My dear friend's Adam and Mary went to the Humane Society 12 years ago strictly to look at what kinds of dog's were there. They quickly found Simon. Simon was a mut and the only details they could find out about him was that he was picked up as a stray and he was probably about 6 months old. They took him back to their new house over in St. Charles and he settled right in. Soon...Adam, Mary and Simon welcomed two beautiful girls into their lives. First there was Maya and then came Morgan. Eventually they moved to a new house and continued to experience all that life had to offer them.
Simon looked like he had a lot of Yellow Lab in him but his body was that of a Corgi. He was real low to the ground and aerodynamic. He liked playing fetch and barking. He had an ear piercing bark. When he sat down, he would do this thing where he leaned and his right leg would always stick out just like a kickstand. It always made us all laugh. Simon was fearless. The first time he met Dharma, he put her right in check. When he met Bodhi, he was unsure of him but he didn't ever try a full on attack. Simon liked bacon. And chicken. And turkey. And hot dogs. And anything else that found the floor.
About 6 weeks ago, Simon was slowing down and not looking his normal self. They loaded him up and took him back to the same Humane Society so the doctor's could look at him. He was diagnosed with cancer. Simon and his family have been in our thoughts more than normal ever since. This morning I was out in the garage cleaning up and I was thinking about him. I meant to call Adam to check on him and just didn't. Tonight the phone rang and I knew the news before Adam even said anything. Everyone had taken half the day off to go home and spend some final hours with Simon before taking him back to the Humane Society. Simon lived a better life than many dog's will ever know is possible. I know he gave more to my friends than most dog's will ever provide. You will be missed dearly Simon. May you forever relax in fields of green. You were loved.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday morning
Pikes Peak looked pretty amazing this morning when I went to take the dogs outside. It looked the same as I was leaving for work so I snapped a photo of it. It's not the greatest picture but it's not the worst either. The wind was blowing hard above treeline. It was actually a really nice day today here in town but we are supposed to get hammered tonight with anywhere from 5" to a bagillion feet of snow.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Good to get out
Saturday morning the flows at Spinney Ranch were approaching 50 and that's not much water. I met Scott at the Gill Trail at about 10:30 under overcast skies and temps in the mid-30's. There was only about 6 other vehicles in the lot and we started in at about 11. Once you get down into the canyon, you can walk downstream for a few hundred yards until you come to a fence that runs all the way across the river to keep mortals like me out of a very private place called the Wig Wam Club. Every once in a while you'll get some of the bigger German Browns from that club that will wander up or down stream to get away from the snobs but not often. We don't usually go down that far but we decided to today. I think Scott was actually thinking about climbing the fence. I stayed a bit upstream and waded in.
The flows were 152 when I left the house. If you can catch trout in Cheeseman, you can catch them anywhere in the world. It's tough but in the winter time, it's really tough. Snow was on the way and visibility was making it like trying to spot fish in a muddy river. Scott got into one pretty quickly but couldn't seal the deal. I am a bit of a snob when it comes to trout in that I don't like to waste time throwing flies to water that just looks fishy. I gotta have a target. So I tend to cover ground quickly. I also tend to not want to leave when I do find a decent fish. It wasn't long before I found a really nice deeper pool that held half a dozen rainbow's. I watched for a while but they just didn't look like they were eating at all. I decided to try anyways. After an hour and probably a dozen different flies, changes in the depth, a fuzz more weight, a sip of Jim Beam, I finally hooked one. It didn't last long though before she threw the hook. I still say it was a foul hook cuz I never saw a flash or the white of her mouth so I wasn't disappointed. We eventually decided to move further upstream. We actually saw quite a few nice fish throughout the day but they just didn't look to be feeding. When a trout stays in the exact same spot (doesn't move 6-8" up in depth or 6-8" either way periodically) they've got lockjaw. It seemed that being able to spot fish was just a win for the day. At one point, I was on top of a rock looking down into a deeper hole. I swear I had scanned the area for a full 2 minutes before I saw a rainbow right in front of me that taped at 16-18". I reached to unhook my fly from a guide and glanced that way for a fraction of a second and...she was gone. I never even saw her leave.
Right as the real snow started to move, we hunkered down in some large rocks and drank a beer and had lunch.
It was good to get out but it was a frustrating day in terms of fishing. There's not much a guy can do when a trout is set up in a slow moving run. In these conditions, they get all day long to check out your junk so it better be good. If the fly is a size too big or small, if they see your leader, if the color is wrong, you're busted. Normally we run a rig that is sub-surface out here. Once you get your depth set up, you run a weight about 14" up from a fly. Then we run another fly about 14" down from the lead fly. On some rivers (like the Taylor) the trout know that weight = false food. When they see weight, they slide out of the way and then go right back into their feeding lane. As frustrating as that can be, you know it's gonna a tough day when the trout just up and leave when they see your weight. That's how things went for us.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Tying up some stuff
I've been completely focused on fishing this week. I don't know what's going on but I gotta get a fix. I'm like a crack head lookin' for a rock. The new issue of Catch Magazine is out and there is a blond gal who lives up in Alaska and she knows how to throw a spey rod like no one's business and I have been wearing that video OUT!!! She makes multiple double digit Steelhead write bad checks. I was planning on going up to Spinney Ranch and seeing what was up tomorrow. I've been watching the flows. For about a week straight it was right at 150 cubic feet per second. This isn't great but I'll take it for this time of year. A few days ago it dropped to 100cfs. Last night it dropped to 58cfs. I'm bitter about this. The water will be gin clear under these conditions. A blind man should be able to sight big fish but...they are going to be very spooky. Sometimes under these conditions you can be walking upstream and see a nice fish and then get down and crawl to it but they can dart off when you go to backcast. That's the worst.
We're also supposed to get snow tomorrow and that can make sighting fish a little harder too. My buddy Scott is coming down from Denver and we're gonna meet up and hike down into Cheeseman Canyon. This afternoon it was flowing at 170ish which is ok but the canyon can be brutal this time of year. Anyway's...since I had planned on going to Spinney Ranch, I tied up some flies for that location. It's been a while since I've tied anything. I love tying flies. Scott texted me after I had already started working and we changed locations but that's ok. These are #22 hooks. Here's how things started out.
I tried desperately to get more pics of the process but for some reason, I couldn't do it. Don't know why the camera cooperated so much for the first one. These are some of the finished ones. This fly is called Pearl Jam. It imitates a stage in the life of a natural fly (deer flies, gnats, skeeters, etc.). Natural flies make up close to half of all the food in the trout's diet in the South Platte River. These little guys have tubed bodies and kind of resemble worms at this stage. 22's are very small. These are sitting on a laminated business card so the size of those letters gives you an idea.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
News
The good news is that we had the day off today because of the wind chills and just got the call for another day off tomorrow. Tonight the temps are supposed to be -20 to -40. It was about -10 today before the windchill. Ya know it's cold when Bodhi has to get carried back in the house and has no interest at all in playing ball. I spent a little time outside swinging an axe extra hard and even that was cold.
The bad news is that today I discovered that I lost one of my favorite knives. It was a Gerber folding blade. It was the first gift that Heather bought for me. I lost it on my ride the other day. I hope the person that finds it doesn't cut their finger off with it. I suppose I'll have to replace it though and that's not all bad.
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