fly fishing Archives - Fly Fishing T-Shirts and Cool Fly Fishing Apparel from The Fly Trout

Posted on September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

My Sweet Summer is Gone

All winter I look forward to summer for camping and warm weather fly fishing. Pretty much every weekend was filled with one of the two or both. I had planned on posting about every trip, but between printing and shipping t-shirts, tying flies, and the trips themselves, there just wasn’t enough time! So here is a bunch of photos from the summer. Stay Fly.

Jason starts off the Summer with a nice bow and his Colorado hat.

Vinny catching one on the fly.

Teaching Vinny how to catch them on the fly

About a million bluegills were caught that day.

Nice hike with the family.

Jason with a little brown in his Trout Names Trucker.

Vinny showing off a stocker at Hahn’s Peak Lake.

Early morning bow.

Breakfast is ready.

Nice cutt in the Grand Mesa.

Girls fish too!

Bringing local brew to the mountains.

A boy and his brookie.

Tangled up beaver pond bow.

Big bows live in Spinney Mountain.

Jimmy posing in front of his grandpa’s camo pop-up.

Jimmy posing in front of my dad's pop up

Sweet looking brookie.

Shiny little brown.

The Ark.

Small creeks and glass rods are a blast.

This dude looks like he was hand-painted.

Camp nachos.

Pajama fishing. To infinity and beyond!

Beer. It’s what’s for breakfast.

Campfire carving.

Rainbows on a sunny day.

A little whiskey by the fire.

Get that fire going.

Ending the summer on some hoppers!

Now it’s time for some fall fishing. Peace out summer.

Posted on April 9, 2014June 3, 2014 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Splish Splash See Ya

I took my 8-year-old fly fishing for a couple hours last weekend and we had a great time. We went to Bear Creek to see if we could hook up with a few browns and that we did. It’s a pretty small creek with a lot of trees so I did most of the casting. I really need to take him to the park so we can work on his casting. I told him that and he was like “why would we go to the park to cast? There’s no water there.” I explained him that if we work on it there, when we get to a river or lake it won’t be so frustrating. Anyway we hooked up with a few and probably should have got some more, but I was ill-prepared with my BWO selection. The ones I had with me were just too big. Sometimes you just don’t have the right bugs to Match the Hatch. Check out the short video clip that he helped film. Stay Fly.

Little man holding my Blue Halo rod.

Posted on August 21, 2013June 2, 2014 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Get Lost

A few weekends ago my buddy Esteban and I decided to go on a short backpacking trip in the Lost Creek Wilderness in Colorado. This area is pretty popular because it’s not too far from Denver and there is an abundance of hiking trails. The plan was to get up early, drive to the trail head, hike until we found a good spot to set up camp, then fish the creek the rest of the day. The plan was going flawlessly until the rains came. Luckily the rain didn’t come until the afternoon giving us a few hours of fast and furious dry fly action. Those little brookies were slammin’ our dries on what seemed like every cast. Even though we didn’t get to fish as much much as I would have liked it was a great time being out in the wilderness. Check out some of the pictures from the trip. Stay fly.

Esteban at the trailhead.

Me at the trailhead.

The Lost Creek Valley

Gettin ready to rips some lips.

Big hopper, little brookie

Sweet colors on these little guys

Fire stayed lit even in the rain.

Posted on July 29, 2013October 25, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Free Camping, Fly Tying and Fly Fishing

The weekend before last we packed up the kids and dogs and decided to camp somewhere we had never been. We drove up north past the quaint little town of Granby to Denver Creek Campground. When we arrived we weren’t that impressed so we decided to head up a forest road and find a free spot in the national forest. And boy did we find something good! This spot had a nice fire ring, some logs that were perfect for tables and a noisy little stream just down the hill to lull us to sleep at night. Camping in the forest as opposed to a paid campground is the way to go. The dogs can roam free and there’s not a soul around. Here are some shots from the trip. Stay Fly.

No leash necessary. This dude loves to run.

This little creek flowed about 50 yards away from our tent. No luck fishing here but we did have some luck at the bigger creek down the road.

Mountain sunsets can be pretty amazing.

Tying up some bugs at the campfire with my Colorado Cap and my Colorado brew …

…and the finished products.

Fly fishing lessons.

Nice little brookies in Willow Creek. This muchacho has a Troutstache.

Posted on July 3, 2013July 5, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Camping on the Conejos

Over the weekend the family and I went down south to meet my dad and his girlfriend for some camping and some fly fishing. Last year we had a great time camping right off the Conejos River so we decided to repeat. This year, like last, we had some rain showers which were nice for keeping the temperature down, but did limit the time on the water. In the morning before the rains came there were some pretty nice Green Drake hatches. Funny thing is that I didn’t catch a thing during those hatches! I couldn’t set a hook to save my life. I had a ton of strikes over the weekend but I was only able to bring one into my net, and that was at dusk right when the rain stopped with very few bugs on the water. Here are some pictures from the trip. Stay fly.

Checking out the river with my Trout Names shirt and blue hat.

View of the river from above.

Tying up some bugs at the campsite.

My dad’s sweet camo popup tent. He did that himself!

Having a brew on the river.

The only fish landed all weekend.

Posted on June 23, 2013June 24, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Rusty Dry Fly Action

I went down to Bear Creek on Friday afternoon hoping for some dry fly action and action was what I got. Nothing beats watching a hungry fish attacking your hand-tied fly floating down the river! The small browns in the stream were keen on my elk hair caddis flies, but man was I pretty slow on the hook sets. I was able to bring in three little dudes, but there were countless other strikes that I couldn’t close the deal on. Stay fly.

It’s always fun using the fiberglass rod.

These guys were quite skinny and very hungry.

I tested the American Trout t-shirt and it passed with flying colors.

Posted on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Two Weekends Two Canyons

The last two weekends I have fished the same river but in two different canyons. The first was Eleven Mile Canyon. I had never fished that section of the South Platte before, but wanted to give it a whirl because I had heard the fishing is usually pretty decent there. And what I had heard was correct. The flows were low and the river was crystal clear. I was able to land four nymphing with a size 20 top secret midge in the morning and one with a comparadun dry in the afternoon. The only frustration came when a nice BWO hatch went off and the damn fish were refusing my flies! I saw several fish swim up to my flies and turn away in disgust. I’m not quite sure if it was my line or my fly or what, but it sure was hard to be rejected so many times.

This last weekend we headed to Cheesman Canyon. I have fished here several times and every time I am captivated by the beauty of this fishery. Don’t get me wrong Eleven Mile is also pretty, but there is something about Cheesman. Maybe it’s because there is not a road along the river. Or maybe it’s because you have to hike in and work a little to get to fishing. In any case, it’s a great place to be. As always there were a ton fish to be caught. And as always, they were tough to catch. After hiking around and getting rigged up and fishing a bit with no action I decided to climb up on some boulders and see if I could locate some fish. I happened upon a nice pool with probably ten nicely sized trout. I was able to land one out of that pool and hooked up with four more. Two shook free and two broke off. Not a very good batting average, but it was still a fun time.

For some sweet fishing and amazing scenery I’d definitely recommend checking out one of the canyons of The South Platte. Stay Fly.

Pretty sweet spot next to a canyon wall – Eleven Mile

Esteban with a Colorado shirt and a Colorado brew – Eleven Mile

Slap me some fin – Eleven Mile

Stayin’ fly with a brown trout – Eleven Mile

Sweet view – Cheesman

A great morning in Colorado with one of my brown buddies – Cheesman

Posted on April 27, 2013June 3, 2014 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Deckers

I have been wanting to hit up the Deckers area of the South Platte River during the week to avoid the masses. And Thursday my buddy Jason and I did just that. We both skipped out on work to fish and what a great spring-like day it was. The weather was great and I was able to show off one of our shirts to the trout. From what I could tell I think they liked the newest addition. I mean how could they not? It was created in their honor!

As far as the fishing went, I was only able to land three. But considering the low water I was pretty happy with that. I was also quite happy to hook up with a couple on top. You gotta love some spring dry fly action! Jason, sadly still has the taste of skunk in his mouth. If you have read any other of my blog posts when we’ve fished together, you know that he is not much of a fly fisherman and has been doing well with lures. Thursday those trout weren’t interested in his Rapala. He did make the smart move and switch up to the fly rod, but his only good chance at landing a fish ended with him setting the hook a little too hard. That actually is an understatement. It was the end of the day, he got a little excited and set that hook as though he had a Great White hitting his fly! Hopefully he will do some more fly fishing and learn to be a little more gentle. Here are some shots from the day. Stay Fly.

Posted on April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Trout Brunch

Saturday morning I went up to Bear Creek and started fishing around 9. For the first two and half hours nothing. No catches, no bites, nothing. At about 10:30ish I make my way towards part of the creek that is near the road and I run into this man and his teenage son. He was friendly enough and asks how the fishing is.

I said “so far it’s really slow.” He said “lemme take a look at what you are using.” I showed him my set up. A little comparadun, which I put on there as my indicator, and a mercury baetis nymph. He then proceeds to tell me “That’s too big. Midges are what you need to be using. Yeah midges.” I was like “I tried some midges earlier and didn’t have any luck so I have been switching it up.” Then he was like “They’re eating midges right now. I think you should switch to midges. Yeah maybe you should try up at Lair O the Bear (which is just a little up the road) you might have better luck up there.”

Now believe me I am no expert fly fisherman and I welcome all the helpful tips I can get, but the way he kept saying the word midges, just really got under my skin! After about an hour of intentionally not using any midges, I switched back to a blood midge and after like 10 casts, fish on. I am not sure what the moral of the story is but, it seems that trout like brunch because they didn’t start eating until the late morning and they dined on some eggs and bloody midges! Stay fly.

Posted on March 27, 2013March 27, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Visiting New Mexico

Over the weekend we went south to visit my dad in the Land of Enchantment. I have never been fishing down there and wanted to give it a go. My dad lives in Santa Fe and the closest rivers to fly fish are the Pecos River and the Rio Grande, both are about an hour drive from his place. So on Friday we decided to try out the Rio near Pilar, NM and we both had no luck. He’s not a fly fisherman so he was trying lures and bait. I tried eggs, midges, streamers, san juan worms, and nymphs. Pretty much anything but dries and all to no avail. We only fished for a couple of hours because of the terrible wind, but it was nice to get out there try a new river. Hopefully I’ll get back there when conditions are little nicer.

This was pretty sweet. My dad just bought a new compound bow while I was down there visiting and we were testing it out in the back yard. He took a couple shots, then on the third shot it made a weird sound. When we went to see the target we were both in disbelief. He hit the arrow inside of another one. I don’t think he could do that again if he tried.

Posted on March 8, 2013March 8, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Pre-Spring Fly Fishing

On Sunday we went out to the only mountain river I have been to this winter, the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon. The good news is that I was able to use my new rod and reel and try out some streamers I tied up. The bad news is that I need to learn how to use these big ole flies. I know that tiny midges are usually the name of the game in this heavily-fished tailwater, but I wanted to try my luck with streamers for a couple of reasons. Number one, I just got a new Redington CPX rod with the Lamson Konic reel and wanted to fish with the new set up. It’s fun using new gear, right?? Number two, the last time I went to Cheesman, I went with my buddies Jason and Esteban and Jason caught a couple using Rapalas. So I thought, “I’ll just tie up some streamers and slay ’em!” WRONG. Those fish saw my streamers and (in an English accent) were like “This old chap has to be mad. We are a civilized bunch. We don’t eat fillet o’ fish. We eat caviar and petite midges.” Needless to say I didn’t have a bite. How did Jason and Esteban do you ask? Esteban also got a case of the skunk flu. And of course Jason, with his trusty Rapala, was able to bring in two nice browns.

My shirt didn’t help my skunk.

Jason likes to show off.

Posted on February 14, 2013February 14, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Valentine’s Day

Last year on Valentine’s Day I wrote about how I love trout. While that remains true, I would like to expand my love for trout to other fish and fly fishing in general. I decided to come with a shirt design to show my love for fly fishing to be ready for this special day of love. At first I tried to create one that was similar to the “I Heart NY” style, but instead of the heart it was the Fly Trout logo and instead of NY it said fly fishing. The completed design read “I The Fly Trout Fly Fishing.” I went through all the steps creating the film, burning the screen and then printing a sample. And after all was said and done I didn’t like it. So back to the drawing board.

I thought long and hard about what people do when they love something and the light bulb went off. They get tattoos! Now to come up with a cool tattoo style design. I decided on a traditional “Mom” style tattoo. You know, the kind with the word MOM on top of a heart and sometimes other cool stuff around the heart. I mean that is “the” tattoo to get when you want to show your love for your mom, so it’s the way I wanted to show my love for fly fishing! Below you can see the finished product. Stay Fly.