Spring Fever!

It's official, spring is here in the Colorado high country. I say this not because of the recent solstice, but due to the fact that we now have blacktop in our driveway as opposed to the skating rink I have been parking on for the past five months.
The weather in the Eagle Valley is going into the spring transition phase, which means one day it will be in the fifties and sunny and then the next morning you will wake up to six inches of snow on the deck. This kind of bi-polar weather can really get to some, but I love it.
When guiding I always say that fishing is all about transitions. Slow water to fast water, deep water to shallow water, nymph to dun,  and the list goes on. The weather is no exception. This time of year almost any type of weather is good for the fishing, be it warm sunny days or overcast snowy days and everything in between.
On the warm days I do a lot of walking the banks looking for the odd sipping trout (all you need is a size 24 Adams and a good cast to get 'em,) or an entire pod moving in the shallows. Sight fishing nymph and egg patterns without an indicator is one of my favorite tactics on these days.
When the weather is nasty and funky I will post up in faster deeper runs, focusing on long drag-free drifts. With absolutely no scientific fact to back this up beyond personal observations, some of my best days in the early spring  are when it is rather warm and puking huge wet snowflakes. The warm moist air before a big cold front triggers fish to feed while the water temps are still up, yet they know that the barometer is dropping and colder water is on the way.
A lot of people seem to put a bit too much faith in the thermometer this time of year. While water temps are very important for a number of reasons, please don't bail on a day of fishing because your thermometer is not reading above forty two degrees (or whatever your magic number is.) Think of the thermometer as a tool to help decide what type of  fly fishing you will be doing, not a tool to decide if you will fish or watch basketball all day.
Have fun out there and don't be afraid to suffer a little, hardship is often rewarded in spectacular fishing this time of year.

Free Sardines!

Mass fish kills are nothing new, and are becoming downright commonplace. Check this out, the video of the harbor is pretty wild. They also have another story about 2 million fish that died in the Chesapeake in Jan along with mass bird kills around the same time.

The end is nigh. The Mayan's were right.

Well, not really, but it makes you think. Any fisherman worth his split shot knows that we are doing irreparable damage to our fisheries on a daily basis. Fish are very susceptible to small changes in their environment (especially temperature,) and once you put one thing out of whack strange symptoms begin to appear. These occurrences should serve as a reminder that all of the world’s fisheries are close to a drastic tipping point.

At least my summer finances are looking better. I may be able to offset the $3.50 a gallon gas price with a drastic savings in sardine costs.

Well, it had to happen sometime

I used to think blogs and blogging, not to mention Facebook, Twitter and online forums were a gigantic waste of time. Now I think they are a colossal waste of time but nonetheless entertaining and (mostly when concerning fishing,) occasionally informative and helpful. Hopefully the one or two people that stumble upon this will find it occasionally informative and entertaining. When that happens I will get about 20 or 30 minutes of complete joy and satisfaction, then I will blog about it.