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To conserve, protect, and restore North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.
Find us at www.haydentu.org
Ferdinand Hayden Chapter- #008 of Trout Unlimited
Headwater Journal
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Annual Meeting
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Catch and Release Taimen: Mongolian Adventures in Fly Fishing
With Ken Iwamasa and Peter Mullett
Glenwood Springs Community Center
Doors open at 6:30 pm
Angling for Taimen in Mongolia is more than just a fishing trip. It’s the adventure of a lifetime. Set aside most of what you know about destination fishing, because Peter Mullett does it a bit differently.
Originally, in 2000, Peter was invited by Ken Iwamasa to explore the possibility of landing taimen on a fly. If it did indeed prove possible, how could they pioneer a Mongolian approach to Taimen fishing for western anglers? And how could they do it in a manner that let Mongolians create the business opportunity for themselves, instead of foreigners monopolizing the venture?
Peter and Ken have come a long way since that first trip. The friendships shared with their Mongolian counterparts have opened doors few westerners are privy to, straight into the heart of Taimen country. Join Peter Mullett as he takes us on a unique photo journey through the land of Genghis Khan in search of the world’s largest salmonid.
Contact: Peter Mullett; Website: www.mongofly.com ; Phone: 773.968.3100
First Cast from the President
Greetings and Happy Holidays! The snow has finally arrived, and winter is here. The skiing has been great. However, milder temperatures in our lower river valley’s still offer the opportunity for some great winter fishing. This is also a time of year when many local anglers dream of far away places as a respite from the snow and cold. If you’re one of those, you won’t want to miss the January general meeting in Glenwood Springs as we go to Mongolia with Pete Mullett and Ken Iwamasa. We’ll also elect our slate of officers for 2008, and I am excited to serve a second year as the president.
We have some great projects lined up for the coming year and our 5th annual Ice Out for Trout will be held on Saturday, March 15 at the Hotel Colorado. The boys from Felt Soul Media; Frank Smethurst, Travis Rummel and Ben Knight will be back with their latest film on the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska. Trout Unlimited was a major funder of this work and we’re delighted to have them back in Glenwood! We’ll also most likely take another look at the films that put them on the map, The Hatch and Running Down the Man. Check out their web site at www.feltsoulmedia.com.
We look forward to seeing you in January, and be sure to check our website www.haydentu.org for upcoming meetings, events and all the chapter happenings!
Tight Lines!
RICO
Rick Lofaro
Chapter President
Annual Meeting Notice
Election of Board and Officers
The Annual meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at the Glenwood Springs Community Center, 6:30 PM. The primary business of the evening is to elect the Board and Officers. The slate for the upcoming year is:
President: Rick Lofaro
Vice-President: Jeff Dysart
Secretary: Kirk Webb
Treasurer: Rick Schmidt
Board: Kendall Henry
Ken Neubecker
Paula Fothergill
Ed Perregaux
Alex Schaffer
Ernie Bradley
Barbara Laramie
Bill Hoover
Volunteers Needed!
If you have the time and the interest the Ferdinand Hayden Chapter could use your help! We need folks to help out on the Board, with projects and other activities. If you can we need help in the following areas, which is most of what we do.
Web Site and Communications
Membership
Projects
Youth Programs
Meeting Programs
Special Events and Activities
On the Conservation Front
In-stream flows and the Roan Plateau figure heavily in the Conservation work of the Chapter, CTU and National TU.
Roan Plateau – The fight still goes on to gain protection for the wildlife and rare populations of Colorado River Cutthroat trout on the Roan Plateau. Gov. Ritter is expected to come out with his recommendations on Dec. 20. We’ll see what happens next. Industry organizations like the Americans for American Energy (AAE) are busy spewing outrageous and inaccurate misconceptions about the Roan, the amount of gas, the projected revenues and the urgency.
There is nowhere near the amount of gas claimed under the very small part of the Roan Plateau we seek to protect. Most of the plateau, including a lot of the BLM Planning Area, is already being drilled like a pincushion. The billion dollar returns are as mythical as the gas. Also, the claim is made that we need it for “energy independence” and to lessen our need for foreign oil. There is no oil under the Roan, so that won’t help. And did you know that as far as natural gas goes we are already quite independent! 84% is domestic, 15% is from Canada, leaving 1% from other sources. Yet the AAE is branding anyone who might find some value in the other unique resources on the Roan as “Eco-terrorists”.
Directional drilling techniques are advancing rapidly. There is no need to rush to drill on the Roan and if we wait we just might be able to get nearly all the gas and protect the fish, deer elk and winter range. Take a moment and write a note or send an e-mail to Senator Salazar and Congressmen Salazar and Udall and let them know you support protection for the Roan!
In-Stream Flows – FHTU and CTU are very involved with the Basin Roundtable process, helping to establish future water supplies for environmental and recreational needs. Non-Consumptive water needs and uses may be new in Colorado, but they are a growing aspect of our future.
CTU has also been very involved in water protections for the headwater counties. Negotiations and pending projects in Grand, Summit and Eagle Counties could have profound impacts on the upper Colorado River. Stay tuned!
Fishing and Understanding Midges
by Kirk Webb and Taylor Creek Fly Shops
During the winter months the most readily available insect to the trout are midges. Many people often refer to midges as any fly that is smaller than a size 20. This is a common misconception due to the fact that midges are members of a large order of insects known as Diptera. Other insects that belong to this order include houseflies, gnats, and craneflies. Midges can vary in length from microscopic to well over an inch. The midges that we typically encounter on the Fryingpan, Roaring Fork, and Colorado Rivers especially in the early season (November to January) are tiny and range in hook sizes from minute #30’s to slightly larger #22’s. Most people are intimidated by their minute size and focus instead on fishing the same flies that they have been fishing all summer and fall long, and end up catching very little, if any fish. I have had many customers come through the store and mutter, “I can barely see that fly, how is a trout supposed to see that tiny thing in moving water?” The answer is simple. What midges lack in size, they make up for in quantity. In order for the trout to survive they choose to eat the most readily available insect. Because midges are small the trout have to eat mass quantities of them to support themselves especially through the colder months when little other species of insects hatch or are abundant.
Unlike mayflies one doesn’t need to know the different species or Latin names when it comes to midges. Just look for the midges size (length) and body color. Due to the fact that midges are available and hatch 365 days a year, trout can and often do feed on them continuously. Midges undergo a complete metamorphosis consisting of an egg, larva, pupa and adult. Flyfishers usually only concentrate on the pupa and adult forms due to the fact that a midge egg or mass of eggs are too minute to imitate on a hook shank, and that midge larva typically burrow in the mud, sand, and silt and only really become available to the trout when fluctuations of water are present or if the streambed is disturbed in some manner. A prime example of this is occurs when fish hold and feed directly below you while wading in the river. You are disturbing the streambed and dislodging many of those midge larva that the fish then begin to feed on them. Without a good population of midges in our valley waters like the Fryingpan, the number and size of trout would decrease substantially. Tailwaters in particular have a tremendous amount of midges that make up a good majority of the trout’s diet. As a matter of fact the Fryingpan River below Ruedi Dam has 80,000 macroinvertabrates per square meter. Midge larva are wormlike in appearance and can vary in color from red, to brown to black to olive. Midge larva become very effective on the Fryingpan whenever the flows of the river increase in which case many of the larva become dislodged from the stream bottom and become susceptible to the trout. Several effective fly patterns are tied to imitate midge larva such as the Taylor Creek Midge Larva, South Platte Brassie, or John Barr’s Pure Midge Larva. All of these patterns were invented on Colorado tailwater fisheries. Some exciting and visual fishing can be done with larva patterns during the “off season”. Brown trout spawn in the months of November and December and the Rainbow trout spawn from mid February to April on the Fryingpan. Egg patterns are often successful flies when fishing to the fish that hold behind the spawning trout. But the big reason we fish egg patterns like the Flashtail Hot Egg so much is that they make superb underwater strike indicators when fishing to fish that are holding in shallower water. Trail a midge larva pattern like the TC Midge Larva in Red about 12”-18” inches behind the egg. Carefully watch your yellow or orange egg as it passes near the trout and look for the fish to take your larva pattern as the egg approaches near. No traditional indicator is needed when using this technique since one can easily see the egg in shallow water. This is a great technique to use for tricky fish and works well about six months out of the year.
Pupa patterns are effective when nymphed anywhere from the streambed to the waters surface meniscus. Some species of midges cling to substrate on the rivers bottom to make this transition from larva to pupa. Whereas other species of midges are free swimming when making this transition. The midge pupa is typically a shorter, stockier version of the larva, with a robust and pronounced thorax complete with wing pads, gills, and legs. The free swimming pupa move with short bursts as they work their way up to the waters surface. Upon reaching the surface they hang almost vertically with their thorax against the meniscus until the adult breaks through its pupal sheath and pushes through the surface tension to hatch. Several fly patterns are effective when imitating midge pupa including: Jujubee Midges, WD-40’s, WD-50’s, Johnny Flashes, and RS-2’s, One of our favorite techniques to fish pupa patterns is a Dry/Dropper setup using a midge dry fly as an indicator (a surprising number of fish will take the adult as well) and hanging a midge pupa behind as a trailing fly. The distance between the two flies varies on the depth at which the trout are feeding. This could be anywhere from the waters surface to three feet or more. Your trick here is to focus on an individual fish and not a group or pod of fish. Pupa are the most vulnerable to trout when they are trapped in the surface meniscus drifting anywhere from mere seconds to minutes. Greasing your tippet to within a quarter inch of your pupa pattern will enable your fly to hang in that meniscus. You will know that trout are focused on pupa by leaving a tiny dimple rise form that leaves no sign of a trailing bubble after eating the insect.
Fishing midge emerger patterns on the waters surface is an often overlooked technique. When the adult midge breaks through its pupal sheath, it splits open its wing case (thorax) and pushes its way out as the spent shuck trails behind as the newly hatched adult slowly crawls out. Old time Fryingpan legends like Bill Fitzsimmons and Roy Palm were perhaps the first to popularize these styles flies. These flies include Bills Midge Emerger and Roys Special Emerger. Both of these patterns have common elements. First and foremost is a trailing shuck made of Z-Lon or Antron used to imitate the pupas shed exoskeleton. Both flies retain a slender body with some type of overwing (used more for visibility than anything else) with a turn or two of hackle behind the eye of the hook to imitate the adult’s legs. New age versions of these flies are now becoming popular and include Colorado fly tier Shane Stalcup’s, Hatching Midge series of flies.
Adult midges can provide some of the most exciting and rewarding dry fly fishing of the year. The best time of year to catch fish on adult midges is late February into April. The adult midges have a tendency to clump or ball up at this time of year in an effort to mate. Wind can gather these midges into specific drift lanes where they have a tendency to attract fish that are willing to rise. This phenomenon can be seen on the upper Fryingpan, lower Roaring Fork, and Colorado Rivers during these months. At times it seems as if every fish in the river is looking up to eat midge adults.
The late winter and early spring (mid February to mid April) midges are also typically larger in size than their counterparts in late fall and early winter and can range in hook size from #22’s up to #16’s. Late mornings on the Fryingpan from around 10:30am to about 2pm can produce some magnificent midge dry fly fishing. This is one of the few times that fish seem to rise continuously for that entire time span. Softer rods that can delicately present a small fly with light tippets are a big advantage when fishing midge dry flies. (be sure to check out the incredible lineup of sale rods that Taylor Creek has to offer including the soft tip Scott G series and Sage VPS series of rods on the last page) The lower Roaring Fork and Colorado near Glenwood Springs also produces some incredible midge hatches. On these two rivers the midge hatch typically occurs late in the day about an hour before sunset and will often last into the darkness of the evening hours. One of our favorite setups for fishing this hatch is a double dry fly rig consisting of a large #12-14 H&L Variant that is fished as our indicator or point fly, (its white wings and tail provide high visibility) with a smaller #20 Hi Vis Griffiths Gnat or Bills Midge Emerger as a trailing fly. Nine times out of ten the fish will take the smaller trailing fly, though don’t be surprised if you catch some fish on the indicator fly as well. By using this setup we are essentially looking for a rise or take within the immediate vicinity of our point/indicator fly.
Light tippets are essential when fishing midges, especially on the Fryingpan. When nymphing larva patterns or fishing pupa patterns deeper in the water column, tippets of 6X will be necessary, while when fishing pupa patterns at or near the waters surface or when fishing midge adults 7X tippets will be required. Remember, we are fishing light tippets because it is proportionate to the size of fly being fished, not that the fish are overly spooky or skittish. On the other hand, when fishing the larger bodies of water like the lower Roaring Fork and Colorado tippets of 5x are often sufficient due to the fact that we are fishing slightly larger flies and often at dusk when sunlight isn’t on the waters surface. Fluorocarbon tippets are really about all we fish anymore especially when fishing tippets smaller than 5x. The biggest reason behind this is that since fluorocarbon is a denser material than monofilament, it also has a higher pound test strength which is critical when fishing light tippets for larger fish. So what are you waiting for? Spring? Enjoy the magnificent fishing opportunities that the Roaring Fork Valley has to offer through the winter and early spring seasons where the fish abound and the people do not.
An Evening of Fly Tying with Drew
Kick of for new Chapter Programs!
February 21, 6:30 pm,
Glenwood Springs Community Center
The Ferdinand Hayden Chapter will be doing something new this coming year. We will host a series of programs that will help make you a better fisherperson, from casting to fly-tying to entomology and the biology of a trout.
The first of these will be an evening of Fly-tying with Drew Reed of Roaring Fork Anglers. Drew is a renowned local fly-tier and will share his expertise on tying the life cycle of the Green Drake and other favorite local and seasonal patterns.
Upcoming programs will cover –
Casting and line handling on the water
Nymphing, Technique and Entomology
Dry Flies, Technique and Entomology
Biology and Ecology of the Trout – Where they are and what they are doing down there!
Dates and venues will be announced and posted on the web site as we get them tied down! Check the web site – www.haydentu.org.
Women’s Outreach Group!
Paula Fothergill, Co Chair
The Ferdinand Hayden Chapter Women’s Outreach Group (WOG) has two main objectives; fly fishing opportunities and education for women and support for a “Casting for Recovery” retreat. Casting for Recovery is a fly fishing based program for women survivors of Breast Cancer. This past year we hosted several events to raise funds for the La Garita Ranch CFR Fall Retreat at South Fork, Colorado. We were able to fund over half the total expenses for this retreat! Tammy Perry and Paula Fothergill participated as staff for the three day event. Find out more about Casting for Recovery and see pictures of the La Garita Ranch Retreat at www.castingforrecovery.org.
The WOG also held the second annual Ladies Fly Fishing Clinic at Coryell Ranch Ponds in August. We worked with twenty participants, introducing beginners to the basics of fly fishing and perfecting the techniques of those with more experience. This event also helped raise funds for the CFR retreat.
All of the work that the WOG has accomplished this past year has been extremely rewarding, gratifying and fun! We want to thank every one who helped and who made this success possible in 2007 – Fay Sackstein, Maria Maniscalchi, Sue Hess, Ginny Parker, Tammy Perry, Chris Chapman, Jan Marmon, Susan Shirley, Sue Froeshley, Pam Whittington, Kathy Whiting, Tari Williams, Char Bloom, Bill and Joyce Gruenberg and Paula Fothergill. Thanks also to those businesses that helped – Thunder River market, Rhino Liquors, The Valley Journal, Taylor Creek Fly Shops, Alpine Angling, Roaring Fork Anglers, and Fly Fishing Outfitters in Avon. Special thanks go to Valley View Hospital Foundation and the Aspen Susan B. Komen Foundation.
We’ll be doing more to help CFR and women in fly fishing in 2008!
Calendar for Fun and Work
Monthly Board Meetings
Call any Board member for place and time
Annual Meeting January 16
Taimen fishing in Mongolia 6:30 pm
Glenwood Springs Community Center
Fly Tying with Drew 6:30 PM, February 21
Glenwood Springs Community Center
Ice Out For Trout March 15
Hotel Colorado
CTU Spring Rendezvous April 11-13
Redstone Inn
Frying Pan River Cleanup April 26
Roaring Fork Conservancy 963-1290
Members Summer Outing July 11-13
Trappers Lake
Chapter Fishing Programs
Watch the Web Site! www.haydentu.org
Headwater Journal
Ferdinand Hayden Chapter of TU
PO Box 1029
209 Holland Thompson Dr.
Carbondale, CO 81623
CHAPTER BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S & COMMITTEE’S
Rick Lofaro President 927-1290
Jeff Dysart Vice President 963-9245
Barbara Laramie Secretary 384-2835
Rick Smidt Treasurer 384-3245
Kendall Henry Board 928-8358
Ernie Bradley Board /Membership 704-9963
Ed Perregaux Board 963-4754
Ken Neubecker Board/Newsletter 963-3051
Bill Hoover Board Member 945-6011
Paula Fothergill Board Member 963-3051
Alex Schaefer Board Member 470-1844
Kirk Webb Board Member 927-4374