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High Country Angler • Fall 2015
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FALL 2015 VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 4
FEATURES
HCA EZINE
8
THE AUTUMN ADVANTAGE BY LANDON MAYER
22
THE PULL
16
LFC: FLY FLINGIN’ GOOD BY BRIAN LA RUE
22
THE EAGLE FEATHER
BY HAYDEN MELLSOP BY JACK BOMBARDIER
DEPARTMENTS 12 LET’S GO FISHING
BY BILL EDRINGTON
FIT TO BE TIED BY JOEL EVANS
20
COLORADO TU SECTION 24 PRESIDENT’S LINE
25
26
BY MARSHALL PENDERGRASS
A STORYTELLER BIDS FAREWELL BY SCOTT WILLOUGHBY
PROTECTING COLORADO’S GREAT OUTDOORS
28
THE ANIMAS RIVER
30
A BASH 4 BOULDER CREEK BY ROBERT MCCORMACK
32
BY TY CHURCHWELL
THE LAST CAST
BY JOHN NICKUM
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Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
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The Autumn Advantage
by Landon Mayer 8
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
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A
utumn is the season of change and new things to come. From kick off and hoping your team is going to the bowl, to the brilliant colors of nature. For fly fishers, it’s the allure of what giants might find their way to the net. I for one have an extra pep in my step awaiting this challenge, and hopefully solving it. On still and moving waterways, this transition of season and fish can challenge many. Unlike the summer months when matching the hatch can produce exposed feeding fish, the autumn months are more about triggering a strike from migratory trout that are masters of disguise. With fewer insects to choose from, large meals become more important to quality fish and their diets. That is music to my ears because it opens the door for experimenting with new ways of delivering big meal imitations instead of matching your fly to a natural that you are sure must be shrinking as the day goes on. Below is information that can help trigger a strike from fish willing to feed in the fall. To start, timing light can play a key role in finding willing targets. Remember that many of these fish are moving to new locations in a river or stillwater, or migrating upstream from a reservoir, lake, or ocean for that matter. They are already on edge from being in new territory, causing them to be wary from anything above. If you can time low light hours, the fish simply cannot see out as well—making them feel safe and more often than not willing to feed on big meals. The dark water in the first two hours or last two hours of a day, in addition to bad weather and storms, will help them ambush and attack large prey.
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The Egg Combo During the season of color change, large trout switch their diet from primarily insects and the occasional large meal to one that contains more eggs. Their willingness to chase down large food is the trout’s reaction to the heavy pre-spawn aggression. For years I tried to combine eggs and streamers in one rig, with some success. The problem was the constant separation of the two food supplies. I needed the egg to appear as if a smaller baitfish “streamer” was eating it during the retrieve.
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W W W. L A N D O N M AY E R . C O M Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
9
Slide a 4mm apricot-orange egg bead onto the 10-inch piece of tippet. With the remaining tippet, perform a blood knot that connects it to the leader. When the blood knot is complete you will have two tag ends that need to be cut close to the finished knot. Cut one close and leave the other tag end a quarter inch in length. This small tag will prevent the egg from sliding past the bite tippet, and allow it to move with your presentation. Some tungsten beads can replace eggs. The sliding bead acts as weight control. There is also an indentation at one end so that when the bead rides close to the streamer or hook, it looks more natural as it hides the eye. It literally looks like a baitfish trying to eat an egg.
Mousing I decided to try a slinging method for the egg above the streamer so that every time the rig was drifting without a retrieve, the egg would separate from the streamer by a few inches. With every strip, the egg would connect to the eye of the hook, giving the rig the awesome lifelike
10
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
appearance of a baitfish attempting to eat an egg as the rig swings through the run. It is one of the best ways to trigger a strike from large trout. To set up the rig, use a 10-inch piece of 2x, 1X, or 0X tied to the eye of the streamer with an improved clinch knot.
With fishing dries—large imitations such as mice in particular—it is easy to get caught up in the moment and simply watch your fly drift by on each cast. Two common retrieves I see anglers use when fishing mice are popping the fly and twitching the fly in a skating imita-
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tion. These approaches can work, but they don’t always imitate the natural movements made by most mice in water; they are reaction strikes. When mice hit the water, they commonly perform a dog-paddle motion in an effort to swim to safety while their tail wiggles to keep them in balance. From an angler’s point of view, the mouse causes a big V-wake as it moves to the bank. After countless hours of practice in mouse country (Alaska), I found the best way to mimic this: after casting, with your rod tip just above the water’s surface, slowly raise your rod to a vertical position with smooth acceleration. At an up- or downstream angle this will cause your fly to make a wake along the surface the way a real mouse does. If the fish are not interested in movement, simply let the mouse drift like any other still dry. This is always the best backup plan because a dead food supply won’t escape the fish. Alternatively, you can slap the pattern on the surface as you would a hopper, and then allow the dragfree drift to draw the fish in to investigate an easy potential meal. Lastly, target vegetation on the river’s edge where it looks like a mouse could fall into the water. Tall patches of grass and wooded structure are great areas for mice to roam and at times slip to become a large trout meal. While we all enjoy what the water gives us, the fall anglers have a responsibility to give back as well. This makes a successful connection between you, the river, and the fish. Leaving actively spawning trout alone promotes the future generations of fish we have grown to love. Steering clear of riffled waterways with cobble stone bottoms will ensure that you are avoiding spawning fish, or walking on, “reds.� Future generations of fishing enthusiasts will thank you.
About the Author.
Landon Mayer is a veteran Colorado guide and author of several books, including 101 Trout Tips: A Guide’s Secrets, Tactics, and TechniquesStackpole/Headwaters Books. He has co-produced 2 fly fishing DVDs with John Barr, both available from Mad Trout Media. Visit Landon’s website at www.landonmayer.com. www.HCAmagazine.com
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11
LET’S GO FISHING •
BY BILL EDRINGTON
This Fall….One of the Best predicting a snowy season for the Central and Southern Mountains in Colorado and a below average snowfall for Wyoming and Montana and even Northern Colorado. We’ll see. Being a meteorologist is the only job I know, except
of course for a politician, where you can be wrong all of the time and still be employed. As for politics, I am already exhausted from that crap and we’re a year away from the election. To sum up my feelings with “who cares” would
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or years, I have written all sorts of glorious, flowery articles about fall fly fishing. I have no more words left to describe the pristine conditions of this season in the Rocky Mountains. It has always been very special to me, I think because of the colors, the crisp breeze that sends you to the car for a fleece sweater, and the great times I have spent with friends while watching the crushed diamond riffles for the sight of a Red Quill or Blue Winged Olive floating along to be devoured by a sipping Trout. Well, I guess I had a few. By the time this article is published many of the great days of September will be gone, but with all the water that has come our way this year, I expect October and November to be spectacular. December will be, well, December. The weather gurus are
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KINGREY’S TRIK’R TREAT HOOK: 6X LONG WEIGHT: LEAD WIRE CONE: COPPER THREAD: 6/0 BROWN TAIL: BROWN MARABOU & COPPER KRYSTAL FLASH HACKLE: ONE GRIZZLY DYED YELLOW AND ONE GRIZZLY DYED ORANGE BODY: MEDIUM ESTAZ, ROOT BEER LEGS: YELLOW ROUND RUBBER, 3 PAIR
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High Country Angler • Fall 2015
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wade fishing and boating well through October and perhaps November. The pre spawn feeding frenzy of Brown Trout could be epic this year. Expect to see strong Blue Winged Olive hatches, interspersed with late Red Quills and of course the incomparable Royal Wulff hatch. The hopper/copper/dropper rig will dominate the fun chart, along with the double dry rigs of attractor/hatch matcher. Double nymph or tactical nymphing rigs will not be necessary, but if that is your gig, choose a #10 Golden Stone or BH Twenty Incher to lead your Baetis or Red Quill nymph. Long leadGRILLED SOCKEYE WITH er French Euro nymph rigs would be a FRESH SUMMER VEGGIES great choice for you. Don’t forget that clarity on the Arkansas will turn to triple I love sockeye fillets on the grill during the distilled vodka this fall, so fluorocarbon summer with an assortment of cooked and raw leaders and longer leader systems are advegetables from local farms. Grill the salmon by vised. The simple rule of keeping the sun sprinkling salt, pepper and smoked paprika on in your face so you don’t cast a shadow top, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Place really comes in handy in fall conditions. the skin side down on aluminum foil and do not turn. When the olive oil begins to piqué on top, Again, the big summer flows still the fish is ready. Do not overcook. On this plate have a lot of water left, and the Dream I sautéed yellow and zucchini squash in butter Stream is no exception. No one knows and olive oil until tender. I simply serve this with how the Denver Water Board makes refresh tomatoes and Rocky Ford Cantaloupe. lease calls, but I know that we still have With a glass of dry Chardonnay, this is a healthy, larger flows coming into Spinney and the delicious meal. reservoir is full, so one plus one equals two. We should have enough water this year to make a larger number of spawnbe admitting that I even gave it that much consideration. Thank God for rivers and dry flies. ing Browns venture into the river out of Eleven Let’s talk about serious fishing this fall. I Mile Reservoir. Folks will literally camp at am fortunate to live on the longest contiguous Gold Medal river in North America. One hundred and two miles of pure freestone fun. The Arkansas should hold really good flows for
the pools by 3 AM each morning, so expect that and don’t get upset. Plan on walking and covering water. You will be rewarded if you can sight fish and you won’t have deal with the idiots that are snagging fish and yelling “I got another one” at the Trestle Pool. You will, however, see many uneducated or uncaring fishers standing on redds and drowning their egg patterns. If you are using beads, please don’t drop the hook more than two inches. Currently Colorado has no law covering that, but hopefully we will soon. Purple and blue bead head nymphs always work well as a dropper, and on inclement days, Autumn Splendors and Orange/Yellow streamers are great. We probably will never get a restriction on spawning seasons on the Dream Stream, although I am convinced that a six week closure in Spring and again in Fall would turn this back into a “world class” fishery. Many outfitters agree with me, but the politics of accomplishing that would likely be a blood bath. So, go enjoy the big Browns…catch them fairly, don’t stand on redds, and release them properly. And, don’t get in a fight with the folks who don’t. Fishing is for fun and not fighting, and as old as I am, the guy wearing the camo neoprene waders will kick my butt. The Frying Pan will see me on a lot of days this fall, so Will and Scott can get ready to answer all my anal bug questions in advance. That darned river just keeps calling me this time of year like an old girlfriend. I love her, but if I lived with her, I would be TOTALLY
KINGREY’S HI VIS BAETIS HOOK: STANDARD DRY FLY THREAD: 8/0 OLIVE DUN: TAIL: MICROFIBBETS, DARK DUN POST: TURKEY FLAT, DYED FLUORESCENT ORANGE BODY: HACKLE QUILLS, STRIPPED AND DYED GREY OLIVE HACKLE: DARK DUN, TIED PARACHUTE STYLE, ONE HOOK SIZE LARGE. TYING NOTES: Begin thread mid shank, wrap to bend, and make a small thread bump there-3-4 wraps; this will serve to flare and set tail. Move thread to 1 ½ eye lengths behind eye, tie in post. For #18 and larger, use 2 quills, 1 on smaller. Offset slightly, tie in with thicker quill closest to tier, so that it wraps as the trailer. Wrap to post, tie off, hackle and finish.
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Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
13
SHRIMP AND GRITS This is an old southern dish that my Mom never made, but that I learned from some Louisiana friends in college. Buy the freshest shrimp you can find. Sauté them in butter after seasoning with Cajun seasoning and rolling them in bread crumbs. Shrimp cook fast, so don’t overdo it. I use yellow grits that I order from Alabama, but sometimes Whole Foods has them. Cook them exactly by the directions of what you buy, but use half and half instead of water. Don’t be stingy with the butter to finish. Don’t hurry your grits; they should be creamy and soft. I also add a chopped Serrano pepper or two to the grits for just a little heat as they cook. This is Southern Comfort food………enjoy!
worthless, and I’m close right now. The red glow of the canyon in a Blue Wing hatch is totally what I live for….sigh. There are many, many places that hold trout that are golden during the fall: the Yampa, the Big Horn at Ft Smith, the Conejos and Rio Grande, not to speak of all the small creeks that seem to still have a good bit of water right now. Nothing like a snow storm at 9,000 feet in October to remind you of what’s around the corner. My fly patterns for this issue are ones I’ve posted before, but I can’t remember when. They are still great for this time of year: Larry Kingrey’s Trik’r Treat Streamer, and his venerable Hi Vis Baetis with a quill body— one of the most delicate BWO patterns I’ve ever fished and just what you need for picky fall fish. For chow this issue, I have use some healthy food and some not quite so, but very traditional. A great meal of grilled sockeye accompanied by summer squash, Rocky Ford cantaloupe and fresh tomatoes from my friend Britt’s Colon Orchard. The gulf shrimp and grits is a dish from my youth and I am compelled to make it every now and then, even though the shrimp no longer come from the fish market. It will take the chill away on one of those snowy late fall evenings, however.
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LFC: Fly Flingin’ Good
by Brian La Rue
S
tumped? What the heck is LFC? Is it a new fly pattern from Charlie Craven or an actual fishery? Well, welcome to the club, as I’ve finally decided to share one of my secret fishing spots from over the years with you, and as a High Country Angler reader, enjoy! LFC is Lower Fish Creek, or the Price River as it is officially named. It flows out of Scofield Reservoir and winds along for eight miles towards the northeast to Highway 6, north of Price, Utah. It can be a sensational tailwater from about May through October. Low flows hamper fishing early and late in the year, or anytime the power company decides to do a little work and kill some fish. There is typically a rise in flows in April/May, but from June on it’s fantastic. When they leave it alone, say about late May, I’ve had the entire creek to myself and a fishing buddy. We tossed olive Emergers like serendipities and RS2 Emergers paired with small BWOs on the surface. We paired up for nearly 75 rainbows and browns ranging from 12- to 18- inches. I was sold on the river from that day on, and it only got better. The idea of fishing LFC came from The Fly Fishers Guide to Utah. The author warned the reader about falling sucker to the fish you see at the parking lot bridge. I took the advice to pass on these tempting 18- and 20-inch browns and began hiking, planning on fishing all the way back to the car, biting off as much as I was willing to chew. It was tough to pass those nice fish, but for those who are easily persuaded, you can imagine these fish see every angler’s fly, lure, or bait, and have become very smart over the years. 16
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
That brings me to the next great thing about LFC: there is an easy, flat trail and a railroad track that you can follow to hike downstream. The only easier path would be a ride on a train, but the exciting thing is how the river turns to artificial-only action after the railroad bridge about one-half-mile or so from the parking lot. So, easy access, easy trail, and great fishing….what’s the catch? Well, aside from the flows being inconsistent early and late in the year, LFC is far from any major city--requiring about a two hour drive from Salt Lake City. It is an all day event to fish it from a town like Salt Lake, but it is worth a day of your time, for sure. Up until now, I’ve only shared this location with some of my friends and regular customers that were planning on driving through the area; I have heard back from only two who have given it the time of day, but they came back with smiles and photos. When is the best time to fish LFC? I would target the creek in July through the end of September. My personal best days have come with my Phoenix-based buddy Jerry when we tackled the creek on a nice hot day in late July. I have heard LFC described as a miniature Green River, and I planned accordingly for this day. Jerry and I pulled into the empty parking lot on a Tuesday morning about 8:15 a.m. We hiked about 5 1/2 miles and began fishing about 10 a.m. We tossed Carl’s Cicadas paired with a gold-ribbed hare’s ear for our droppers. After about 14 fish, we didn’t need a dropper anymore, as the black and orange cicada was all we needed.
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Jerry and I split the creek, which is the ideal way to talk and visit while one of you fishes one bank and the other hits the opposite edge. Perfect size to throw cicadas upriver to willing 15to 21-inch browns. We caught over 80 fish over 15 inches with our top two fish being a 21-inch brown for Jerry and a 20-inch cutbow for me. Every time we moved up five feet, there was another brown smashing the cicada. At one point, we came to a narrow stretch where Jerry went ahead and I played second fiddle. Not to worry! A well-placed cicada under a tree in five inches of water quickly produced that beautiful cutbow. He was sitting in very fast water under the tree and Jerry couldn’t believe he was in there. The fish put up a good fight running upriver around a bend.
Soon, Jerry was calling for me to come see his fish. When I got close to where he was, he said get low so it can’t see you. I looked into the water beyond his line and saw a 17-inch brown sitting there. I said, “We’ve been catching fish like that all day; what is so special about this one?” “Look... just beyond the brown; that’s not a clump of weed, that’s a fish,” answered Jerry. I felt like the guy in the movie Predator when the bald guy is pointing to the alien, telling his friend, “Quiet...look!” I looked a little deeper and noticed a cutbow sitting in the current. It was simply massive--easily double the length of the brown it was next to. We tried everything for about a half hour... not even a flinch or turn. All of a sudden the fish surfaced for an unseen bug, but I swear the fish winked at me, showing his bright red gill plate and huge kype as it dove back down to the middle of the channel, out of sight. Air bubbles were seen for the next two minutes as the fish released gulped air, swimming the channel back down river. Wow! “That would’ve been one heck of a fight on any rod, let alone these five weights; that things was huge,” said Jerry. “That thing was a toad.” Adding to the fun on LFC is the carp opportunity. The water from the dam to the railroad bridge is slow and deep, and numerous carp can be seen. The river is also home to a big supply of smaller baitfish, so don’t count out early and late season streamer fishing. That big boy has to eat sometime. With the number of quality browns in there, you also know there have to be some 4-
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to 8- pounders hiding in the deeper pools as well. Lastly, I’ve only fished about 5.5 miles of the 8 miles between the dam and Highway 6, so you know there is some water that rarely gets fished. To best access my old secret spot LFC, follow your navagation device to Scofield Reservoir and park off the dirt road below the dam spillway. Remember, don’t be a sucker and try to catch the nice browns below the bridge, save your energy for fighting willing fish down river. There is an RV Park/Campground at the reservoir if you decide to make a two-day adventure out of it. Maybe use cicadas one day, then try streamers if a thunderstorm spoils a day. Send us your photos and let me know how you do!
About The Author.
FULL COLOR
High Country Angler contributor Brian La Rue enjoys giving fly fishers ideas of where to go for an adventure. His work can also be seen at his Examiner.com Denver Fly Fishing page. You can contact Brian by writing to brian@HCAmagazine.com.
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FIT TO BE TIED
•
BY JOEL EVANS
Red Head Prince T
here are famous flies and then there are my flies. Much of the fun of fly tying is that there is no right or wrong way to tie a fly. Yes there are standard patterns—especially those with the history of decades—which have a commonly accepted material recipe. Then there are newer standards—patterns that have been around for a shorter time, but quickly gained high popularity either by a reputation
biot wings. So on the theory that the visual attraction of the white wings laid back against the green peacock is more important than the anatomically correct number of wings, I have added a third wing. It seems possible to me that when a fish sees the fly, because the pattern is somewhat round and the white wings lie against the body rather than projecting out from the body, fish may only see one wing anyway. So why not give the wing a better chance of being seen with an additional wing. Second, and this may be a tying fad, but recently popular is the addition of a bright color hot spot. Hence the name of the fly due to the red thread intentionally tied wider at the head. Third, rubber legs do well with many patterns. But for small patterns they can be too much—too big. This is solved with the new micro rubber legs, which, due to their small diameter, are very limp and floppy, substituted for the standard collar. Many of my patterns don’t work as well as the standard, so I carry many of the standards. But a few of my patterns have proven to be successful. I commonly use the Red Head Prince as the bottom or point fly on a two-fly weighted leader setup. For the top or dropper fly, use a larger attractor nymph to get the fish’s attention on the drift. The hookup will come, not always but most often, on the smaller nymph.
About The Author. Red Head Prince Hook: #12, 3x long wet fly Thread: Red, 6/0 Bead: Gold bead, 1/8 Tail: Brown goose biot Tag: Red thread Body: Peacock Ribbing: Hot Yellow wire, medium Wing: White goose biot, 3 Leg: Black Dandy Long Legs
Joel Evans is a fly fishing writer, photographer, and long-time member of Trout Unlimited from Montrose, CO. You can contact him via the HCA editor at frank@hcamagazine.com.
Offer Expires 12/31/2015
of effectiveness, or maybe by skilled marketing. Standard patterns commonly get modified in basically one of two ways in an effort to improve them: One way is to keep the same look, but use different materials. Maybe a synthetic material substituted for a natural material which has some perceived tying or fishing advantage. The second way is to change something about the look of the pattern, even a minor change. One could add an additional material or alter it in some way that’s perceived as a performance or visual improvement. My Red Head Prince is a case of the latter—minor changes to a standard pattern. The Prince is indeed a standard pattern, with a well-documented history and tying instructions. So why bother to change it? Let’s start with what I believe is the key to the success of the Prince. Although peacock is attractive to fish as judged by its popularity in numerous patterns, I think the trigger for fish is the white goose 20
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
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Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
21
A GUIDE’S LIFE
•
BY HAYDEN MELLSOP
The Pull
T
his year, the urge to angle has been strangely lacking. I’ve fished a few times, guided a few times, but the pull of the river has been weak. Until a few days ago,
when, while standing on the banks of a lovely cobbled stream with the first hint of fall’s hues in the aspen up high in the distance, something tugged deep at my being. I felt the urge to take the rod from my client’s hand, point him in the direction of my truck, and tell him to come back and pick me up in a few days. Since then, the pull has grown stronger each day, like the moon tugging invisibly at water, and soon, within a week or two, I’ll surrender. I’ll surrender to the need to be standing on a grassy bank on the inside bend of a little stream that meanders through a high-mountain meadow, the kind of place where there is no one else around. I imagine staring off into the distance, picturing a world that isn’t screwed up and spinning rapidly towards some kind of catastrophe while the haves and have-nots bicker….a world that is perfect just like this one
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little corner of it seems to be. The stream meanders its path through a slender rift between jagged mountains that are cloaked in dark forest, crowned with bare rock, with stands of molten aspen glowing in their wrinkles and fissures. The oxbows of the stream are interspersed with beaver ponds that shimmer silver amongst the grasses, green sprinkled with rust and gold. Blue sky is scattered with clouds that are pushed slowly by a breeze that robs me of the lion’s share of the sun’s warmth, enough to make me keep my collar zipped tight to my neck. I stand and watch the patchwork of light and shadow play across the distant mountainsides, a dappled mosaic that changes with every breath I take. There are no roads up here, only a game trail that has been walked into the earth over the years, perhaps trod recently by a few other two-legged creatures, but mainly by four-legged ones. I turn my attention back to the stream and cast a hopper against the far bank, where wisps of grass dab the water, and watch as perfect rings appear where the fly floated a second ago. Perhaps I’ll set the hook; perhaps I’ll be content to know I had guessed right and do nothing until the fish, a guileless cutthroat, realizes its mistake and spits the fly. I come upon a beaver pond—a mirror of the world around it—pockmarked with the rise forms, as eager brook trout nose toward the surface, fattening up before winter seals their world into a cold, icy capsule. Moving upstream, there’s another grassy bank with an undercut, and I decide that if I can tease a fish out of here, I’ll defi-
nitely set the hook this time. On about the tenth drift I see movement below the fly. The fish eases out from under the bank and a head appears out of the water, jaws agape, and as they close I set, low and off to the side to draw the fish away from the tangle of roots and riprap along the bank. After a struggle, the fish surrenders to its fate, lying acceptingly on its side as I slip the hook free without handling it, and it darts back to its lair. Nighttime, and I sit without a fire. Fires turn one inward, and I need instead to look to the opposite direction, staring at the vastness of the sky, scratching its merest surface, trying to formulate questions, let alone answers, that verge on the incomprehensible. When morning comes I slumber, hoping my bladder can last long enough for the sun to work its way into camp, then rise and sit in my camp chair, chilled finger tips clasping a warm mug while bacon sizzles in the pan. I scratch my rough chin. It has been several days since I’ve spoken to anyone but myself, several days since email and voicemail has distracted me from what is truly important. But this morning, I feel another pull, another tug at the heartstrings, and it is time to return to my other home.
About The Author.
A native of New Zealand, Hayden has fished and guided both Down Under and in Colorado for over twenty years. He currently resides in the mountain town of Salida, CO, where he still guides, works in recreational real estate, volunteers in local land and water protection, and is in the throes of writing his first book.
www.HCAmagazine.com
The Eagle Feather By Jack Bombardier
S
pending most of my days on or along the Upper Colorado River, I get to see lots of wildlife. Deer and rabbits are too many to be counted, and in the winter elk are not only near the road, but sometimes bedded down in the middle of it. On my river floats, we often see otters, bighorn sheep, ospreys, many types of waterfowl, bears, moose, beavers, and of course, brown and rainbow trout. But of all the creatures who live on the river, none are quite as majestic as the bald eagle. They are more numerous during the winter, when the dark contrasting colors of their feathers blend in perfectly with the snow-covered hills above. But there also are several mating pairs that live year-round on the river as well, and they’ve become a frequent and welcome sight on my river trips. One bald eagle in particular has been
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around a lot this summer, and I’ve begun calling him Burt, mostly because “Burt the Bald Eagle” has good alliteration (I used to call the osprey that hung out here last year Oscar for the same reason). Burt was seen by us on the river pretty much every day in June and July, and for most of August. He was usually in the canyon section that I run, below the Pinball boat ramp but above Jack Flats. Sometimes we’d even see him twice – once in his favorite tree on the shuttle ride up, and again on the way down from the boat. I’d never expected to have any other contact with Burt other than visual, and that’s always been enough for me. Even though you can practically see a bald every day if you are on the river, and several if you drive the length of the Colorado River Road in the winter and have sharp eyes, I never get tired of see-
ing them. Maybe because when I was growing up in western Massachusetts, they were still quite rare. DDT use was finally outlawed in the Sixties in the wake of Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”, and their comeback was steady but slow. I can still vividly remember the first bald eagle I saw, it was from a high viewpoint overlooking the Quabbin Reservoir. My girlfriend at the time and I had roadtripped there for the weekend, and while looking down at the huge body of water below we suddenly saw a bald eagle float by, hundreds of feet in the air but hardly moving a muscle. Years of hearing about bald eagles and seeing them on TV had not adequately prepared me for the sight of an actual living one, and I can remember it as if it were yesterday and not almost thirty years ago. Early this July, I took a family of four
Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
23
on a fishing trip, and we saw Burt on his regular perch on the way up the road to our put in. We paused for a moment on the road just opposite to look at him, Burt bright and backlit by the morning sun. Then we moved on, got the boat in the water, and began our trip. Later on, we were in the canyon section, and the dad hooked a nice brown trout. I moved the raft over to the left bank, and as I did someone noticed a big bald eagle up in a tree watching us intently. As I netted and released the fish, Burt was looking down at us with an expression that seemed to say, “You guys going to eat that?” Then, with a couple of swipes with his huge wings, he flew out of the tree and headed downstream. We all looked around at each other with big smiles, both for the close encounter with the eagle and the even closer one with a wild brown trout. Soon thereafter we were out of the canyon, and began floating down the straight section of river above Jack Flats. 24
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
As we rounded the corner, one of my passengers noticed an eagle in a tree that leans out over the Colorado River. I suggested that we keep our rods down, and try to stay as quiet as possible, and see how close we could come to Burt this time. As it turned out, it was very close. My big raft hugged the left bank, and due to the high water we were able to float directly underneath Burt. He looked down on us unperturbed, slowly rotating his head around as we passed. Luckily he wasn’t due for a bowel movement, for if he had he would have pooped on our heads. Once we were below him, I gently rotated the boat around so that we could look back up at him, with the bright red backdrop of Derby Mesa behind him. Then something unusual happened. The wind, which had been intermittently gusting all morning, suddenly kicked up a little extra, and we saw a white tail feather blow off of Burt’s bottom, and begin to swirl around in the air high above the river. Then, even more oddly, a swallow swooped in from nowhere, and began chasing the tail feather around as it made huge loops in mid-air high above the river. It was quite a sight, bird and feather having what looked liked a dogfight, but then the wind blew the feather across to the other side of the river, and we thought the aerial display was over. But then the wind shifted again, and then the feather was doing big circles over the water again, and when it momentarily stopped blowing, the feather dropped
straight down into the river. The first thought that popped into my head was, “There’s an eagle feather in the river!” and I immediately rowed hard for the left bank to see if perhaps we might see the feather floating downstream. By now we were two hundred yards downstream from the tree in which Burt still sat, and the feather was out of sight. I wasn’t sure whether the feather would float or for how long, but in short order there it was, coming down the middle of the river like a little white sailboat. We were excited to see it, and when it was about fifty yards above us I began rowing out to the middle to intercept it. When we got close, I handed my landing net to the mother of the group in front, and she deftly used the net to pluck the errant feather out of the water. She took it out of the net and held it up for all to see. We had an eagle feather on the boat! She tried to give it to me, but I insisted that she keep it. After all, this was their trip, not mine, I was just the operator of the boat getting them down the river. I told her that she should keep it forever, and that it would bring her good luck. Secretly, I really wanted that eagle for myself, but it seemed like they were the ones that should keep it. Later, when they were getting ready to go home she offered it to me again, and again I reluctantly told her to keep it. Once they were gone, I got on my bicycle to begin riding up to the put in to get my truck and trailer. On the way, I saw a couple of my neighbors, and stopped to tell them about the eagle feather. “Hey! You’ll never guess what happened today! We were on the river, and saw this eagle, and its tail feather blew off, and we were able to pluck it out of the river!” Before I could get much further, they said, “That’s really illegal! You better not tell anyone about that!” That sounded crazy to me, but they didn’t know too much more about it, other than that Native Americans were the only people allowed to keep any eagle feathers. I didn’t really believe them, for I didn’t see how there could be anything wrong with keeping an eagle feather, especially the way that we came about getting it, but figured I could just look into it later. As I made my way up the road on my bike, I saw another neighbor, and stopped to relate the story of the feather www.HCAmagazine.com
to him. Once I got to the park of snagging the feather out of the river, he said, “You better get rid of it! Its illegal to have that!”. Once more I was dumbfounded. How could have an eagle feather be illegal, and why did everyone but me seemed to know about it? Later that night, I went on-line and did a little research, and soon learned about the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940. It turns that when eagle numbers were in serious decline, Congress passed the Act to help protect them. Perhaps they didn’t know that their dropping numbers were due in large part to DDT use, but in any case the law was still on the books and in 1962 the Act was expanded to included golden eagles as well. I tried to get a hold of my customers to let them know about this, but was unable to reach them. I wanted to let them know about it before they told the wrong person about it and ended up in some kind of trouble. The next day I finally did, and when I told them it also seemed like a crazy law to them as well, and that they would have to consider their options. Of course, the easy thing to do would be to simply go to the nearest trash receptacle, toss it in, and be done with it. But somehow, that just didn’t seem right to them or me. They were on their way out of town, and said that they would have to think about the best thing to do with it. We kept in periodic email contact over the next month, and during that time I came up with the best idea I could about how to deal with our Feather Problem. If she could get the feather to me, I could simply take it out on the river on my next float, and place it back into the water in the same spot we plucked it out. She seemed to like that suggestion, and a few weeks later when they were back in Vail, I swung by their hotel and picked up a sealed envelope from the front desk clerk, feeling like I was consummating some kind of illicit drug or arms deal. So now Burt’s discarded tail feather was back in my possession, and I had to get it back into the river where it belonged. The next day I had float with some folks that I hadn’t met before, and I wanted to wait to do it with someone I knew could appreciate the moment. The following week I was going to take a regular client of mine out on the river with his brother, and was going to wait until that trip, but when that day came I forgot www.HCAmagazine.com
the feather in my shop, and so I had to be a felon a little bit longer. Then coming up soon on my schedule was a trip taking out some filmmakers from CNN who were filming a feature about the Colorado River and its water issues. That seemed like it would be a perfect moment, to make myself right with the law once more in front of plenty of witnesses. That way, in case I ever found myself before the Supreme High Court Of Animal Parts, I could call them in as witnesses, or at least get their depositions. They came on a perfect day, and we had an almost perfect day on the river. About the only thing that didn’t fall into place was that we didn’t get to see Burt while we were out that day, but the guys in the other boat did. He was in one of his usual fishing holes (i.e., in a branch looking down on one) and he flew off, we were in the Whirlpool Canyon looking upstream at a bubble line while trying to put the show’s host onto a fish. He did hook a nice trout on a hopper moments later, but by then Burt had flown away downstream to one of his other spots. Later we were a mile further downstream, and about a half mile from Jack Flats. It was time to put that eagle feather back into the river. As we approached the leaning tree, I pointed it out to those on my boat, and as we passed the tree, leaned over to place it gently back. My boat kept wanting to float right along with the feather, for since there was no wind we were all floating along at the same speed. I had to back row my boat to keep it away from the feather, and finally some distance began to grow. The crew shot some video of this, and possibly a still image, but there were so many different cameras on both boats that day that I rarely used my own. But it occurred to me almost too late that I should get one of my own, and blindly shooting pictures downriver at the shrinking feather I managed to take one. We did get to see Burt that day, but not from the river. Before we began our float, I took the crew up to the top of Derby Mesa, to see what I consider to be one of the best views in Colorado (and that’s a long, lengthy list). It’s only about a mile from the River Road, but about 900 feet higher after winding past some tight switchbacks.( I take most of my river
clients to this overlook, and not just the national media). Sometimes I get pretty funny looks from people who see me taking my big green river raft up there, into country more suited for 4 X 4s. The crew was awed by the view, as am I even after having seen it a few hundred times. While taking in the view, which included looking down at the first five miles of Colorado River we’d be floating, a big Golden Eagle drifted past, heading down valley, and we got to see it from just above, and not from below like you usually see them. Then a couple minutes later, riding along the same thermal, came Burt. I had been pretty sure that he lived in the canyon three miles above, in a nest the size of an upended Volkswagen Beetle. We got to look down on Burt from above, and I was instantly transported back in time almost forty years, to being high on a hill in Massachusetts seeing my first bald. Over the past month since then, I’ve continued to see Burt and always wave hello to him. I’ve wondered if he recognizes me or my boat, and something happened last week that maybe he does. There were two guys on my boat fishing, and as we approached Jack Flats I told them about the eagle feather. As I finished, I rotated the boat around and there was Burt, over in a dead tree river left. He was watching us float by with his usual nonchalance. We got below him and temporarily forgot him as we fished the big eddy next to the campsite, but one of them got a tangle and the current slowly brought us back up to Burt. It was raining a little, and Burt held up his wings and began preening himself. As he pecked and poked his chest, a small white breast feather came slowly drifting down, which we could all clearly see against the deep red backdrop of Derby Mesa. Its seemed to take forever to fall, and it landed directly below him in a small willow. I looked at my companions, and said, “Maybe we’ll just leave that feather alone this time!”
More...
For more of Jack’s articles, visit his website at www.confluencecasting.com.
Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
25
PRESIDENT’S LINE • MARSHALL PENDERGRASS
Trout Unlimited in Colorado
“H
oney – have you seen the Outdoors section of the Denver Post this morning? I always read it with my morning coffee every Wednesday and Sunday but I can’t find it anywhere!” This scene has played out in many Colorado households the past several weeks after the Denver Post phased out their Outdoors coverage and released renowned columnist and outdoor photographer Scott Willoughby. This loss of regular features on all aspects of “Outdoor Life” that Scott so vividly portrayed is a real disappointment to the 90% of Coloradans that engage in some form of outdoor recreation. The decision was a great surprise as the Post has had such a long history of recognized, great outdoor writers including Scott, Bob Saile, and the late great Charlie Meyers. To Scott and all of those at the Post who gave hunters and anglers something to look forward to in the newspaper
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High Country Angler • Fall 2015
twice every week: thank you! The Post chose not to print Scott’s final column; we have included it in these pages so that our readers have the chance to read his bittersweet farewell. What’s next? Sportsmen and outdoor recreation organizations such as Colorado TU will need to double their efforts in communicating with the general public. Increases in press releases, guest column articles, human interest stories, public events, etc. – will need to be part of our operating plans. Newspaper subscribers and advertisers need to step up and voice their concerns and express their desire for more and regular reporting on outdoor events and activities. Spread the word! Tight lines to all – I hope to see you at a TU event soon – and if I’m not there, then you know I’m out fishing somewhere nearby and am there in spirit.
www.HCAmagazine.com
A Storyteller Bids Farewell
T
he best stories have always originated in the outdoors. Be it the fireside tale that never grows old no matter how many times it’s told, or a modern classic born of the latest adventure, the wild outside has always offered the ideal backdrop for compelling drama. Like the rest of the world, the genre has evolved over time, taking us beyond the campfire to the Ted Trueblood era of Field & Stream, establishing local newspaper legends like Charlie Meyers, Bob Saile and Ed Dentry before making its way to the cutting edge of social media and contemporary brands like Yeti Coolers that urge through advertising: Be the guy with the story about the bear. Along the way, it found folks like you and me: Drawn in by nature’s allure, hooked by the sensations of adventure, dedicated to enriching and sharing the experience so that others might come to understand our collective passion for the outdoors and embrace it as their own. The stories are the things that connect us best to the land, the water, the wildlife, and one another. There will always be a place for compelling outdoor stories and storytelling in Colorado— just no longer here on these pages. Or perhaps just no longer here by me. As of this week, The Denver Post has decided to do away with its traditional Outdoors pages, and by extension, my position as Outdoors writer, photographer and columnist. I’ve been invited to continue writing stories about Rams, Buffaloes and Falcons, but like those college sports mascots, the gesture feels symbolic at best. In all likelihood, this is the final column—outdoors or otherwise—that I’ll be asked to write for The Denver Post. Among those outside the paper already aware of this decision, the disappointment has been universal. The pervading sense of loss has less to do with me personally than to Colorado’s collective outdoors community as an entity. In the absence of an uprising — and likely even in its presence — the voice of that community expressed for so long on these pages will soon fade to black. So many stories are left untold. It can be easily argued that these stories of wild places and the people drawn to them are more important now than ever. As our sprawling world grows ever more crowded, battle lines drawn over resources in greater demand, such places offer respite and reward that can’t be found or recreated anywhere else. And they require the voices of those who know and love them best to keep the fire lit. My ambition is to continue down this path, although where it leads is anyone’s guess right now. After two decades dedicated to the cause of Colorado outdoors, the mission and message remain as compelling as ever. It’s the job I was born to do (and yes, I am open to offers). First though, my heartfelt thanks are due www.HCAmagazine.com
By Scott Willoughby
for the opportunity I’ve had to do the job I’ve most aspired toward. While there is much more to achieve, for a time, at least, I could lay claim to the best job in Colorado. But like the campfire that gave birth to so many stories and outdoor traditions, this chapter is about to go up in smoke. I have no doubt the fire has not gone out, however. The flame will reignite and grow. The stories — maybe even some told by me — will linger. And new ones will emerge. The void is great. But the tale is neverending.
About The Author.
Scott Willoughby is an award-winning journalist and communications expert from Denver, Colorado. He is a free-lance writer and photographer, and former Outdoors Editor for The Denver Post. You can contact him via our editorial dept. at frank@hcamagazine.com.
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www.bluequillangler.com Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
27
The Land and Water Conservation Fund: Protecting Colorado’s Great Outdoors
I
n 1964, Congress created the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to protect natural areas, water resources, and to provide recreation opportunities to all Americans. In its 50 year history, the LWCF has protected land in every state and helped support over 41,000 state and local parks. It has invested in public lands like Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as supporting local community recreation resources and parks, cultural heritage sites, and working landscapes. Yet the authorization for this successful program expires on September 30, 2015 - and as of this writing, Congress has not yet acted to extend it. Colorado has received $239 million in funds that have helped protect many state treasures like the Great Sand Dunes, Ophir Valley, and Mesa Verde National Park- where $8.8 million in funds have assisted in adding over 10,000 acres to the park since the year 2000. In return,
outdoor recreation generates roughly $34.5 billion annually for the state. LWCF doesn’t rely on taxpayer dollars to fund these investments, but rather uses revenues from royalties paid by offshore oil and gas companies. The concept is simple: use resources garnered from the sale of one natural resource, to invest in the conservation of another. While the LWCF has been an undisputed success in protecting public lands and promoting outdoor recreation, the program remains little known to many in the general public. To help tell some of the LWCF’s Colorado success stories, Colorado TU recently issued a report, Colorado’s Great Outdoors: The Land and Water Conservation Fund in Colorado, which is available at coloradotu.org. These photos and captions highlight a few of the LWCF success stories from the new report.
LWCF helped acquire and protect inholdings – former mine claims – dotted across this spectacular landscape at the headwaters of the San Miguel River, preserving its backcountry nature.
Young volunteers with Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) work on a Montbello cleanup; LWCF support is helping to create a new urban open space and ELK learning center in Montbello that will reach 40,000 youth and families every year.
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High Country Angler • Fall 2015
www.HCAmagazine.com
In addition to protecting natural areas, LWCF funds have helped acquire thousands of acres to protect Colorado’s cultural heritage at sites including Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park. With LWCF support, the Western Rivers Conservancy acquired the Cross Mountain Canyon Ranch, including 2.8 miles of the Yampa River, and opened up public access into more than 88,000 acres of adjacent public lands that previously had limited accessibility.
LWCF has also helped protect working ranchlands. At the Golden Bair Ranch, more than 4000 acres were placed under a conservation easement, while several hundred acres of Colorado River frontage were purchased for riparian protection and angler access. Eagle County is also using LWCF funds to support additional boat launches along the Colorado River.
LWCF helped acquire the Baca Ranch, opening the way for establishment of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The area features diverse landscapes from North America’s tallest dunes to high mountain lakes and streams which harbor cutthroat trout.
www.HCAmagazine.com
Fall 2015 • High Country Angler
29
The Animas River: Durango in the spotlight By Ty Churchwell
I
t’s frightening when a National Park Service ranger wanders into your backcountry camp asking for you by name. When this happened to me on August 7, while in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on a permitonly backpack trip, I was sure a loved one had died. I learned it wasn’t a family member in need, but instead, it was the Animas River. My river. Durango’s river. By the time I humped myself out of the canyon and got back to Durango for cell and internet service, the mine spill disaster was four days old. The Gold King mine above Silverton had let loose an estimated 3 million gallons of acidic, heavy-metal-laden orange sludge days earlier, and a tornado of media had already formed. All I could think was, “Our poor Animas. The trout are all surely dead. My community is hurting.” The angling community in Durango, and everyone else for that matter, breathed a sigh of relief when there was no massive fish kill in the days and weeks following the spill. Colorado Parks and Wildlife had put fingerling trout into pens in the Animas before the plume arrived. Several days later, they were all still alive. No one reported any dead trout along the Animas’ reaches. Now, more than two months after the spill, the Animas is fishing great and anglers are again enjoying one of America’s greatest trout rivers. Our partners at Mountain Studies Institute (MSI) in Durango began taking water samples every two hours from before the plume arrived until several days later. They also monitored the macro-invertebrates (bugs) in the 30
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
river as the disaster unfolded. This data is the most real-time we have and will play a large role in determining the long-term effects of the spill in the years to come. The Five Rivers Chapter in Durango had contracted MSI last year to perform a bug study—and it’s a good thing they did. That study now becomes the base data for bug monitoring going forward. Five Rivers also sent a ‘Thank you’ donation of $1,000 to MSI to help offset the large and unexpected cost of lab testing that this small non-profit incurred. The dramatic photos of the toxic orange plume of mine waste were plastered all over the news media in print, video and social outlets. Thankfully, Team TU was already on it! Our communications team sprang into action immediately with a press release, social media posts and blogs. The phones at the TU offices in Denver and Durango, plus at the homes of Five Rivers Chapter leadership, began to ring off the hook. The media inquiries, and the requests for interviews and information, were overwhelming. In the following days, news stories of the spill spread across the globe. Al Jazeera and Chinese television jumped on the bandwagon with CNN, PBS, High Country News, the NY Times, Outside Magazine, the Denver Post and countless others. But reporters quickly learned there was a much, much bigger story to tell than just a 12-hour plume of mine pollution in a tourist town in summer. I had the opportunity to spend an entire day - a week after the spill - with a reporter and photographer from the Denver Post. TU’s good friend, Bill Dvorak (of Browns Canyon
fame), joined me as I gave an up-close tour of the disaster area and the basin. The fact that the EPA had accidentally triggered this spill was leading most media in a direction of blame and hyperbole. The finger-pointing had begun and the misinformation was rampant, unfortunately. Trout Unlimited has long-been engaged in the mine remediation conversation, both nationally and here in the Animas River basin. We were well-poised to talk big picture with the Post and to show them around. These two fellows endured a rough and bumpy tour of mine sites in the upper Animas basin, to above 12,000’, and over trails carved 100 years ago by miners. We visited the Gold King and saw it all firsthand. Within eyeshot of the Gold King are the other three major draining mines in Cement Creek, the crux of our water quality problems in the Animas. We then drove up to the top of Red Mountain Pass to see a successful waste pile remediation project. Right next door, however, there is another mine that still had a draining adit (horizontal portal into the mine) that no one would fix for fear of long-term liability and lack of funding. Up the S. Mineral Creek drainage of the Animas, we visited two other draining mines that have been identified as potential ”Good Samaritan” projects - where there is no mine/ property owner and the sites have long-been abandoned. Elsewhere in the Animas basin we visited locations of successful “non-pointsource” remediation projects (separating mine waste piles from a water source such as rain) performed by TU’s partners with the Animas River Stakeholders Group in Silverton. www.HCAmagazine.com
But, draining adits, a “point-source” of pollution, falls under different rules when it comes to who can or cannot clean up mine sites. Under present laws, only the EPA can, or will, deal with all these mines. At the end of the day, the reporter got way more than he expected in terms of the big story. He had absolutely no idea of the scope of the draining mine problem. He learned the Gold King is just one of tens—no, hundreds of thousands— of draining and abandoned hardrock mines in the West. In just the Animas basin alone, there are dozens of draining mines and hundreds of waste piles. All the watersheds of the San Juan Mountains suffer some level of mine waste related water quality problems. And the scope of the problem spreads out from there, to Montana, to Nevada to California and Alaska. If there’s a silver lining in this spill, it’s this: This disaster has shined a light on the broader problem of draining hard rock mines and their impact on river/community/economic health – and the legal quagmire that dissuades Good Samaritans, such as Trout Unlimited, from performing certain types of mine remediation. The spill was a horrible, orange reminder of what so many watersheds in the West have sitting in their headwaters. The Denver Post got it right. So did High Country News. This is the story TU needs the nation to hear. Your fishery may be at risk, too. The Animas mine spill of 2015 may be the Love Canal of this generation, in that it may prompt sweeping and much-needed environmental law reforms. Let’s hope there is a solution coming soon for rivers everywhere. Trout Unlimited has ramped up our campaign for Good Samaritan legislation. In the weeks following the spill, hundreds of folks, and dozens of businesses, joined our coalition—the San Juan Clean Water coalition (www.sanjuancleanwater.org). We continue to strongly encourage Sen. Bennet, Sen Gardner and Rep. Tipton to pursue Good Samaritan legislation - to add capacity to the EPA and the state agencies that are trying to deal with this legacy of abandoned and draining mines in the West. America has been awakened to this dire threat to our rivers, and the Animas had to suffer for it. Let’s not let that happen in vain. In late August I finally took a break from the whirlwind of this situation to fish the Gold Medal water of the Animas within Durango city limits – the river I love. I witnessed one of the largest midge hatches I have ever seen, on any river. By mid-morning, the PMDs were awake and going off. There were rising trout everywhere! The Animas is just one of a half dozen world-class trout rivers in the Four Corners area. Durango remains one of America’s top fly fishing destinations and I’m grateful the Animas is fishing well.
To Learn More.
To learn more about this story and Colorado Trout Unlimited, visit, www.coloradotu.org. www.HCAmagazine.com
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A Bash 4 Boulder Creek Bash 4 Boulder Creek ByARobert McCormack
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High Country Angler • Fall 2015
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M
id-June, while many local streams were in full run-off, over 200 fishing and conservation enthusiasts gathered at the Represent Your Water headquarters to celebrate RepYourWater’s four-year anniversary, and to kick off the Boulder Flycaster TU chapter’s latest project: The Flatirons Park Stream Restoration Project. The Bash 4 Boulder Creek was a blast - if you weren’t there, you missed a great party for a great cause! The party was held at Rep Your Water’s hangar on the edge of the Erie Municipal Airport tarmac. The hangar had outstanding views of the June thunderstorms forming over the Front Range. There was plenty of beer provided by Avery Brewing, great food from The Post and Old Wisconsin, an outstanding raffle, and party guests of all ages to make it a really fun event! Even more fun, especially for the kids, was the unexpected landing of a helicopter while local country band “Dusty Catfish” kept on playing. RepYourWater is a Boulder County based outdoor apparel company. Started four years ago by husband and wife team Corinne and Garrison Doctor, the company has incorporated conservation into their business since day one. Corinne states that “Businesses, no matter how small, need to take a stand and provide support for the protection of the natural world around us.” The company donates at least 1% of sales to Colorado Trout Unlimited, TU Chapters, and other conservation groups throughout North America. Additionally, RepYourWater regularly releases designs supporting specific conservation projects and/or issues. For the Bash 4 Boulder Creek, RepYourWater designed a limited edition hat, donated by Boulder’s Anthem Branding. The sharp-looking hat features the Flatirons and a Boulder Creek brown trout. One hundred percent of proceeds from the hat sales and the event went to support the Flatirons Park Project.
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The Flatirons Park Stream Restoration Project seeks to rehabilitate and improve trout habitat on Middle Boulder Creek from Foothills Parkway to the BNSF railroad bridge. While the Boulder Flycasters were applying for grant funding to improve this reach, RepYourWater had just adopted the same area of Boulder Creek. From day one, RepYourWater has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Flatirons Park Stream Restoration Project. “Corinne and I are both Boulder natives, so Boulder Creek has been and remains an integral part of our fly fishing landscape,” said Garrison. “It is an undervalued fishery, and I am so excited to help the water where I grew up fishing.” This reach of stream is currently overly-wide, filled with sediment from the 2013 flood, and lacks good winter habitat. The Boulder Flycasters recently received a Fishing is Fun Grant to begin work on this often-overlooked section of stream, and have been seeking matching funds to get equipment into the creek and begin work. The Flycasters look forward to greatly improving the fishery’s quantity and quality of fish, and overwintering capability.
To Learn More.
To learn more about this story and CoFor more info on Rep Your Water, and to see their great-looking apparel, check out repyourwater.com. For more information on the Flatirons Park Stream Restoration Project and to learn how you can support Boulder Flycaster’s efforts to improve this stretch of stream, visit boulderflycasters.org. Hopefully we’ll see you at Bash 4 Boulder Creek version 2.0 next summer!
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THE LAST CAST
•
JOHN NICKUM
Animas River Pollution
Q
Nearly everyone has heard about, and seen video images of, the mine waste that was released into the Animas River. After just a few days, reports claimed that the main problem was the strange orange color of the water and that the fish seemed to be doing fine. What are your thoughts? Do you agree that this unfortunate event was not a catastrophe?
A
Whether or not the Animas River ecosystem suffered serious, lasting damage remains to be seen. The fact that the river was not littered with dead, floating fish carcasses does not mean that there was little or no damage. Dead fish do not always float, especially small fish living in rocky substrate areas. Invertebrates and immature insects that provide the food base for the fish may have been killed. The “aufwuchs,” as well as the diatoms and associated plant life living on the rocks in the river may have been damaged—perhaps even destroyed. And while it is promising that short-term monitoring suggests metals didn’t reach levels that were acutely toxic to fish – causing an immediate fish kill as has happened in some other cases – that is no guarantee that there will not be longterm impacts from chronic exposure to these metals. Only detailed, long term studies of the biological community will provide answers concerning the future health of the fishery and other uses of the river. I was reared on a farm where conservation of natural resources was stressed. Given that background and a career in natural re34
High Country Angler • Fall 2015
source management and conservation, readers should not be surprised that I have some strong opinions about the Animas River “screw up.” First, EPA should have done the work on the old mine with professional agency employees, or at least had such professionals on hand supervising efforts, rather than simply relying on a contractor. Secondly, the workers should have been aware of the potential for release of contaminated water and been prepared to contain it if a slug of toxic water was released. “Gee whiz, we did not expect this” is simply not an acceptable explanation. The information releases after the pollution event have only added to my suspicions. Officials were quick to claim that the pollution was not as bad as it looked and that there would be few, if any, lasting effects. My personal experiences with pollution, both long term and specific events, include acid drainage from strip mines in southern Illinois, mine pollution in the Black Hills of South Dakota, agricultural wastes and runoff in Iowa, and organic wastes in Upstate New York, plus a small consultation on the ponds in Central Park, New York City where I learned that officials really did not want to know what was on the bottom of those ponds. The most common explanations for pollution are: “we did not expect this” and/or, “it’s too expensive to prevent things like this.” After all, it is cheaper and easier (for them) to externalize the costs of pollution on the environment rather than dealing with prevention and cleanup. The Animas spill may be over,
but it will continue to be felt. Heavy metals that have settled to the bottom will be stirred up in the months and years to come as runoff and rain events increase the river’s flow. The complete effects of the spill will not be known for several years as the biological community of the Animas River recovers – not to mention the ongoing effects of dozens of other mine sites that continue (in a smaller and less dramatic way) releasing pollutants into the watershed. In the meantime, readers and the anglers using the river should make their voices heard by seeking restoration projects, long-term monitoring, and regular updates on the condition of the river. If anything positive can be said to come from the Animas spill, it is that it has raised awareness of the longstanding problem of abandoned mine impacts on western rivers. Since there isn’t a clear responsible “bad guy” to blame for those mines – and to make responsible for cleaning them up – the easy way out may be to ignore the problem and hope it will go away or at least not get worse. After the Animas spill, we should all agree: that simply isn’t good enough.
About
The
Author.
John Nickum, is a retired PhD. fishery biologist whose career has included positions as professor at research universities including Iowa State and Cornell University, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s fisheries research facility in Bozeman, MT, and science officer for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mountain-Prairie Region. He was inducted into the National Fish Culture Hall of Fame in 2008.
www.HCAmagazine.com
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