The Colorado Experiment

Some more fluff strapped to a hook!

2011-10-10T00:45:00.000-06:00

Well....its been an odd summer. Havent fished much due to my car slowly dying. However, that bit has been sorted out, and will now have a chance to get out once in a while before the rivers freeze up. In turn I haven't been tying any trout flies this year. Focusing on tying salmon flies mostly. Has gotten to the point where I am not using a vise anymore.....just holding the hook in my fingers. Had also stopped using modern thread and switched to gossamer like the old timers. MUCH thicker then modern thread and has its challenges. It is however very rewarding to tie flies with. Started videotaping some flies I have tied so make sure to check out the link to my channel. Hopefully I will get a new computer soon so I can actually use my video camera instead of the junky stock webcam. Anyway I will leave you with some pics of recent flies....

My Youtube Channel

A Butcher and a Popham

Tied all the Mixed wing flies in T.E. Pryce-Tannett

A Mom Salmon Fly (original depiction and my interpretation)

Some more recent in vise flies (Popham, Hempseed)

The tied in hand flies I have done thus far (only in a vise to easily take a picture haha)

Till next time.....

Way past due

2011-03-31T22:50:00.000-06:00

Well lets just say I have been busy....like super busy....for months. Lets see what been going on shall we. My brother Jesse got married last summer, which I was a groomsmen in. I was blessed with a hernia, and had to have surgery last November. That was a real experience let me tell you. I did quite a bit of fishing last year...of course not as much as I would like too, but I haven't found someone to pay me to fish yet. Jessica is doing well, she graduated last fall with a bachelors in psychology. I am graduating in May with a bachelors in History, and a minor in Anthropology. Cant wait, haha! Thats the highlight reel I guess.

Recent activity is school more or less. I have gone fishing a few times, once with Dale Darling, and Charles Vestel. I also got a chance to fish a couple times with my good friend Frank Phelps. Nothing like sharing good times with good friends. Fishing is just starting to pick up....but I have to buckle down and finish school.

Took a few months off of tying salmon flies, and it showed. However I got back on the horse and I am still learning all kinds of great stuff. I was also invited to participate in tying salmon flies for a new book by Mike Radencich. I tied 12 flies for the book, 10 classic, 2 artistic. Quite a fun experience, and I am patiently awaiting the final result. Been tying a lot of salmon flies besides the book flies. Unfortunately the trout boxes are empty, but will soon be full upon completion of school. I just finished wrapping my first bamboo fly rod. It is a Garrison 209E which is a 7'9" 5wt, can't wait to fish it. I got a wonderful reel that suits it perfectly, a Hardy Princess. I was a birthday present from Dale....quite the present! Since I liked the Princess so much, I picked up a lightweight for my 4wt rod. Perfect reels believe you me.

Anyway enough blathering here are some pics.

Salmon Flies (in the rough order I tied them):
Popham 2/0

Carnegie Size 1 or 2ish

A made up Dee fly I gave to a friend.

A Glen Grant variant

Childers 2/0

Moon Over Nepal (artistic fly)

Blue Boy 2/0 (artistic mixed wing)

Balmoral (2/0, first fly on a hook I made, from here on out I doubt you will see me tie a fly on a purchased hook)

Black Dog 2/0

Rogans Fancy 2/0 Tied today!

Wets: I am doing something stupid and trying to tie all the flies in the Bergman book "Trout", the first plate is done just dont have pic handy but here is an old one.

Some MOM flies:
Claret Montreal 1/0

Thistle 1/0

Nicholson on a double hook

Cassard 2/0

My Grandmother passed away, so I tied this fly in honor of her memory. I have a painting of hers which features a Scarlet ibis...which is also the name of the fly.

Classic Streamers

Grey Ghost

Green Beauty

Fishing Pics

Carp from a local river

My first Cat on a fly!

Dr Vestal and I

Kool-Aid, Red Quills

2010-07-13T14:26:00.000-06:00

So I have been messing around with dying materials recently and thought I would pass some info along to others. There have been some good red quill hatch's this year, and enjoying attractor patterns I thought I would dye some super reddish quills. I am by no means an expert at this, but anyone can do it. It just takes some practice to dial it in, play around with these directions and have fun. Make sure you use a glass container for this. If you use plastic it will absorb the dye.

Step one:
Strip a LOT of quills in preparation for this. I used a cheap pack of saddle hackle for this. Grab the tip of the feathers and remove all the feather barbs from the rachis. After you have done this, take a pair of hemostats and clamp the base of the rachis. Submerge this material to be dyed in hot water with a bit of dish soap. This will make the dye take easier, and clean the material.

Step two:

Grab a mason jar and fill it with water, about 3/4 the amount to completely submerge the material to be dyed. Next grab some packs of Kool-Aid. You need quite a bit because as the material absorbs the dye, the solution will become weaker. Always use more then you think, for a large mason jar I used 8 packs. As you can see I used a few different packs of kool-aid to get the color I wanted. You want to be careful mixing the colors as they dont really follow the color wheel style of mixing. The next step is adding an acid to "burn" the dye into the material. Grab a jug of vinegar and add the other 1/4 of the volume needed to submerge the material.

Step three:
Mix the solution, and microwave for 2 mins. You want the mixture to get really hot, so be careful when removing the solution from the microwave. The heat and vinegar are what actually set the dye in the material. Once this is complete, rinse the material to be dyed under warm water to remove any of the soap. Then submerge the material in the solution, and swirl it around for a bit. How long it takes for the material to absorb the dye is dependent on a lot of factors. Temperature, amount of vinegar, amount of kool-aid, and how long you soaked the material before hand. So check frequently to ensure you get the color you want. The quills absorbed the dye in a few seconds, while a previous dye job took an hour to get the color I wanted. Also remember that the color will be darker when wet, and lighter when dry.

Step four:

Once you reach the desired color rinse the material thoroughly with warm water.

Step five:
Thoroughly dry the material before you through the mix away to ensure you have the correct color. As you can see you can get some pretty cool colors from this method. Here is the final result of the quill dye job, and a white India cock neck that I dyed a silver doctorish blue. I used iced blue raspberry for that one.

Hope this helps some of you!

Tornado Fishin', Carp, Bergman, Pryce-Tannatt, Cortland fiberglass, and another Kate

2010-06-18T21:56:00.001-06:00

Wooo busy couple of weeks! Been trying to catch up on some sorting of salmon fly materials, and I am lagging behind. Sorry to the party awaiting the sortation, I digress. It has been HOT here the last little while, in the 90s! Way to hot for this time of year. Due to the heat, the rivers have been raging as of late. Some were 10x the normal flow rate, and 2x as high as normal. Scary even going near the river. Still though, I saw some crazy bastards trying to wade in that.....your asking for trouble! Let the fish have their peace for a little while.

When the waters are this high I tend to revert to some bass/bluegill/carp fishing! This is a great time of the year to catch them. However, if you are stupid like me, you go out during tornado warnings. I didn't check the weather before I headed out, and was pretty sorry I didn't. I got rained on something fierce! I was completely soaked to the bone in 2 minutes. Haha, that's what I get though. I was victorious in my quest though. I managed to hook into 6 carp that day. I was fishing my 8ft 7wt vintage Heddon fiberglass rod, and it was great stuff. It is a beasty little stick for fiberglass, and I was able to turn their heads with little trouble. All the carp I caught were fairly small by most peoples standards. 16 inches was about average. However, personally I prefer that size of carp. Big enough to put up a good enough fight, without being a pain to shore, and release. The only time I like to target heavy weights is when I have a buddy with me. I used a few flies that day, but the constant producer was the Alexandra (pic coming soon). Great little wet fly that works for just about anything.

Some of my favorite flies are traditional winged wet flies. These are the sexiest little things ever. If you are interested in these flies, I highly suggest you purchase a copy of Ray Bergmans "Trout". This is the holy grail of winged wets. The book is also a very good read. There are numerous fly plates that illustrate the patterns, as well as a listing at the end of the book that accounts their dressings. Even if you don't want to tie winged wets for fishing, you should still own this book. Mostly because it is a great historical reference of our sport, and much of the information included is still valid.

Often when I am fishing and I meet up with someone on the river, the usual pleasantries are exchanged, and inquires about the "effective" pattern of the day. Often I get baffled looks when ever I show them a winged wet. The match the hatch mentality is a little to strong now-a-days. The fly fishing forefathers used attractor patterns for centuries to great effect. Often I hear people say how using attractors is cheating. I feel the exact opposite. Tricking a fish into eating a fly that imitates his natural food source is not skillfull.....thats entrapment haha. I get a lot of enjoyment out of catching fish on things that look like nothing living! It makes me smile. I am not trying to say I never fish imitative patterns, I just like attractors more.

Every now and then people ask me how to fish winged wets. I tell them "anyway you want too!" These little patterns are very versatile. They can be cast upstream dead drift effectively. There is also the traditional wet fly swing. This method is highly effective, but some people have trouble understanding how to do it correctly. The take is dependent on where in the swing it is located, what size the fly is, what size the fish are. When the fly is across stream, takes are a little more gentle. Mostly due to the dead drift leisurely feeding style. Very similar to nymphing, watch your leader for hesitations. Sometimes takes are very strong, other times not. When the swing goes through the arc you are less likely to get a hit, it does happen and should be very apparent. Once the swing is complete, you will have no problem detecting the strike. It is a strong thump on the rod, and until you learn how to set the hook you will often miss fish. The attack is strong due to the fish assuming the fly is emerging or escaping....or something else that causes them to hit with reckless abandon. I use a shock loop, which is when you hold the line tight to the rod, but have a 3-5 inches of loose line between the reel and your hand. Once you feel the take, release the loop, which will allow the fish to dive with the fly, and due to the movement of fish they will hook themselves. If you attempt to set the hook it will usually pull the fly from the mouth. A pretty simple but highly effective way to fish. So tie up some winged wets and get out and fish them! (a little hint, drift one behind your dry on the next caddis hatch and see what happens!)

I have been reading "How to Dress Salmon Flies" by T.E. Pryce-Tannatt, and I must say it is one of the coolest books ever. It was written in 1914, but is still a wonderful resource for the salmon fly tier. I would not say this is a great book for a beginner to learn from, but great for a person with a fair handle on the craft. While little has changed in the way salmon flies are tied, what is lacking is good photos to illustrate to the tier how to preform the subtle techniques needed to master these flies. Without these a lot of guess work would occur. A person could definitely tie effective fishing flies, but crafting the artsy versions will be difficult. However, I would recommend a person to read it at some point.

So I got yet another vintage fiberglass rod! It is a nice little Cortland FR 2000 8ft. 6-7wt. It is in fairly good condition, a few scratches and some well worn cork. That is to be expected for a rod that is older then I am. She is a slow one that's for sure. I really had to adjust my stroke to cast effciently. However, a few casts later I was shooting 80 some feet of line comfortably. Caught a few bass on it today, and they easily doubled it over....but that's why I love fiberglass.

Tied another Kate. This one is much better then the last one. The body/throat hackle is a little short, but oh well. The JC eye is a little short as well. I broke the rachis, and due to a limited supply of proper sized feathers I couldn't waste it. Hope you like it.

Getting Older, Kate, Tying Instruction.

2010-06-05T22:48:00.000-06:00

Getting Older-
Well I am an Uncle as of 7:34 this eve. My little sister, Ashley, had her first child. A little girl, and her name is Taylor. Unfortunately she lives in Canada, so I can't wait to see some pictures.

Kate-
Another Classic Salmon fly, this one is known as the Kate. This fly gave me a lot of trouble. For some reason none of the materials were working for me. I really should have stopped and came back to the fly later. There are some problems with it of course, but I still like it. The tail is anemic, and the curve is wrong. The topping could use some some work as well.

Tying Instruction-
If you, or someone you know, happens to need some instruction on fly tying you should check out A Site For Sore Flies. This is a fairly new website, and is still being fleshed out. However, the DVD's that are available are great. Dale has been tying for over 30 years, and I can attest to the skill level present. I met Dale on the Classic Fly Tying Forum, and he is one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. He is also a member of the Cotinga Club as well. The DVD's go through patterns step by step, and from the tier's perspective. Clear explanation of the proportions, as well as tips and tricks are covered for each fly. The DVD's are available by pattern/imitation. You can also order a custom DVD of specific patterns or techniques. The material in the DVD's is all shot, performed, and edited by Dale. There is no middle man, and the cost of the DVD's is well worth it. All in all, its great stuff check it out.

Big T, Coral, Painting, and another Red Rover.

2010-05-26T20:20:00.000-06:00

-The Big T
Did some fishing on the Big Thompson yesterday. The river was up quite a bit compared to the last time I went up. I was using the 5wt fiberglass again, as I knew I would be nymphing. The wind was up a little bit as well. The day was nice, perfect temp for fishing. This was the first real test on the Simms Riversheds. The Vibram soles worked great. I was really surprised at how well the griped in the flow. Never questioned their ability to hold. Flavor of the day was a red butt Zulu, and weighted soft hacke stone nymph. The fishing was surprisingly good considering the high water. The deep pools were the best, but it required a lot weight on a light leader to get them down in time. Caught at least a few dozen fish in a couple hours.

-Coral

Went over to my buddies house, who I hadnt seen in a least a year. Finally got a chance to go over and see his coral propagation operation. I was thoroughly impressed with the set up. Everything looked really good, and healthy. I really wish I had the time to deal with a reef tank. They are really amazing little ecosystems. Check the website out for an example of the stuff he has available. Colorado Coral Addiction

Thats 400 hundred gallons of sexy reef building organisms

-Painting
My Grandmother has not been doing very well as of late. She has had numerous strokes over the past few years, and now she is in decline. Very sad for me, because we are very close. She was always very active, and had a variety of hobbies including astrology, painting, horticultural, history, and avid bird watching. She loved traveling, and has been to some very amazing places. She would always take pictures of the birds she saw on her travels. Then she would paint those pictures when she returned. She had asked me to come down and pick out a painting that I liked, and as I searched through hundreds of paintings I found a picture I had never seen before. It is of a Scarlet Ibis that she had seen in her travels through South America. She went in 1989, and this was painted in 1990. I immediately decided that was the picture for me. Here is a picture of the painting, hope you like it.

-Rover

Finally got around to tying another red rover after the other got destroyed. There is quite a lot wrong with it, but I still like it. Cant complain considering its only my second married wing.

Something new, and GRRRRR!!!!!

2010-05-18T17:51:00.000-06:00

So I tied another couple salmon flies, and kinda ruined the other. I had finished the Red Rover, short of finishing the head, and I took it outside to check it out under some sunlight. Well, some wind came up, flung it out of my hand, and she took some bounces along the concrete, then landed in the grass! GRRRR! I pick it up, and there is some grass stuck in the wing. Well that jacked up the wing like you wouldn't believe! The GP tail fibers on the top of the wing got all unmarried, and the tail and topping were bent and contorted as well. The underwing got all stuffed up into the main wing....uh...nightmare. Well I tried to preen the fiber back into shape, but there was no saving the topping, and most of the GP tail fibers....suck....very unhappy right now.

Crawshay's Hornet Variation

What is left of the Red Rover, and 45 mins wort of work to salvage what I could....might meet the razor blade here in a bit..... :(

Sunburn, Pella, Bluegills!

2010-05-17T14:58:00.003-06:00

Just a reminder to everyone....wear sunscreen when your outside. I guess I used some horribly out of date sunscreen, and I got a horrible burn today. The sun in Colorado will quickly burn you, and it is never fun!
I decided to go and fish at Pella Crossing today due to the high flow rates of the surrounding rivers. Pella is located in Hygiene, Co, just outside of Longmont. There are six ponds that you can fish, and numerous belly boat put ins. The ponds have bluegill, crappie, perch, catfish, as well as large and small mouth bass populations. For those of you who like a real challenge there are a few schools of grass carp cruising around once and a while. These are buy far my favorite ponds to fish in the front range area. Bass are catch and release only, so you know there are some lunkers hiding around there. If you know where to look, you can find some really good size bluegill (well for Colorado anyway). It was a beautiful day outside, in the 70s I believe. The water was really clear, and you could easily sight fish from shore. I was hoping to get into some of the larger bass out there, but they wouldn't have it. They are either cruising, or holding territory for nesting. I only caught two bass, both of which were not of a size worth mentioning. I was fishing my 7'6" Kettle Creek 5wt, which allowed the bluegill fishing to actually be fun. I had the best luck with a Cockaroo fly, or an olive Sparrow in size 6. Caught probably a dozen good size gills (like the one below) and a couple dozen smaller guys. All in all it was a great day. If you have never fished Pella, you should because it is a great little set of ponds!

HAHAHA

2010-05-11T22:12:00.003-06:00

School is done, and I am elated! Got 4 A's (should have been A+'s), and a B+. Not to shabby at all, but it really bugs me that UNC doesn't allow an A+, if your gonna have a +/- system, you should allow A+'s....just doesnt make sense.

I finally got around to cleaning up my fly tying area, and moving the desk to new area. I also got around to trying my hand at some classic salmon flies. Only problem with the new area is the lighting kinda sucks, so I have to figure something out for taking pics of flies. So I apologize for the horrible pics of these flies.

Rusty Rat Hairwing- This was the first one I tried. Tail is a bit thin for the hook, there is a lump just after the tail due to not tying the peacock sword down tight enough. Head is small, and I crowded the eye a bit.

Silver Monkey- this one seems pretty good, to me at least?!

3/0 Blind Eye Spey- Bronze mallard is a PITA to work with. Took me a half dozen tries to get something that I was even remotely satisfied with.

2/0 Blind Eye Long Dee- Tri-Color
This one came out pretty good, I love the dee style of flies. The wing style is pure sexiness.

Days.....days left

2010-04-26T21:02:00.002-06:00

Ah.....The end of school is so near. I cannot wait to hand in my final papers, projects, write some finals, and finally be done with this semester. I am actually surprised at how much I am going to miss teaching the 6th graders at Lucile Erwin in Loveland,CO. Over the past few months I have gotten to know these kids really well, and enjoy going to class....strange, considering initially I was hesitant to request placement in a Middle School.

Finally got out on to some water the other day. I got off work early on Saturday to go up to Drake, CO to meet up with the Cotinga Club. Here is a link to some pics of the event (I am in the 3rd pic by the window black jacket). This is a local group of guys who get together roughly every month to tie some salmon flies. It was a great time, and I hope to attend the meetings as often as possible. I could tell there was a lot of talent there, and I want to absorb as much as possible in my quest to to tie full dress salmons. We ended up tying a few flies, BSing, and then split up to hit the water for a bit. Initially it was windy and overcast, however by 1ish it had cleared up nicely. I was armed with a bunch of new gear including my 7'6" Kettle Creek fiberglass 5wt, new Simms Riversheds, Martin 63 reel (vintage), Cortland line, and 4 full boxes of flies. I strung up my normal rig, a 3 foot furled mono leader, 2 feet 4x, 2 feet 3x, Copper john, and a red-head peacock (RHP) soft hackle off the bend of the john. The day started off right, first cast = first trout of the season. A fairly nice rainbow to for the Thompson (see pic below). I ended up pulling another 5 or 6 good size rainbows out of one hole not much larger then a dinner table. The soft hackle was the ticket that day, every single fish I took was to that fly. I tried other soft hackles, but the RHP was the only one workin. I started having a little better luck when I switched the copper john out for a Bergman March brown winged wet. Once I made the switch I was getting equal hits on both the March and RHP. I was also pretty impressed with the density of fish in the stretch I fished. A LOT of rainbows, and quite a few browns in such a small piece of water.....which is exactly why I love the Thompson. You will be hard pressed to pull a record out of their, but you wont stop catching nice 12-15 inch trout.

Beauty

2010-04-19T21:16:00.001-06:00

Here is a winged wet I tied up today sorry for the slightly dark photo, could not get my camera to cooperate for the life of me! Tag is a bit longer then I would have wanted, and I used the wrong size tinsel, rib is uneven.... grrrr, stupid mistakes that could have been avoided if I had paid a little more attention. otherwise she came out nice.

Hook: Mustad 3399 size 10
Tag: Flat Tinsel X-SMALL lol
Tail- Guinea Quill
Rib- X-Small flat tinsel
Body- Black floss
Throat- webby guinea feather
Wing-Guinea Quill

Super Nova, and soft hackle stuff

2010-04-17T21:05:00.003-06:00

Here is another step by step I did up, I wont post it on here due to the immense time it takes to plug in all the info. If you are not part of this forum....you should be.

Super Nova - Click here for the step by step

If you don't tie soft hackles you should! These are some of the most effective flies in existence. If I was limited to one style of fly it would be the softies. Do not think that you are simply limited to partridge for these flies. There are a variety of other materials you can use. To name a few: Starling, the iridescent blue neck feathers of a male common pheasant, grouse, quail, and regular hen hackle works great for these flies. Whiting Brahma hen is especially good for these flies, the barbs are a little finer, and stiffer then most materials, but this helps simulate the legs of struggling insects. Another of my favorite is the California quail, these skins can be had quite cheaply on eBay. The nice dun color of the hackle works great on most patterns, keep an eye out for one they are well worth the few bucks. Here is some pudding:

Very purdy, blueish/dun feathers

These neck feathers are tiny, and super buggy lookin'

Some really interesting feathers here, almost like GP tippet.

Some interesting chickabou like material at the rump

Almost there!

2010-04-09T20:23:00.001-06:00

I am so close to being done with school I can taste it! This semester has been rough believe you me. Working full time, 16 credit hours, and student teaching......guh so sick of the hussle. However, I only have one month left!

I also can't wait to try out all the rods I have built over the winter, all 5 of them! These include a 6'6" 2wt built on a private label blank, a 7' 3wt Lamiglas Appalachian, a 7'6" 4 wt Forecast, a 7' 3/4 Kettle Creek Mountain series, and a 7'6" Kettle Creek XXL Riffle Fiberglass (this is by far the pick of the litter). I also got a couple vintage rods as well (thanks babe!), these include a 8' 7wt Heddon Lifetime Pal, and a Fenwick FF605 or 6' 5wt (killer small stream rod). Should be a great year, testing out new rods!

Kettle Creek 3/4

Lami

Kettle Fiberglass, and Heddon

Step by Step V wing Hopper

2010-04-09T19:52:00.001-06:00

Here is my first step by step, this is a nice, fast, easy to tie hopper. I use it as part of a Hopper/Copper/Dropper rig this works well to support the flies, but there is not enough foam to keep it riding high on the surface, instead the butt tends to ride in the surface film, which is more realistic of hoppers. The V-wing keeps the fly riding correctly as well. Also works as a great cricket pattern on small hooks tied with black foam.

Hook: TMC 200R
Thread UTC 70
Body: Tan foam
Wing: Brown Foam
Indicator: Orange poly post

Step one:
Crimp Barb, attach hook, and put a layer of thread down. Bring thread back up to two hooks eyes behind the eye.

Step two:
Cut a piece of foam about the width of the gap, and about 3 hook shanks in length, tie in with a little less then a shank length forward of the tie in point.

Step three:
Apply super glue to shank and form 3 equal segments. When making a new segment pass the thread under the foam.

Step four:
Fold foam over and form tail, and tie down.

Step five:
Pass thread over body to the next segment. Tie down foam and trim close to body, advance thread to next segment.

Step six:
Cut a square piece of brown foam, about 3 times the width of the body and about 3/4's the length of the body. Lay foam equally over the body, and snip the foam to the width of the body. From those cuts snip at an angle to corners of the foam square. Then snip a narrow V into the top of the foam (there isn't a pic of this step but use the end photo for reference).

Step seven:
Tie wing in trim excess.

Step eight:
Tie legs in

Step nine:
Fold forward foam over, form nice size head, tie down.

Step ten:
Take some poly-post fold over a few times and cut off. Then tie onto the top of the head whip finish.

Step eleven:
Trim legs and indicator to length. Enjoy your handy work.

Some new flies

2010-03-23T22:45:00.000-06:00

Well I finally got around to tying some new flies today. I have been doing a lot of reading about tenkara style fishing, and obviously the flies reflect my research. Great style of flies, and I am sure they will work well.

Partridge and Yellow

Green-Gold

Excessive

Here is something different, my new caddis pupa.

Scruff

Is it summer yet?!

2010-03-02T23:04:00.001-07:00

I am pretty sure it needs to be summer. I am getting cabin fever so bad! I want to pull all of my eyebrow hair out. Anyway here are some random pics for you to check out.

This is a picture of the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area

Again Indian Peaks Wilderness Area

Jessica is an animal abuser!

The Cockaroo, a great bass, trout, and carp fly.

Pike Diver

A bass diver/slider

Lets start from the beginning.....

2010-03-02T21:43:00.001-07:00

and it begins....The start of a new hobby which I probably don't need. To start off I should probably tell you about myself. I was born in Longmont, Colorado in 1983, my family moved to Detroit, Michigan when I was 4 years old. This was the beginning of our process of immagrating into Canada. We spent 4 years in Detroit before our application for immigration was completed and approved. My father was to become the inheritor of a 4,000 acre cattle ranch in east central Alberta, near a town named Czar. This was to be my home for the next ten years of my life. It was an interesting experience of which I am grateful for. I feel that my laid back nature is a direct result of the slow paced life I had as a child. After my great grandfather passed away, my family began dissussing moving back to Colorado to be with family. It was decided that after I graduated we would sell the ranch, and move back In 2001, after my graduation, we moved back to Longmont. I was elated at first, and thoroughly enjoyed moving back. Since I did not know anyone my parents gave me a few months to get adjusted, and make friends before they asked me to get a job. So I used this time to piss around, learn the area, make friends, and party.....way to much. I then found a job, and well.....fell into a rut of working deadend jobs, and having fun. Fast forward a few years, and nothing had changed. I had just moved into a house with a few of my friends when I met this girl.....her name was Jessica. She was the friend of a friend who came to one of our house parties. This girl was amazing! Gorgeous, amazing personality, and down to earth. Well for some reason she took interest in me...Why? I am still not sure. We ended up dating, and we we were immediatly in love. We soon decided that we needed to stop partying, and get our lives together. So we started going to college. I decided that I wanted to be a history teacher, and Jessica....well she has changed her mind a few times lol. At around the same time I made a friend at my new job, and he did a lot of fishing. I hadn't been fishing since I was a kid so I decided to join him one night. This was a defining moment in my life. I had finally found a hobby in which I could dedicate myself entirely. I decided that if I was going to fish I should learn how to do it right, and fly fish. So I went to the local fly fishing shop (The Laughing Grizzly), and bought a fly rod. It was a cheap 6wt fly rod pack with a rod, reel, line and leader. I would go on to fish the shit out of that rod that summer. I was fortunate enough to be given a fly tying vise, and the sickness began to spread. I would end up fishing the local lakes, and ponds that summer on all the horribley ugly little flies I tied that summer (I still have my first fly, tucked away in a box). I caught a lot of bluegills, and that was about it. However, that was what was needed for a budding angler. Fast forward a few more years, and Jessica and I are engaged (as of valentines day this year) and nearing completion of our bachleours degrees. I am now a confident angler, and a beginner rod builder. I look forward to keeping track of my life through my blog, and hopefully I can help someone else along the way. I plan to post pictures of my Angling adventures, rod/reel/line reviews, fly tying instruction, fly material reviews, and general experiences of my life. I hope you will join me, and let me know what you think of my blog, or if you have questions!