Another new trail

This one musta been cut pretty recently up by North Catamount Reservoir. Right in the shadow of Pikes Peak.

Untitled from Chris Neumann on Vimeo.

Music

Last night we went down to the Ancient Mariner in Manitou Springs to check out a show. It was kind of a free for all featuring The Broken Spoke (a local band and I actually work with one of the members), Tom Vandenavond, Mike Clark, and Willy Tea Taylor.

Here's a picture of Willy. I really like this guy but Heather said he was too much of a redneck. Why the hate?

The Broken Spoke (I am such a sucker for the harmonica and the steel guitar).

I had been looking forward to this show for 2 weeks. About an hour before we were going to leave, I realized that I had eaten a sandwich made of 4 week old ham during my ride. I figured I'd go to the show and try not to think about what impending doom I may be soon going through. Plus...if I were to die, at least I'd see a cool show right before and have some cold beers. It worked. Instead I woke up at 4 this morning with horrible stomach pains. I think I'm gonna be ok though. They do it in Europe all the time right? Wonder if I could eat road kill and come through alright?

Fish, miles, and smiles

Today I got out for a road ride of sorts. It kind of reminded of the road rides that Eric Cutlip does except he's faster and is out for a lot longer and he probably drinks whiskey with his lunch. I used a 26 inch, rigid SS for this ride because, without giving up any real details, it's a lot like how I may set up the Salsa eventually. The Forest Service was in the middle of a prescribed burn and the smoke got a little closer than I wanted. I brought along my fly rod and managed to fool a few small rainbows in 11 Mile Canyon. It was a glorious day to be out doing two things that dig. Enjoy the pics.

Willy "Tea"

It's been an ugly week. Heather has been outta town for work and I've had conferences. I have Friday off work and am planning on doing something super fun during the day. I'm gonna try to combine the fly rod and a bike (maybe the SS). Friday night should be fun. We're gonna check out Willy Taylor down at a small place in Manitou Springs. He's in town from California.

Not much going on in these parts. I did get out for a small SS ride tonight in jeans and old skool vans. Saw some mule deer, a bear and a killer sunset on the divide before raising a glass and then pedaling to the grocery store for banana split ingredients for some of my students tomorrow. Tonight I've just been hanging out and listening to music and enjoying time with the pups. Hope you're all well.

Check out this video of Willy. THis was shot at his place in California. They just set up a real simple mic in front of him. Sounds amazing.

Passing the time

It's 5:30 p.m. I'm sitting here in my classroom alternating between water and coffee. Tonight is the first night of parent teacher conferences. As of today I have 18 students that I am responsible for. I know of 2 more that are on the way. I talk with my parents so much that they generally don't come to see me during conferences other than to say hi. So I end up figuring out ways to pass the time. I just finished watching all three of MC's Iditatour videos again. Over a thousand miles and darn near a month of pedaling a fat bike in temps ranging from a balmy zero degrees (his words not mine) to a cold minus 40. If you haven't seen the videos, do yourself a favor and check them out. They are truly inspiring. You may not wanna go out and pedal through the Tundra after watching them but you just might appreciate whatever it is that you do next a bit more. Here's the link in case you don't know where to find them.

!!!!!!

This is NOT what you use to catch trout on Gold Medal water. I'm really hoping this was rigged with bait and used in the reservoir below and that the fish had moved up into the river recently.

BOOMMMMMM!!!!!!

I've been asking my boss to go out with me (fishing that is) for a year now but he always dodges me. Until today. He picked me up this morning and we headed to the river. He fishes a decent amount but I don't know that he ever really targets big fish exclusively but he did today. Right away I spotted 2 really nice Rainbows that were holding in a deeper pool and told him to punch in but he insisted I go first. He didn't have to ask me twice. Within 10 minutes I had hooked the big buck and the real work began. After about 5 minutes I got him in the net. We took a few photos and then I revived him and he was straight back to the hole he came out of.

My boss is capable of putting a fly into a pool but his accuracy needed a bit of work and he was getting frustrated with not being able to put a fly right in front of a specific trout's face and the wind wasn't helping. After about 45 minutes of me shouting out behind a bush when to set the hook and whether or not to adjust the cast at all, he finally got into a Bow that was pushing 20 inches. Unfortunately, she was really hot and got away but he was thrilled and it was cool to see.

Next I found a sweetheart of a Bow laid right up on the bank. I had seen this fish as soon as we got to this spot an hour before. She had something in her upper lip. It looked like a big streamer but it was hard to tell. I told my boss I wanted to catch her and see if I could help out. After a few casts, she took my fly and I got her in the net. As soon as I saw her I was furious. In her upper lip was a snagging hook that some jack ass had used because he/she didn't possess the necessary skills to fish ethically. Wish I would have seen the individual. I would have done some snagging of my own. I got it out and she revived ok. Hopefully she'll make it. She was really stressed during the process and left all these in my net. Now normally, it is considered very unethical to fish to trout that are spawning. I am still not sure what is/was going on with this particular fish. In some parts of the US, Rainbow trout will spawn from spring to very early fall but here in Colorado, they spawn in the spring. I need to ask a few guide friends what the hell was going on here. I felt bad once she dumped a load of eggs but it was worth it to get the snagging hook out of her.

This is the big ole girl that I did some surgery on. You can see her dorsal fin has seen better days. When a trout spawns it will make what's known as a redd. This is basically a bowl shaped indentation on the river bed where the eggs will eventually be laid before the buck comes in and makes his contribution. The hen will dig the area out by using her whole body. Sometimes the sides of the fish will be all torn up.

Here she is again.

This is the first Bow I got. Another really nice fish.

This is a rod that my boss just got from his Grandfather. He brought it along to show me. It was made a long time ago in Denver. He didn't fish with it and I don't even know that I would. It would look killer on a wall though with an older reel.

Thanks for checking in.