Seems like just yesterday, I was doing a post for last years show. This year the Denver Fly Fishing Shop will be Jan 7,8,9 at the Denver Merchandise Mart at 58th and I-25. The Show is held in the large auditorium section behind the hotel. There is a lot of parking which fills up fast on Saturday in particular.
As usual, the Federation of Fly Fishers will be offering fly fishing education in fly casting, fly tying and knot tying at the FFF Learning Center at the FFF booth. The High Plains Drifters, a local FFF Club, will be offering fly casting analysis to improve your casting stroke along with basic casting instruction. The HPD will be teaching kids fly tying.
The Destination Theater section is designed to help you make a decision about an exotic fly fishing trip. There are a ton of booths offering the latest in gear and clothing.
Show Hours: Fri 10 – 6; Sat 9 – 5:30; Sun 9 – 4:30
Admission:
Adult: $15 for one day
$25 for two-day pass
$35 for three-day pass
Children under 5 free, under 12: $2
Scouts under 16 in uniform: free
Active Military: $10
See you at the show in the FFF-High Plains Drifters booth.
Sage has done it again. The new Sage TLX-F fly rod for small streams makes every cast fun and small fish feel big. Based on the same stroke of the Sage high end fast action rods, the TXL-F delivers hot performance for the small stream angler.
From the Sage Press Release
"November 22, 2010 (San Francisco, CA): Since 1985, Sage has endeavored on perfecting performance by handcrafting fly rods in Bainbridge Island, Washington. This year, Sage’s master rod builder, Jerry Siem, has developed a new series of dedicated small stream fly rods named TXL-F. This latest rod offering provides big rod performance in a small package.
Celebrate small stream fishing: Ultra-light rods in general have a reputation for being "noodly". Not so with the TXL-F, which responds to the same casting stroke that efficiently loads and unloads Sage’s high-performing, fast- action rods. Now an angler can play “small ball” on tight trout streams without sacrificing performance.
Bottom Line on TXL-F: The ultimate small-stream performance fly rod. Adds a new level of enjoyment when fishing creeks and tighter streams. Makes every cast fun and small fish feel big."
The rod series start with the ultra light "000" and run up to a 4 wt. Rod lengths start at 6 ft 10 inch and got to 7 ft 10 in. All TXL-F fly rods are 4 piece for easy travel and backpack in.
The hot new Orvis Access Fly Rods are in the shop just in time for the holidays. At just 2 1/2 oz for a 9ft 5wt 4pc, these new Access fly rods are so light weight, they rival the famed Orvis Helios.
The Access Fly Rods Feature:
A Deep Root Beer Blank color
Woven graphite carbon reel seat in matching root beer color
An attractive anodized aluminum gold reel uplocking reel seat
All Chrome Guides
Sunburst wraps with gold tipping
Gold ferrule alignment dots – a nice touch to make assembling your rod fast and easy
Super Grade -Smoooth Cork Handles
Safe Passage Rust Colored rod tube with internal dividers
Designed by Orvis rod designers based on performance tapers and actions used on the Helios.
The Access rods series is lightweight yet has the ability to throw long casts in heavy winds. They are designed for big water and big trout. Available in both freshwater and saltwater models
Covered by the Orvis 25 year warranty and the famous 100% satisfaction guarantee
If you are starting out your fly fishing career, consider booking an Orvis Fly Fishing School. There are 12 schools being held around the country from Key West to Manchester, Vermont, to Edwards, Colorado to Bend Oregon and places inbetween. Let an Orvis certified instructor teach you the basics of fly casting, stream entomology and how to catch fish on a fly rod.
Tight Lines,
Marshall, Editor www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
Everything You Need for Fly Fishing
Fine fly fishing tackle plus knowledge equals fish
I had been reading about the new Bank Robber fly rod from St. Croix Rod Company. This rod series was designed by St Croix rod engineers with Kelly Gallup’s advice and help. Kelly Gallup is a famous outfitter, designer of flies such as the Butt Monkey and Zoo Couger and owner of a lodge on the Madison River in Montana. The new Bank Robber rod uses the new 3M tm nano particle matrix resin to bind the blank’s graphite fibers together. This new silca particle resin is supposed to offer greater resistance to blank buckling on the compression side of the rod when it is loaded. If you overload a rod, the blank can become damaged at the point of overloading and may break at that point.
Today, I got a call from Steve Johnson owner of Royal Stevens fly shop at Girard Place located one block north of Hampton Ave on Gilpin. The new Bank Robber rods were in. I hopped in the car and headed for Royal Stevens.
The new Bank Robber rods only come in a 6 wt and a 7 wt at this time.
The blank is a beautiful steel grey color
The stripper guide is Fuji K and the tip top is Fuji MN both lined with Alconite to reduce line friction
Snake guides are hard chromed
Guide wraps are protected by two coats of slow cure Flex Coat
The cork grip is flora-grade cork. This is the highest grade of cork available. The grip on the rod I tested was one of the smoothest I have ever tested
The grip on the 6 wt is a modified full wells grip with the top flare slightly smaller than normal but it was comfortable to hold
The reel seat is an unusual machined anodized aluminum skeletonized grip with elongated diamond shaped cut outs to hold your streamers or large nymphs
The really unusual part is the rod blank extends to the end of the butt cap and can be seen through the reel seat cut outs
The reel seat is a double uplocking type and holds the reel securely in place
There is a small fighting butt.
Manufactured in Park Falls, WI, USA
MSRP is $400
Casting Characteristics
There was a severe wind blowing during the casting test today. Since this rod was designed to pound big streamers into the bank under adverse conditions, this wind was going to be a perfect test.
For the first dozen casts, the rod felt stiff to me. Rather like my Sage Z-Axis did when I first started using it. Then I started to get my stroke adjusted to hit the stops front and back hard enough to form good tight loops.
Most of the casting had to be done on a horizontal plane about 2 or 3 feet off the ground to escape the wind.
Working the rod for some ten minutes, I could tell this was a powerhouse of a rod. You could easily cast a full fly line with it. (Steve told me that he had done so on Friday after working with the rod a while) Because of the wind, I did not try this much line but I could throw 60 feet easily without much effort.
The Bank Robber 6 wt is a reasonably light weight rod for this line weight.
Given the wind conditions today, I was quite pleased with the power, lightness and casting feel to the rod.
If you have been using a 7 wt or an 8 wt rod for your heavy trout or bass fishing, you might want to try the St Croix Bank Robber instead
Tight Lines,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
Everything for your fly fishing needs
I had arranged a seminar – guided fly fishing trip to the Big Thompson through Kirk’s Fly Shop in Estes Park for six members of the High Plains Drifters fishing club.
The river had been raised from 35 CFS to 77 CFS the day before the trip. The increased water flow should make fishing good. But the weather forecast was not looking too good for the humans. There was a 50% chance of rain or snow all day. However, I was holding for the 50% chance it would not do either. Riding up to Kirks, it looked like the precipitation would win out. But at Kirks, the weather was overcast and holding.
We met our guides Chris and Will at the shop. Then followed them down the canyon to the gearup point. After gearing up, Chris took three of the members and stayed to start fishing this stretch of river. I had fished this stretch many times and wanted to see some new water.
Will obliged by taking us farther down the canyon several more miles. When we stopped, we were at the top of a steep slope to the river. There was a small feeder stream coming on the road side around an island. The main channel was fast, rocky and deep. Standing on the road, we could see more than six trout holding in the small channel. But trying to cast a nine foot rod on a 12 foot wide stream with brush and willows on the other side was going to be a real challange.
After almost falling down the slope, I reached the stream. I was using my Fish Creek Velocity 9 ft 4 wt rigged with three flies Will had tied on. First cast ok. Second cast in the willows. Got it off ok. Four casts later, I lost the tail fly in the bushes. Tying on one of my own, I worked the stream up to the head of the bypass channel. Occasionally, I would see fish that would slide up under the bushes and hide. Not much chance to get to them there.
After fishing upstream for about an hour, Will asked if we wanted to move. I mentioned an area that I had wanted to fish for about 40 years. After describing it, Will knew where it was and he had permission to access the property. We moved to that spot. Will described the ground rules and we crossed over the stream to the private land to fish back toward the road side. In about three casts, Fred had a fish on. James had one on about a minute later. I was fishing without a strike indicator and had missed several hits.
About half and hour later, I put on a 1/2 inch thingamabobber for my indicator. Several casts later I hooked a small 10 inch brown. Meanwhile Fred and James had been busy hooking up with five or more fish. Most were browns in the 10 or 12 inch class which was normal for the Big T.
Moving upsteam, I hooked a nice 12 inch brown on a Rainbow Sow Bug pattern tied by Will. I had missed several on a soft hackle sow bug tail fly before losing it in the road side grasses. Moving farther upsteam, I started drifting through a 3 foot deep run with two big rocks at the end of the run and one at the top. The water fed in between the two rocks. There had to be a couple of nice fish around or under those rocks. Finally I hooked a nice fat 12 or 13 inch brown from in front of the first of the two tail rocks.
Working for fifteen minutes more, I teased a nice fish out from under the large tail rock. I was a little slow on the hook set but could see a nice flash as the fish rolled off. It felt like one in the 14 inch class. About then, Will showed up and it was time to go.
But the weather had held. No rain, no snow and only a little bit of wind. We had all learned more about the insects, flies to use on the Big Thompson during the year, met two great guides and all caught fish. James and Fred had received some excellent help to improve their fly fishing too. A successful trip for all.
Chris and Will were both knowledgeable and attentive to net fish and keep us supplied with flies. If you do book a trip with Kirks, ask for Chris or Will.
If you want to receive excellent fly fishing instruction on the Big Thompson, contact Kirks Fly Shop, 230 Elk Horn Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517 (877) 669-1859 Toll Free. Ask for Gary or Kirk to book a trip. Guides Tight Lines,
