Thoughts from Colorado...

10/10/08
From my view on the front porch of cabin #7 at Bear Creek Cabins in Evergreen, CO I am watching Ben and Christine fish not 20 feet away. We flew into Denver last night, stayed at the Hilton and ate breakfast this morning before driving west into the mountains. Tomorrow we fish the South Platte River – the “north fork meadow section,” a private stretch of water with truly monstrous fish. Until then, however, Bear Creek will keep us busy with 6-10 inch rainbows eager to snatch most any fly from the surface. The altitude is playing with my head a bit – hope it’s not a factor tomorrow as we have the whole day to chase trout. Very surreal to have left the rush of life behind, if only for a few days, and find myself in the Rockies scanning the slopes for mule deer and other wildlife. Hope to have a few fish to tell of tomorrow.
10/11/08
I love waking up for fishing and hunting trips. No matter the alcohol consumed nor the few hours of sleep had, I always wake up before the alarm clock, well rested, eager to start the day. Today, being in Colorado, preparing to catch monster trout, it was especially true. Got up at 6:20 and started the bacon – a good breakfast was in order for our long day of fishing in the rain/snow and wind. With breakfast eaten we got the gear packed and headed out to meet our guide and the Conoco on Rt. 235 outside Swanee.
10/12/08
I’m sitting in the terminal at Denver International Airport watching people go by. Thoughts about the direction of life are consuming. Being here, fishing, among the steep mountains and meadows has toyed with my confident commitment to the East. There is an appeal here, too cliché for me to embrace completely, but present nonetheless. Part of it has to do with having stayed this weekend in a rather rustic cabin, fire place, rough sawn timbers, inconsistent heat/water, charcoal grill, so close to a stream. My life has been focused on doing “good,” contributing in some productive way, and I’ve held contempt if not disdain for those willing to selfishly live life for themselves. But it seems as I get older, the world is less and less deserving of my commitment, my energy, and the difference I can make seems smaller and smaller. Why not, then, pursue my paths? Why not let life direct me to my future, rather than fight the current with such firm resolve? There are ways to do both – teaching is likely a good middle round. But thoughts of money are also overwhelming. There is so much money out there and people a lot less smart have much of it. It’s not a means to happiness, per se, but the freedom to enjoy life, pay bills, and make ends meet without stress is more than appealing.

South Platte escape from reality

I love waking up for fishing and hunting trips. No matter the alcohol consumed nor the few hours of sleep had, I always wake up before the alarm clock, well rested, eager to start the day. Today, being in Colorado, preparing to catch monster trout, it was especially true. Got up at 6:20 and started the bacon – a good breakfast was in order for our long day of fishing in the rain/snow and wind. With breakfast eaten we got the gear packed and headed out to meet our guide and the Conoco on Rt. 235 outside Swanee.

Walking down to the stream, we passed a clear, freshwater pond and watched the trout scurry away from us as we passed the inlet stream. We tied on our rigs at the stream's edge and let Ben take the first dozen casts - couldn't take much more so I jumped in and started working a small side channel. Felt bad, but had a fish on in the first few casts...sweet fish about 17 inches. I still have no idea how to gauge weight so I'll leave those guesses out. It was still pretty darn cold so there wasn't much of a fight from any of the days first fish - luckily this changed later in the day.

I caught four nice sized fish in that first section, Chrstine two...Ben none - luckily he moved up stream, tied on his own BHPT and caught a couple soon enough. As the photo documents, he also caught the biggest fish of the day.

The first part of the day was surreal; the weather was erratic with sun, rain, snow, and wind. Cold. Huge fish. Not a lot of fighting. And trying to listen to the guide who was determined to change our fishing styles. As the rain fell, Ben headed back to the car to get his raincoat and the guide took that as an oppotunity to move us downstream (via car) to a different section. A few more holes here. The stream channel in both sections seemed will manicured with huge boulders lined at regular intervals to set up riffles, pools, riffles, pools...beautiful, if manmade. Certainly made for great holding water.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any dry fly action, just nymphing. Caught most of the fish on baetis, black beauty, egg patterns, caddis larva, and bead head pheasant tails...all with indicators and weight to get them at the bottom.

I definetly learned a lot from the guide. First was his set up - a split tippet approach with two flies and lots of weight instead of a tandum set up with all the weight in the lead fly. Worked very well and has inspired me to find some more appropriate sinkers. Second, it was clear I need to think a bit more about drag than I have been. I've always been conscience about not letting my line drag my fly around, but I doubt I've been as meticulous about it as may be needed. Wonder how many fish I've missed simply because of drag? Going to try keeping less line out and be more deliberate about my drag in the future. Similarly, the guide was very good at reading and targeting different "lines" of water. It was eye opening to see such a (again) deliberate approach to hitting each line of water with a few casts - definitely thougth about this, but may have got lost in my eagerness and missed certain areas. Won't let this happen again. Lastly, it was good to have some reassurace about landing large fish. I've lost a few large fish in the past and now have a more defined strategy for landing these big boys: put them on the reel, reel them in as you move closer to them when they're not running...lift their head with your pole as you scoop with the net. Some of this is intuitive and I've done in the past, but never quite put it in order in my head for easy reference :)

All told, it turned out to be a great day. Great to catch so many large fish, great to be surrounded by the foggy, rainy mountains, great to see Ben with those shit-eating grins on his face.

Why do western fish have to be so much bigger?!?

Start of Archery

PA archery season opened this past weekend. The weather was looking great for the early season: cold and clear. Paul was able to get out for the morning so we had plans to meet at Colyer. Somehow, all the meteorologists got it wrong...big slug of rain coming down from about 5am to 10am, exactly when we were going to hunt. I'll hunt in a lot of weather, but 40 degree rain on the first day of archery aint it. Came home and did work for the day and headed back out in the afternoon. Sat in my permanent stand set up off of Thickhead Mtn road. Didn't see anything while it was light out, but jumped at least 5 on my walk out - they're there - it's just a matter of time.

Went out spotting with Paul last night. Saw 72 deer. Yes, 72. And only 4 descernable as bucks. But one of 'em was a goddamn bruiser. Biggest buck I've ever seen. As soon as we hit him with the light he turned around, tucked tail, lowered his head and just walked quickly out of the soybeans back into his bedroom: a nicely posted 5.7 acre piece of isolated woods in the middle of ag fields. I talked to the landowner today, but they are too sick of hunters causing damage and acting unsafely that they aren't allowing any hunting anymore. The woman said they had farmed there since 1960 and only posted it 2 years ago because of all the issues. Thanks a lot douchebag poachers and "hunters."

Took a walk this afternoon onto a piece of property that the County bought from Penn State a few years ago. Ran into a nice guy "Bill" who hunts it frequently. He was hesitant at first to talk, but ended up sharing with me some information about the property and surrounding areas good for hunting. After I left him I parked along the access road and took a walk. Beautiful fields, thick honeysuckle, rubus, and black walnut, and a stand of spruce; deer trails everywhere. Jumped 3 doe out of a finger of trees between two fields and got within 20yrds of one of them. Found a couple trees to sit in, but it seems to be one of the only places I've come across here where a blind would work well.

Today's retard encounter: I got back to my car to find a note saying "Private Property - your vehicle plate # has been reported to Township authorities" signed, Centre Region Rec and Parks Dept. I was confused at first, maybe someone thought I was walking on the other side of the road? Maybe this property is off limits (even though I knew it wasn't and they guy I'd just ran into said it wasn't)? Then I started thinking, why would the rec and parks department be putting notes on peoples' cars warning about private property? So on my way home I called them and asked. The response was "Oh, yeah, you can go ahead and ignore that note - our guy was confused." Hm. I kept the guy on the phone and he gave me some line about how the property was open to hunting (I didn't mention hunting, he did) and would remain so until they start "developing" the site. Developing, huh? When might that be? Well, a few years out, maybe two. I hung up and have been getting more and more pissed ever since. Who is this guy? He works for the County region; he gets paid with tax payer dollars; he doesn't like people hunting "his" "secret" spot?; he leaves threatening notes ("reported to the authorities!") on peoples' cars who might be infringing on "his" spot, which happens to be PUBLIC land, open to hunting. I don't think this is the end of this - I'm calling back tomorrow and getting a name.

I did get into the stand this evening though and saw 6 deer. Big ruckus in the woods in front of me around 6:15. 3 doe came running by - took a shot, but a running one with no luck. Shouldn't have done that...oh well. Shortly thereafter, I could see a doe sneaking through the brush 25/30yrds to my right; too thick for a shot. Another little one was another 10yrds beyond following mom. A 6th one must have seen me turn around in my stand and went bounding back the way she came. No good shots, but a good time for the second day. I could see deer like that all season and be happy.

Labor Day Fishing

As the tenant upstairs noted, this damn blog doesn't get updated very frequently. Mostly, I think, it has to do with the nice weather; who wants to be typing while it's sunny and 80 degrees out? Least of all, those of us trying to type paper after paper to finish a dissertation. Yuck. Regardless, this weekend's outing deserves a post. So, too, do other trips this summer, but we'll see if as the weather cools I have motivation to properly log the experiences here.

As for this weekend, Ben and Christine came up and Dad surprised most of us (Ben excluded) by showing up late Friday night. Guess he couldn't bear missing another trip out to the little J. We parked in Barree and hiked in to a huge fire ring and spent the night fishing, eating, building a huge fire, and dodging rattlers. Ben and Libby both just about stepped on the thing. He was pretty big - biggest I've seen in PA - but not huge. His coloring, however, was beautiful - super black head and tail with gorgeous brown, black, and tan markings. Thankfully, he wandered around our campsite for only a while before heading up the ridge to warmer weather (I assume).

We had more luck fishing this time - a few mid-teen inch browns and a bunch of small mouth bass. The spinning rods were great, but I'll never leave the flyrod behind again...

Progress

Although there is quite a bit more work to do, it's been good to get two sides of the house done and the gardens "upgraded." Couple pics to remember the feeling...

Whipple Dam

Hot night last night so we packed up some towels and drove the forest roads over to Whipple Dam. Swam for a half hour around 8. Thunderheads reflecting the sunset just hidden over the pines gave the water a northern new england feel. Super refreshing - it really took the day off.

Green Drakes

Ben came into town last evening to help finish the current kitchen progress. We hit the stream almost as soon as he arrived and ended up in the middle of the infamous green drake hatch. Penn's was alive with millions of drakes, sulphurs, caddis, crane flies, march browns and cream midges. The sheer size of the green drakes, however, is overwhelming. The bodies are easily two inches long and their tails can be 2 or 3 times that length. The coffin flies were falling, littering the stream, and the fish were rising everywhere - places I've never seen fish rise were just boiling with fish. By dark the bugs were so thick I had my shirt buttoned to the top and my collar up just to keep them out. The caddis were out like crazy, too, covering the stream bank, rocks, and our legs and arms...kinda gross after a while. I ended up with four fish, one bruiser; Ben with two. But once the coffin flies started to fall, the stream was literally littered with bugs and our flies were lost in the smörgåsbord of bugs. So despite fish rising everywhere, and rising violently, splashing, thrashing, catching fish is almost like winning the lottery. Can't wait for tonight.