Eastern Europe - Pre Trip Introduction

Sally and myself along with Ray and Shirley Yang will embark on a tour of Eastern Europe in late May/early June of 2014. We will visit four lovely cities: Vienna (Austria), Budapest and Pecs (Hungary) and Krakow (Poland) using only public transportation - trains, boats, taxis and planes - (Steve Martin is certainly not invited). We will stay in small, local, hotels and pensions, mostly without elevators (lots of stairs). Also, due to the often long walks from train stations to our accommodations, we will limit ourselves to one backpack (more or less) apiece.

Our intrepid world travelers are comprised of the 4 young folks in the pic below. You will certainly be seeing more of us in days to come....

Our itinerary looks like this....

Tuesday, May 27/Wed May 28 - ✈️ Fly Denver to Vienna

May 28, 29, 30, 31 - �� Vienna, Austria (4 nights)

Sunday, June 1 - �� Train to Budapest (3 hrs)

June 1, 2, 3 �� Budapest, Hungary (3 nights)

Wednesday, June 4 - �� Train to Pecs (3hrs)

June 4, 5 �� Pecs, Hungary (2 nights)

Friday, June 6 - �� Train to Krakow (14 hrs)

June 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 �� Krakow, Poland (5 nights)

Wednesday, June 11 ✈️ Fly Krakow, back to Denver

Fishing Spring 2014

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Arkansas River

Well, the river looks better than expected, but fisherman campers in the Hecla Junction campground report poor fishing. Mean while, it's dinner time - spartan camp food is the norm - smoked oysters, a glass of white wine, green salad, cast iron grilled chicken and a ginger snap for dessert. Fishin' is a tough life!

The fellow at the ArkAnglers fly shop was right. Tough fishin, no nibbles all day, none of the guys in the campground have caught a fish in 3 days. It rained all day. The fishin was great, but the catchin was poor...very pretty river though.  One fellow has been coming here since the 80's says he's never seen it so high or muddy this time of year.  

Well, there's always next year!

The Arkansas in the sun...

The Arkansas in the rain (most of the day)...

Heading home tomorrow. Fun trip.

A word on flies used:
Blue River: BWO, Midges, Panther Martin
Gunnison River: Pink Scuds, Midges, Rio Grand Worm, BWO emerger
Arkansas River: Nothing worked, dark streamers, Rio Grand/Pheasant Tail, lures, nothing.

Monday, April 21, 2014

The Black Gorge of the Gunnison River

Change of plan! Stopping at a fly shop in Glenwood Springs, I learned that there were no open campgrounds closer than 30 miles from the Frying Pan River. While the "Pan" is considered one of America's top trout streams, I didn't fancy driving 60 miles each day, plus a big snow-dumping storm was on its way to the Aspen area.

I decided to fish the "Pan" another day and push on to the Gunnison, where spring had already arrived! 70 degree days (but still fishing in 37 degree water), 40 degree nights (seems so warm after 21 degrees on the Blue), baby lambs and calves lying in the fields with their mamas, willows beginning to leaf out - heaven!

My camp, East Portal, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

This park is sooo clean! None of the fisherman trash (water bottles, bait containers, etc) I saw along the Blue River. Primarily frequented by fisherman, this beautiful Gunnison River park is a lovely place to catch big fish and enjoy the scenery. Case in point - My next-door-camping-neighbors were hunting & fishing guides (lots of helpful advice and a couple free flies) from Crested Butte who come here often for the spring fishing. They were awesome fisherman and fun to talk with.

There were a number of fisherman, of the finest sort. Courteous, helpful, and respectful of the fish and the river. Since most practiced "catch-and-release", there were lots of big fish to go around.

I had to work hard. Only 2 fish in 2 days (on the whole, the fishing was not considered very good this weekend), but a couple 18"-ish rainbows made it worthwhile.

........And my favorite adult beverage completed the post-fishing celebration each night.

Funny thing - near where I was fishing, a goose was eating all the hatching midges that she could gobble up. I really became concerned that if she would eat my fly (also a midge) that she would take off with my fishing line, pole, and reel! Luckily she moved on.

Looking down on my "fishing hole" from the canyon rim.

In a minute I'll be moving on the the Arkansas River near Salida CO, for a night or two. Spring runoff has started 3 weeks early, the water is running high and muddy and the fishing is spozed to be pretty tough. We'll give it a try tomorrow. Right now I'm finishing my latte in downtown Salida and enjoying my gingersnap and the warmth of the sun.

Posted with Blogsy

Friday, April 18, 2014

The Blue River

The Blue River, south of Kremmling, CO is a gold medal fishery below Lake Dillon. Arriving in early evening, I found my scouting info to be in error. While the river was flowing very well, all my target campgrounds were still snowbound!  A Forest Service employee pointed me to an old cemetery, where I camped the last 2 nights.

The spooks of the early settlers were pretty quiet, so no complaints. 

Up early on Thursday, I fly fished to no avail, switching after lunch to spinning gear, BAM! Caught a 14" brown trout on my first cast!  I couldn't entice any more fish to bite after that, but it was a beautiful sunny day in the 50's, and great to be outdoors in Colorados high country, despite having to wade through knee-deep snow along the river. 

Couldn't keep my fish, as they need to be 16" or better, (I normally release them all anyway)  so I thawed a frozen cod fillet and ate that instead....

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Spring Fishing Trip 2014

All set!  The camper is loaded, fly rod is packed and the fish are waiting.

My plan had to be changed multiple times due to frozen streams and snowbound campgrounds in Northern Colorado, but Southern Colorado is beckoning.  My plan is to fish the Blue River near Kremmling, then the Frying Pan near Basalt, next the Black Canyon of the Gunnison at East portal and finally the Arkansas River near Salida.

According to fly shops in the areas I will fish, Blue Winged Olives (in the afternoon), Midges, leeches (Bead Head Buggers, etc), pheasant tails, streamers, and caddis or stonefly nymphs in the mornings are best flys to use at this time of the year.