The Good Life

Tough day at Spinney

2011-07-08T15:05:00.001-07:00

Had the day off so I was able to sneak out to Spinney Reservoir this morning! Hit the parking lot about 5:45am and started the hike to the islands. I was told the area was fishing well a week and a half ago. It should be prime Callibaetis and Damsel hatch time with some Chiro's and Giant Caddis around, too. The various forks of the South Platte were still extremely flooded as I passed them on the way in. I figured Spinney would be about capacity!

Well, that was not the case. The lake is something like 3 feet below capacity. I had never seen the islands so bare of water. These pics are usually all water...To make matters worse, the weeds have grown to the surface and that makes it very difficult to fish without snagging. I tried various nymph patterns both with and without the indicator without any luck. I finally put on a sz 10 Lime Stimulator with a Chiro underneath. I didn't see any Caddis yet but needed something bouyant to keep out of the weeds. Well first cast I was able to land this guy:

A 20" aerialist Bow with a huge chin. Fat fish and off the schnide!

Fishing was slow so I hopped in the float tube trying to get away from the weeds to deeper water like my man Brandon recommended. On the way I trolled various nymphs and enjoyed a Casa Magna Colorado :)

The weather started to get ugly with winds coming in at all directions which made float tubing very difficult. I could hear the guys in boats with anchors doing better than I was but I couldn't fish they way they were. I landed a couple more like this one who jumped so much he got the camera wet...

In between the gusts of wind I would see Callibeatis, Caddis, and Damsels come through the channels though there wasn't a prolifi hatch of any of them. There was a midge hatch that was insane right when I got there but the fish were not keyed in on them at all. Millions of grey and olive midges. I had never seen that at Spinney before.

I made a few friends with the Damsels. I named this one Fred.

About 11 the gale force winds picked up and never disappated. It was extremely difficult to paddle back to the islands in the face of the wind. I was exhausted. I wondered for a while if I could even do it but I made it after bypassing the open water for more cover of the islands and up one of the more protected channels.

It's tough to say fishing was poor when the smallest fish landed was 20" but they were few and far between. Lost a couple on LDR's and had my leader snap after what I beleive was a decent sized Pike - almost ripped the rod out of my hand and shredded the 7.5' 3X leader about half way through. I did see a number of Pike as the water was so shallow. I didn't try to fish for them at least on purpose because I wasn't properly equipped.

All in all a nice day, but tough fishing. After the hike back to the car in the face of the winds I was exhausted and very deserving of a cellared Jubilation Ale :)

The water level must have dropped because the guys that recommended the islands didn't say anything about how low the water was. If the resevoir was full it might have been an eipc day. Perhaps next time ;)

Black Mesa, Uncompahgre River, Crystal Lake

2011-07-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

The family spent a week up in Black Mesa (North Rim of the Black Canyon) a couple weeks ago, and I am just now getting to updating the blog. Whoops. Anyhow, it's beautiful up there. Lindsay rode her horse every day and the kids and I enjoyed the Colorado scenery and campsite. It was very relaxing, no cell phone reception, completely off the grid. :) I was able to sneak away for a day. I stopped in Gunnison to check on the levels of the Gunnison River in the canyon. The flows were still really high and the Fly Shop recommended avoiding it, bummer. I decided to head out to the Uncompahgre River, tailwater of Ridgeway Reservoir. Loren joined me as we went to Pa-Co-Chu-Pak after recommendations from my buddy Dave.

You can see the river is swollen here too, that time of year :( It was also very silty in color. I ran into a ranger who said they were anticipating further flooding upstream and had no choice but to flood the tailwater. Here's Loren working a seam.

Ultimately we didn't land any fish. I had a number of hits on various flies but they seemed to be nipping at them and not really taking them. I put on a stinger and that didn't help. It is clear that they have spent some time and effort making this a great fishery when it's not so high. I'd love to come back some time and try again.

We headed South to and through Ouray, which is my new favorite place. Surrounded on all sides by mountains. So pretty. Wermers suggested hitting Crystal Lake which is just south of Ouray up the pass (very vertical).

Crystal Lake is gorgeous! Crystal clear with fantastic scenery. Right off the road, too.

The fish were killing these (gray drake?). If you could cast away from the brush and rocks further into the lake you could hammer them. I quickly landed two little guys and foolishly didn't take photos. The strikes were so quick I was sure I could catch the larger fish feeding. However, after the initial two I got nothing. I'd like to lug a float tube in there and try again sometime. On the way back to the Mesa, about 3 hours, we stopped at Ouray Brewery in town. Cool little Brewery right in town. Opened in 2010. The people there were great and the beer was solid (we bought 2 growlers). They talked fishing with us before we had to take off. I'd happily go back and would recommend it if you're in the area!

Little Red Book of Fly Fishing

2011-06-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Doug was kind enough to give me a copy of the Little Red Book of Fly Fishing (written by Charlie Meyers and Kirk Deeter). I quickly read it cover to cover and put it on the shelf. On a whim I picked it up again recently and brought it to work for some break time reading. As I came across one of the 250 tips I liked or thought would be helpful I dog-eared the corner of the page. I just finished the 2nd time through and was quite amazed at how much of the book has been dog-eared! Apparently I read it too quickly the first time through as I didn't remember a lot of the tips. I would highly recommend this book. It's an easy read and provides a lot of insight. I grew a little tired of Deeter's name-dropping and place-dropping, but he had a ton of great idea and tips - stuff I hadn't even considered and more than a few Ah-ha! moments.

Anyhow, check it out. I know I will reference my copy for years to come.

Spinney/Elevenmile Canyon

2011-05-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Had the day off today so Dave and I got up early to hit Spinney this morning. We rolled in about 5:45am to the lowest water level I've ever seen at the Reservoir. It was a little shocking. More shocking was we were just the 2nd car in. Our intention was to hike/float tube over to Buffalo Bay. However, as we drove over the dam, the water was boiling with risers...everywhere. We made the decision to at least try it out by the dam before moving over to the Bay. We geared up and on Dave's first cast he landed the hen above. She was spewing orange eggs everywhere and was super fat.
The morning was full of fish like this. Typical Spinney. :)
The morning quickly materialized into the best I've had on the reservoir. The fish were keyed in on Chironomids and were hammering them all over the place. 6 casts = 6 fish. 7th cast no fish? WTF? 6 more casts = 6 more fish! That's more like it. This was the pattern all morning, it was actually rather ridiculous. The sizes of the fish ranged from several younger age class 14" bows to several over 20". These new Hofer strains are aerial artists, too! Very entertaining watching pigs fly through the air and smack the surface like a dinner platter.
Not only is the paint chipping off the bead, the wire is toast, and the TMC 2488H (heavy hook) is bent to hell. The fish were hitting the flies so hard the flies lasted only a few fish before having to be replaced - time to tie some more Chiros!
We figured out that Dave wasn't fishing the depth as I was and as such wasn't into as many fish. We fished the same flies and weight but the difference of a foot made all the difference. As soon as we figured it out Dave was into more fish. We must have had like 4 doubles in the matter of 30 minutes.

Got Chironomids?

At 9am I hooked another fish and then then like a light switch the unusually calm morning we enjoyed for 3 hours immediately disappeared and transformed to Gale Force winds without warning. It didn't build up, it just changed in an instant. It was ridiculous and Dave and I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. The swells with the wind transformed the peaceful shore to the pacific shore. We decided to try and abandon the lake and hit the river. 3 hours, 30 fish. I am pretty sure Spinney is heaven.

The canyon isn't bad either :)

Dave dominated the river, I don't have any idea how many fish he hooked. This was one of the nicer fish, pretty Cutt!

Cutthroats like protein.

I was into some fish as well like this monster! Turned out to be the only brown all day, for me at least. The little dude was actually quite a fighter and had quite a belly.
Dave's Brown was a little bigger ;)At about 2 the wind was unbearable even in the protected canyon. We decided to head to the barn. All in all it was a fantastic day. Lots of fish with a great fishing buddy in an extremely serene, yet windy, setting. I wish I could do this more often.

Don't mind if I do.

Colorado Grayling

2011-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Pretty cool video I found over on Trouts Fly Fishing.

Arctic Grayling from Colorado Division of Wildlife on Vimeo.

Arctic Grayling from Colorado Division of Wildlife on Vimeo.

While not the most riveting of all fishing videos, I found it a great reminder of the diverse fishing opportunities to be had in Colorado.

The Grayling I've caught in Colorado, right near this video, aren't big but are pretty entertaining to catch. Beautiful fish.

Crafts

2011-05-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

So I finally was able to finish the craft project that almost severed my thumb last week! Anyhow, I am in the market for some cut resistant gloves now. I totally ripped off rainbrewtrout.com after I saw the article in American Angler, my wife says it was karma. Sorry.

Bighorn River - Wyoming

2011-05-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

So Doug, Greg, Bill and myself joined up with John and Don of Four Seasons Anglers (http://www.fourseasonsanglers.com/) Friday and fished the Bighorn River around Thermopolis, Wyoming Saturday and Sunday. It was great to get back out on the water with a rod in hand - just doesn't happen all that often any more!! The weather was great, for the most part, and the fishing was excellent. It was a great trip that I am sure to repeat, just a matter of time.

We floated a couple stretches of water above and below town. Didn't do much wading as the flows were high and a lot of water moving through. The only fish I landed out of the boat was a nice 18" bow that took a hot headed leach on the swing. Sorry no photo :(I had a tough time controlling the rod at first due to slicing an inch and a half of my thumb off 2 days prior on some metal. Here you can see John holding what was an average Bow with my goofy face and ridiculously large thumb in the background. After a while it became easier to cast and mend but it was still tough, especially in the wind gusts. Luckily the wind wasn't too bad at all. The fish sure had some shoulders! Pound for pound some of the strongest, feistiest fish I've been into.
Doug and Bill both landed browns in excess of 24"! This fish had beautiful red markings on the back. He hammered a thin mint. Apparently Doug couldn't hear me telling him to hold the fish on the other side so we could see it! It was a really nice fish hook jaw Brown, this photo really doesn't do it justice.
The crew after Day 2 about to head home: me, Bill, Greg, and Doug.
There was an unreal BWO hatch both days, they were all over the place! We only saw maybe 2 trout rise in 2 days though. There would be beautiful drifts with what appeared to be fantastic dry fly holes with bugs everywhere and perfect spots for the trout to hold but no luck with dries at all. Bummer. We did well with emergers and nymphs though.
Bill with a nice Bow.

Bill with another nice Bow. And a rod.
Doug again holding the fish poorly but this time it's a Bow.
Greg was clearly enjoying himself with a beer and cigar over lunch. Looks rough doesn't it?Evidently this is how you transport young children in Thermopolis. Duly noted. Next time I will bring my ATV and ensure the kids can join in the fun by bolting a car seat to the back!

Overall it was a great trip with great guides and good people. I had never ventured that far into the interior of Wyoming before. A whole lot of nothing for the majority of the trip but some great fishing to be had on the Wyoming side of the Bighorn. The river really didn't remind me much of the Montana side at all but we were a considerable distance out. There was a lot of moss and big fish though so that was the same. Great trip.

Family Fishing

2011-03-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

Well the weather has been great lately so we thought it would be a great morning to take the kids fishing. It was actually Van's idea and he was really excited. We gathered everyone into the Outback and headed out. After a quick stop at Walmart to pick up some earthworms we were off. It turned out to be a bit windy but aside from that it was great out.Van learning how we fish!Lily had a good time learning how to fish too!
What a good looking couple of fisherwomen!Van really enjoyed playing with his tackle box.
But he really enjoyed the worms! He got to touch a few and really enjoyed it!

Ultimately Daddy couldn't get us into any fish before we had to take off for the kid's naps but it was a very good morning. We had a great time.

WTF?

2011-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_17549182

Beyond mere tradition, there has long been an artistry associated with the fish story, a mesmerizing tapestry that weaves the elements of wilderness, mystery and occasional machismo into an enthralling thrill-of-the-hunt narrative.

It's a talent bred by the likes of Melville and Hemingway, perpetuated and honed through generations of riverside campfire worshipers, and now distilled through iPhone, Blackberry and 3G technologies.

Take, for example, the text that made its way across my desk last week, reading in essence: I just caught a fish with two mouths. Call me for a picture.

As compelling as angler Mark Wilson's brief tale was, it's nothing without the visual accompaniment. Indeed, it's all but impossible to imagine. Two gills, yes. Two eyes, no problem. But a second mouth? Isn't that kind of like having two heads? Where would it fit? And how did it get there?

But Wilson provided proof of the two-mouthed trout that took his worm-tipped minnow at Lon Hag- ler Reservoir in Larimer County last Sunday, corroborated through a phone call that conveyed the appropriate shock and awe.

"My reaction was just like everyone I show it to: What the heck are they putting in the water?" Wilson, 45, said. "It really blew me away."

A vigilant outdoorsman, Wilson carried the roughly 12-inch specimen to the Division of Wildlife's Research Center in Fort Collins to unlock the mystery behind the anomaly. Although he doesn't recall the name of the researcher he spoke with, he distinctly remembers his surprise at being told the deformity was no big deal.

"What do you mean? It is a big deal," Wilson said. "When was the last time you caught one with two mouths, dude?"

After some discussion, it was concluded that the hatchery rainbow likely had been injured as a fingerling and adapted to the damaged jaw with the formation of a second mouth, teeth and all, behind the first. Wilson speculates the 1 1/2-pound fish had some feeding challenges, as it took nearly five minutes of nibbling before the bait made it into the upper mouth and he set the hook.

Wilson's tale is clearly not the type of story you hear every day, unless your name is Mark Wilson. The lifelong outdoorsman followed his nephew, CSU sophomore defensive tackle Curtis Wilson, to Fort Collins after being laid off from his job as a construction project manager in Alabama last year. He has a short list of unusual outdoor tales to his credit, including one of shooting a seven-point doe while hunting in Georgia.

"I'm into it more than a lot of other people, so maybe it's just a matter of statistics," he said. "If you catch 10,000 fish in your life, eventually you find one with two mouths. You kill 50 deer, maybe you'll kill a doe with antlers. It happens."

Yes, on occasion, it does happen. And when it does, The Denver Post would like to hear the tale and share it with readers.

Devoted Colorado outdoorsmen have no doubt lamented the now year-long loss of distinguished outdoors writer Charlie Meyers and his contribution to the community through inimitable narrative acumen. The Post also has felt the loss, and this week marks our attempt to return to the tradition — and occasional artistry — of the outdoors journalism genre, with a few modern twists.

Among them is an invitation to readers to connect with us to share their photos and unembellished tales of outdoor adventures. We'll be revealing others in coming weeks. Until then, keep fishing for those stories.

Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com

Editor's note: Scott Willoughby is taking over as our new Outdoors editor. Willoughby has covered Outdoor Extremes for the past several years and has written extensively on fishing and other outdoors topics through the years. His columns will appear each Sunday and Wednesday.

Read more: Willoughby: Crazy fish story, you say? I'll bite - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_17549182#ixzz1FvtDafz0
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Frying Pan & Roaring Fork

2011-03-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

Lindsay allowed me a day to go fishing! The plan was to head up to Wyoming, however with freezing temperatures and 40+ mph winds we choose to hit the Pan and Fork instead as they had been fishing well he heard. I tagged along with Doug and Jimmy and headed up to the hills. Met Jimmy and Doug in Eagle-Vail and drove to Basalt. We stopped at Taylor Creek Fly Shop for some suggestions and tips (http://taylorcreek.com/). The guy there was extremely helpful and recommended we start the day on the Pan as the Fork had fairly significant ice sloughs floating down stream due to the frigid temperatures over night which would decrease the bug activity and feeding. As the Pan is controlled from Ruedi Reservoir it would be a better option, if you don't mind some combat fishing. He also told us about bead fishing eggs. This was a new concept for me but apparently has been around for quite some time in Alaska. The principal is that you tie on a craft bead to the line and then tie a hook a little further down the line. It is supposed to work better than foam eggs as the fish can quickly spit a foam egg but with the bead when it's rejected the tailing hook is set in the corner of the mouth and the fish hooks itself.

I am not sure this remotely qualifies as fly fishing....perhaps this is better? Yeah, Probably not.
The technique sounded interesting and I was skeptical and doubted my ability to catch anything after so much time off so I figured what he hell and picked up some beads and some TMC 2488 sz 16 hooks and took off. Taylor Creek said the fish would be keyed in on eggs, BWOs, midges, and if we got close to the dam mysis. We had no intention of dealing with this:

So our plan was to fish close to the damn but perhaps a mile or two downstream. I hadn't fished the Pan since high school so I had no idea what to expect. On the way up we past a lot of private and public water, though there is one section some rancher upgraded years ago that looked like heaven. Unfortunately it's also private and has cute little signs that say the Frying Pan is the most over fished river in the world and the trout need a break...or something. It was private, looked awesome, and wasn't fished much. Super. We headed up to about MM 12 or so and looked for any spot that wasn't already crowded. After a haul almost to the top we looped back and found a nice 40 yard stretch that we had to ourselves all morning. I went downstream and worked the seams and riffles armed with my newly discovered bead with a size 24 miracle midge dropper. It was a challenge to climb over the snow and get into the river without slipping on the ice but I did ok. After reintroducing myself to my fly rod I threw a small slipshot on and went at it. First cast: fish on! That's what I'm talking about!

This was the only picture I was able to capture on the Pan before the batteries on the camera (which said FULL) died....d'oh! After 7 months off of fishing this little 12" beauty was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Nice spots and coloration. Took the bead (I mean egg)...unreal. I worked my way up to the other guys consistently pulling in fish. I was missing a fair amount of fish so I threw on an indicator to help remind me what fishing was. I have no idea how many fish I caught on the bead...I mean egg. They were all about the same size 10-13" rainbows. Caught a couple browns as well. When I got up to the other guys I expected to hear similar results. Nope. I was having an epic morning and these guys hadn't caught but 1 fish. I guess the bead trick works after all! I took a break for brunch and climbed out of the river. While I was at lunch up on the road the midges and BWO's hatched.

I estimated the size at 24-26...and they were everywhere. The fish did not key in on the few BWO's out it seemed but were all over the midges. I called down to the guys and told them what I size I thought they were and Jimmy put on a WD40 and a sz 26 black beauty and started sight fishing to the feeding fish (which were everywhere). He was hooking into fish left and right fishing the surface film with his unweighted nymphs. Just slaying them. Doug was having a little less success though in his credit it's hard to see such small flies on the surface when there are hundreds of real bugs out too. I finishes my sandwich and beer and got back to the water. I also had a very hard time seeing the flies and couldn't seem to find a pattern than worked well. Jimmy, in the meantime, caught some many fish I don't think he could estimate...50? A lot. While he was busy giggling to himself and having a great time Doug and I were rather irritated. What started off as a hot day for me cooled down quickly. Finally I put on a single sz 24 CDC midge and I was in business. I wish I would have had additional batteries from the camera as the fish were beautiful. Heavily spotted with huge brilliant red stripes on the bows and spawn-like coloration on the browns presumably from the mysis as we were only 1 mile down from the reservoir or so. It was alarming how many cars and trucks were passing us headed up to the Toilet Bowl. I am sure that was a lot of fun fishing with 100 other people in a spot really big enough for 2.

It got pretty cold in the water. According to weather.com Basalt was 40 but it must have been in the low 20's in the canyon with a steady, strong frigid wind. It started to take it's toll as none of us could feel our feet or fingers and breaking the ice off the guides became more than tiresome. About 2pm we decided to head down to the Fork. The fishing on the Pan was stellar but we needed to thaw out. I filled up in Basalt, where it was considerably warmer, and got batteries for the camera. According to the dude at Taylor Creek I would need some power for the camera to document all the epic fish I was about to catch.

Jimmy had heard that recently they opened a previously private stretch of water to the public.

Blue Creek Ranch looked like it had some potential. A relatively unknown stretch of the Fork? Sounds great! After parking and moving down to the river we quickly determined the secret was out. 3 guys were fishing the water under the bridge. The water looked good but too crowded. As we headed upstream we found that every hole in the shallow river that looked promising was already getting pounded by 1-2 fishermen. We walked the whole length of the conservation easement and found that it wasn't nearly the size we thought, was extremely crowded (I thought the Pan was bad, but this was worse), and was pretty underwhelming for fishable area, at least in the conditions we had. We decided to move further downstream. After a short drive we pulled in to a spot with only 1 car (nice!) to find the prime water occupied.

Doug and I set up shop on opposite sides of the water. Here's Doug ready for business.

I ended up catching this beauty on a Mercer's Golden Stone (love that fly). The fish was only slightly larger than the Pan's trout at 14" but put up a great fight. Very rewarding. It ended up to be the only fish any of us landed on the Fork before the weather again pushed us out. It got miserably cold with the wind and the fishing was not hot.

Overall, the trip was great. Didn't catch huge fish but caught a lot of beautiful fish that bent the 5-weight great! I had a great time. I remember how much I enjoy this. I got excited to go home and tie again, too. I also learned that I can't cast on the the right side of the river well any more! Something to work on! Hopefully it won't be 7 months before I make it out again, I doubt it will. I am counting on at least 3 days on the water this year! Can't wait until the boy is old to enough to come on an all-day trip with Dad.

Eagle River

2010-09-06T12:20:00.001-07:00

The family loaded up the Subaru and headed up to Vail with both sets of Grandparents for the holiday weekend. It was a great trip and nice to get away. Beaver Creek had Oktoberfest and Vail had the Taste of Vail, which meant a lot of German brews for me! My father-in-law and I were able to sneak out to fish the Eagle yesterday for a few hours. It was windy, hot, and sunny but I thoroughly enjoyed getting back out on the river.
This was my first and largest fish, about 13-14" who nailed my Red Quill emerger fishing in the surface film. I have always known the Eagle to be a caddis river, though according to the guy at the Fly Shop the Eagle used to boast the most prolific Red Quill hatch in the state. However, that has since changed. He did say that due to all the improvements upstream in Minturn, etc. and the mine cleanup (years of progress) the river is coming back. The fish we caught were all about the same size and put up a hell of a fight so if they are any indication of the river's future, things are looking good!
This Red Quill Emerger was the only fly to catch any fish all day. The trout were not keyed in on adults and nymphing got us zero hits, they were on the emerger and hit it whether fished as a dry, in the film, or drowned.
After about 3 hours we had to pack it in to head back home but we each caught a few fish and missed a couple more. A few were starting to turn quite colorful with the brilliant yellow belly and red/brown spots getting ready for the spawn. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture to turn out to show :(
I forgot my cigars...d'oh! So we had to stop at a liquor store to buy some no-name cheapies. While there I was quite excited to see Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Ale on the shelf! 90 IBU's of pure deliciousness is heavenly. For a full-year release this brew seems to be getting harder to locate around Denver. Sitting in the Eagle for a while chilled it right up and it was a great treat and a fine way to end the day.

Hope to get out again soon!

Dry Flies at Spinney

2010-07-25T10:39:00.001-07:00

Pretty sure this place is heaven.

So the wife let me sneak out for a morning at Spinney! I finally was able to take the 6 weight out of it's case and hit the water. I could only fish until noon so I knew I had to make the most of it and got up at 3:30 to be at the parking spot before 6am and on the water by 6:30am. The hike to the spot is generally level but it's a long way with a backpack stuffed with a float tube (which I never ended up using).By the time I got down to the water the hot air balloons were taking off East of Fairplay. Happens every time I fish Spinney on Saturday mornings, pretty cool.

Anyhow, I had heard the damsel and callibaetis hatches were in full swing so I rigged up a calli nymph with a stillwater nymph. I only used the rig for 5 minutes and missed a fish. While nymphing I saw this giant caddis come down and start skittering across the water. She lasted about 30 seconds before a nice rainbow annihilated the surface and took her down. That was all I needed to see. I quickly switched my setup and threw on a size 10 yellow Stimi.A few minutes later my efforts were rewarded! This was the first fish of the day and destroyed my fly. This isn't dry fly fishing on a stream with gentle sips of mayflies - these fish attack these giant caddis with reckless abandon often hurling their entire bodies out of the water as the attack the fly. There is no mistake about it, you know when the fish has hit your fly. One of the caddis hatched right next to me and made her way to my waders and I was able to take a couple pics before she flew off only to be inhaled by a trout. She was exactly the same size as my size 10 stimulators. I tried to get a picture of the underside as it's hard to tell the color from these pictures. While she appears a light olive here, the underside is more of a cream color. I didn't have anything to match exactly so I ended up using yellow stimulators until all I had were torn to shreds or broken off. I switched to olive, which was too dark, but still effective. I need to tie some to match this coloration. I had a quite a few fish reject the fly at the last second and I wonder if the color had much to do with this.
It's hard to take good pics when you're fishing by yourself. At least it is to me. I can't grip a 5lbs trout with my left hand well enough to snap a photo with my right. But here's another bow.This guy was a tough one. He not only destroyed my fly, see photo below, he jumped 10 times and took me into my backing twice. I have never had a fish take me into my backing on dries ever so that was pretty exciting. All the fish were about the same length in the 20-22" range and varied from 3 to 5 lbs. My arm/shoulder was tired when I left but I am not complaining!Hi I used to be a stimulator. This is the fly that took the fish above. I have no idea how I got him in as you can see the barb was broken off the shank of the hook. This was a perfect fly prior to that fish, oh well. I ended up not going back to nymphs all day. I saw a guy in a pontoon who came around nymphing and he was hooking up petty consistently. I might have had better success nymphing, but I did quite well on dries, ending up with about 10 before I started the hike back to the car about 11:30. I love fishing dries and as I am unable to get out nearly as often as I'd like due to the babies at home I simply stuck with it. As enjoyable as cast....strip-strip....pause....strip-strip-strip is it was much more of a challenge to mimic the skittering caddis on top of the water without drowning the fly. It was a game of finesse. By the end of the day I could cast to the opposite bank/island and perform the maneuver fairly well. Fish will strike a fly that isn't moving, but I had more success in skittering and pausing. A few times the fish hit the fly within a second of landing. It was difficult to cast 1 dry with the notorious South Park winds that picked up mid morning but the islands protect the channel fairly well and fish were feeding all over so it didn't matter much really. I tried to combo a yellow and an olive but that didn't work as I couldn't control the flies as well and it didn't seem natural. These caddis don't fly in groups so I switched back to the single. The key seemed to be making as much "noise" on the surface as possible. The real caddis leave a wake and flutter their wings in a very distinct pattern so my twitching and popping the fly it seemed the best I could do to replicate.Can't think of a better way to finish up a great day on the water and a long hike back to the car from mosquito central. I didn't see any callibaetis of damsel nymphs in the water all day. Early on there was a little chiro hatch but that was about it. When the Calli hatch is on the fishing is unparalleled, but its tough to have more fun that the caddis hatch. I wasn't expecting to see any as I hadn't heard reports about them all year and there weren't really that many of them around but the trout were keyed it on them. I didn't see 1 skitter on the surface more than 30 seconds or so before a trout took it down. I remember a couple days last year where the caddis were everywhere and the fishing was amazing. This trip wasn't quite up to that standard but was a hell of a lot of fun. Hope to make it out again soon.

Fishing with the boy!

2010-07-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't had the pleasure of fishing (nor updating the blog) since the trip to Delaney back in May. Hopefully that will change soon...

I have been fortunate enough to take the little man out to catch his first fish though!While Van's attention span is limited to about 20 seconds he sure gets a kick out of panfish at the end of a line! We have been going to the local stocked pond that has a number of areas on shore that we can stop at. We usually make the 1-mile loop in about an hour to keep him interested. Hopefully as time progresses Van will be able to last a little longer, handle the rod himself, and then pickup a fly rod! All in good time I suppose!

I hope to have more fly fishing trips posted soon...cross your fingers.

Delaney Buttes 5/15 & 5/16

2010-05-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

Made the trip up to Delaney Buttes last weekend to fish with Dave, Wade, and Jeff hoping to hook into some hot Spring action. We had contemplated hitting up Antero or Spinney but had heard such mixed reports we decided Delaney was the way to go.

I arrived at South lake about 8am to the scene above looking north from the south side of South Delaney. It was snowing off and on with some serious gusts of wind, shocking, and got quite cold. The sideways snow proved too much for my "waterproof" jacket, but it wasn't too bad if you took a few breaks out of the water.

On my second cast I landed a decent sized Cutt on a grey chironomid. A few casts later I caught what turned out to be my biggest fish of the day, above, on the same fly, the fish weighed in at about 4 lbs and 20". As tough as the weather was it allowed for a little chop on the water which helped the fishing. When the wind died down at times it was tough to hookup.

Dave and Wade showed up about 9am or so. Wade was able to land a nice Cuttbow on the grey Chiro.

Here's Dave with a yellow Bow that looked like it had been in a few fights. It was a pretty fish, but scratched up presumably from the spawn. He jizzed all over Dave while Wade took the picture. Nice hook jaw though. Overall, the fishing on Saturday was a little slow but we all got well into double digit fish and each netted a 4-5 lbs trout. Most of the fish landed were taken from the north cove of South Delaney on grey Chiro's and were all about 12-14" Cutts. We must have gotten into a year class as it was pretty consistent for a while. A few bigger Cutts took egg patterns, but most on the Chiro.

This was the hot pattern, though a grey version. It's Craven's Jumbo Juju Chiro. Dave and I tied it a little differently as we didn't epoxy (used Hard as Nails) and didn't include the gill tuft. It's an easy tie and was quite productive in size 12-14.

Jeff made it up just in time to strip streamers on North Delaney. Here's the group shot, not sure what my problem is, perhaps I was upset that I drank all my homebrew? North Delaney was dead. In fact I cannot confirm that there are any fish still alive in this lake the action was so slow. Hopefully it heats up soon. Everyone we talked to had the same response. Therefore we spent most of our time at South.

A little dark, but it was quite peaceful tubing North at night. After zero success on a variety of streamers I threw some mouse patterns hoping to entice a huge brown, no luck. The calm water did allow for a nice Cuban cigar though!

I had to take off home early Sunday morning but the other 3 fished all day with better luck, Dave thought everyone caught about 20 or so in similar size and fashion to Saturday's fishing.

As you can see the weather improved considerably, sorry I missed it!Dave with a solid fish from the tube!

From the "WTF is That!?" Department...

Anyhow, we had a good time, even if the fishing was a little slow. It was nice to meet Wade and Jeff, thanks for the photos Wade! I look forward to getting out to Delaney soon again, hopefully the fishing picks up a bit. After hearing Darren's report of South Park it sounds like we made the right decision.

Lincoln Hills - South Boulder Creek

2010-05-13T06:27:00.001-07:00

I was fortunate enough to tag along with my friend Tyson up to Lincoln Hills Fly Fishing Club yesterday. In case you aren’t familiar with it Lincoln Hills is a 2.5 mile private stretch of South Boulder Creek between Pinecliffe and Rollinsville and owned and maintained by Matthew Burkett and The Fly Fisher LTD http://www.theflyfisher.com/ and chuck full of wild trout. It’s also extremely convenient in that it’s less than an hour from downtown.
Tyson and I know Matt from the downtown YMCA playing basketball and it was truly a pleasure to be included on the trip.

That’s the largest fish I landed all day, a 4 lbs Bow. Black Stones were the key all day, the fish just hammered them, tons of nymphs in the river .The Black Stone > Black Stone combo was deadly! Overall Tyson and I landed about 20 fish each in about 5 hours. I easily lost the same amount, a little rusty on my timing. Guess I need to get out more!

Here’s Tyson’s largest of the day, nice 5 lbs beauty!

Apparently being 7 feet tall allows you to maintain a perfect drift as Tyson was slaying them! Not bad for a guy who hasn’t fished since high school.
They have done a fantastic job maintaining a powerhouse of a fishery. They amount of food available to these trout was unreal. They grow some pigs as you can see by this fish Matt landed which weighed in at just over 12 lbs and 30”:

If you’re able to hook up with Matt or The Fly Fisher I’d highly recommend it. They offer first class services and we had a great time. Easily the best food I’ve have been served on a guided trip, hands down! I can still taste the smoked brisket. The fishing at Lincoln Hills is fantastic as well especially considering it’s only an hour from downtown!
Oh yeah, Matt’s famous!

Trips To Take: Bolivian Golden Dorado

2009-12-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Trips to Take: Bolivia for Golden Dorado

The newest edition of American Angler magazine showed up in the mail last night and I was immediately drawn to the impressive photo on the cover:

I read the article and found it quite interesting. In August of 2009, American Angler contributor and filmmaker Dr. Grant Wiswell traveled to the remote Bolivian headwaters of the Amazon River on an exploratory trip in search of Golden Dorado. As I am trout fly fisherman I thought it was pretty cool how these huge Dorado behave similar to trout in the river. I can only imagine what it would have been like to cast to these huge beauties who had never seen an artificial fly before!

I did a little more research today about it, and the trip is no joke. It's an intensive trip into the middle of nowhere, in what has been called "Cocaine Country". What little reading I was able to find on the subject didn't sound all that dangerous though, but it isn't cheap. The author and a small party of angling adventurers stayed at a newly opened camp on the Itirisama River called Tsimane Lodge (http://www.tsimanelodge.com/). The lodge offers a 10-day trip, not including air time from the States to Bolivia. The site doesn't include pricing which lead me to believe it's not something I will be able to afford in the next say....20 years? Certainly not before the kids are out of college or I win big in Powerball *crosses fingers*, plenty of time to brush up on my Spanish.

Anyhow the article is interesting and I'd recommend it as it is a quick read.

Apparently they are creating a film of the journey as the trailer can be found here: http://americanangler.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1091

Yep, I am pretty sure I could handle that.

Wire, Wire, Wire

2009-12-22T06:28:00.001-08:00

I had been meaning to post something on wire ever since Brandon blogged about the Wapsi Ultra thread (http://brandon722.blogspot.com/2009/10/ultra-thread-company-by-wapsi.html) a few months back. There has been some discussion recently at RMF on the very topic which reminded me to get on it (http://rockymtnfly.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4790&hl).

When I first started tying I didn't know much about wire so I just used the Danville wire that came in my beginner's kit.

I immediately found that if not properly re-wrapped and stored the design of the Danville spool lends itself for quite a mess when the wire fell off the spool and got tangled with everything. For this reason alone I don't use Danville wire much any more, though I do have a fair amount of it. It's cheap, easy to find, and works fine as long as you store it properly though I make enough of a mess tying and don't bother with the tangles any longer.

I quickly discovered UTC Ultra Wire, the key material for Barr's Copper John, which is my primary wire of choice now simply because of the size and color options available (see chart below):

Charlie's Flybox (a.k.a. the greatest place ever http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/) carries just about every spool available for a decent price. My tying cabinet is now stock full of a variety of colors and sizes, though I always seem to accumulate more. I really like the UTC wire as it is easy to use and store and doesn't come untangled nearly as easily as the Danville wire has for me. Plus with the size and color combinations the possibilities are endless. Brassie size is perfect for hook sizes 18-22. For sizes 16 and up, and for stonefly and streamer ribbing, go to "Medium". Small size ultra wire is perfect for ribbing Gold Ribbed Hare's Ears, Zug Bugs, etc. I use X-Small for tying Zebra Midges, and for midge patterns smaller than #20.

More recently I have begun using Largatun Non-Tarnishing Wire. I am not as familiar with the options and colors available, though I think Largatun makes a fine product though it's a little more expensive. They make a wire even smaller than UTC that is easily manipulated. I have stocked up on a few spools, particularly of their X-Fine size because it's smaller than the X-SM UTC wire and less messy than Danville. I really like the sheen of the wire, which apparently comes from the amount of polished precious metals, and it seems to hold up better than Danville. The length of wire on each spool is 7 yds. for small size, 10 for fine and 15 for X–fine and is available in 3 finishes: cold, silver, and copper.

According to Scruffy Fly of RMF, the diameters of some of the different sizes are as follows:

UltraWire XSM = .004"

Largartun Fine = .005"

Danville Fine = .005"

UltraWire SM = .007"

Largartun SML = .007"

34 gauge = .007"

UltraWire BR = .009"

Dnvl Brassie = .009"

UltraWire MED = .013"

The only other wire I have been using is a lead-free wire wrapped to add weight to nymphs and streamers. I know Hareline and a variety other companies put similar wire out. I got a whole box with a variety of sizes from Cabela's a few years back and haven't had a need to replace anything yet. Lead-Free = Good.

The Hatch

2009-12-11T12:24:00.001-08:00

"Once a year, an epic insect hatch invades Colorado's Black Canyon sending tingles down the spine of every trout and every fisherman who brave the nearly vertical 2,000 foot scramble into the Gunnison River gorge. This film is a tribute to this incredible place and the people who will fight for it's future as a unique ecosystem."

I recently purchased my own copy of "The Hatch" documentary which was produced and directed by Travis Rummel and Ben Knight and available through Felt Soul Media http://www.feltsoulmedia.com/main.html and absolutely loved. It's only about 18 minutes in length but is very well made. The documentary centralizes around the annual Pteronarcys californica (salmonfly) hatch along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Having experienced this unreal hatch first hand I can tell you this documentary does a great job of capturing the awesome chaos that unfolds during the hatch.

While the film focuses on the beauty of the Gunnison River as it flows through the Black Canyon and has a great deal of fantastic fish, huge salmon flies, and breathtaking scenery, the underlying message is the extreme importance of water conservation. It is rather disturbing to think about how much water we waste and it's impacts not only on the Gunnison but all other rivers. The film does a great job explaining how our water consumption can devastate such a pristine environment and experience the Gunnison offers today.

"Fly fishing to me is something that is so special that I don't like to share my section of stream with a lot of other people, and that's my love of the Gunnison." - Woody Pattishall

Best Documentary Gotham Film Fest NYV 2005, Official Selection: Banff Film Festival, Banff World Tour, Telluride Mountain Film Festival, Taos Film Festival, Durango Independent Film Festival.

Size Conversion

2009-12-09T09:35:00.001-08:00

SwitterB posted the above graphics on his blog and I am posting them here really for my own reference for no other reason than I am too lazy to consult with a ruler to determine millimeter to inch conversion and appropriate bead or hook sizes.

High Alpine Trout

2009-11-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

The above video was posted over at the Rocky Mountain Fly. Pretty cool stuff. I would love to make this trip or one like it sometime. Some really fat Goldens caught up here on the video. He even goes through items he brings on his high alpine lake hikes, which I found interesting and helpful.

Zach Even Art is a pretty cool site, too.

South Park

2009-11-13T05:55:00.000-08:00

Hit the Dream Stream, finally, with Dave. Got there about 7:45am and was 3rd car in the lot. The other two guys were practically standing on top of each other at the hole beneath the bridge. We walked all the way down to Elevenmile and worked our way back in search of Kokanee. On the way down we spooked a bunch which were sitting in skinny water and riffles. Also on the way down my rubber net apparently eroded it's screw away and has been lost somewhere on Spinney Mountain Ranch - not cool. Anyhow, as we worked our way back we saw a lot of the resident trout and a couple large Bows but the only Brown we saw was a very diseased fish sitting inverted in the water column, clearly on its last legs.
The Kokanee had moved from the riffles to deeper pools by the time we were making it back. They seemed to frequent the sporadic assortment of white rocks on the stream bed. As the majority of the Dream Stream is weeds, silt, and darker rocks it made sighting the fish pretty simple, really. Dave sight-casted to one who took his Orange Stimulator on the first cast. It turned out to be the only Koke we landed all day. I thought it was odd that drowning a Stimi with a splitshot a few inches in front of it would trigger a strike, evidently it did. The Koke was dropping eggs like crazy. It was interesting that they looked almost identical in color, shape, and clarity to the eggs dropped by the Rainbows at Delaney a couple weeks back.
We continued up stream and ran into a huge elk likely dieing in the field just south of the river. Pretty impressive animal, but it looked like he too was diseased or had been shot and wandered to this spot. He repeatedly stood up and laid down, but that was about it. One of the gentlemen who pointed the elk out to us mentioned that we would contact the DOW about the wounded elk.

After speaking a couple friendly local guys we ran into it sounds like the Browns have returned to Elevenmile and the Kokanee run just isn't what is was a couple years back, though better than last year. When I fished for them in 2007 flows were around 150cfs, which may or may not effect the salmon run? Sounds like we missed prime time by a couple weeks tops, flows were 73 cfs which are a little low. I have heard rumors that the gill lice really affected the Elevenmile Kokes so it was good to see at least a few in the river.

We didn't really fish for the trout in the river due to the ridiculous amount of people on the water so we decided to try the our luck at Spinney. Our lot had grown to at least 15 vehicles and there were now a good dozen people fishing the hole under the bridge! We saw a guy fighting a fish and stuck around because the way he was acting as though it was sure to be a trophy. Turned out to be a 6" whopper and we promptly left. Headed over to Spinney by the dam.

I have fished Spinney more times than I can count but never this late in the year so we were pretty blind. Tried by the Dam and South Ramp with little luck so we decided to move over to the main ramp as we had seen some risers on the way in. Started out slow there, too, but all of a sudden we started landing fish after fish all of which were 12" carbon copies of each other. It took us a few minutes to realize this sudden pick-up in action was perhaps directly due to the fact a large DOW truck from the hatchery was unloading into the lake, lol. After a pretty slow day it was pretty entertaining to catch eager fish cast after cast after cast, even if they were stockers. I had been told that the often caught Spinney Bows that have stubs as fins and are clearly beaten up were due to run ins with the Pike. This is clearly not the case because these stockers bear the same damage. Dave and I figured this was probably due to living in the concrete channels (or whatever they are called) at the hatchery. I found this interesting. I contacted the Park to get more information on the truck and this is the response I received:

"That truck was the last of several trucks that just stocked 45,000 - twelve inch - Hofer X Harrison Rainbow Trout. These are 3 year old fish from the Rifle Fish Hatchery. We have found that this cross (Hofer X Harrison) grow longer that previous strains stocked. "

I am quite excited to see how big these Hofer/Harrison bows can get! The current fish are fatties but only grow to average about 20" though I have caught fish up to 22.5" and heard of bows landed in the 24" range. If the little guys are any indication of the new strain's potential, they have a voracious appetite and will grow quickly under the ice this winter. Hopefully the Pike's metabolism has slowed and this new arsenal of Bows can dominate Spinney in the coming years.

Side note: Tons of hunters around today, far more than I have ever heard out there.

Did You Know...

2009-11-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

I was reading up on the Colorado Division of Wildlife website about Spinney Reservoir and I came across the above graphic which had been included on an old Fishery Management Plan for Spinney. I thought it was an interesting tidbit of information, kinda cool!

The Fishey Management Plan, though outdated, was also pretty interesting:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/NR/rdonlyres/8ACE44A5-2B96-4F7E-A610-98742AF67981/0/SpinneyMtnResMngmtPlan.pdf

Stillwater Sam

2009-11-04T06:26:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, Sam, was kind enough to help me tie one of his patterns he uses on stillwater. Since I am not sure what he calls it, I creatively dubbed it Stillwater Sam - I hope you don' mind, Sam. Below are my takes on his pattern and I am excited to get out and try them. As the pattern is not my own I don't feel comfortable posting the recipe, but you can get a pretty good idea:

Cool Flies

2009-10-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Vasies Pupa Pattern by Lucian Vasies

Came accross this fly at SwittersB's blog and thought it was very interesting. I have not seen a fly with a braided flash back wing case before and I like the ribbing idea - very cool. Fact of the matter is the whole pattern was foreign to me, check out the tutorial:

http://www.flytying.ro/masa_muscarului/article.php?id=329

I can't read any of it, as it is Romanian, but you can figure it out.

Here's the recipe...you're on your own for the translation.

Materiale: Carlig Caddis #14 Daiichi D1130
Ata: de corp Devaux galbena si 17/0 UniThread
Coada: barbule de cocos de Leon sau cocos indian
Subcorp: ata de corp Devaux
Corp: lurefil oliv
Torace: dubbing super nymph sau din ureche de iepure amestecat cu super sintetic nymph dubbing
Gheb: barbule de fazan sau pearl scudback
Greutate: bila de tungsten de 3mm

Wyoming Cutt Slam

2009-10-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

Something I would like to do in the near future over a couple seasons is the State of Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Cutt Slam program. What you do is catch Wyoming's four cutthroat sub-species in their native range in Wyoming, document the catches with pictures and submit the application. In return they send the above certificate detailing your catch. I think it's a pretty cool program the state puts on, I wish Colorado had something similar! I have been told to expect to drive all over the state, but I figure that's the point of the program to see Wyoming and these fish in their native habitat.

Here's a map of the relative range of each species:

More info:

http://gf.state.wy.us/services/customers/cuttslam/index.asp

101+ Places to take a Kid Fishing in Colorado

2009-10-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

http://wildlife.state.co.us/apps/101Places/101PlacesV4.html

Interactive map of places accross the state recommended to take kids fishing.

Cutthroat Chapter Trout Unlimited Auction

2009-10-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Usually a good time with some cool stuff.

Also very entertaining to watch Doug blow through a grand on trips he never takes!

Kevin Birznieks Taxidermy/Photography

2009-10-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.freestonefineart.com/

Kevin came very highly recommended to me by the guys over at Rocky Mountain Fly. I asked him to create a mount of a large Bow I released from Spinney a couple years ago based on measurements and pictures. It turned out great.

I would pass on the recommendation to anyone looking for a mount, and hope to send more business back to Kevin as soon I catch a qualifying fish!

Kevin has won numerous awards for his work and is also an accomplished photographer.

Below are photos of the Bow Kevin did for me, I took one of the head and tail to show the detail.

Jason Jagger Photography

2009-10-27T09:40:00.001-07:00

http://jasonjaggerphoto.com/

If you aren't familiar with Jason Jagger's photography I'd highly recommend checking it out at the link above. I was lucky enough to be the high bidder on one of his prints last year in which an unsuspecting Callibaetis was about to become a snack for a nice trout. It is currently hanging on my wall.

You've probably seen his work at Charlie's and various other outlets.

Dude must have ridiculous patience.

Gummi Egg Pattern

2009-10-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the patterns that were so productive at Delaney. The first is an apricot colored gummi egg tied on a size 16 TMC 2488. This fly originally had a veil but the veil was snipped.

Here is the kiwi colored gummi with the veil. This fly is slightly larger, 4mm egg tied on a size 12 TMC2488. The veil is simple egg veil material.

This is the gummi material used to tie the patterns. It could be easier, you just tie in some veil on the hook behind the eye, then put a drop of zap-a-gap on the shank where the egg will go, slide the gummi egg over the eye and bring the veil forward to tie off.

Note: I would add an extra drop of zap-a-gap behind the egg once completed. I had a problem with the egg sliding down towards the bend after the fish would hit it a few times. I missed a couple fish I beleive because the egg slid too far to get an acceptable hook set.

Delaney Buttes

2009-10-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

Fished Delaney with Brandon, Scott, John W., and Dave Thursday night into Friday morning. We didn't have much luck on North but caught a bunch of Bows and Cuttbows in South. Egg patterns seemed to be the ticket. The most successful pattern was a gummi egg either with a veil or without. Evidently the Bows are spawning, too, as evidenced by the number of eggs dumped on John's leg. Interesting coloration in my opinion. The males were jizzing all over us, too.

Tried to troll huge streamers for big Browns in North Thursday night. We weren't able to land anything, but I got the hardest strike in my life, had the monster on for a second or two before the 4x snapped - but after catching a bunch of 18 inchers it was definitely a different caliber. Oh well, he's still in there for next year.

Rio Grande June 2009

2009-07-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

My buddy Brandon recommended that I start a blog to chronicle my fishing adventures, so here we go!

After leaving early to fish Antero, which was less than stellar. I had the opportunity to fish the Rio Grande in June. We stayed in Creede, Colorado, which is beautiful and you should make the trip should you find yourself able to do so.

The wind was unlike anything I had ever fished in my life. Even the guide who had fished the canyon for over 20 years said it was the worst he had ever seen! Oh well, such is fishing - it was better than staring at the computer screen from behind a desk.

We threw big bugs (#2 Sofa Pillows and Stones) as close to the banks as we could muster in the wind. Saw a number of Pteronarcys hatching and bumbling around, but not many risers. Caught our fair share of Bows and Browns.

Ultimately, we missed the prime water by about a week according to the locals and guides as the water was still too high after all the moisture from this past winter and spring. It was however a great trip and we had a great time.

Note: When fishing with Doug you must expect him to show up 9 tall rum and cokes down upon arrival. That is just how it's done.