Zach's First Bass

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Catching your first bass in this family is a critical milestone. Zach has arrived! A trout magnet under a bubble gave Zach the critical edge to land this little largemouth - plenty exciting when you are four and fishing with an ultra-lite.

Way to go Zach!

Poppers

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It's worth elaborating on popper tactics that have been really good for me over the last few years. My basic premise is that poppers are good during certain windows: sunrise, the secondary morning bite window, the mid-evening bite, and sunset. There are other times when conditions point to poppers such as off color water, and in some cases , windy conditions.

My color selection is dictated by light conditions. I go dark on dark and bright on bright. If it's cloudy or the light is low I go for a dark, usually a solid black popper. If the sun is high and bright I start with neon yellow (aka chartreuse) and may shift to white or softer light colors. Water clarity should also be accounted for. Clear water requires a natural presentation such as an olive green frog pattern. If the water is dingy an obnoxious bright color or solid black works. Calm conditions may require more subtle approaches employing smaller poppers or sliders. Good popper targets are weeds, brush piles, and rocks.

Poppers do not yield bites all of the time. They are often called a 10% solution and applied at the wrong time they are inferior to streamers and other sub-surface flies. I have found that sound popper tactics applied at the right time,place, and conditions are hard to beat.

South Park Lakes

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In my view, the best trout fishing in the area is found in South Park's lakes. Spinney, and Antero Reservoirs are awesome fisheries where every hook-up could be a trophy. The size limit at Spinney is over 20"!

I had the opportunity to hit both reservoirs on Sunday morning. I started at Spinney fishing a streamer trailed by a damsel nymph from my float tube. This was worth a solid 17" rainbow that fought unbelievably hard. Needing a break from the tube, I loaded up and hit Antero for a couple of hours. I had two lost hook-ups -- one was a genuine monster.

In all, I got what I came for. I just want to land one trout when I hit these lakes --anything you can net will likely be huge. Trout in the 3-5 pound range are consistently caught at Spinney. Antero produces a disproportionate number of 5-10 pound trout. Your chances are always better if you stop in at Angler's Covey or Ghillies and get word on the flies the guides are using. I take a couple hot flies and focus on changing depth until I find the right range. I found that a dropper four feet off the point fly gets the fly down in the zone. I talked to anglers who were going with 20' leaders with an indicator over using a sink tip. Next time I will try a sink tip, but adding droppers and shot to extend the leader seems to work.

Bassin' at Brush Hollow

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Brush Hollow is my top pick for bass in the Pikes Peak Region. This is not a part of the country known for great bass fishing, but Brush Hollow is a good refuge for a bass junkie like me. This morning was great. I got four really descent bass putting around in my float tube.

Largemouth bass on a fly rod - what a blast!

Monument Lake - First Day Out

iphone_pic by ...olson family...">
iphone_pic, a photo by ...olson family... on Flickr.

Today was my first day on the water this year. I have good excuses for my tardiness: Iraq, surgery, and a nagging sense of responsibility. I hit Monument Lake at dawn. I got off to a fast start with several bites before hooking this bow.

I then set my sights on structure near a beaver dam. This is when the tide turned. I snagged a sunken branch and yanked hard enough to trigger a full intruder alert from the beavers. The first beaver swimming toward me in a confrontational manner didn't phase me. Three of them at once was a different story. At some point I decided that I needed to break off my line. That is when my rod snapped. It was my 5 weight - the one I catch trout with. Six months into 2011 and I have one trout and a broken rod under my belt. I am sure the next thirty minutes on the water will be better.

Brownie on the Wooly Bugger

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Originally uploaded by ...olson family...

I was very happy to hook this brown trout this weekend in Estes Park. This was not a fishing weekend and I had less than an hour to fish early sunday morning. I chose to change flies over moving and covering water. I was down to my final few casts and I tied the old standby: the BH Wooly Bugger (black, size #6).

Landing this nice fish reminded me of a few things: I love brown trout, I love streamers, and I love catching a fish on my last cast.

Georgia

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Originally uploaded by ...olson family...

My family and I were in Georgia this past week visiting friends. I took this opportunity to get back to my roots fishing for bass and bream. Dad came down from North Carolina and we made a trip to Callaway Gardens. The bream fishing was outstanding. I dialed in some quality action with my fly rod using poppers and dropper flies. Dad was fishing a spinning rod and went through his entire tackle box before finding the right beetle spin to take bream. Once Dad made the adjustments he was matching my action and life was good.

Unfortunately, the bass fishing at Callaway was a bit disappointing. The boat house is only open from 7:00 am to 6:30PM – this eliminates the sunrise and sunset bite so critical to mid-summer bass fishing. Once we went solely for bream we were able to truly enjoy the experience and pick up some quality lessons. Dad’s beetle spin was a great adjustment, and one of the guides at the fly shop turned me onto a fly known as a Rubber Legged Dragon which helped me catch the larger bream more consistently. Overall, our experience at Callaway was made well worth it with some great action and great accommodations.

Bass action came as we moved up to Tyrone, GA and fished the sunset with my son at a small public lake in town. The popper bite was great. In two casts I got quality largemouth that devoured my fly before burrowing in the weeds. My 1X leader was put to good use winching these bass out of the salad. On our last day in Georgia I returned to try the morning bite at the same spot. A dark popper was the ticket to yet another bass fix.

This trip was a great opportunity to continue my pursuit for quality warm water fly fishing. As always, I was very happy to share the experience with my Dad.

Brush Hollow

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Originally uploaded by ...olson family...

I have been hitting Brush Hollow for my bass and bream fix this summer. This Reservoir near Penrose, CO is the perfect place for warmwater fly fishing from a float tube. It's relatively small and accessible -- the entire lake is a "no wake zone." There is lots of vegetation on the northeast side that holds some real nice largemouth. The view of the surrounding mountains is spectacular. Most importantly, there are none of the water critters that often dissuade me from launching a float tube in typical "warmwater" fisheries in other parts of the country.

My best of three morning outings this year got me a 16" bass, a 16" rainbow (it's Colorado), and assorted smaller fish. Each morning has given descent action between smaller bass (11-13") and bream. Big or small, I find warmwater fish a blast on a fly rod and totally underrated by the fly fishing community.

Quail Lake

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Originally uploaded by ...olson family...

I have had a good time this spring hitting Quail Lake on my float tube in the early morning. The local lakes have been the beneficiaries of brood stocks this year. These larger hatchery trout offer a nice change of pace from the standard “catchable” trout that are predominant in this area. On several occasions this spring I have landed a limit of smaller trout then opted for a streamer that takes one of these 16”-18” rainbows. Olive and Brown wooly buggers seem to be the ticket for the larger brood stock. A size #18 Adams often yields a quick limit of smaller fish when fish are active on the surface.

I hope to get up into the mountains to tackle some legitimate wild trout soon -- but as the run-off rages I am content with the action in the local lakes on my float tube.

Fishing With Dad

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Originally uploaded by ...olson family...

I visited my Dad in North Carolina the week leading up to Easter. We had hoped to get a jump on some good pre-spawn smallie action. However, my expectations for fishing Lake James are tempered by the lake’s technical nature and past experiences working all day for one or two quality fish.

Within the first hour and a half on the water we found a school of smallies. My Dad hooked three quality smallmouth landing two that both exceeded 15 inches. We were sure our pre-spawn smallie-fest was on. Unfortunately, the bite abruptly stopped and the electronics on Dad's boat completely fried -- a real killer on a cold, deep mountain lake. We ultimately settled for about twenty minutes of smallie glory. We later went to Cherokee and each caught trout on the Oconaluftee. This river is so beautiful you can honestly view the hook ups as a bonus. Even though we never really dialed in the trout bite, it was a needed break from fishing for lock-jaw smallies on Lake James.

Looking back on the trip I am most happy to have spent some real quality time with my Dad and I am proud to have been there to net two of his prized Lake James smallmouths. Fishing always seems to teach valuable life lessons. In this case I was left with the thought that all things are fleeting, so enjoy the moment. But as I reflect on the trip I can’t wait to start planning the next one.