Well, Sorry it has been a while since I last posted but, after a July like we had everyone was just exhausted. We had great fly fishing on the Eagle, Colorado and the Roaring Fork. The fly fishing on the Roaring Fork from the boat has been as consistent as I have ever seen it and remains strong to the day. I highly reccommend making the treck to fish the Roaring Fork as soon as you can. The Wade fishing on the Eagle is at it's peak until Fall. Many of the major hatches are over but the experienced fly fisherman can still be productive with micro nymphs. The Colorado is on fire with the terrestrial fishing. The Foam PMX Hopper ahs been the ticket. We hope to see you in Colorado this Fall and for any additional information please give us a call.

We are in full run-off right now in the Vail Valley. We are operating our guide training class which has yeilded some great new talant for the 2006 season. Look forward to meeting the Dough Boy and Utah two of our new staff.

I spent two weeks in Florida guiding this Spring and had some incredible fishing with Kurt Olesic aka Kurto who is a local Oakley rep for the West. We jammed out with the new THUMP loaded with awesome reagge etc.... Kurto was a Florida Keys virgin but was quickly inducted by the first morning as we proceeded to land several Tarpon in the 20-40 lb range. Kurto also was able to complete the elusive Grand Slam in Biscayne Bay. Wow what a great fishery. Captain Nick Varnberg is still in Florida guiding daily and will reurn in late June.

We are looking forward to a great fly fishing season in Vail this year. All of your favorite guides will be back in full swing soon. I am going on an exploratory bass/pike mission tomorrow and will be back with an update.

Spring fishing is in full force in the Rocky Mountains. We have been wade fishing on the Eagle River and Gore Creek and doing a bunch of float trips on the Roaring Fork near Glenwood Springs. The night time temps are in the 20's and 30's and the day time temps are 40's and 50's. We have had great midge hatches on the Roaring Fork and also a few Blue Winged Olives. The Eagle has been great above Wolcott and somewhat unpredictable below due to the two small feeder creeks that come off of Castle Peak that trash the lower Eagle. When we get colder nights the lower river will clear up. Great time to get out there even if it is a little off color. The Beaver Hole from Montana Fly CO. has been very productive on the Eagle. I was out on our new lease the other day and caught 4 fish in 5 casts with that fly and the famous Gorsuch Blue Prince. I also floated the upper Colorado River yesterday with YT (aka Rob White) who is one of our senior guides. The water was still very cold and offered very little insect activity. We saw a few fish rise and managed to catch a couple of nice fish and had a great float. The water color was still a bit off but fishable.
Our snow pack is around 112% of average and in great shape for this summer. I think we will have a somewhat normal run-off that will extend the Eagle River floating season for a few weeks.
The construction on the new store in Eagle started last week and is slated to open in late May. We will offer a wide variety of products in including spin fishing supplies and a new fly fishing report internet kiosk. The shop is just East of Wendy's and the car wash across the street from the Eagle Post Office.
We hope to see you in Eagle County this Spring for some great fly fishing action on the Eagle, Gore, Roaring Fork, or Colorado Rivers.

PHOTO: Guide Pete Mott with a Lower Colorado Rainbow (March 2006)

Until next time.

Hello everyone,

Last week was spent in the Florida Keys with a cross section of fly fishing freaks from around the country. I spent a day with Frank Smetherst and his brother William who I fished with in Cabo a few years back. We fished hard and had some great shots a bonefish and a couple of permit with no luck on the fly other than the shocking bonefish eat which spooked William who was instantly reduced by the evil green fish. Better luck next time. Brett from the shop was with me as well and fished with Captain Nick Varnberg in Whitewater Bay where the landed a 90# tarpon on fly and released it safely back to the wild. All in all the fishing was ok but we struggled after a period of severe cold the week prior to our arrival.

Back in Colorado now and the fishing here is beginning to heat up. Lots of guided fly fishing trips and many fish being caught. The forecast is for a mild and warm March so the fishing should be better than the skiing for this month. If you are coming to town call ahead and make a reservation. We are preparing for a very busy summer and look forward to seeing you all on the waters near Vail.

Mark Sassi (shop manager Edwards) is pregnant with number 2 child and is expecting around July 4th. If he looks like a deer in the headlights you know why.

We have added Peter DuPont from the Fly Fisher in Denver to the staff full time and he will be operating the new store in Eagle which is scheduled to open in late May.

All of the guides are ramped up and ready to go so come by the shop in Edwards and catch up on the fishing juice for the Spring.

The snow in Vail in excellent. The fishing has been just as good. Our winter guides have been floating the lower Colorado River and having some great days. Even on the colder mornings up valley, the temperature is moderate and generally 15 degrees down valley on the Colorado. The guys continue to nymph the big holes and some others that are less visible with midge patterns and other attractor patterns. This time of year we generally are looking for the big Rainbows which are harder to find at other times of the year when there is more water in the river. The most productive time of the day is generally from 11-4 . Give the skiing a break and try some winter fly fishing and we think you will be suprised. We are also now a booking agent for Angling Destinations and can help you with all of your destination travel needs with our full service fly shop and experienced staff. Our first hosted trip will be to Campeche in November 2006. Please call for more details.

The fly fishing report from the Vail Valley:

The fishing has been good but the cooler temps and the relentless snow have put a slight damper on things becoming consistent. We have been doing float trips on the lower Colorado River with some mixed results. In general if you have some skills you can catch fish if you don't it may be difficult. The float guides have been nymphing up some decent rainbows and browns and occasionally hooking the man on the lower river. We have had several wade trips on the lower Eagle River with great success. Again nymphing has been the most productive and the wade is a much more forgiving venue for the beginner angler.

The snow pack is said to be 138% of normal and we are setting up for a huge water year. The fishing should be excellent all spring. There will be no water shortage this summer and we should see some of the best fly fishing conditions since 1998 or so.

Call the shop to book your winter fly fishing trip or just click on the reservations button on the home page and send it in. Pete, Rob, Aaron, Paul, and Rob Waters are ready when you are.

See you on the water.

John C Cochran

Happy Holidays

I am back in the Vail Valley now and was greeted with a ton of snow and all the winter joys that go with it. The fishing in Key Largo was excellent. Several days of bonefishing with Captain Nick Varnberg produced up to 4 fish over 8 lbs each day. Nick landed a bruiser 11 pounder on one of the last days. We also had one day in Florida Bay that was just off the hook. We caught and released over 8 Reds in the 6-10lb class and had a blast. The bay was glass calm and the reds were tailing everywhere we looked for about 4 hours straight. We saw several big Snook on the flat but could never get close enough to present the fly. Offshore was good as well. We released 3 Sailfish one day and caught a couple of gaffer Dolphin which we promptly turned into fish tacos. Vail is a winter wonderland right now. The temperature has been below freezing for a while but we are looking to warm up to the mid thirties next week. This will turn the mountain trout fishing on especially around Glenwood on the Fork and the Colorado. The Yampa and the Frying Pan are fishing well and are about the only options now except for a few select sections on Gore Creek and the Eagle River.