Western Swing 2: Craven’s Store

So off I headed for three weeks of high alpine lake fishing.  I hoped.  I didn’t tie even remotely enough flies, and I was very worried about my ability to fish dries.  And I didn’t have the dries I figured I’d need.  I put all this to rest by stopping in Charlie Craven’s shop, Charlie’s Fly Box, in Arvada.  It’s really easy to get to if you’re going I-76-I-70.  I’ve ordered a bunch of materials from this store, and as I’ve learned more about tying, Craven’s books are pretty much the best out there for instruction.

Charlie Craven wasn’t there, but I recognized the guy behind the counter as Jay Zimmerman, fly designer, blogger, and author.  I didn’t tell him I recognized him, as I was hyperworried about seeming like a no-nothing doofus.  Some hick who messes around on mostly stocked streams in Iowa entering one of the high halls of Colorado fly fishing.  I asked him for advice on fly selection for high altitude lakes.  I had a list, but he waved it away and went around grabbing things.  He wasn’t a dick, but there was definitely a certain Suffering Noobs sheen to it.  He kept putting things in one of those little plastic cups and I kept having to ask him what pattern it was.  Then he went back behind his counter.  Um, okay.  So there were a couple of black/red leechy streamers.  Some Soft Hackle Emergers.  Some kind of deer hair dry with some flash I wasn’t fast enough to catch the name of.  Well, whatever.  I got out my list and set to.  I got: Parachute Adams, Mosquitos, more Soft Hackle Emergers, Humpies, Royal Wulffs, some more Griffith’s Gnats, Stimulators, Foam Flying Ants, Foam Beetles, olive Scuds, and orange Scuds.  Now I felt a bit better.

But.  I was really, really, really worried about my ability to cast with enough distance on these lakes.  I planned to spend some serious effort getting to them.  I wanted to have all the tools I needed.

So I asked Jay if they had an entry level rod that wouldn’t break the bank.  He directed me to a Redington Path all in one for $189.99.

And so I bought a western fly rod and reel.

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Nobody reads this, but sorry, I just have no time for either the whole western “Tenkara makes it totally okay to tell homophobic jokes” line of thought or, honestly, the whole “Tenkara is the one true way” thing.  I’m a fly fisherman.  I’ve fished tenkara exclusively since resuming, but I have fond memories of casting dries with my old fiberglass rod in the 1980s.  Tenkara is more effective than western at many things, including the small stream fishing I do in Iowa.  But western is better than tenkara for other things, like casting dries over distance.  I’m not going to discriminate.  I’m going to use the right tools for whatever job.  When that’s tenkara, great.  But I’ve now been reminded of how much fun fishing dries with a western rod is.  I like it a lot, and I’m going to do that, too.

Jay warmed up a lot when I told him what I was up to, heading to the backcountry for three weeks with just the odd hotel night break.  He figured I was pushing it in terms of season and might be postholing through snow.  That turned out not to be the case with the recent hot spell, but I tried to soak up as much advice as I could in five minutes.

Then I was off and through Denver and headed for the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

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