Wire, Wire, Wire

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

"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

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

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

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...

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

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: