Mens Fly Fishing Spiritualty Retreat 6/14

Men going to the woods to live deliberately, catching trout, communicating, talking, and sharing stories.

Women's Fly Fishing and Poetry Retreat 6/12/2013

Sharing poetry and fly fishing with friends on a river; Talking, reflecting, contemplating.

Eleven Mile Canyon Fly Fishing Report 6/5/2013

We, we did not get fishing until about 1:00pm so it was not prime time. Fishing was not spectacular but my group of 3 beginners managed to net some fish. It is always a pleasure to get a beginner into their first fish. The water is still low flowing around 50cfs.

It is almost funny how it seems that the same old flies work and don't work.  It just depends. But we took fish on the famous brown san juan worm, RS2,and a size 20 bead head pheasant tail . The pheasant tail nymph I use is a pattern that my friend Ron Jagger has used effectively over the years. It is a variation from a pattern that Stan Benton developed.  Instead of using actual pheasant tails to wrap around and form the body of the fly,  pheasant tail colored micro-tubing is used over orange thread.  A copper bead is used and a little bit of peacock icedub forms the thorax behind the bead. There is really not much to it.  I also tie a variation of  it using some bushy hares ear behind the bead (especially when caddis start coming off).

Another strange thing is that I saw some fish spawning. Maybe it was some late rainbows or confused browns or some Suckers, with the  Rainbows and Browns feeding on the eggs. It was hard to tell what was really going on and besides we left them alone. I just thought it was odd to see fish spawning in early June.

Sacred Fishing Holes: What Have We Done With the Garden That Was Entrusted To Us?

Antonio Machado, in his poem titled, “The Wind One Brilliant Day” ends the poem with this question, “Then, I said to myself, What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you”?

I ask myself this question in regard to my own favorite fishing holes. “What have I done with the sacred pools that were entrusted to me”?

In the Iron John tale a young boy is asked to preserve the integrity of a sacred spring. As he guards it he gazes into the clear deep water. He sees gold salamanders and gold fish (perhaps they are Golden Trout?).  He contemplates.

As a boy I stared into the waters of a small pond where I first learned to fly fish. As a boy I sadly realized that I could personally ‘fish out’ the pond.

As an adult and guide, I continue to contemplate as I ask myself again, “What have I done with the garden and the sacred pools of water teeming with trout that were entrusted to me”?  What have I done with the Dream Stream, Eleven Mile Canyon, Deckers, the Arkansas River, Antero, Spinney, the Taylor? What kind of a guardian have I been?

Have I merely used these sacred pools to make repeated, bragging claims of the many trout I have caught from these places?  Did I brag  of 40 fish days?  Or, of twenty plus inch fish caught? Did I brag about the “serious damage” done, or, did I speak of “slaying fish” or  “ripping lips” as though my hands were wiped clean of causing any damage to the sacred pools entrusted to me simply because I am a catch and release fly fisherman? 

What have I done with the garden that was entrusted to me?

May I rip as few lips as possible. May I cause as little damage as possible. May I never have another 40 fish day.  May I never slay another fish.  

5/26/2013 Eleven Mile Canyon Fly Fishing Report

We fished the canyon at 50 CFS. Lots of fishermen, little water. Good numbers of fish holding to whatever depressions/structure they can find.

San Juan worms, RS2's, periwinkle midges, Cheeseman emergers all took fish. Some dry fly activity to small midges. Try a small parachute adams or G. Gnat.

Fish lightly. Walk lightly.  Catch quickly and release quickly. Try to be content fishing for a few hours.  Maybe only try dry fly fishing.  Fish are getting stressed in these conditions and I can't imagine what it will be like when the summer crowds arrive.

Eleven Mile Canyon: Fishing Report May 4th, 2013

I guided 3 beginners today and found good fishing in the  low water of  Eleven Mile Canyon. Some dry fly fishing starting on BWO's and midges.  Nymphing was good on double and triple fly rigs:  San Juan worms, RS2's, Periwinkle nymphs and other small midges. Hopefully the water will come up again. Looking forward to Caddis and Tricos and some of the best dry fly fishing anywhere. I fished 5x to the San Juan worm and 6x to the smaller flies.

To See A Trout Rise; Getting Ready For Blue Wing Olive Mayflies, Caddis, and Trico Hatches On the South Platte RIver

Meet Clarisse, a 17 year old from on of my favorite novels, “Fahrenheit 451”; a story about a futuristic society where it is illegal to read books. Books are burned. All independent thinking is suspect.

In Clarisse’s world most people are in a rush and do not have time for day dreaming or contemplation or for truly seeing nature.  In this world you can be arrested for being a pedestrian because the state does not want anyone to really think too deeply about anything. In this world most people simply interact with their technological devices.

But Clarisse is different. She notices things in the natural world. She has no interest in the technological devices of her times. She does not like the ‘parlor walls’, (a type of flat screen interactive device that people talk to and refer to as their “family”). She challenges the mad rush every one seems to be in. She says,  “I sometimes think drivers don’t know what grass is, or flowers”.

Clarisse understands what it means to, “Consider the Lily of the field”.

Clarisse challenges the main character, Guy Montag, one of the firemen, to think and feel for the first time by simply asking him some questions; “Are you happy”?  “Have you ever smelled old leaves”? . She goes on, “Bet I know something else you don’t.  There’s dew on the grass in the morning”.

I think of a line from the book of Job, “Who has begotten the morning dew”?   

Guy Montag did not know about the dew.  He did not know how to answer Clarisse. Do we?  Maybe if we can’t see the morning dew we will not see the fish rise or at least we won’t see it in the same way.  

I am an educator who like many of my colleagues is concerned with the disconnect many of us have from the natural world. I particularly worry about many kids who know little of the morning dew or the sound of snowflakes falling in a forest or what it is like to walk in a Spring meadow.

Can we hear the sounds of a  river?   

Or, can we see a fish rise?

I think Marissa could.

With the small mayfly and caddis hatches coming soon to the South Platte River we can only hope to sharpen our vision.