ANNUAL SPRING TRIP AND SALT WATER FLY FISHING - COZUMEL FLATS, YUCATAN, MEXICO (MARCH 2015)

We took our second annual family trip to Cozumel a few weeks ago. Cozumel trips provide such excellent opportunities for the kids to be immersed in Mexican culture and the Spanish language. This year we rented a different condo with a wrap-around porch only steps from the ocean. Having immediate access to the beach from the porch was a whole different experience. So good, in fact, we've already booked the same condo for next year. Close proximity to the sand and water all week made us feel really connected to the ocean. I hooked up with a Cozumel local that I'd met the previous trip (an expat from Ventura, CA) who lent me a standup paddle board for the week. I didn't get much time to use it solo, but I at least took the kids out for a few early morning tours when the ocean was still relatively flat and glassy.

After a solid first day of playing with the kids on the beach, swimming in the pool and snorkeling, I met up with the salt water fly fishing guide, Enrique, before daybreak on Day 2. We got the usual pre-dawn start from the marina and went north and east over the shallow reef on the north side of the island with an orange equatorial sun rising to the east over the bow. We started in the northeastern corner of the salt flats and spotted several pockets of bonefish after the first hour. My accuracy with an #8 rod has improved since last season and I was landing some really great casts, but regardless, the bonefish just weren't hitting that morning. Even when you're doing everything right, sometimes bonefish aren't on the feed. Landing one is quite an experience though. They're infamous for the way they fight and will generally run 40-50 yards of line out of your reel when you strip set, sometimes twice if you're lucky.

Shallow water at mouth of the northern Cozumel flats.

Enrique, fly fishing guide.

 

We continued to walk the salt flats and Enrique and I talked about family and his experiences as a salt water fly guide, which was a really great way of jumping back into speaking Spanish. After a short break at the boat for a mid-morning cerveza, we hopped back into the boat to check out a different section of the flats further to the southwest. I fished off the bow of the boat while we were in transit and landed a small barracuda on my second cast. We jumped out near an enclosed section of flats and Enrique immediately spotted several bonefish that were "flashing", which indicated that they were on the feed. I had one take the fly on my first cast, but set the line a bit late and lost him. After waiting a few minutes and with the wind to my back (perfect for casting), we spotted another pair of bones and I landed the biggest bonefish I've caught to date. It took 10 minutes to bring him to hand and he ran the line out twice!

 

Several bonefish later, I was pretty content, so we shifted our focus onto fishing for Snook (a.k.a "Robalo" in Spanish) and possibly something to throw on the grill with butter, garlic and seasonings later that night for dinner. Unfortunately, though we could spot the Snook along the edges of the mangrove, nothing was biting despite some serious effort.

Large bonefish

Later toward the end of the week, after chasing the kids around the condo for several consecutive days, I decided it was time for a visit to the east side. The best thing about the east side is that it's almost entirely protected for sea turtle breading, so there's endless natural beach settings with few permanent structures along the 20+ mile coastline. We went to the same spot we visited last year, but the tide was high and there were heavy waves breaking over the rocks and spilling into the long tidal pool that the kids had played in the previous year. With a looming rain storm just offshore, we decided to move further north up the coast, where we found a secluded stretch of beach all to ourselves all afternoon. It's a special thing to see an empty coastline like this, given the overdeveloped and tourist-laden Riviera Maya only 60 kilometers to the west of the island.

Luca and I after crossing over a natural bridge.

We ate well all week, too, in addition to a steady supply of my powerful margaritas made with fresh lime juice. Though we shopped locally and cooked most of our meals, we had two meals prepared by the two sisters (Conchita and Reina) of the primary housekeeper (Veronica). They made lobster tail with seasoned filet of snook one night and lime soup, tostadas and marinated pork the other night. I certainly came home a few pounds heavier.

The kids made good use of the coconut palms that grow on the beach in front of the condo, which the condo staff opened using a machete. Though I'd had coconut milk plenty of times in my life, this was the definitely freshest. Unbelievably rich flavor with sweet and tender coconut meat.

Looking forward to next year already.

MID-WINTER FLY FISHING ON THE SOUTH PLATTE - DECKERS, CO (FEB 2015)

I co-worker that formerly lived here in Colorado, visited the previous weekend and invited me out for a day of mid-winter fly fishing. It took a little convincing, as I usually put away the fly fishing gear sometime in early October and focus my efforts on skiing all winter. However, with reassurance and promises that I "would be really surprised" with how productive the fishing would be, I committed for a full day and 2 hour drive south to fish the South Platte near Deckers.

The drive was pleasant and on a state road I'd never driven before, which is always a plus. Most of the drive was forested with Ponderosa Pine in canyon terrain. When we arrived on the South Platte, the sun was shining and the temperature hovering just below freezing. Perfect. We fished the first hole for 30 minutes without much luck, but I quickly learned what subtleties accompany fishing in the winter... iced up guides and frozen reels.

We quickly moved onto to my buddy's "honey pot", but still didn't have any luck and also had to compete for space on the water with a handful of other fisherman. We then got back in the car and drove a few miles back down river to a great looking hole about 1 mile up from Deckers. I immediately starting hooking up with healthy rainbows in the 13-16" range, all on subsurface midges. Over the next 2 hours, I landed about 6 fish and was blown away with that kind of action in mid-winter.

Needless to say, my buddy returned home and my fly fishing gear went back into storage for the remainder of what I hope will be a killer spring skiing season. Bring on the snow.

SOME COOL "FIRSTS" FOR LUCA - BOULDER, CO (AUGUST 2014)

(Caution... bit of a proud pappa moment here.)

Our 7-year old son, Luca, did his first Tyrolean traverse earlier this month on approach to a local crag in Boulder Canyon. We climbed with friends at The Watermark, which has a slew of concentrated beginner and moderate sport routes, perfect for a family day at the crag. The following week, he attended a week-long climbing camp through Avid4 Adventure in Boulder, which gave him some consistent exposure to climbing, while enjoying being outdoors with peers in a fun and constructive environment.

 

Luca also had his first day of fly fishing. We only had 40 minutes and didn't bring any fish to hand, but the experience of hiking to the river and wading in the water was still great nonetheless. He'll be getting his first fly rod this month and we'll be heading out together this fall.

 

 

It's been a great summer for Luca with a lot of changes. He also started public school this month for the first time as well, after private schooling his entire life up to this point. We think he's ready and has so many talents to bring to the table. He's a cool kid with a lot to offer.

 

 

 

FLY FISHING THE NORTH PLATTE RIVER AND IT'S HEADWATERS - NORTH PARK, COLORADO AND WYOMING (AUGUST 2014)

For my 39th birthday, I decided to take a solo trip into Wyoming to fish the North Platte and it's headwaters. I can’t emphasize enough just how amazing the North Park watershed and the North Platte River really are. Despite blown out conditions the first day (i.e., chocolate milk), following a 5-inch rain storm that hit the watershed in the middle of the week, the North Platte fished remarkably well in the Northgate Canyon section on the Wyoming side. I was there for two days (Aug 1-2), which was the tailing peak of the blow out. Local guides told me that the 650 cfs mark would be the green light for a return to good fishing conditions. Camping was easy, as the entire area is national forest and there are access roads everywhere with nobody around. I have a favorite spot in a mixed aspen/spruce forest five minutes east of the split of highways 125 and 127.


The North Platte River

 

 

On Day 1, to keep myself occupied, I fished two local tributary rivers (Richards State Wildlife Area and Michagon River) in the North Park watershed that had received much less rain and had already pushed the runoff water down river. They were classic wide meanders with undercut outside banks with tall grasses and inside gravel bars. I landed a lot of 11-12” browns on dry flies (specifically #14 green drake). Best fish was an 18-20” brown that hit a #6 yellow stonefly (can’t remember specific pattern) in a deep 8-10 foot pool, which went airborne and snapped my tippet at the base of my leader (think I'm going to start using tippet rings).

 

Then on Day 2, I hiked ~3.5 miles downstream from the Six-Mile Gap access and fished the North Platte at Northgate Canyon and conditions just got better and better. Patterns that produced fish included mostly big stoneflies, but specifically #8 and #10 Pat’s Rubber legs, #6 and #8 Yellow Sallies, #16 olive caddis pupae and #16 BH copper john. The larger fish in the North Platte are meat eaters and as a result, they grow really big. The absolute highlight of the trip was landing a big beautiful brown (“butter belly”) on a fly that my 7-year old son tied. I grabbed the fly out of his fly box before I left… who would have guessed?

 



Big beautiful brown caught on a #16 BH Red Copper John tied by my 7-year old son.

The wildlife I encountered in 48 hours up there was insane (foxes, porcupines, snakes, moose, coyotes, mule deer, golden eagles, HUGE rabbits, bull elk and black bear). On the morning hike downriver on Day 2, I found fresh bear scat on the trail loaded with berries. When I crossed back over the same path an hour later, there were fresh bear paw prints in it (momma bear and baby cub). Yikes.

Yeah, that's black bear poop.

FLY FISHING THE SAN MIGUEL RIVER - TELLURIDE, CO (JULY 2014)

After an exceptional few days in the backcountry with my wife, we eventually made our way toward our hotel reservation at Hotel Madeline in Mountain Village above Telluride, where we quickly cleaned up and headed to the gondy ride into Telluride for dinner at 221 South Oak.

View of Mt Wilson (14,252 ft) and El Diente (14,160 ft) from the gondola between Mountain Village and Telluride.

Following two relaxing days in Telluride, Jen opted for a spa treatment and I opted to fish the San Miguel River about twenty minutes downstream of Telluride. The Telluride area is impressive. You can access 4 major rivers all within an hour’s drive from town or just fish downtown: San Miguel, Upper Dolores, Uncompahgre and Lower Gunnison (all with great tributaries). I spent about 2.5 hours on the river and managed to land 14 rainbows, all between 12-15” and never saw another fisherman. It was all subsurface action on nymphs (no dry flies), in particular #16 BH prince nymph and #16 red copper john that I tied, both subtle variations of the traditional patterns. Water temp was 52 degrees, but it was full sun and perfect for wading in Chaco sandles and board shorts.

 

 

BACKPACKING AND KID-FREE IN THE LIZARD HEAD WILDERNESS AREA - SAN JUAN NATIONAL FOREST (JULY 2014)

Jen and I spent a week in mid-July in the San Miguel Mountains (southern San Juan National Forest) and started the trip with some backpacking into the Lizard Head Wilderness area just south of Telluride, CO, which includes Mt. Wilson (14,252 ft) and El Diente (14,160 ft). The kids were safely off to visit family out of state and we revelled in the idea of a week alone together, outside, enjoying each other's company and the beauty of the mountains in and around Telluride. After a brief dinner refuelling stop at the Cypress Cafe in Durango, where we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves enjoying live jazz at dusk in a super chill courtyard patio after a long nine hour drive, we made it to the Kilpatrick trailhead around 10:30pm. After stuffing our packs, we hit the trail by headlamp and made a quick camp at the edge of an alpine spruce glade about a mile up the trail. We fell asleep to sounds of the Upper Dolores River and metronome-like rythm of mountain crickets. Morning eventually came for us (thankfully at 11am, which never happens at home) and we crawled out of our bags, made tea and coffee on the JetBoil in the vestibule, then packed our gear and methodically hiked our way up the valley.

 

 

 

We meandered our way up a topographic bench perched above the river that followed the main axis of the valley, which was exploding with alpine greenery. At lunchtime, we spent twenty minutes at a waterfall and caught enough pan-size brook trout for a solid dinner. The fly pattern of choice was a rainbow warrior nymph that I’ve been tying recently. We eventually made it up to treeline and into the hanging valley below Navajo Lake, only to discover an amazing camp spot within an old spruce forest, perched on the edge of a 100-foot granite cliff and adjacent to a waterfall. Unexpectedly perfect. After building a warm fire, I hiked down to the river to clean the fish. Jen then prepared the fish in foil with olive oil, red pepper, Cajun jerk and all-seasoning spices. Oh my god... it's my new favorite way to cook trout. While the fish cooked over the embers, I whooped Jen's butt at a game of travel backammon.

 

 

 

In the morning, we made breakfast, then hiked the short 0.5 mile up to Navajo Lake (11,160 ft). Jen suffered through a 20 minute fly fishing lesson, then we headed back, broke down camp and began the hike out. After arriving back at the car and freshening up with baby wipes and clean clothes, we began making our way out of the forest toward Mountain Village above Telluride. Unfortunately, we only made it a few miles before running into a forest service ranger, who stopped and informed us that they were in the process of extracting a Toyota Corolla by tow truck cable that had plunged about 600 feet down a steep gully through a dense aspen stand at a bend in the road. Apparently, judging by the tire tracks, some guy drove right off the edge and somehow lived to tell the story. They found him wandering along the side of the road on the main highway with a major head injury, after he crawled his way back up to steep gully in the middle of the night and walked his way down the mountain in total darkness, later to be found by a passerby at 9am the next morning. We spent an hour watching the tow truck pull the mangled car up the gully, over stumps and impossible looking boulders. When the car finally made it back onto the dirt road, the ranger's first words while staring into the backseat of the car were, "Is that a bong?" After further inspection, he managed to pull out a glass bong, a pipe and a half-filled tall boy of Miller Light. Hmmm. Mystery solved.