Don't be a butt end

7.9 out of 10 people who come to Vail and book a fly fishing trip have absolutely no clue what their guide is talking about. I'm going to take a few and do some translating for significant portions of our earths population so maybe they are more prepared for a day with a fly fishing guide. I'm going to start with hockey players since they seem to be a demographic I get along with nicely or "they are the type of fellas I would hose a rink for after the lights are down,don't ya know"

Fellas: Clients
Lads: Other Guides
Barn: Fly shop
Plug: Playing an over flow guide when all the top end lads have a shift

Deke: A stopped boat where everybody is pretending to do something other than fish the hole they are parked next to.
Yap: Pie Hole, big mouth. Guide who is heard at great distances
Where momma hides the cookies; Under the seat of any drifty.

Bender: A lousy guide who still gets trips
Chirp: Guide or peep who talks to much about himself
Cherry Picker: Guide who hangs around management or shop dogs trying to score trips
Grinder: Doesn't matter where, when or how, this group of muckers put in the work and get it done.
Odd man Rush: 3-1 wade trip with observers booked last second.

Apple/ Johnny Appleseed: Apple in hockey is an assist, Johnny Appleseed is a dude who racks up many helpers. Old guide with lots of return clients. A good oarsman who puts his team on many fish.

Flop:Wade guide who wears his chestys folded down or flopped around the waist.
Laser: A fly put in a difficult spot with great skill
Pylon: Slow boat
Sweet Hands: Good caster

One of my favorite guide days of all-time was with one Ironman of all World Hockey, Sergei Zubov. I spent part of the day talking with a Russian Accent while he tried to talk like a Texan, funny how we all ways understood what each of us were saying.
I'm going to try and make sure everyone understands their fishing guide this year so next week I am either going to translate for MILF's, Hipsters or Goths, I guess.

Super Swede

Not exactly sure where these lucky bastards are but I want to go there.  40 lb Atlantic aside, that helicopter is on my bucket list. Skip to 3:45 for a look at the biggest Atlantic you will ever see and some great language.

A walk in the woods

A few years back now I decided to roll up a successful business and split to go fish for a summer, never did go back. It's not a move easily taken by the 4 year degree, start a family and accumulate 401K crowd I grew up around. "Throwing away" a word of mouth business drew some criticism from some and  jealous encouragement from the rest. My soul simply knew it was my time for a "walk in the woods". At the time it was an effort to get my stuff on tract and maybe fool some wild trout in the land of plenty, why I have stayed is another story. We all think about trading in the norm and taking an adventure, most never find the courage to actually do it, some of us get the will from someone else's giant steps. Long before I decided to truly live, my girl Kitty was my example. We were not dating at the time but I always tried to stay into touch, one day I heard she was just packing up and blindly moving. She had it with home, weather and the ground hog day journey she was on. So one night she and her sister in law loaded a hat with pieces of paper with all the places she would rather live and drew Arizona out of the hat. I remember feeling happy and proud for her. She is a huge part in me being here today and after all these years, some minor miracles and huge blessings we are sharing this new place together now. Can't express how much I love her and how she has made my life fuller even before we were sharing it again together.
When you move to a resort town in the middle of the Colorado Rockies you quickly realize everyone is from somewhere else. There are an abundance of people chasing their passions here, conversations of where you came from, why you are here, how long you've been here are common ice breakers. Occasionally you hear rumor of some long timers going away party, which can be a lot like a funeral for some of them. People typically leave at some point when responsibilities, family or a real job finally draw them away from living like Peter Pan.

I've been following a blog as of late from Kurt Olesek, a long time local from these parts who chose to split from here for different reasons. Kurt decided to pack up, move to New Zealand and chase summer and trout. The news tab on his website chronicles his adventure in blog form and his site is jam packed with some incredible pictures from his walk about. JEALOUS KO!

 Check it out

Kurts Blog /

Sam's Softhackle Sally

Long about 3-4 years ago we all noticed the Sallies shrinking. Now I am no entomologist, biologist or ist of any sort so I won't pretend to know exactly what the hell happened, we just went to work on smaller patterns. Getting away with a size 14 Sally nymph is a thing of the past at least here in the central Rockies of Colorado. I'd be interested in hearing if the same thing happened in other places. Mutant or not we just needed smaller imitations and if memory serves me there were not any #20 Sally patterns in any of the catalogs, there still might not be.

This little number started getting pitched 2 years ago, with and without a bead. The fish on the upper Colorado love it and since Sallies are on the menu all summer this one gets a work out. I fish it in #18-#22.......doesn't make it right, just putting it out there.