3M acquires Ross

Now that 3M has acquired Ross Worldwide, will 3M expand on the Scientific Angler brand with Ross or will Ross help expand the Scientific Angler Brand. A few things to watch. Is this a sign that once staple manufactures are getting gobbled up by bigger corporate brands for the better or for the worse. A few things to ponder. Will Rod makers start lowering their price of their high end rods to meet a financially strapped person or will you save all your pennies to get that higher end rod. With this acquisition of Ross, who will be next.

Cheesman Canyon Gill Trailhead Clousure

Just FYI out there to all you hikers that like to hike into Cheesy Canyon. The lower trail from the parking lot is closing here soon for some repairs, see details below.


The Trail Head Lot will be closed by the USFS (the big lot off of Rt 126 -- scheduled closure is from Tuesday, October 12th, for 6 -7 weeks - which brings it re-opening around November 23rd thru the 30th

The closure is to allow them to store construction equipment to repair the culvert under FSR 211, the road that runs up to the dam - they plan to dam up Wig Wam Creek, pump that water past the culvert & road back into the Creek, dig out all the sediment and drop the culvert down 10 feet, where it originally sat - it is currently just a foot below the road - an emergency repair after last summers nasty floods.

At some time during the project, FSR 211 will be closed for about 7 days - which means no access to the Canyon will be available - good news is that the program will not muddy up Wig Wam Creek - at least that is the theory - since they will pump clear water past the in-creek work.

These dates could be moved back, depending on the diving work schedule currently ongoing at the dam - can't close the road if the divers are not done.

While FSR 211 remains open, access to the Canyon will still be available from the dam trail - the one where I have to bring oxygen tanks and Sherpas to carry me out

We will keep updates on the weekly report as we are advised by the USFS - the old dirt parking lot (the good o'le one) will not be opened during the closure - so basically no one will be able to access the lower Gill Trail (by parking legally) for the duration of the project -- and I can assure you that cars not parked legally will be ticketed - and legal parking will not exist.

But - we are looking at setting up a shuttle service from the shop to the trail head - just depends on how much of the trail is closed off - as we learn more on the project (and what will be open or closed) we will keep you advised

The service, if implemented, will not be free, but as reasonable as we can make it - all depends on response from all of you - so spread the word to all your Canyon buddies - have them send a short e-mail to us if they might be interested in such a service - we will take it from their.

IFTD Show

Well, I got to go down to the International Fly Tackle Dealer Show last Thursday and got to meet some really good folks and talk to a few folks. Didn't have much time to see all the new gear and gadgets for the upcoming season. Got to talk to the Dusty at the Scott Booth for a few minutes and talked to John over at Hardy briefly and sat down with Mark with Partridge of Redditch for most of the time I was the show. The outcome of that meeting is that I am going to to be steep in tradition and aligned with a hook company willing to think outside the box and give some of the other hook makers a run for their money. I am now a proud member of the International Pro Team with Partridge. This is a truly a great honor and looking forward to many years with them. I am in good company too. The likes of Oliver Edwards, Marvin Nolte, Barry Ord Clarke, Ad Swier, Morten Oland, Jukka Taipo, Edward Muzeroll and myself. So at this year's demo's Ill be tying on Partridge hooks. Look for some really neat things from this company in the near future. Mark of Fishing Matters which also represents Varivas, Owner, American Fishing Wire, Marryat and others is getting deep in the Partridge tradition and working to restore the company back to its heydays. .

Partridge of Redditch has been under the wing of Mustad, Norway, for the past thirteen years, but recently has been returned to British hands.

Partridge has 130 years of heritage and can be credited with the invention of modern fly hook manufacture. Wet and dry fly classics are the benchmark hook for fly dressing and Partridge produce the preeminent salmon hook. Look for new hooks from this company in the near future.

Well now, gotta go get ready for some fall fishing on the Gunnison.

Tight Lines,

Platte River Apprentice

The Platte River Apprentice is an combination of my new designed Apprentice fly and Chris Schrantz's Platte River Spider. If you are not familiar with the Platte River Spider it has been a favorite streamer pattern of mine for years. You can check out the Tutorial over at www.charliesflybox.com. I found that the Platte River Spider fishes best in fall. So with fall looming in the air I found myself at the bench getting ready for an upcoming trip. With the Apprentice still fresh in my mind I thought way not take the color scheme of the Platte River Spider and make an Platte River Apprentice.

So I broke out a few various dubbings and got busy blending them to the color and shag I was looking for. As soon as the dubbing was complete it was tying on.

Started off by tying the stinger hook first.

Partridge CZ hook #12
Thread: Black
Tail: Peacock Angel Hair, Yellow Marabou, Brown Marabou and Root Beer Crystal Flash
Body: Sunset Mix
Collar: Wood Duck colored

Main Body
Hook: Grip 13812 Streamer #4
Tungsten Cone Large
.030 Lead 11-13 wraps
Tail: Peacock Angel Hair, Yellow Marabou, Brown Marabou and Root Beer Crystal Flash
Body: Sunset Dubbing
Legs: Pumpkin Sili Legs
Collar 1: Wood Duck Colored
Collar 2: Mottled Marabou
Collar3: Yellow Marabou
Optional Hot Spot: Siman Peacock Eye Dubbing (I have tied a few with and few with out this hotspot, this one is with out the hot spot,)

Stone Flies

Just finished up a few Golden and Black Stones for an order. Using the Partridge CZ hook.

Streamer Season

Is fall really in the air. The kids went back to school the other day, the night time cooler temps only mean one thing. Streamer Season is just around the corner. Those who fish with me know I use streamers all year long. The bigger flies produce bigger fish at times. So the last few weeks I have been thinking up some new streamers for fall. So this past week I tied up a bunch of articulated streamer patterns to give a shot. I tied up my first prototype with out the articulation to get my proportions and all the bells and whistles right, before moving on to the articulated one. After a few tinkerings here and there I was able to make the articulated Apprentice. The Apprentice is an off shoot of my original bunker torpedo and the circus peanut dressings, but tinkered into my own fly of pure trout evil. Why do I call it pure trout evil, because this thing is pure evil. I don't know if it was dumb luck, stupid fish, or whatever, but I managed to get out this past weekend and hiked into Cheesman Canyon. I got to the canyon for an early start. I managed to make it down to the water by 6:20 am. I got to a spot where I like to start fishing and work a section of the river before hiking further back. I had the new rod put together, and tied on my new streamer the Apprentice. At this point I didn't tie any droppers on, just wanted to give this bad boy a few cast and see it flow through the water. Okay, I got my line out and made my first cast and was getting ready for the drift, but the thing didn't have any time to drift, because as soon as it hit the water, I nice very thick, 18" rainbow slammed it. The line went tight and the rod was bent. Since this was the first fish with this rod, I wanted to get the feeling of the rod and loosened up the drag and let the fish take off. I don't know if that was a good thing or not, because it ended taking me a while to get the fish back in. After about 10 minutes I landed, revived and released the fish back into the waters of the South Platte.

Getting ready for the next cast, I moved up a few feet from my first drift to work a nice piece of faster pocket water. The flows were beautifully at 356 cfs which is much better then the 96 cfs we usually see at this time of year, but with the work going on at the dam the water temps where much warmer then normal. Getting myself ready for the cast, made my decision on where I was going to put the fly. The fly hit the water, I made an upstream mend and the line went tight! After a few minutes landed a 21" bow. Two cast, two fish, on the new rod with the new fly. The stars must be aligned for me today I was thinking. Worked a few more pockets and runs that I like in this section and another 6 fish later I was ready to hike up stream a bit. All fish took this new articulated streamer I developed earlier this week.

Back to the fly itself, The Apprentice

Stinger Hook: Partridge CZ #12
Tail: Widow Flash, Marabou Olive, and dash of lite Bright Flash

Body: Bunker Torpedo Dubbing
Collar: Wood Duck Flank

Main Body: Streamer Hook Size 6
Tail: Widow Flash, Marabou Olive and dash of polar flash
Body: Bunker Torpedo Dubbing
Wings: Olive Ostrich Herl
Legs: Speckled Olive rubber legs.
Collar one: Wood duck flank, Colored olive
Collar two: Mottled Marabou
Hot Sport : Siman Peacock Red
Tungsten Cone Head

Underbody Weight: 7-10 wraps of .030 Lead

To articulate the streamer. I take a heavy mono filament and feed through the hook like you would be tying it normally. Then I take the two strands of the mono and tie to each side of the main hook shank and wrap it good and cement it and begin the second portion of the fly. Once the fly is completed, I snipe off the hook of the main fly and now you have a really great articulated fly.

Here is another color variation. I titled the Majestic, with some minor flash subsititutions.

But a great purple/black streamer for those overcast days that lie ahead in the coming months.

Tight Threads!

New Rod

Today, I came home from work and my kidos greeted me at the door to say I received a box. I wasn't expecting anything so I was caught off guard. My son Quinn disappeared into the house and came out with a triangled box, which I knew contained a fly rod. But I wasn't expecting my fly rod back for another month due to repair noticed I received a few days earlier. I sent in a beat up Zero Gravity and got back a brand new ZG Helios. I am excited to hit the river and give it a shot. I am also wondering If Ill receive my T3 back or a new Hydros.