ICE OUT... in Wyoming

Vaughn and I left Boulder at 3:30 am. As we drove past the sign signifying the official entry into Wyoming, a gust of wind slammed into the side of the truck and my window started whistling. No joke. The wind never stopped all day.

After 4 hours of driving in darkness under miraculous stars we arrived at the lake where the sun briefly stalled with its arrival. The back half of the lake was still covered in ice.



We met up with Kevin and Swizz and started working all around the lake in hopes to spot cruising, spawning bows. No such luck concerning visual fish activity. By the middle of the day all four of us had shook the skunk, but it was pretty slow going and the wind was unrelenting.

This trip was from two weeks ago when there was no still-water opened in Colorado. As Vaughn said, the trip served as a primer for the still water season to come.

My first open water fish of 2009, a healthy hen:


One of many of the other guys' browns:


Some of Colorado's premier reservoirs have since opened up enough to fish including Eleven Mile, Antero, and, as of tomorrow (3.27.09), Spinney.

The past week of very warm weather broke the camel's back and opened up large portions of ice on said reservoirs. Spinney always opens for fishing as soon as it has reached near complete ice off. I read in the Denver Post that this is only the second time that Spinney has ever opened in March.

I was going to be there to fish Spinney tomorrow, but we are currently getting hit by a snow storm. It's the most snow we've gotten in Boulder of the season. Both Nick and my jobs got shut down for the day. The roads are in disarray, and Friday is predicted to have a high of 29 at Spinney with -11 windchills accompanying snow drifts galore.

As I was finishing up this entry Jason alerted me that 285 is closed from Kenosha to Fairplay, effectively blocking our entry to South Park. Even if we wanted to go, it is no longer physically possible.

I think I will wait a few days for the storm to clear out and hopefully encounter some temperatures upwards of 40.

The Dream Stream

This video was shot over the period of two fishing trips in February. I held on to the video for a little while, but now here it is.



All the footage/photos were shot with my digital camera.

The resolution of this video embedded from youtube is pretty nice. I have gone back and swapped the videos on the small creek post a few entries back from the blogger host to the youtube host. If you want to go back and watch them again, the quality is much better now.

Photo

Click photo for maximum resolution.

I shot this photo through the car windshield near Glenwood Canyon on the way to the Roaring Fork a few weeks ago. Vaughn asked me what I was taking a photo of...

A Perfect Day of Sun and Snow

Jason, Nick and I fished a creek over the weekend. The weather turned as we had hoped and the fishing turned fantastic. We were getting into fish so consistently that I was confident enough to have Nick film me set the hook on one. Here is an unedited taste:



You must go to my Brother's Flickr account and view the album of the day. Click the "slideshow" button in the top right of the album window.

Go now.

I'll wait.

I couldn't attempt to describe that trip any better than how Nick shot it.

Nick shot all the photos and video. Nick usually catches a few fish, gets satisfied, and then ends up wielding the camera more than the fly rod. He's a fly fisherman's best friend. He put editing time into every photo in the album. The photos are all available for full quality download on Flickr.

This next video displays the remarkable ability of the polarizer to cut through glare on the water. In the right conditions the polarized lens is the single most important tool the angler has.

Nick spins the lens a few seconds into the video. Keep an eye on the water.

I wish we took some video of Jason cleaning out a hole of 14.5 inch, wild rainbows. Then again... maybe better to keep that little spot anonymous. ;)