Santa Claus is coming to town.....

Shitter's full!

Hopefully you were good and you will get all you wish.  Rods, reels, lines, waders, boots, flies, fly boxes, leaders, tippet spools, sushi rolls, Hopper Juans, Fishpond nippers, Simms packs and everything else you could think of.  Eat lots, enjoy your family and drive safe.

Almost Christmas

As I sit here writing this, I am in an area with some of the most trout infested rivers around.  The wind is howling out of the Northwest about 60 miles an hour and I didn't happen to bring any tying equipment with me for my trip.  The Animas is within an hour, the Dolores is within an hour and the San Juan is within an hour.  These are just the fishable waters in the winter.  I thought about heading out this morning but it was snowing hard.  I could go Christmas shopping, but the funding dried up around the 2nd present we bought.  To the West, the sky is clear, but the fast moving clouds hit the tall San Juan Mountains in the North and the clouds are dark and heavy.  Tomorrow is another day to try and get out on one of those rivers.  For now, I will leave you with a couple of pictures.  These are the only two on my desktop as I don't have a library on this computer.  I hope some of you are getting out and enjoying the weather!!

The Santa Hollywood Hopper

Spotted on the google webs.....

Looks like I have a good looking follower out there!

Who says it has to be Black Friday?

Black Friday, I mean Adam's Gray Friday.
I heard it was Black Friday, but I stayed in and tied a variety of patterns today, making it an Adams Gray Friday.

Hook:  TMC 100
Thread:  Gray 8/0
Tails:    Microfibbets
Body:  Natural Gray Goose Biot
Post:  Natural CDC
Hackle:  Whiting Dark Dun Neck Hackle
Thorax:  Adams Gray Superfine

Hook:  TMC 101

Thread:  Veevus 16/0 or MFC 8/0, Yellow or PMD color

Tails:  Mircofibbets

Body:  PMD Superfine 

Wing:  Natural Gray CDC tips

Tiemco 16/0 Thread

Sad news for those of you out there who have grown to love this thread.  It's being discontinued by Umpqua.  I only had a few spools of this thread and wanted more.  My plan was to buy a ton of it before it became a problem in the future.  I was just a bit late and now I have to move on.   How many times has that happened to you?  I'd try to go grab as much as you can that exists in shops near you.  

Veteran's Day 2014

Thank you.

There are many Veterans out there who fish and hunt and I just want to say thanks again for all that you do and all you have done.

The Mercury RS2

The Mercury RS2 is one of my staple patterns in my box.  It passes for so many bugs and does it really well.  It often comes out to play when I need an additional trigger such as a bit more flash in deeper water or even off colored water.  I especially like this pattern in a size 22 for trico nymph and emergers and sunk spinners.
   

Tropical moisture brings BWO out to play

When a tropical storms rolls up from the Pacific, which doesn't happen all too often, although this is the second time this year, into the Southern Rockies, it brings with it the perfect BWO weather.  What to do?  Take a few days off to throw dries.  That is what I did today and it was awesome!  I've been tying lots of different BWOs lately an they all worked great but.......I couldn't see them.  Between the rain falling and the low light, I had trouble seeing anything other than the hi-viz patterns.  I threw them all anyways and had a great day.  Check it out.

Streamers before the rain starts falling

Fall colors all along the riverside

Looking downstream

Looking upstream

Carl Pennington's Biot Emerger is one of my favorites. 

Look at the colors!

Sparkle Dun eater

My first fish on a no hackle pattern.  These things are so sexy!

The drying patch.  It was so wet today, I had trouble keeping things dry even before they hit the water.  

Tricos and Rainbows

It's been a long summer full of Tricos and the fishing has been great.  We are getting to the tail end of the hatch, but recently, the hatch and spinner fall has been awesome.  The fish are still eating hard as you can see in the video.  The bugs are small and now I am having trouble fooling them with #26 spinners.  They still eat them, but not like they were a few weeks ago.  Still, it is fun to watch such a sight.  Make sure to check out the short video with a rainbow going nuts, eating spinners.


Tricos and Rainbows on The South Platte from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

#26

The fishing has been great all year long.  The bugs are really small right now, but there are still a ton of Tricos in 11 Mile Canyon.  The fish in the picture above was caught on a #26 trico spinner by some beginner fly fisherman. It is possible to teach never evers how to cast a dry fly and catch fish on small patterns.  It helps if the clients are younger than 50 too so they can see the pattern on the water!
There is still some really good time on the water right now.  The tricks are mixed with BWOs and that makes for a great dry fly day.

PMD Sparkle Dun video

I've been tying a lot of these lately and I think I have it down.  The Sparkle Wings are excellent patterns to use during any hatch.  Tied in a PMD, as shown here, or a BWO pattern, it's hard to beat.  I threw in a little extra to try out.  Enjoy.


PMD Sparkle Dun from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

I remember

I had only seen these two buildings in pictures but I thought the simplicity of them and the height was so awesome.  Being a kid from New Mexico, I figured I'd never see them.  When I stood at the base of them, I couldn't believe it.  The height and scale of them was unbelievable.  As we drove out of the city, there they were, standing like a fourteen thousand foot peak in the middle of a small mountain range. I couldn't stop staring.  I would see them a few more times before that day they disappeared and it was always the same feeling of amazement and  wonder.  I have not been back since, but if I did, I can only imagine what it would look and feel like.  It would be as if Pikes Peak was gone, if Mt. Rainier was gone or the part of the Front Range disappeared.  One day, I will go back, but it will never be the same as I remember.