The Six Million dollar Squirmy Worm

Ahhh......... spring is in the air. Birds sound different, the days are longer and warmer, fish are eating dries and I have two dozen Squirmy Worms to rebuild. The Squirmy is one of those flies, you either hate it or love it. Most anglers dislike for Le Squirm revolves around the fact that they are not the most durable of morsels. I go through this a couple of times a year, where I am left with the bones of young warriors that bravely dangled from 4X and sacrificed their bodies so others could have fun. I happily put them all back together again Steve Austin style.

Is it worth it?
Yep, in certain conditions nothing works better.

STEP ONE when tying Squirmys should be: Use razor blade to remove old material. 

Rebuilding a Squirm takes less than 1:20 on average from stripping the old material to back in the box and they cost next to nothing by reusing the hook. I can usually get 2-3 fish on each one before they are spent so an hour each year is no big deal. Another good tip for extending your Squirms life is to keep them in the cooler on hot days in the boat.  I have opened fly boxes on  hot summer days only to be startled by a confetti bomb of squirmy parts and pieces.      KEEP YOUR WORMS COLD.

One and done bugs are nothing you want to stock a lot of; I also stock some spent spinners with delicate swiss straw wings that are only good for a couple but boy they have bailed me out on occasion.
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#12 Five Dolla Sqwalla

How much do you pay for "Comp" Flies?

Would you pay extra for a specialty fly?

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Get me off this damn computer and book a trip. Lots of specials, only at Colorado Angling Company

Carry On

40 feet of wisdom

Wise words from one of the all time greats, salt water or fresh. Check out Sarah Griggs article with Flip Pallot for Flyfisherman, it is a great read.

A spirtual guide to the importance of the last 40 feet

Here's some of the incrediblness, feel free to substitute Trout for Bonefish or Permit and Drift Boat for skiff, just sayin.....

"Life in my world comes down to the last 40 feet," he concluded. "If there's anything left for me to do, it's to make people aware that life, and most particularly this lifestyle, is tied to the natural world and not to a credit card. Many anglers have amassed wealth that gives them the opportunity to take a fishing trip. They go to their local pro shop and buy all the right clothes, rods, reels, lines, and flies. They present their credit card. They arrive at the lodge, also pay by credit card. They step onto a skiff, resplendent with all the right clothing and tackle. The guide poles them within 40 feet of a tailing bonefish. Sadly, their credit card won't take them that last 40 feet."

"They've come all the way from Cleveland to Abaco, but with that last 40 to the bonefish, their credit card is worthless. They've forgotten to bring the skills they need, because they didn't invest the time to develop them. They were busy with their job, kids, the internet. They neglected to bring the skills to get them that last step to the fish. So, they either figure out how to have a good time, or not. But it all comes down to that last 40 feet. Life has just made it too complicated for them to understand the value of the last 40 feet."

"Everything's there. It's not just the distance to the bonefish or permit. The last 40 feet is the barometer of what you've been willing to invest. If you're just here for the gentle breezes and the boat ride, it's okay. But when you step onto the front of that skiff and there's a very serious, committed person on  the other end who's trying to get you that last stretch and you don't care enough about it to have prepared yourself, your being untrue to yourself and unfair to the person at the other end of the boat. That's a hard view of the last 40 feet, but I think it's a significant view of commitment. To the rest of us who live this lifestyle, it's all about the last 40 feet.

Word.

Read the whole damn thing.

From a trout guides perspective I'll say this, most of the magic I see happen is within 40 feet, and most of my anglers can cast comfortably and somewhat efficiently at this distance. The problems still arise however because they haven't practiced roll casting, a reach mend or proper mending techniques. We are still coming up short in the last steps to catching that fish because we are not prepared. I will say we because I have been that guy. I have been short. I have scared the hell out of fish. I have let a guide down or made him mutter something under his breath and I used a credit card to get myself into it all.

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Mean while back on the Ranch we are whacking them on dries. Seriously this is the best fishing of the year. Weather wise, snow pack and water-snow equivalent numbers don't look so nice. If things stay this way it could look a lot like the drought year of 2012 around here. Run off was quick and light in 2012. We had a 4 week pre run off float season when it's usually a week at best ( it was awesome and no one was here.) We picked people up at 5 am all summer so we could be off the river by noon as to not stress fish. Our usual fun on the Eagle from the boat with dry flies didn't happen in July it happened a month earlier.
I'm no meteorologist but I have worked outside since I was 20, I got the wrinkles to prove it, this year could be a tough one for my rivers. Anything can happen around here in the next few months and we all certainly hope we get the snow we desperately need. If the snow does not come the season will be best early, like now through June, don't skip it, just plan accordingly.


Colorado Angling Company

Killer deals on guide trips right now. Get on it.

Bobbertalk Pod Cast with Scott Thompson and myself?..............Stay tuned

Carry On

Fish on Crystal

"Crystal" informed me she had fly fished before, once. 

I'm not sure if it was her tone, or smirk, but I quickly sensed this little sass machine had a future in high maintenance everything and had exactly zero interest in being there with her step daddy and her three brothers; let alone some old fly fishing guide.  With everyone else happily fishing I took Miss Thang for a walk down the still snow covered bank to a perfect little pedestal for her to pose on. The rock is about six feet from the bank and only ankle deep once you are on it, but it is better than belly button deep if you slip off. It's a good rock to fish from and many a man has stood there, but today it would be a convenient place to stash the least interested part of my trip; the 17 year old diva portion of my responsibilities. She had great chances at a dance, would be dry and warm, look flawless and still be able to tweet; a perfect perch. With not enough room for two I stood waist deep in the freezing spring flow below her like a good boy thinking about how girls like this are going to be turning my young son inside out before I knew it. My goal was to get some line off her reel and get a bug in the drift as quick as possible so I could get someplace safer.

I hooked one on the demonstration cast.

As often happens during the hand off on a hooked fish, one of my little buddies took advantage of  the queen.

The way she tipped her head and glared at me over those thousand dollar aviators clearly explained that fish getting away was my fault and one day she was going to eat men alive for fun. I hand her the rod, turn to get the hell out of there for a minute and by some miracle she is hooked up before I can reach the bank. My little Liz Taylor lands this one on her own and with a simple flip of that perfect hair dismissed me to do my job other places. I got to gettin. She got on the phone.

I'm not sure if it was sorcery or my internal guide clock telling me to wander back and face the fear, but just ten minutes later some strange force was drawing me down stream. As I got closer to my thorny rose I realized things were more horrible than I could have imagined and I might have left the dark queen alone too long. There in the snow behind "Ivanka", a good distance from where he really wanted to be, lay a gorgeous Eagle River Rainbow Trout.

I don't speak Trout real well, but I do understand some and this guy was clearly begging to be put back in the water. I scooped him up and slid into the drink next to "Crystal's" rock hoping to perform some resuscitation. I cradled my little buddy in the water and gently began to wave water over his head and gills trying to bring him back from the light. I looked up at "Lil Kardashian" who was towering over me and pretending to not know what was going on and asked "what do you figure happened here?"

"What do you mean?" my nearest witness growled.

"Well...........I just found this nice little fish in the snow behind you and I was wondering what may have happened" I say.

I'll never forget her reaction.

She said "I have no idea what you are talking about" and looked up as if she saw that trout fall from the sky. I looked up too as if I believed her.

Part of a guide's job is to read people and 17 year old girls are one of the trickiest groups to handle for even the most cunning of us. There was no safe way for me to blame her or get to the bottom of things even though the smell of her guilt had replaced my scent of terror. Still, calling this future five time divorcee out spooked the hell out of me.

That fish swam away so I am sure he wasn't out of the water that long and I figured at that point she would admit to chucking that poor fish on to dry land with an over zealous hook set or something; but no.

I never said a word about the incident to anyone that day, neither did "Crystal".I have guided the same lovely family several times since and while I may believe her to be guilty of attempted murder, she has been sweet as pie. 

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Spring has sprung! Midgezilla is on site and there are some fat-happy fish waiting around here for you peeps.

1/2 off Private water while it lasts.

Full day Floats for 1/2 day price.

That's nice

Carry on you funny people