permission to go fishing. I just gave it to you.

There is still interest in fly tying, so I'm going to offer one more Introduction to Fly Tying Class. It will begin on Tuesday, April 26 and will go for four weeks. I'll need six folks to make the class a go, so please join the others who have signed on. For info, give me a call at the shop at 303-651-6061 or read here: Introduction to Fly Tying. You can sign up at Sign Me UP! as well.

Thanks!

Is there any more interest in an Intermediate Fly Tying Class? Please drop me a line at angler@peakpeak.com if so, and we'll go from there. Thanks.

Whew. As if that's not enough, I'd still like to offer one more session of Entomology 101 and one more session of Bugs & Flies 101. These are classes that help folks understand the bug's life cycle, and the flies that imitate them. If you'd like to join me for one or both, please fill out the form below to let me know, or give me a call at the shop at 303-651-6061. THANKS!

It was my pleasure to meet a friend from Finland yesterday, and I hope to see Heikki again today and tomorrow. He's visiting Longmont on business and says he'll be back with some frequency. He's not going to fish this time around, but will in the near future. We met over the net, as he found the shop's web site while surfing and wrote me a note.

I visit with friends all over the country and the world on a weekly basis. It is fun. I've also met a new angling friend in France. His name is Gustave, and he'll be visiting Bristol Bay and fishing for King Salmon. Gustave is looking for a heavy fly rod to fight these large, strong fish. Maybe we'll get to meet and fish with him one day, too.

Cool beans. Fly fishing brings folks together.

On that note, many of our TU and fly shop friends met on Saturday morning with their waders on to help clean up the St. Vrain. The word from those who I've seen since say it went great and we had about 25 folks show up with waders, ready to help make Longmont and the St. Vrain more beautiful. Isn't that fantastic? What a wonderful town Longmont is to live in.

The next TU meeting will be on Thursday April 21, 2005 at the VFW on South Main Street in Longmont. The program is on fishing with soft hackles and wet flies, and promises to be entertaining and informative. Fly tying/social hour begins at 6:30 with the program at about 7:15. Join the fun! This club is on a roll, and you should be a part of it.

Fishing reports continue to come in. Here are a few: The Big Thompson is fishing well, although the water has come up a bit. WE might expect some discoloration as the recent snow melts, but the blue winged olives, early brown stones and midges should continue emerging to feed trout. That's going to be the case on other streams, too. A friend was on the Poudre last week and reported very low water, but pretty good fishing with a few very healthy fish being hooked and released, mostly on nymph patterns such as a Barr emerger, Prince, Copper John and caddis larva. The Frying Pan has been good to several folks, with good dry fly activity on cloudy days. Same bugs as above. The Arkansas is seeing good small mayfly hatches with a promise of caddis galore in the near future, and 11-mile canyon the S. Platte continues to satisfy those who make the drive to fish it. I've heard that Spinney Mnt. Res is open; can anyone verify that? Have you been down? The Green is red hot with lots of bugs and feeding trout. Gray Reef has been producing lots of large fish on small flies, with midge larva and small scuds working very well. How's that? The Park is still pretty cold and most of the water pretty hard. It will have more open water each day, though, and the fishing should be very good indeed. Don't forget warmwater for carp, wiper and bass. The bluegill will start building spawning beds soon, and pestering them for an hour or so is always more fun than it should be. That's a great time to take a kid with a fly and bubble, or a fly rod, or to sharpen casting and fish hooking skills when time does not allow a quick trip to the hills.

Don't forget my Solution books, which are full of great info and good fishing and tying tips. I've got a full stock available, and will ship them to you. They are still 3 for $20 to our friends. Solutions Books

Go fishing soon. Please. Enjoy the process.

If you need help with knots, where to go, what to use, gear, line and reel cleaning, tying tips, or anything else, please drop by the shop and let me know. I'll also answer any email you send to me at angler@peakpeak.com

I hope you are well, enjoying this lovely Spring day. Our grass is significantly greener than it was two days ago, which means I'll have to find out if the mower still works. I won't let that stand in the way of fishing, though, and hope to get out to hook a few wipers tomorrow evening.

See you soon. Go fishing. Then, go again.

Thanks for reading! I'll talk with you again next week.

Dale Darling

newsletters