RESERVOIRS, THE HIGH COUNTRY & "BLOG-ITIS"

Okay, I’ll admit it. I got a case of “blog-itis” and had to take a break for a while. Anyway, I’m back in the saddle again, so at least for the time being the Lone Angler rides again. I should also admit that I wasn’t sitting at home during my break from writing the blog. I did manage to get out fishing. It was mostly reservoir fly fishing where I waded out from the shore and tried to get a beadhead Chironomid larva imitation in front of these big rainbows and cutthroats that were cruising the shoreline. It’s the kind of sight fishing I like. And I actually caught a few of those big tugboats.

This all came about because here in Colorado we’re in the midst of spring runoff and the rivers and streams are cranking. It looks like it will be at least a few more weeks before things calm down. In the meantime, I’ve been going through my tackle and gearing up for the high country small stream fishing season.

Fran Better's classic fly pattern, "The Usual", modified for possible use on Colorado's high country streams later this season. 

I’m working on putting Fran Better’s “Usual” fly pattern into my high country lineup. I’ve been busy tying a bunch of them and testing the patterns on a nearby creek. The Usual looks like a really easy fly pattern to tie, but the simpler a pattern is and the fewer materials that it uses the more you have to pay attention to details and the properties of the material. I’m still perfecting the Usual into the fly I want for the Colorado high country. I’m using Colorado snowshoe hare for my Usuals which makes for a few extra fly tying challenges, but somehow it just seems like a nice touch to fish a fly tied from native Colorado snowshoe hare.

Other news: With any luck tomorrow will be the maiden voyage of my new float tube. I finally upgraded to a model that keeps most of me out of the water. I can’t believe I was still using the old donut style float tube for all these years! I thought about selling those old “donuts”, but I found out that nowadays it’s hard to even give them away.

I’ll give you a report on how it all goes. I do know the big Chironomids are coming off up on the reservoir. There may even be some Callibaetis mayflies. I hope so.