Approximately 5 years ago, I invested in a simple fly tying station. I have probably tied 30-50 flies from scuds to woollybuggers to pheasant tails. As the pictures below show the kit involves a vice, some special tools, spools of thread and wire, hooks, glue and a variety of feathers, hair and other stuff to make flies that resemble an insect for which a trout may be hungry.
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| Flies are made from feathers, etc |
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| Sample non-fancy flies that I have made |
- He's tied over 5,000 flies and that's just an estimate. He has multiple tie stations and 2 large containers of cabinets
- He is a member of both the Dallas and Ft Worth Fly Tie clubs
- He is on the Board of one of the clubs
- He has achieved a level of "master Fly Maker" (that's my word for it....) His work had to be judged by multiple other masters and now he is one of less than 100 in the country
- He goes to Bass Pro each Wednesday night and Saturday morning for a few hours to tie flies with his buddies
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| Barry and the Grapevine Roadkill Roundtable (Barry is 2nd from Right) |
Of course, his flies are everything from plain Jane to very fancy
Anyway, needless to say, Barry is an avid fly maker and fly fisherman. When we both retired around early 2015, rather than a retirement gift we agreed to go trout fishing for a couple weeks or so. ...............So continues the remainder of the blog.
Present Day
Roughly speaking, our trip included:
- Leave Farmers Branch Texas on July 10
- Two days at Angel Fire, NM and fish Cimarron River and Rio Costio
- Two days with friends in Bayfield, CO (more later) and fished San Juan River
- Two days around Mesa Verde National park
- Three days in Dolores, CO fishing Dolores River and camping
- 1 Day in Los Alamos, NM fishing Valles Caldera
- Return home on July 21
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| We put 2,600 miles on Barry's 2016 Ford F150 and burned 116 gallons of gas |
The initial 10 hour drive
We left Barry's house in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, at about 6 AM. Truck was loaded with all our fishing equipment, camping equipment (our plan included a few nights of camping) and of course snacks galore. The most important piece of equipment besides Barry's pickup was his CPAP (snoring supression) machine - we were sharing a room/tent.
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| At 6AM, it is still dark. Barry getting ready to roll! |
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| We had plenty of snacks, plus a 1.75 liter of TX whiskey and Bulleit Rye |
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| Bulleit Rye Whiskey on the rocks |
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| TX on the rocks |
Our first target stop was to have lunch in Amarillo, TX with Barry's sister, Nancy, and husband James. Nancy was under the weather and was nice enough to skip lunch so as not to contaminate us. We did see James though and had a nice visit and lunch. Amarillo is where Barry grew up.
Shortly before Amarillo is the Big Texan Steak Ranch. You start seeing ads for the restaurant just outside Dallas - 6 hours away. It's claim to fame is their 72 oz steak - eat the meal in 1 hour, you get it free.
From the internet....The record for the shortest time to finish the entire Texas King meal had been held by competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut (at 8 minutes and 52 seconds), breaking Frank Pastore's 1987 record (of 9 minutes 30 seconds, which stood for 21 years) on his March 24, 2008 visit. On May 26, 2014, he was bested by 125-pound competitive eater Molly Schuyler, who polished off the meal in just 4 minutes 58 seconds, and came back for seconds (14 minutes and 57 seconds for two meals). She did not, however, eat a third steak meal in the same hour. Schuyler returned on April 19, 2015 and would finish her first meal in 4 minutes 18 seconds, beating her own record by 40 seconds. She had defeated four other teams of competitors in the challenge, devouring two more meals in twenty minutes. The unofficial record (for all animals, including humans) is held by a 500-pound Siberian tiger, who ate the steak in 90 seconds.
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| Eat this meal in 1 hour to win |
Also near the Amarillo hotspot is the Cadillac Ranch.....a true tourist attraction and in the middle of a field. There were hundreds of folks stopping by as Barry and I checked it out.
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| Barry |
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| Me |
Cadillac Ranch consists of 10 half buried Cadillacs. Why? No clue...I guess because Stanley Marsh (initial funder and land owner) could. Best I can tell the cars are no longer operational.
Angel Fire Area
We arrived at Angel Fire, NM at around 4:30 PM MDT. Angel Fire is probably best known as a ski area, but in the summer horseback riding, zip-lining, golf, and fishing are all available . We stayed at one of our RCI Timeshare places - the Angel Fire Resort - the Eagle Wing. Nice room, but we lost power one afternoon and the room had 2 beds - make that 2 sleeping surfaces - a pullout couch and a pull out murphy bed. They were ok though.
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| Angel Fire Resort |
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| Me in fishing garb with Doc getting rod ready to go |
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| Barry in his garb and Doc getting ready to go - Doc was not big on looking up |
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| Barry and Doc in preparation. |
The interesting and challenging aspect to fly fishing is the typical trout is looking for the insect of the day...depends on weather, what is hatching, etc. Many times, the Guide will pump the stomach of the first trout you catch to see what they've been eating. You'd better be correct on 4 fronts - the fly 1. size, 2. shape (profile) and 3. color have to replicate the insect of the day, and 4. you'd better be able to cast the fly rod line into tight spots. Trout have about a 12 inch viewing filter as they look for food. When Doc says to cast to a pool behind the rock and under the branch and maybe 20-30 feet away...you'd better do it if you want to catch a fish. There were quite a few times that Barry and I would have needed the trout to be a bird fish or a flying fish as we missed the spot and snagged in trees or grass. In general though we were pretty good.
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| Cimarron River is very clear, maybe a couple feet deep and not too wide. Plenty of things to get snagged in |
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| A nice little Rainbow |
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| Barry's got one on the line. You really have to keep the line tight or the trout will spit the fly out and be on his way |
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| Me taking a picture of Doc taking a picture of Barry catching another |
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| This is one of those where Doc said to hit that area just to the left of the grass, but watch out for that tree sticking out |
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| Got one |
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| Netted this one myself...hard to do...fish does not want to get into the net. Doc said my net sucked and I needed a new one that was not so hard on the fish |
After we got home that day, I decided I should run. Ran from the ski area on the mountain down to the village and back. Altitude seems to make a difference. Angel Fire Resort sits at about 8,600 feet elevation. Actually has the 5th highest airport in the US. I wasn't sure I'd make it back up...almost called Barry to come get me. We had dinner then at a small pub and grill - which also lost its power...beer was cold though.
Before proceeding into Colorado, Barry and I fished again the following morning. Doc Thompson suggested that Rio Costilla in Valle Vidal might be good as it was on the route to Colorado. From the internet...The Valle Vidal (The Valley of Life) unit of the Carson National Forest was donated to the People of the United States by the Pennzoil Company in 1982. This lush mountain basin, located in the heart of New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is home to a magnificent elk herd and other abundant wildlife. The vistas of high peaks, forests, and alpine meadows are breathtaking. With elevations of 7,700-12,584 feet, the plant life is abundant and varied.
The trip took us on every kind of road you can imagine from paved to 1 lane gravel. Many elevation changes. There is a huge campground just outside the national reserve sign. We had bought the NM fishing license that allowed us to go inside the national forest. Quite a few campers were fishing - the river runs through the campground for several miles. Probably worth considering in the future for fishing/camping.
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| The day we were there the water was running very fast and it was near impossible to track a dry fly. We weren't sure where the water was coming from - it had not rained and didn't see snow melt. Nice setting though for fishing. |
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| Valle Vidal |
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| NM Fishing Guide |
After lunch, we headed to Bayfield, CO (by Durango).
Bayfield / Durango / San Juan River
The route to Bayfield had some cool rock structures. One of the most well known is Chimney Rock in Colorado, although I think each state that has a mountain also has a Chimney Rock. Looks like over time it is just coming apart and the sediment lands at it's feet.
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| Chimney Rock |
Back in the 80's/90's, Barry and I worked for IBM. In fact, I've known Barry longer than I've known Lesa. Barry introduced me to Lesa...as I was single and Lesa was his wife Teresa's sister. Clearly, Lesa was looking for a hunk like me.
During our stint with IBM, we had a co-worker - Tom Ware. Barry and Tom were good friends. Tom's wife Georgia was also an IBMer. At the time I didn't know Georgia, this was our first introduction. They moved to Colorado and solicited Barry to help build a log house...at least help with the plumbing and mechanical systems. Subsequently, Barry has earned a lifetime timeshare at the house. They have added hundreds of additional square feet. They had a fire where the chimney came apart - no one hurt, but some major damage. Sure can't tell it by looking....he fixed that all himself, too. Tom took me through the photo album of the initial 2-week effort. They slept in tents at night and piled long wall logs, one atop the other, up to 30-40 feet high...just using ladders. Lots of great stories and no one was killed.
The house is 1 of 50 or so really nice homes in an area that is bordered on 3 sides by a National Forest - a few miles out of Bayfield and 30 minutes from Durango. It's just a phenomenal place. Internet access is still measured in bits per second versus GB/sec, but who cares...life is good! Deer, elk, bears, turkeys...you name it!
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| Tom and Georgia Ware - hard to believe Tom is in his mid-70's. Obviously married a child bride. |
We had such a great time discussing old times at IBM....do you remember this person or do you remember when that happened...it was great. Plus Tom and Georgia served us dinner and breakfast. The Ware's own a large RV and my hope is that they go East to Tulsa (a daughter is there) and spend another 1.5 hour and come see us in Arkansas.
The first morning at the Ware's,the four of us took a 5 mile hike into the national forest. A regular event for them - pretty country. After the forest jaunt, Barry and I went to Durango and Tom chopped or at least moved a bunch of wood around. He chops and splits 6 cords of wood each winter....not bad for an old guy.
Barry and I took a planned day off fishing and went into Durango. We met Tom and Georgia there a bit later in the day for dinner at the Mahogany Grill in the famous Strater Hotel. Durango is a fun little city - a lot of shops, restaurants....kind of like you'd expect in a ski or vacation village. Plenty of activities there or within an hour to make it a weekend destination.
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| Strater Hotel |
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| Stage Coaches still roll in Durango |
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| There are some mean looking hombres |
One of the most famous parts of Durango is the Durango-Silverton train ride. We didn't take the train as it's a 1/2 day ride each way through the mountains. We spent a couple hours in the train museum and saw several 1000's square feet of elaborate model railroads as well as retired engines, cabooses and other equipment from the 1800's.
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| Durango - Silverton is Mountainous train ride |
Wednesday morning, we left the Ware's and headed to the San Juan River to fish. The river is famous for it's trout fishing, but there are literally hundreds of folks fishing below the dam. Two of them were Barry and I. Tom drove over to watch, but the area is not conducive to trout fishing spectating.
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| Water is extremely clear. River is wide and lots of fisherman. Barry in foreground. |
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| 20+ inch Brown - a foot from my waders |
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| 20+ inch Rainbow 2 feet from my waders |
15-25 inch trout were floating everywhere, but we nor most of the other fisherman could not get them to take a fly. Barry and I do catch and release, so from our perspective it was just awesome to see them hovering by your boots. Easily could have dipped a net in and caught my largest trout ever. The trout hope you move your foot and stir up scuds from the bottom of the river. We found out from our next Guide who fishes there often, you have to ignore all of those big trout....they have Phd's in not getting caught....you should fish other areas. I'd clearly use a Guide if I fish the San Juan again - the big fish are there.
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| The river was very wide so Barry could practice some very nice fly casts |
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| ...and not worry about trees and bushes. |
We finished fishing about noon and headed to Mesa Verde National Park - about an hours drive. Barry had been there in the past, but this was my first.
Mesa Verde National Park
From the internet .....Mesa Verde National Park is a National Park and World Heritage Site located in Colorado. It protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archeological sites in the United States. Created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, it occupies 52,485 acres with more than 4,300 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archeological preserve in the US. Mesa Verde (Spanish for "green table") is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.
Mesa Verde is visible from nearly the time we left the San Juan River from fishing. The park and all of the Pueblo attractions are on top of the mesa (see picture). The mesa ranges from 6000 feet elevation to 8600 feet. When you start the winding climb up the mountain, you are about 30 minutes from the park entrance and then another 2-4 hours of driving around to see all the dwellings...it is massive. A lot of pretty scenery although I had to quit telling Barry "look at that" - the car seemed to pull the direction is head turned and I got a bit worried with all the drop offs and hairpin turns....glad he was driving. Mesa Verde is a popular spot in the Tony Hillerman novels. The lodge we stayed had every one of his novels available - kind of cool.
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| Table Mesa runs from 6000-8600 elevation |
Note: not sure why fonts change, etc....not going to fret over it.
Our first stop was the Ranger station to get the lay of the land. We bought our 3 tickets for the next days tour of the dwellings $4 each. My National Park Pass saved us $15-20. If you are over 62, you should have one. Every tour is selling out - Mesa Verde ranks up there with Yellowstone and other top national parks. After the ranger station, we headed for the Far View Lodge - our home for a couple nights. It sits at the top of a bluff overlooking miles and miles of Colorado land. Far View has a nice bar and an excellent 4-5 star restaurant - Metate Room.
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| Our room was on the far right #201. Every room has a balcony and no rooms have TV...however wifi was plentiful |
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| While the room looks spacious through this lens, it is probably 10x20. The bathroom had a toilet and shower...reminded me of an airplane bathroom. |
We had dinner at the lodge after a few concoctions of our TX and Bulleit whiskey. The restaurant was incredible. Barry had the Roasted Corn on the Cob and Chili Rellano. I tried the Rattlesnake and Pheasant sausage with the Pan Seared Trout. Some of the best food I've ever had and clearly the best on the trip - unless the Ware's are reading this, then the dinner they served was the best and this was second.
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| Barry's Roasted corn...I ate my food before we could get a picture |
I'll put some pictures of the pueblo cliff dwellings that Barry and I visited, but you should put a visit on your bucket list. 1. I can't imagine building these. 2. The work commute was climbing up a 40-100 foot cliff face using finger and toe holds 3. The dwellings had to be abandoned over time because food sources were being depleted on the Mesa Verde. When you visit, stop by the museum - great pictures and stories of the inhabitants. We visited 3 main sites - Balcony House, Cliff Palace and Long House.
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| The Indians would see a significant carve out of a cliff and build an impenetrable village inside. This one is know as Balcomy House. They believe Balcony House held 25-30 people and 4-5 families. A lot of work to build this for 4-5 families. |
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| Most of our tours involved climbing down steps and then back up ladders to enter. Obviously could not come in directly from the top, although the Indians did...they did not use ladders - toe and hand holds in the rock face. |
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| The Balcony House had one entry/exit - unless you wanted to come down the cliff. They believe a single child could have protected the families. We had the experience of crawling through the 10 foot entry/exit tunnel to leave the Balcony House. You can see from Barry above it is a very tight squeeze and you are crawling on rock for 10 feet (and hitting your head). |
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| Kiva - a gathering place |
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| Barry photoing a kiva |
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| Kiva's and other room types are interspersed...no particular order. This would be great for paint balling. |
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| Each tour was lead by a Ranger. This guy was a hoot. He grew up a few miles away in a village called Mancos. When he was small he used to come up and explore these dwellings before they were only accessible via tours. He says when you get back in some of the rooms, it's pretty eerie. |
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| This is Cliff Palace. The place held an estimated 85-100 people. You can see all the Kiva's which indicates the multiple families. I took this picture off a balcony on the way down..which indicates the climbs we had to make. By the way, while the men farmed and hunted, one of the women's tasks was to get water. Mesa Verde had no water, so if you didn't catch rain, you put a bowl on your head and walked the many miles to the bottom of the Mesa Verde plateau to the Mancos River and carried it back up. Woman have it so easy now days. |
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| Rangers built steps so we would not have to climb too many ladders to get out of Cliff Palace. The fence on Barry's left protects him from a 1000 foot drop. |
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| This is Long House. We walked about 1.5 miles to get to it....it was 95 degrees. The Ranger insisted that we each have 2 bottles of water along. Could have used three. Once there, there were 200-300 steps to go down to get to the Long House. Long House was nice as they'd let you do a bit more exploring and touching. The return trip was grueling - back up the steps and back the 1.5 miles (no trees for shade). |
Priest Gulch Campground and Dolores River
Part of our ambition was to camp a few nights while we fished. Barry had heard of Priest Gulch Campground from someone that waltzed into BassPro to watch him tie flies. The place was great. As a testimony to that, 80% of the people in the campground are in giant RV's...there are only 4 tent sites. Most of the RV's have been coming there for 7-8 years and get on waiting lists to improve their spot on the river. Most stay for 2-3 months at a time.
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| The Dolores River runs through the campground. We fished other parts of the Dolores. |
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| Our home away from home...listen to the river babbling each night. |
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| Boy scout Barry |
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| Had to have fire so we could have brats and beans |
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| A little hard to see, but a fox (center) in our neighbor camp area at 6 AM the next morning. I came across the fox again the next morning....must like the food there. He said he was not a relative of ML and Amelia Fox. |
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| Hmmmm Good! Pancakes, sausage, eggs and coffee |
While in Durango, we ventured into a fly shop (imagine that) and signed up to use a Guide 2 days later in a location 60 miles from Durango. Barry and I were a bit nervous about our Guide. No recommendations on him and we were just hoping he showed up - we had no phone number for him and we'd already put 1/2 the fee down. When he got there, he said he'd not fished the Dolores River area before....we both kind of looked at each other. Then he wanted to borrow Barry's fishing maps to find turnout points, etc... He was a young guy...told us that none of the old guys wanted to drive 60 miles from Durango over to our place...on a Sunday.
Turns out that Les Vance was an excellent Guide. He was what we truly needed to advance 1 notch in fly fishing. Having not fished here before, like us (only way the heck more knowledgeable) Les had to figure out where were the fishing holes and what were the fish eating. When Barry and I go fishing without a Guide, that's what we need to be able to do. Guides like Doc Thompson and people I used in Utah are great, but they know their rivers by heart. Les has fished New Zealand and Argentina...great stories, like all Guides.
This was fun! The only negative was that for the first hour, we were in an area where thousands of moth had just hatched or something....but the fish were not going to bite. Les got us off of that and we went to the Dolores West Fork (no moths), but a good 3/4 mile walk. We ended up catching another 25-30 trout. Barry caught browns, rainbows and a cutthroat. I had browns and rainbows.
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| These are husks of hatched stone flies...this is the kind of stuff Les looked for. |
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| Barry shooting for the seam between the rapids and the still water. Also, according to Doc, the bubbles were like the buffet bar to the fish. |
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| Let the dry fly drift down the river and wait for the strike |
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| Changing flies for Barry and checking down river to see where he wanted Barry to throw. |
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| Drying his fly |
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| Got one |
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| More than likely, I caught that log and lost my fly. Nice having Les around so I didn't have to tie those little things. |
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| Another one |
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| Probably another tree caught |
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| Don't ask me, I just take the pictures!! |
After fishing that day, we went back to the campground, showered up, and made cheese burgers with chips, etc... to go with our TX and Bulleit. Nothing tastes better than food cooked at a campfire or on a camp stove.
One thing about camping, and drinking; getting up in the night 3 times to pee is disruptive. Is there anything louder than a tent unzipping and zipping back up. And while you may only venture 10-15 feet from the tent (hopefully on the down hill side), you hear a variety of bears, cougars, tigers and other Sasquatch related beings. While the tent wall is 1/16 inch thick, it feels very safe to get back inside.
The next morning came the test. Fishing without a Guide! Would we do our typical maybe get 1 or 2 fish, or did we learn something from Les? I'm here to tell you, with what we learned about the flies and where to fish, we pulled in (and released) another 15-20 trout. It was a great 2 days of fishing on the Dolores.
Note...I have no clue why the font got larger here!
After a second day of fishing we decided to drive to Telluride (50-60 miles) for dinner. I've been there skiing a few times, but this was Barry's first trip. Telluride is a great ski town, but it seems it may even be busier in the summer. Supposedly replacing Aspen/Vale as the place to be seen. Telluride's main drag is about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long of shop after shop.
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| Telluride has a multitude of festivals from Independence day to a major film festival to winter snow festivals |
The next morning, after 3 great nights of camping, we pulled up the tent and all the equipment and headed back to the south towards Los Alamos and Valles Caldera.
Los Alamos and Valles Caldera
From the internet, About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile circular depression now know as the Valles Caldera. The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife and meandering streams. The 95,000 acre area was sold to the US government under President Bill Clinton in 2000 by the Dunigan family for $101 million.
We had a fairly long drive to Valles Caldera from Priest Gulch....Like most of the drives in upper NM and lower CO, there are cool land formations that must have been left by glaciers and volcanos...they are just in the middle of nowhere and may stick up 5,000 feet. One was Ship Rock. I personally thought another looked more like a ship, but this is ship rock.
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| Ship Rock |
We arrived in the Los Alamos, NM area around 2:30 pm or so. We took the opportunity to run up to the Valles Caldera National Preserve and check out the fishing logistics. Valles Caldera is set up so they only allow 30 cars access to the preserve each day. The front gate opens at 8 and the Ranger building (about a 10 minute drive from the gate) opens at 8:30. The first 30 cars fish...the rest go home - especially on weekends. The Ranger told us that since it was a Wednesday, we'd be okay, but we targeted to get there 7:45 or so.
We drove back to our hotel after checking out the fishing area. We stayed at a Hampton Inn...nice place. Went into Los Alamos for dinner. The restaurant we selected had an appetizer item called Scotch Egg. I'd not heard of it before and tried it....really good. Basically a hot sausage ball wrapped around a hard boiled egg.
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| Scotch Egg (half eaten) |
Out of the sack at 6:30 and head back up to the national preserve. We got there at 7:40 or so and were the second in line. Ranger Judy showed up right at 8 am and opened the gate. We had a great surprise while driving from the gate to the Ranger Building. A herd of over 100 elk were grazing by the road. Not the best pictures, but these are what I got.
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| Elk at Valles Caldera |
Ranger Judy checked us in at 8:30 and by 8:40 we were driving towards the back of the preserve (10 miles of rough gravel roads) to the San Antonio River. Cool drive back to the fishing area although it is not well marked. At one point you are routed through the old Dunigan Working Ranch buildings. For the most part though it is a wide open prairie for as far as you can see. The river runs through the prairie but unlike most rivers, this one is small and has no trees....pretty hard to see.
When you fish in Valles Caldera it is very different fishing. The streams are very small (3-5 feet wide) and the fish can see you standing along side the stream - you don't get in...so in most cases, you sneak up to the river and fish from your knees.
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| After parking and gearing up, we had a 1/2 mile walk to the stream. Barry is heading out. As I said, trees to not outline the stream....we just assume there is one down there. |
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| Lots of these guys that were curious as to who we were |
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| The size of the creek is very small...however, I was not going to kneel to fish. |
We ended up catching a dozen trout on flies that looked like beetle bugs that Barry had made, however, the largest fish was about 6 inches. Other than seeing the reserve, I probably would not go back and fish here....lots of work, bees flying everywhere and very small, skittish fish.
We finished up fishing a little after noon and made the decision to head for Texas and go as far as we could go until we were too tired to drive. After 30 minutes, I guess we were anxious to get home...we decided to drive it - about 12 hours - 4 three hour shifts - pulling into Farmer Branch around midnight.
Of course we had to have a night cap of TX and Bulleit. The next morning, we slept in until around 8. We unpacked the pickup and I loaded my stuff into my pickup and headed for Arkansas.
In all, I guess we caught and released 75-90 trout; no trophies, but some nice size, fun to catch fish. We met a couple of great Guides, rekindled old relationships from IBM, saw some cool landmarks and native Indian pueblo's. On top of that, it was 10 days of fishing with my Brother in law Barry - what could be better than that. Talk about low stress and high fun!
