October 24, 2015

Flow: 559

Water Temp: 61-65

Paradise Lost…

It is with a heavy heart that I watched my last sunset in front of my little stone house above the river. In the name of progress GOAL Academy and the Nature and Raptor Center have made a deal that will turn my home into offices and classrooms and I have been asked to vacate. In my short tenure as caretaker I’ve got an inkling of its wonder. I met a number of characters and lost souls when the chore of checking the grounds came due every evening. I witnessed incredible winter landscapes on this bluff only to be followed by an incredible spring as two ospreys built a nest and raised two younglings right in front of me. I had the pleasure of seeing the chicks take flight for the first time. All the while I’ve been able to walk to the river and had many weekends where I never started my truck. The stars and the sound of the coyotes have been the only thing that has kept me sane as I took over Trigger Ink and became a business owner again.

In every adversity there is the seed of a greater benefit. After living my life as a rolling stone for twenty five years I’ve bought my first home. A little spit and polish and I have my own fly fisher’s man cave.

Now before I begin this next segment I may need to remind you; my loyal readers, that I wear a lot of hats. I’m an Owner-guide of Steel City Anglers, Owner of Trigger Ink and president of the Southern Colorado Greenback Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Each of these organizations has their own mission and it has been hard over the years trying to keep the media straight on who’s who. Trigger is a screen-print / embroidery / promotional product shop where I work to keep nine employees in paychecks and control the insanity from the fact that most folks think I fart tee shirts and that’s all the work it takes. Steel City Anglers was born from a pro guide (Lou) and a trout whisperer that came from something completely outside the box of the guide schools and wanted an outfit that set their own quality standards, Life guiding and the guests we’ve had has been good. Some have gone on to be guides themselves.

The Mantle of running a Trout Unlimited chapter was something I didn’t aspire for. If I didn’t step up the chapter would have folded. We had a great run of board members that helped get us to where we are now. The chapter is solvent and we’re even sending money to other chapters and even the state level. The Frostbite Fish-Off has become a Colorado institution and I regret to have to put a hiatus on the tourney for a year but we all have to relearn the river after a 7500 cfs summer. The river has changed quite a bit and there isn’t enough time to qualify enough beats to make it as equal opportunity as we strive for. The FFO will be back and bigger than ever. In the meantime we’ll concentrate on our December banquet and annual meeting featuring Landon Mayer. We have openings for a number of leadership roles and I encourage the community to step up.  Most roles take just a few hours a week.

I know, I know… What about the fishing? Flows are still fluctuating and moving trout day to day. Midge hatches in the morning and caddis in the evening have offere some good dry action while the noon hour seems to be the slowest. It is a good time to carry two rods for nymphing/dry/streamer action as it comes up. Cover lots of water and where you find one trout you’ll find many. Fishing the lumberyard the other day produced zip in most structure then eight in one little boulder cluster. Dries were spent bwo and Griffiths gnat and nymphs are zebras or most black midges and scuds.

As we head to winter water storage (Nov 15^th) we’ll be exploring a different river and looking for the winter trophies.

P.S. Lou is one hell of a painter.

Tight lines,

Ben