A Tip on Tipping

This is an article on tipping your guide from the fellas at midcurrent.com. After having an excellent day on the water and only getting tipped 5%, I wondered if it really was an excellent day after all. Although I will hopefully book another trip with them in the near future on my home waters, well that is if they decide to call me back. I had an excellent time with the couple. Neither of them had really ever been fly fishing before. So what comes with neophytes and fly fishing.......expect line tangles and re rigging almost every cast Make sure you carry about 10 leaders per person. Luckily I got away with having 6 total. I stopped counting at 20 re rigs. Make sure you have 20 of any slingle pattern. You can expect to lose about 19 of them.

Think of it as if you were a guide. For the extra work that you put in for a beginner, would you want to just get a $20? First off, gas is extremely high so figure what the guide has to pay out of his pocket to make this trip worth while. Did you ride with the guide or did you take your own vehicle? Was the guide on time? Were you on time? What did you learn from the experience? How many flies did you lose or how many times did the guide have to re-rig your flies. Did the guide work hard to put you on the fish? Dont tell the guide that you had an excellent day, you had a really good time, and that the trip was more than you could ask for; then only tip 5%!

Those are just some of the things that you need to take into account when you book a trip. For a full day trip, even the worst guide should get momre than a 20!

Awesome Jacket

A premium shell –like our 8x Jacket– keeps foul weather from halting great fishing.

Eaten by the River

The worst thing that could possibly happen to a fly fisherman while fishing is getting eaten by the river. Granted this happens to me just about every time that I go fishing, but not every time I fall in is getting eaten per say. When I get eaten by the river, I mean getting swept down stream and filling up your waders with water, possibly losing some if not all of your equipment. That is a rare occassion. When it happens to me, it usually is the coldest time of the year. The Los Pinos...aka the Pine to the locals, was the first river to "eat" me. In fact, it was the first time that I ever fished it. My boss Brian had just caught a beautiful 20 in. rainbow. Which for the Pine is an excellent fish.

The Missionary Ridge fire had taken its toll on the fishery nad burned more than 30 miles in a straight line from my house to Vallecito Reservoir. The debris and ash from the fires in 2002 pretty much destroyed everything including the fish and aquatic life. But it is making a comeback.

On my way to photograph his fish, I had chosen a spot to wade across that was not too treacherous. So I thought. I had waded about half way across and the strength of the river was too much for me to handle. The Pine is not like the Animas. The Animas is made up of larger rocks and boulders. The pine is made up of smaller gravel and sand. Therefore there is no place to wedge your feet between the rocks. and the current flows strong. In my own ignorance I completely turned around and faced upstream and the river swept my feet out from under me and completely engulfed me. I was taken about 30 yards down stream where I clung to a rock still grasping my flyrod and my pack. I regained my self and was able to wade out of the river with completely full of water and really freaking cold. This all took place in April. In the High country, it stays cold for a while and gets cold even quicker as the sun dissapears behind peaks. Needless to say, I didn't get to photograph his fish because my camera had now become water logged.

I sat naked on the shore so as to not keep my soaked clothes against my body and to help dry off some. NEVER wear jeans under your waders no matter how long you think you will be fishing. I will never forget that day.

To top it all off, I was skunked.

Portugal 2006: World Flyfishing Championships

CONGRATULATIONS team USA. 2nd time in the top 10. Shout out also goes to Lance Egan with a 24th place out of 110 and to George Daniel with a 5th place finish. Finland 2007 is next June.

Bluegill is the New first defense to Eco Terrorism

Bluegills first defense to detect toxins in water, and prevent massive attacks

The Drift Boat of drift boats

Hog Island Driftboats are quite frankly the best drift boats on the market. check them out

Back from the big show

I finally got back from the Expo last night at 9pm. Man was it a long but truely eventful trip. I got to meet some of the greatest fly fisherman in the world, plus up and coming people like myself. I got to fish the Elk River in Steamboat Springs and caught several fish. I added 2 species to my fly rod list The mountain whitefish, and Northern Pike. I also added a fish to my 20" bringing my total to 191.

ESPN gets rid of Outdoor Games

So much for any chance i had....but I guess there is always Team USA Flyfishing.

World Flyfishing Retailer Expo

Leaving tomorrow afternoon for the show. Should be a pretty interesting experience. Then to Fish the Colorado River in our new Hog Island Drift Boat. Floaty Floaty bouncy Bouncy.Back on Sunday to fish some water by Wolf Creek Pass.

Keni River Classic

An Alaska Senator catches a 63 lb king.

Here is Ricks state/world record

this is the replica mount of the big boy that is hanging in Backcountry Outfitters

27lbs 10oz of pure brown trout from missouri!!!!!

Float Trip to Bondad on 6/25

heres a 19" rainbow caught on a noble chernobyl

the 20" brown caught on a Phesant tail

Brians cutt

My first fish of the day on a noble chernobyl

here are some of the fish we caught on this full day float. I only boated 4 fish but they were all 17-20 with the biggest being a 20" brown. Brian is shown with his beautiful 20" cutt caught on a noble chernobyl. most fish were caught on a #14 phesant tail.

Lake Trout Otoliths Tell Tale

Invasive fish likely came into Yellowstone Lake from nearby waters

Mayflies out your ears

Way too many mayflies in WI.

A Mini Course in Insect ID

This might help some beginners

Drought Threatens NM Rio Grande Cutt

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/07/08/news/regional/a1f5e95d2050d6e1872571a30063c8ae.txt

Summer

The fishing on the Animas river has been awesome. The Baetis hatch in late April was phenomenal. I'm talking like 40-50 fish days everyday. Then runoff hit and lasted untill about a month ago. The amount of snowpack this year was minimal compared to last year, so the river dropped to 460cfs. The monsoons finally arrived and the fishing on the San Juan has heated up over the last few days. The carpenter ants are swarming and the fish are gorging themselves on the clusters of ants that have been flooded out. I wish i was down there right now getting in on the action, but im managing the shop. The PMD's on t he animas have been coming off everyday for the last 2 week and a half, which gives us some dry action from 10am-12pm. A #20 cream sparkle dun is the pattern that best matches the hatch. If you decide to nymph, then throw #12-18 copper johns, phesant tails, princes, caddis pupae. big sculpin patterns are working well right now also. Swing them down through the pockets and then strip and pause.

Fish Stem Cells

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11206577/

Humuhumunukunukuapuaa dethroned as Hawaii's State Fish

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/news/2006/jan/28/012804763.html

Colorado

I got back from Colorado and had an awesome time. I caught several large fish and scored a guiding job at the Caddis Company. Its gonna be freakin awesome.

The Best Commercial Ever

Heres to Beer lovers everywhere and to the Theory of EVOLUTION. This is a commercial that won't air in the U.S. because of you guessed it.....EVOLUTION.
http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/1959/

Patagonia on Hold

So my trip to Patagonia is on hold for a few weeks while we make some more money to continue for our trip. However, I'm flying to Denver to visit John for 2 weeks leaving on the 10th. We are going to fish the Animas and the San Juan and possibly a few other rivers in the Durango area.