Pueblo's Arkansas River Tail Water Fly Fishing Report

Since the timing and exact local of the snowstorm for the mountains was uncertain,  I decided to take  advantage of the mild weather and fish the Arkansas River below Pueblo.

Basically it was a  repeat from last weekend. Size 16 bead-head pheasant tail nymphs and small size 22 red midges. Most of the fish are in their winter mode of lying in the slower, deeper runs. Pay attention to the end of your drift where the run slows down and runs deep.I hooked a good number of fish at the end of the drift and even when I was lifting up for the next cast.

Word is out and has been out on this amazing fishery.  Lots of folks out fishing today. We are going to have to learn to get along. Not sure that will happen. My one small contribution to that cause today was to give up the run I was successfully fishing to a newbie on the river. I gave him  my red midge. I had caught enough. I really don't like it when I or anyone else, just sits on a hole all day. Better to share. Better to catch "some-thing" other than the fish.

Tomorrow I ski, and hope to catch some new snow or whatever else comes my way. 

"Snow Flies", (Not in Mountains), But Small Midges Fly On Pueblo's Arkansas River Tail-water

When there is snow, I go. I go ski the mountains.  But when it is this dry and warm and there has not been any new snow in  Summit County for over a week, I start getting the itch to fish. Why ski icy runs when I can fly fish beautiful runs holding 15-20 inch  rainbows ?  In recent years winter fishing in Pueblo has been quite amazing and so when my friend Kenny Romero asked me to go fish midges with him today it was a no-brainer.  “Sure, let’s go”!  

Kenny has been fishing some new spots as well as the usual runs with good success. Last week he landed a 24 inch rainbow on a black beauty. Ironically, the colder weather last week produced better fishing.. Today was warm, warm enough that we got overheated  fishing and had to take off extra clothing. Strange to fly fish in the winter in Pueblo, Co.

We would not describe the fishing today as spectacular but it was good. It seems that every run we fished produced a least a fish or two. Some spots, several. We stayed on the move. The river was actually crowded but that was to be expected on a holiday.

Best flies were a size 20 red midge trailed behind a size 16 olive bead-head pheasant tail. Size 22 gray RS2’s  and beatis nymphs also produced.  

Whether we ski or not we need snow in the mountains to feed our river and reservoirs. So I am hoping the “snow flies” in the mountains and the midges continue to fly on the Arkansas River. Both are a good thing.

Poetry and Paradox: I'm Nobody

Sometimes I wonder if we can’t understand paradox in poetry then we will have a difficult time understanding what Jesus was trying to teach since he often spoke in paradox.

The poet Rumi said, “Find the real world, give it endlessly away, Grow rich, fling gold to all who ask, live at the empty heart of paradox, I’ll dance there with you cheek and cheek”. 

To dance cheek and cheek with what Jesus said, and to live at the empty heart of paradox might mean that we would at least try to begin to ponder the paradoxes Jesus taught. But if we can’t understand poetry then we may not understand perhaps the most profound paradox in the Bible and of the spiritual life. Jesus said, 

“Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

                                                                                                         

Emily Dickenson, another poet, understands paradox. She did not care much for status. She did not care about being popular. She did not care about being “somebody”. It almost seems she deliberately chose to be a “nobody” , refusing to play the “game”.  In her poem titled,  “Nobody”.  She asks,

”I’m nobody, who are you? Are you nobody too”?  

Emily seemed to understand the paradox of becoming nobody to actually become “somebody”.  She looks for other “nobody’s", asking, "Are you nobody too"?

But who am I to understand poetry?  Who am I to know anything about dancing with Jesus.  I’m just a “nobody”.

Who are you?   

Winter Fly Fishing/Ski Trip to Breckenridge

I often load up my SUV and head over to Breckenridge. I bring my fly fishing and ski gear. The 100 mile drive is quite scenic heading over Wilkerson and Hoosier Pass. I do a lot of thinking as I drive.

As I head west on Highway 24  the fly fishing options are many. During any season, there is Eleven Mile Canyon.  During the Spring, I might stop on the “dream stream” and look for big rainbows or, in the fall, big browns. Or, I might stop at Antero and look for big fish cruising along the edges. There is the Tomahawk section of the middle fork of the Platte at times, holds some big Browns that make their way up from Spinney.  On the Breckenridge side, there is the Blue River below the town of Breckenridge and the tail water below Dillon Dam which is a great winter fishery.. All these waters hold good fish and even some monsters. Sometimes I stop and fish, sometimes I don’t. It depends.

I arrive in Breckenridge.  High temperature:  8’. Low -26.  Too cold to fish. Why be miserable?  I have other options. I don’t have to fish.

When I came down Hoosier Pass I noticed some new snow on the edges of the road. I wondered if the slopes may have really received the 4 inches of new snow as was reported. With hope, I try a few runs but find the conditions marginal and lacking fresh powder. Plus I am cold!  After a few short runs on my tellmark skis I call it good.  Tellemark skiing on marginal conditions when one is expecting soft powder is sort of like expecting to fish dry flies during a trico hatch but only to find out the water flow suddenly got jacked up and the fish are not going to rise and now you have to fish San Juan Worms.

I changed into my running gear and run 30 minutes through the woods over a beautiful snow covered trail. It felt good to move and breathe in the cold and I was sort of protected in the trees. But running at 10 thousand feet is not easy.   I run back to the lodge.  

I then did a mini workout in the fitness room. I didn’t really have to work out again but it was nice to be inside and warm up and do some different exercises. Plus, I was not in a rush.  I was waiting for a phone call from my daughters.

I met my daughters in downtown Breck for lunch. We ate and conversed and then we went back up to the resort to use the spa. It was good. It was all good.

I don’t know. But it feels right to be flexible in this manner.  I guess I feel I am less of a control freak and  I try not to be one who has to do certain things. I realize there is a fine line between passionately pursuing the things I enjoy and those same things being addictions.

On the way back home as I traveled through South Park and I noticed most of the Platte was iced over. It felt good to think of the trout below the ice resting on the bottom. I sort of wished them well. I look forward to warmer days.

And for now, I don’t have to fish.

I have options.

What Ails Thee? Why Am I Not Catching Fish?

Often clients when they are not catching fish will ask me, “What am I doing wrong”? Sometimes there is nothing they are doing wrong and “fishing is fishing”. At other times there is some thing wrong and I have to help correct the technique that is less than what it should be. Sometimes the adjustment works, at other times it does not.  But, in general, I actually kind of like it when folks are willing to ask, “What’s wrong”?  

This scenario reminds of the story of the Fisher King. A young knight is on a quest. He comes to a land that is barren and the river does not flow. In the castle a wounded king awaits healing. According to the legend, healing will only take place when the knight shows up and asks the question, “What ails thee oh king?” He has to ask the question.

But the knight is not able to ask the question. He was taught that it was not polite to ask questions. His gut impulse is to ask, “What’s wrong”?  Or “What’s going on here”? Or,  “What ails thee oh king”? But he follows convention instead and remains silent.

Perhaps we need to ask this question ourselves but not just when we are not catching fish. Maybe we should ask this question, first of ourselves, each other, within our relationships and of our schools, government and our Christian churches. What ails thee?

Often we see and experience the barrenness all around.  We feel it within. We feel it from others. We feel it in our relationships. The river stops flowing or at best is a trickle.  But as Christians we often do not ask the important question. We mind our manners. We keep it inside. We don’t know how to ask.

In the story of the Fisher King it takes years for the knight to even ask the right question. Every time the knight fails to ask the right question, the king remained lame and the land a barren wasteland.  

As Christians we often do not ask questions and if we do, often they are not the ones that need to be asked. We miss the point. Or, we may only point out the barrenness and ailments in others and be dishonest of our own ailments.  Or, maybe we just don’t know how to ask the question respectfully. There is such a thing as etiquette.

Anyone have any ideas what the right questions might be?  Anyone want to talk about what ails the church? What ails you? What ails us?  I think we have to start by asking the question.

I don’t want to throw stones. I would rather dialogue. Let’s talk about it. And if I ever watched you fish and you asked me if you were doing anything wrong, I would hopefully, offer whatever advice I could give.

We would dialogue.

Not Fishing To the Beat of a Different Drummer

January 2, 2013 6:00am. Temperature 4 degrees.

I could go fly fish today but I still do not feel the urge. Too cold. Too dark. It is not time. And as I have said before it is not that the fishing would not be good. I get numerous reports of good fishing on the Arkansas below Pueblo and the South Platte’s tail-waters. Just the other day I ran into a fishing friend and he reported success on the Arkansas using red midges and pegged eggs. Another friend spoke of good reports from Deckers.

Just because we can keep catching fish all winter long, should we?  I choose to do other things.

I do still feel the urge to continue in some form to move into nature. I have almost a daily “need”, even a longing to be in nature. A run through the woods over snow. A run through the Garden of the Gods. Even just a short walk behind my house to pick up some kindling to start a fire seems to do me some good. And I love to cross country ski over snow that will soon melt and become our rivers. .

It is time for me to bundle up and ski a mountain. I will not ride a lift. I will put skins on my skis and hike up. It is much warmer this way. And the pace is different. I want to look around and ponder and then when I get to the top, I will ski down. One climb. One run down the mountain. That is all I need. It is certainly a different way of doing things.  It is following the beat of a different drummer that Thoreau spoke of:.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

A Beautiful Love Poem: Achieving Better Presentation

Some times I think of God’s love as a beautiful love poem wooing us. At the same time I reflect upon some of the great love poems written over the ages by “mere” humans and how they capture, in a small way, something of the great divine longing for us. Or, so I choose to believe.

In stark contrast, I really don’t know what to think of people who try to convince others of God’s love with far less poetic expressions.  Billboard signs stating that people are going to hell. People holding up Bible references at baseball games behind home plate.  People handing out tracks consisting of 3 step methods to salvation. These approaches  “assault” me more than woo me.  

Coming home from a fishing trip last month I noticed a truck in front of me with big black letters painted on the back stating our lost condition without Jesus and what people needed to do to be saved. It was not poetic or artistic. It did not woo me.

Would we court someone in this manner? Hopefully, not.  Hopefully, we would patiently, tenderly, poetically and artistically court this person as God courts us. Hopefully we would express the longing and ache for another person in a way that could be similar to how God longs for us.

Would we try to entice a wary trout with a sloppy, loud, rude presentation? Hopefully, we would use great sensitivity and tactfulness.

There have been some great poets (who may or may not be Christian) who, for me, have captured the longing for love.  I am surprised that as Christians we often cannot creatively express as tender and deep a message to others.  Below is a poem by e.e. Cummings describing a love that I choose to interpret as both God’s love for me and my love for God.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart.