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

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 5, 2013February 5, 2013 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Yukon Goes Fishing

Here is a really cool video that I just saw from Yukon Goes Fishing. Many of you have probably already seen it but I still thought is worth sharing:

Check out the Yukon Goes Fishing blog for more great fly fishing posts and videos.

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

Ain’t no fun if the homies don’t catch none

I went out to the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon with my buddies Esteban and Jason over the weekend. We chose Cheesman because it’s one of the few places to fish during the winter here in Colorado. It was an abnormally warm January day. The high was in the low 50s! Cheesman is already a tough place to fish, but the winter makes it even tougher because you have to use tiny little midges and if your fly isn’t real close the trout won’t budge. And Sunday was even tougher because the water wasn’t as clear as normal, making it difficult to sight fish. So needless to say, I was skunked. I had one hit, but couldn’t set the hook. And wouldn’t you know, Jason was able to catch two. What was his secret you ask? He was using a Rapala!

On the hike back Jason was drinking a beer and when he got to the last of his it he poured it out and we were like “what the heck are you doing?” He said it was just the foam. Then Esteban said he was pouring it out for his homies who didn’t catch any fish. It reminded me of the Snoop song, “It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.” And even though his homies didn’t catch none, it was still fun being out on the water. Stay fly.

Fly tying the night before.

It looked and felt like spring.

Jason with his second brown.

Posted on February 26, 2012March 4, 2012 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Today was a good day

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Yesterday a buddy and I headed to the famed South Platte river in Cheesman Canyon. This section of the South Platte is a very popular fishery because of the beautiful scenery, large trout and the proximity to Denver (just an hour drive). The downside to being so popular is the pickiness of the trout. I have read on many fishing websites and blogs that say “if you can catch a trout in Cheesman, you can catch one anywhere.” By using this logic, I cannot state with confidence that I can catch a trout anywhere.

Yesterday I was skunked. No hits, no fish on, no trout breaking off. This was my first trip to the canyon and I learned firsthand how particular these fish are. Before I went I read all the blogs, all the shop tips, everything I could on how to catch one of these finicky fishies. For the first hour or so I didn’t see any fish, but once the sun peaked over the canyon walls we finally saw a nice looking trout just chillin in a somewhat shallow run. I casted my stonefly with a top secret midge trailing to him several times and he was not interested. I then tried to get a little closer to get some video but that scared him off.

We continued up stream searching for some more fish. We found this deep pool that had two pretty good size trout just hanging out. I was excited to get another crack. Maybe that previous fish already had breakfast. So I cast my rig right over the top a bunch of times. Nothing. Not even a flinch. I began switching flies to find something they might want. I tried the stonefly, top secret midge, zebra midge, red brassie, rs2, griffith’s gnat. And my buddy, who is not a fly fisherman and just came to hang out, had is spinning rod with him and tried a couple lures just to see if they would even look at it. Nothing. We offered everything but a steak dinner to these trout and they were completely disinterested. It was a little frustrating to watch fish completely ignore the flies that are put right in front of their faces!

At this point we were getting hungry and decided to call it a day. We hiked back to the car packed up our gear and headed back to town. On the way home we talked about how crazy and frustrating it was to be ignored by those picky little fish! While driving I saw a sign that read “Today is a good day.” And I thought to myself “even though we didn’t catch those fish, today WAS a good day!”

Posted on January 29, 2012 by The Fly Trout — Leave a comment

Barren Winter Day

I haven’t done any fishing in a couple months and have never done any winter fly fishing. So I thought what better day to go than one when the temperature is in the 50s? There are only a few places you can fly fish in the winter here in Colorado because much of the water is frozen. The South Platte has a few sections of nice tailwater that isn’t frozen, Cheeseman Canyon and The Dream Stream below Spinney. I probably should have chosen one of those places to go to but instead I opted to stay in town and fish the South Platte below Chatfield. The spot that I started was pretty low and I didn’t even see a fish. As I went towards the dam it was all ice. I am not going to complain too much because I got to wear one of my Fly Shirts for the first time while fishing, but I would have been satisfied with just seeing one of my aquatic friends.