tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2466012292979936522012-01-24T06:42:51.540-07:00Thoughts pertaining to the world of Fly-FishingJeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.comBlogger821100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-14404027684759573422011-12-13T19:00:00.000-07:002011-12-14T09:31:18.684-07:00

Materials: Fine window-screen mesh, telescoping legs, heavy duty thread (I actually used 8 lb test firewire for spin fishing), needle or sewing machine Cost: About $12 (more if you have to buy firewire from the store :-) Time: About 1 hour for me to assemble. If you have a sewing machine it would probably only take 20 minutes or less. I spoke in a recent blog how I wanted to get back

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-47533938567635568082011-12-09T14:18:00.000-07:002011-12-09T14:30:21.961-07:00

Catch-up: This event occurred in the Spring of 2011 Date: Friday April 22 and  Saturday May 7, 2011 Weather: Sunny, beautiful Insect/Activity: Small amount of midge and baetis activity Patterns Used: Blacktail Baetis, AB Tungsten Hare's Ear, Grey Midge Pupa Flows: 52 Fortune smiled upon Ben and I as we took to the river a couple of times in a two week period! I can't remember what

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1County Road 96, Pike National Forest, Florissant, CO 80816, USA38.91988697357692 -105.4369926452636738.90753297357692 -105.45673364526367 38.932240973576924 -105.41725164526368tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-63830812185219564352011-11-16T06:36:00.000-07:002011-11-16T06:39:05.179-07:00

Here's another blast from the past! Date: Saturday April 2, 2011 Weather: Sunny in the mid 50's Insect/Activity: Very little Patterns Used: Blacktail Baetis, AB Tungsten Hare's Ear, Grey Midge Pupa Flows: 75 Michelle strikes again! Really, a flawless brown ... amazing. I've got a pretty good stock of these back-logged posts I need to catch up on, so you'll definitely see these popping

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com6Cheeseman Canyon, South Platte River39.23703978837414 -105.2555465698242239.22474128837414 -105.27528756982421 39.24933828837414 -105.23580556982422tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-39918760821235283132011-11-10T06:37:00.003-07:002011-12-09T13:17:16.965-07:00

Date: Sunday October 30, 2011 Weather: Mostly Sunny Insect/Activity: None in the morning. Baetis hatch started around noon and became moderately heavy by 1:30 PM Patterns Used: Blacktail Baetis, AB Tungsten Hare's Ear, Midge Pupa, Poly-Wing Baetis, Adams Flows: 63 Fantastic day on the river! My buddy Chris and I rolled up at about 8:30 AM, a little too early. There was not much

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-7963577786712331172011-08-31T14:46:00.000-06:002011-12-09T13:17:00.375-07:00

Catch Up: This event occurred in the not to distant past ... Date: Monday February 21, 2011 Weather: Sunny, High's in the 40's Insect/Activity: Few midge in the air Patterns Used: Blacktail Baetis, AB Tungsten Hare's Ear, Grey Midge Pupa Flows: Low, can't remember, but probably well below 100 CFS Michelle and I were chomping at the bit to get a break from the Arkansas River in Pueblo. So,

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-79775731852807161522011-08-18T16:53:00.003-06:002011-08-18T17:01:21.689-06:00

No doubt you can guess at a lack of posts in this blog from the first photo in my previous entry. My son, Winston James Allen was born on July 20th at 1:06 AM. He was 6 lbs. 11 oz. at 20" long. What an amazing experience, and it wasn't half as hard as everyone kept telling me! :-) Oh yea ... Michelle did really well too! Somehow, back in June, I envisioned catching up on blogging since I knew I

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-65648538237022452392011-06-16T12:55:00.012-06:002011-06-17T15:09:01.583-06:00

Redefining "Keepin' it Real"Date: Saturday June 11, 2011Weather: Sunny with a few storms that moved in and outInsect/Activity: Few caddis in the air, few baetis emerging, Suckers moving into the shallows but not spawning yet.Patterns Used: Blacktail Baetis, AB Tungsten Hare's EarFlows: 107My 35 week, bursting with baby, pregnant wife redefined "keepin' it real" this last weekend. As we near the

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-51709251054321077872011-06-07T13:37:00.007-06:002011-06-07T14:16:54.775-06:00

Date: Various dates throughout the Fall, Winter and SpringWeather: Mostly Colorado blue skiesInsect activity: VariedPatterns used: Classics (Hare's Ear, Cut-wing Caddis, Adams)I'm not much for secrets. In Gunnison, there just wasn't the need. Why keep a secret when there's hundreds of miles of rivers. Some of my best kept secrets in the area were high mountain lakes that held 3 lb cutthroat, but

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-83237643687863367522011-06-03T13:00:00.002-06:002011-06-03T13:11:03.241-06:00

I've decided to switch things up a bit ...Though I have had the intention of posting in a more expedient manner. It just isn't happening ... Really, one of the key things I wanted this blog to be is a resource to myself, as an online fishing journal, and to others, as a river report.I have come up with the best solution to start posting a little more bare-bones, only breaking out the anecdotal

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-59941023851103704622011-04-15T17:33:00.001-06:002011-04-15T17:33:00.468-06:00

SUPERPOSTNovember 27 and 28January 8 and 29February 19(and some other random dates)Prior to June 14th 2010 I didn't even know this stretch of river existed. Living in Gunnison, CO one doesn't exactly seek out what trout fishing there is east of Pike's Peak. Pueblo ?!@!? I assumed the Ark came out of Bighorn Sheep Canyon and turned into a sandy mud-hole and that may have been the case before the

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-83692056211810807162011-03-04T11:16:00.004-07:002011-03-04T11:29:40.804-07:00

November 13, 2010This will be a short and sweet one ... another attempt to hit the big "Fall Run" on the DS. It was a pretty good morning and we were finding plenty of fish. Ben hooked up with this VERY hefty rainbow very early on.We each picked up a couple of average fish and didn't really spot many browns (not like in previous years). Surprisingly, the weather was chillier than we had hoped for

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-42704886162433843972011-01-20T14:06:00.005-07:002011-01-23T15:22:10.077-07:00

New Year's ResolutionI am not typically a "New Year's Resolution" kind of guy. Part of me doesn't see the point, the other part of me really doesn't see the point when you watch a lot of people make a resolution that is quickly forgotten by February. However, while I woke up to -3 degrees today and have found myself constantly drifting to thoughts of standing near a river with the warm rays of

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-26406274298425993462011-01-18T15:00:00.000-07:002011-01-18T15:15:13.562-07:00

October 15, 2010If I had a stand-out day this fall, it was on the Arkansas river. It really was the quintessential fall fly fishing day. The sky was a brilliant blue, the air was crisp, the leaves were crunchy underfoot, the wind was non-existant and there was the smell of the fading summer (i.e. decaying plant matter).There was not much to be said for the size of the fish we were catching. In

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-48887397563693734752011-01-13T07:50:00.001-07:002011-01-13T15:20:36.937-07:00

October 2, 2010Theories, all just theories ...In my quest to understand the Dream Stream section of the South Platte I have yet to reach the end. My experience tells me that it is primarily a Salmon/Steelhead river. Sure, you wouldn't call the rainbows steelhead, but essentially, they don't live in the river, they live in the lake. Same with the browns. My hunch is that the cutthroats do live in

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-26199115615436320432011-01-10T07:49:00.000-07:002011-01-10T12:59:18.011-07:00

September 11, 2010"The Curse of the Tailwater Fishery"Yes, I have made some complaints lately about "Front range fishing". Mostly, I stand by those complaints. I do understand, however, that without these rivers having dams on them, most of them would not fish nearly as well for trout. They would probably be silt laden, warm water fisheries.But, since the dams are in place, that is the reality I

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-53031545814195985032011-01-07T12:00:00.000-07:002011-01-07T12:33:59.883-07:00

September 5, 2010It was high time I got Michelle on the river all to myself! The summer had been crazy from moving, adjusting to new jobs, getting together with friends. I certainly got out to the river my fair share, but all too often Michelle couldn't come along for one reason or another.So, on our first full day off in a while, we headed up to 11 MC. The day was great, water was running a

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-92077362757882173372010-12-20T11:00:00.001-07:002010-12-20T15:21:14.959-07:00

August 7 and 8, 2010High water can be epic ... I have mentioned it a few times in my past blogs. It is not a guarantee that you will figure out where the fish are, what they are feeding on or that the flows will work in your favor. But, the times that it works out can be fantastic!Such was two days of fishing with friends of the family. My Dad's good friends, the Askins, were on their way out to

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-37956625272224961362010-12-17T11:00:00.000-07:002010-12-17T11:20:38.272-07:00

July 25, 2010Some good friends of ours started a church in Denver (www.denverunited.com) and for a brief period in the summer we had the bright idea to drive 1 hour and 20 minutes to church every Sunday ... that didn't last too long, as we decided being part of a church in a community far away from our own wasn't really the point. I digress ...It so happens that one week, after church, we decided

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-86297594787125162582010-12-09T16:40:00.000-07:002010-12-09T15:55:59.467-07:00

July 31, 2010August 7 and 14, 2010It had been years since I fished 11 Mile Canyon (aka 11MC). Really, I had only fished it once, when I first moved to Colorado for college at Western State in Gunnison. It was more of a stop in really, and my memory of it was not that impressive. We caught fish, but I don't remember anything too massive. I certainly don't remember anything about a

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-65680890287109691782010-09-27T14:34:00.003-06:002010-09-27T14:42:10.190-06:00

If you follow this blog, you've not doubt noticed a serious lack of entries this summer.Moving has been painful ... you don't realize how much time it takes to pack your life up into neat little boxes, only to unpack all those boxes 3 days later (or 3 months later in my case).Beyond that, depression has set in ... I have now fully realized what it means to be a "weekend warrior" and the pain of

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-21615774940274651452010-07-24T10:17:00.015-06:002010-09-24T16:49:29.674-06:00

July 1 - 8, 2010Some men find fortune in this life ... Such is the case with my Grandfather, who in 1972 was divinely "led" to Patton Lake in Canada where he purchased two cabins on a couple of acres of land for just over $6000. Ever since then, the cabins have been in the family (along with the BEST location on Patton Lake one could ever ask for) and to say we've enjoyed Grandpa's investment

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-37962649533279143592010-07-24T10:17:00.011-06:002010-09-22T09:40:35.002-06:00

June 28, 2010Spring Creek in central PA - twice in less than one year, I feel fortunate. This really is one of my favorite places to fish in the world. There's just something about the early mornings, getting up before dawn to fish in the grey fog at the start of a new day. The air is dewy and cool and the midday heats up enough that it actually becomes a good excuse to come off the river for a

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-51419837893536717692010-07-24T10:16:00.016-06:002010-08-17T08:42:24.618-06:00

June 3, 2010Ahhhh Arkansas! Land of my fly fishing birth! One of two really. I started fly fishing somewhere around the age of 12. Jay (big brother) is 5 years older than me and he started somewhere around that age too. A friend of our fathers had a fiberglass rod in the rafters of his basement and he gave it to Jay. After about 5 years of Jay being self-taught, on mostly bluegill and bass, he

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-28934895334910056332010-07-24T10:16:00.009-06:002010-08-03T05:45:41.477-06:00

May 15, 2010A short jaunt to the East River during one of my favorite seasons to fish it! Sadly, living in Colorado Springs now, that is a statement you won't get to hear much from me. In the Gunnison days, we really could head out to the river for an evening hatch after work. Living a minimum of an hour from trout water makes that a little tougher to do.I love fishing the East River in the

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-66240172906131113992010-07-24T10:14:00.005-06:002010-07-24T11:02:23.206-06:00

May 9, 2010Well sir, I'm back in the saddle again ... After a ton of packing, uprooting our lives, and then replanting in Colorado Springs (not to mention squeezing in a fair amount of fishing in the mix), Michelle and I (and Allen Brothers) are officially residing in Colorado Springs, CO.Oddly, this post is from when we were still living in Gunnison, and made a trip out to Cheeseman Canyon in

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-39499320194247495242010-06-10T07:26:00.003-06:002010-06-10T07:28:36.744-06:00

June 10, 2010Hmmmmm ... It's about time for some new posts here.For those of you that don't know, Michelle and I are moving to Colorado Springs, so we've been quite busy lately.We have managed to get a fair amount of fishing in, just not enough extra time to blog about it!I hope to get online and put up a few tales soon.Hang in there!-Jeff Allen

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-77303632997875064002010-04-30T15:08:00.007-06:002010-05-07T12:04:26.997-06:00

April 17, 2010With the dicey spring weather always changing every 15 minutes, Michelle and I headed out on Saturday for a quick trip to the river. Just the week before, with my Sister and Brother-in-law in town, we did some sight seeing and checked out the Taylor (without our rods) and had spotted a few large rainbows holding in a favorite run of mine.They were no doubt stockers from the upstream

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-23837931444252758682010-04-23T13:51:00.007-06:002010-04-30T09:53:57.852-06:00

April 8, 2010My sister and brother-in-law came out to Colorado for a little visit. Whitney (brother-in-law ... don't let the name fool you. He's from NY and will mess you up if you think his moniker is sissy!) had only been to Colorado for Michelle and I's wedding, and had never fished here before. I thought there would be no better way to give him an experience he would not forget than by taking

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-15342052146047856372010-04-23T13:25:00.007-06:002010-04-23T14:23:31.266-06:00

April 2 and 11, 2010It's that season again (and almost past since I'm blogging a little late and water is already running chocolate around these parts)! Time for the pre-runoff fishing where the winter chill has gone but the spring runoff hasn't hit yet. These are the times when it's pretty easy to find fish midging lazily all day long, and if you get enough warm days in a row, the rivers start

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-46108508699369714042010-03-11T15:00:00.010-07:002010-03-12T11:09:37.028-07:00

March 6, 2010I know I start every blog with a nostalgic - longing for fishing - but what can I say, about an hour after I'm off the river, I am typically longing to be back on the water. And in the winter, when spectacular fishing days are sporadic at best, you better believe I'm nostalgic for warmth on my skin and a sipping trout just in front of me.And so, Michelle and I found ourselves at

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-43086162872554607382010-02-18T19:14:00.008-07:002010-02-25T10:33:24.673-07:00

A sweet shot of releasing one of the big browns at Lewis River.October 6, 2009Part 4Day 3 began much better than the previous two. Kevin luckily had a back up plan and we were able to stay indoors, with a dry floor, hot showers in the morning, and a small kitchen that allowed us to cook breakfast. After we were up and ready to hit the road at about 7:30 AM we walked out the front door to be hit

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-76087667234532319872010-02-18T17:13:00.004-07:002010-02-18T17:57:45.755-07:00

Jan. 23, 2010Winter fishing is some finicky business. You spend a lot of time planning, preparing and gearing up for an event that may get kiboshed by a 4 degree temperature swing. That was not the case, however, on the morning of January 23rd. Everything lined up, and the temperature swing went in our favor.Michelle and I had been watching the weather and things looked good, so we headed up to

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-46501190518561634262010-01-29T18:02:00.002-07:002010-01-29T18:25:27.117-07:00

January 1 and 16, 2010A quick catch up ... I actually didn't make it out during the month of December, which is quite rare, because Michelle and I typically love hitting the Taylor C & R during that time. In fact Michelle and I even ventured up to the Taylor once, but arrived to see 10 cars and the temp was about 8 degrees, so we decided to go for a quick walk up the banks and then headed home.I

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-9891608501566849292010-01-22T13:42:00.005-07:002010-01-22T14:54:06.439-07:00

November 23, 2009Michelle and I flew home, to Ohio, for Thanksgiving and the natural thing to do is figure out how to get to a steelhead river. I mean, let's be honest folks, I'm a thankful guy, but I'm a lot more thankful for everything when I've got an 8 lb. steelhead on the end of my line!So we headed up to the Ashtabula River the morning of the 23 of November. Pretty much every time I go home

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-52382219046693336382010-01-15T08:27:00.004-07:002010-01-15T11:24:15.777-07:00

November 7 and 21, 2009Michelle and I travel to Colorado Springs quite frequently to visit friends and family. Whenever possible, I try and sneak away for a half day or so and hit some of the great rivers in that area. The Dream Stream (South Platte between 11 mile Reservoir and Spinney Reservoir) has always had an allure to it. Sure, it gets packed with fisherman looking for "the big one",

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-70343074675142587222009-12-18T13:36:00.008-07:002009-12-20T20:12:32.560-07:00

October 5, 2009Part 3Day 2 is when the snow hit.We went to sleep the night before and knew we were in for a bit of snow, nothing much really ... until we awoke at about 1 AM with the tent roof resting about 1 foot above our faces! It was quite hilarious really, Jay was the first to notice this abnormality so he woke up and proceeded to remove the snow from the roof of the tent by pushing up. Josh

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-55771788040256331282009-11-13T17:14:00.005-07:002009-12-11T18:18:47.562-07:00

October 24 and 31, 2009And again, I will say that I love Fall fishing! Michelle was itching to hook up with some big fish, and I was itching to get onto the river with some decent weather overhead. There's nothing quite like fishing for 6 days in some of the worst weather (Wyoming trip) that will leave you wanting a calm, sunny blue day.Two weekends in a row Michelle and I found such days ... and

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-79365255519014774232009-11-13T16:57:00.005-07:002009-11-13T17:13:54.521-07:00

October 17, 2009Michelle and I got out Saturday afternoon for a little memorable Fall fishing. If you are one of those people who start winding down your fishing season after high summer I cannot express to you how much good fishing can be had in the fall and late fall (not to mention winter).It is such a great time to be on the river. Typically, the crowds are almost completely gone and the

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-3384624425250550832009-11-13T16:44:00.002-07:002009-11-13T16:52:59.384-07:00

November 13, 2009Ah, the craziness of life. Posting has been slow as of late, not due to a lack of fishing, but mostly due to a lack of time. Currently, I am behind posting multiple days of the Wyoming trip, a Gunnison River day, a Taylor River day, and a South Platte "Dream Stream" day. I apologize.But ... I take this opportunity to justify myself and let you all know that part of the craziness

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-61032035898721871372009-10-31T07:57:00.006-06:002009-10-31T10:55:30.547-06:00

October 4, 2009Part 2***Warning: This day ends with me scooching away with my tail tucked between my legs, so please, read on if you like stories of humility.***We had arrived late Saturday night, headed up to camp and slept like babies in the tent Kevin had set up for us earlier that day. Already, the weather forecast for the week was not looking spectacular, but we were as prepared as you could

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-51068837897142400322009-10-24T08:31:00.007-06:002009-10-24T09:17:54.702-06:00

October 4, 2009Part 1We had been planning this trip to the Jackson area for some time. The idea was to get some pretty serious fishing done in one of the best seasons in the Jackson area. In the fall you have the usual low water sight nymphing, great baetis hatches, and a brown trout pre-spawn run out of Lewis and Jackson Lakes that brings some seriously large feeding browns to the rivers. To top

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-36865274210554775362009-09-28T19:49:00.005-06:002009-09-28T20:30:18.042-06:00

September 7th and 12th, 2009Yes, in fact, I did head down to the Black Canyon the day after I got back from Wyoming! My apologies that I am just now getting to blogging, schedules get crazy sometimes ... and technically, fishing is more important than blogging.Ben had never been to the Black since he's become a true fly-fisherman, so after a few of my blogs and much salivating, he decided it was

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-26782076626346585222009-09-13T15:49:00.005-06:002009-09-13T17:43:29.762-06:00

September 3-6, 2009How did I find myself in Jackson, Wy on September 3, 2009? Well it's a funny story.Sometimes, life can serendipitously throw some pretty awesome stuff at you. If you'll remember my post from August 22nd on the Arkansas River, a large part of being there was to watch my good friend Duncan Callahan run the Leadville 100. He had a good finish (3rd place), but it had left a bitter

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-46078132779170492302009-08-31T19:32:00.005-06:002009-08-31T20:01:58.281-06:00

August 29, 2009Oh, the Black Canyon ... If I've said it once people, I'll say it again, "this is a must fish destination sometime in your life."Yes, that is a seriously fat, 20" rainbow.I have never been to the Black Canyon and walked away empty handed, even if there are some days that you may not do as well, you always are seeing large fish, actively feeding in some way. It really is like

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-62497245829528735312009-08-28T17:40:00.006-06:002009-08-28T17:55:05.186-06:00

We just got a package in from our tiers in Kenya! I loaded it all up onto the website. We now have Tungsten Hare's ears and Pheasant tails in size #18, Micro Beetles (great for late season) that are tied PERFECTLY in size #22, a bunch more sizes of bead-headed coppers, a brand new cut-wing caddis dryfly in multiple sizes and colors, midge pupa, tungsten midge pupa, and midge emergers!I wasn't

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-27186463566745420142009-08-28T17:28:00.004-06:002009-08-28T17:39:38.869-06:00

August 23, 2009After a long day of fishing the Arkansas and a late night watching the Leadville 100, we headed home and Ben came to stay for the night so he could fish the Taylor C and R on Sunday. I had a meeting around 1 PM, so my wife left me for my friend (yeah, I know it sounds bad) and they went fishing without me : (By the time I rolled up around 3 PM, Ben had already thoroughly broken in

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-49911612778143264732009-08-25T17:57:00.004-06:002009-08-28T17:28:18.692-06:00

August 22nd, 2009You'll notice there are no pictures this round. Yes, folks, I won't be heading back to the Arkansas River anytime soon.These stories always seem to start with, "I heard a rumor that there were monster fish up there".Anyway, I heard a rumor that there were monster fish in the upper Arkansas, and every time I have driven by it always looked so "meadowy" and spring creek-like so I

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-27878295063795041772009-08-11T17:10:00.004-06:002009-08-14T17:02:37.376-06:00

August 8, 2009After many failed attempts to meet up with Ron from coloradoangler.blogspot.com we finally succeeded! Sure, Ron may have jumped the gun a bit and showed up at the river at 4 AM, but who wouldn't be excited about a trip to the Taylor C and R?I, however, casually rolled onto the river at about 10:30 (mostly because my brother-in-law called around 9 AM and you can't neglect family).

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-37260243588432980692009-08-09T12:55:00.007-06:002009-08-14T17:05:17.506-06:00

July 31 - August 3, 2009Ah, Central PA is the non-humanoid love of my life. If at any point up until now you were to ask me where I learned to fly fish the answer would have always come back - Central PA. I suppose I did a fair amount of learning on the White and Norfork rivers of Arkansas, but really, I've always considered Spring Creek, Penn's Creek and Big Fishing Creek my "school of hard

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-46242207424366095092009-07-29T20:55:00.012-06:002009-08-14T17:06:37.016-06:00

July 24, 25, and 26, 2009This entry is going to look more like a photo journal than a blog.Henry Lake is definitely very near to my heart. I've lived in this valley 13 years now and it is one of my favorite places to visit. The remoteness, the beauty, the fresh air, the stars at night and of course the fish all make it truly an amazing place. And, as much as I love this lake, there are so many

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-51483334115622748302009-07-29T06:35:00.005-06:002009-07-29T18:04:06.928-06:00

July 22, 2009Last week my Uncle Al gave me a call and persuaded me to skip work and come fishing for the day with him, my Aunt Pat, and my new friend Joe. They were staying in Telluride so we figured hitting the Gunnison Gorge would be sweet since it's about half way between the two of us.So, Wednesday morning my wife and I packed up and headed out that way. We arrived at the river around 9:30

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-66978732538164740222009-07-28T20:06:00.008-06:002009-08-14T17:07:18.765-06:00

July 19, 2009I was working at one of our jobsites last week and my friend Justin had mentioned he owned property on the Slate River and had access to more than 1/2 mile of private water ... HE HAD ACCESS TO MORE THAN 1/2 MILE OF PRIVATE WATER ... HE HAD ... ok, you get the point.He said we should hit the river on Sunday afternoon because the caddis were going off. I said yes. We ended up meeting

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-13037199352068382942009-07-28T19:27:00.006-06:002009-07-28T20:05:09.705-06:00

July 18, 2009Well, it's always a good thing when you've been fishing too much to blog about it. I write this quite frantically too since I need to catch up on 4 epic adventures since I last blogged and I'm doing it all so I won't be so back-logged when I get back from 4 days of fishing Spring Creek near State College, PA. It's been a long time since I've got back to my roots of spring creek

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-31514646919748566872009-07-11T16:33:00.003-06:002009-07-11T16:41:04.249-06:00

I just posted a sweet article on the primary indicator Jay and I use. You can check out the full text (along with a simple version too) here at:The Allen BrothersOr, here is the you tube video I loaded up:It is a great indicator because it can be made as small or as large as you want. The super micro versions are awesome for sight nymphing to delicate fish, or you can make them large enough to

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-60513626090014061742009-07-11T16:22:00.002-06:002009-07-11T16:32:15.039-06:00

July 6, 2009For my birthday we decided to work a half day and hit the East River. Turned out it was the first real day this year that I felt like I was fishing in the "summer". Ah yes ... the cottonwoods were in the air so thick it looked like it was snowing, though for some reason my allergies were non existent. There's a feather in your cap!The water is still running high around here, but

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-34105875273947726262009-07-11T12:04:00.003-06:002009-07-11T12:20:52.820-06:00

July 4th, 2009Good times on the Taylor! Our great friends Ben and Bre were up for the 4th weekend and Ben never misses a chance to hit the water for a few. Since it was mostly a social weekend we knew our fishing time would be relegated to the hours when no one else is alive yet (i.e. we couldn't cut into "hang-out time" with the girls). So, we got up at 6 AM and headed up to the C and R for 3

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-78900177149999937462009-07-10T17:29:00.004-06:002009-07-10T18:09:19.231-06:00

June 27, 2009Foiled again ... sort of. I was all geared up to really hit the Salmonfly hatch this time, patiently watching the flows, checking the reports, all so I could hit the perfect section of the river where the Salmonflies were coming off the strongest. Turns out it never really happened. My theories are that the weather and water flows were just weird enough this year that there were not

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-57529425847395582792009-06-19T16:22:00.007-06:002009-06-19T16:58:42.492-06:00

June 13, 2009The wife and I looked at the calendar a few months back and we decided that this would be the year we blocked off all the weekends in June to make sure we hit the Salmonfly hatch. Funny, with the weather as it is this year, we might have been better off blocking July.Things are still too cold, and while a lot of them are in the grass, the wind has played a major part every afternoon,

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-35600226135749861662009-06-19T15:58:00.005-06:002009-06-19T16:59:15.486-06:00

June 8, 2009How can you not love the Pan? True, it's much like the Taylor River, if you fish it too much there's something wrong with you. Not because it's not an awesome river, or extremely fun, but because you need life in moderation... and it's unnatural. If all of your fly fishing experience is on these type of rivers, then you are missing a HUGE part of the sport. But, I'll digress from my

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-89784401707853007792009-06-17T13:23:00.005-06:002009-06-19T16:59:44.060-06:00

June 5, 2009Day two found Jay and I fishing the same stretch of river, just working some new water. We didn't have as much time since we spent the morning fishing a smaller creek that was a potential site for the Teva Mtn. Games finals, but after an hour of catching 8" browns and realizing that we didn't need to know much more information than we had already gathered, we high-tailed it back over

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-73325918558920239482009-06-16T21:41:00.004-06:002009-06-17T13:55:35.448-06:00

It's sad really ... to think I've lived in Colorado almost 13 years now and never fished the Colorado River until June 4, 2009.Jay and I rolled up to the Colorado (Pumphouse to Radium) since the local reports were that the Eagle River was too high to float and that means the final fishing round of the Teva Mtn. Games would be on the Colorado River.The Colorado wasn't exactly ... how do you say ..

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-63753521669980032992009-06-16T21:31:00.002-06:002009-06-16T21:40:05.897-06:00

Well, this blog has gone a little neglected lately. The good news is that it is because I've been getting out on the river more than I have time to blog, so that's not all bad.Jay and I have returned from the Teva Mtn. Games humbled and in need of much practice. Neither of us made it to the finals, and I will say that there are some serious casters at that competition. Not to worry though, we had

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-85084379628868110222009-06-03T05:39:00.008-06:002009-06-03T06:06:55.428-06:00

Well, in three days time Jay and I will be hitting our first ever fly fishing competition. Yes... that's right, we are heading to the Teva Mtn. Games in Vail, CO.I must admit that I'm a little torn between mixing fly fishing and competition. In all fairness, it's more of a publicity stunt since we figure there will be a lot of fly fisherman gathered in one spot, and by simply sporting a t-shirt

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-8774693124605499282009-05-13T20:21:00.002-06:002009-05-13T20:28:35.584-06:00

Well, it wouldn't be fair if I only blogged every time the fishing was good ...You'll notice there are no pictures with this blog and it's really short. The fishing was pretty bad. We headed out for a few hours and thought getting up to higher elevations we could find some clear or slightly off color water. It worked, but spring creek was raging pretty good and to be honest with you I tried a lot

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-66761779564203037962009-05-08T17:06:00.006-06:002009-05-08T17:42:36.444-06:00

May 4th, 2009 ... my first day of the season in the Black Canyon. They just opened up the East Portal last week sometime and I have been chomping at the bit to get down there!When I showed up the water was very off color, not brown at all, but a very murky green. I figured green is better than brown and that should allow for the fish (and me) to have some visibility, but more importantly than the

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-41735922590503492672009-05-08T16:09:00.006-06:002009-05-08T17:02:45.671-06:00

This is a short story of my love affair with the Black Canyon ... I've lived here in Gunnison for about 13 years now and the Black is only a short hour and twenty minute drive to East Portal. I've done some hiking into the interior sections (very painful, not recommended, but worth every second of it!), but for the most part driving to East Portal, crossing the river in a small raft and hiking

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-69778881359191441892009-05-05T18:38:00.010-06:002009-05-08T16:08:49.381-06:00

... again.If you've been following my posts, you'll no doubt have noticed a tone of disgruntlement at spring weather. I set out on Saturday, April 25th to fish the "Pleasure Park" stretch of the Gunnison River thinking I could get above the North Fork and be in relatively clear water. Unfortunately, the North Fork impeded my progress ... for some reason crossing an 80 foot wide, milk chocolate,

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-268394358406219112009-04-20T19:46:00.003-06:002009-04-20T20:27:56.602-06:00

We just couldn't get enough fishing on Saturday, so we decided to hit the Gunnison River on Sunday. It was pretty short lived, only fishing from 2:30 to 4:30, but because of the recent cold weather, the blood-flow of spring runoff was staved off for one last day and we decided to capitalize on it.Fun story, really ... we fished a lot of the usual to start with and didn't have much luck. We did

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-23505849386882732972009-04-20T18:56:00.005-06:002009-04-20T19:45:17.620-06:00

As you no doubt gathered from my earlier post, Michelle and I were a little sick of the late season snow storms, so we decided to head west on Saturday toward Montrose/Grand Junction area to try and improve our weather odds. Our sights were set on the Gunnison Gorge, but as fate would have it, the North Fork of the Gunnison was running at 1000+ CFS, meaning you couldn't wade across it to access

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-69280459655002503802009-04-17T11:48:00.016-06:002009-04-17T12:47:16.952-06:00

Oh, the Spring! It's such a tease. You think that winter is nearing an end, and then suddenly ... 6" of new snow on April 17th. It is not so much that a little spring storm has got me all riled up, but the fact that the weather has decided to make the last 3 weekends unfishable with rain, snow and massive amounts of wind. To make matters worse, come Monday morning the clouds roll away and it's a

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-84519598776797253172009-03-29T14:25:00.004-06:002009-03-29T14:53:48.852-06:00

Saturday, March 28thSomedays, you get just what you needed. Any serious fisherman gets a little stir crazy near the end of winter, and even though I get out on the river a fair amount in the winter, I still find myself longing for those sunny summer afternoons where being on the river rejuvenates your soul and washes away your stress.Today was like that, but in a different sort of way ... The

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-8801874655757031822009-03-25T18:09:00.002-06:002009-03-25T18:15:05.079-06:00

Sun. March 22ndEPIC. Ok, maybe not epic in the grand scheme of fly fishing, but we had a lot of fun. We went to check out the C and R, but were met with a large crowd and maddening wind! So we headed back down about 7 miles from the dam and fished the "classic" Taylor River water.Same setup as on the East River, except we trailed with an olive midge. We had about the same success on the hare's

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-87008073244517909182009-03-25T18:01:00.004-06:002009-03-25T18:15:36.770-06:00

Sat. March 21stMichelle and I put in at the pull off a couple of miles before the hatchery entrance (for some reason you couldn't drive down the hatchery road. I'm guessing because they don't want it rutted out in the mud season). After hiking down a bit below the hatchery outlet we looked for the same type of water as on the Gunnison and were met with good success.We fished a tungsten hare's ear

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-28914690103318681542009-03-22T21:03:00.005-06:002009-03-25T18:16:25.878-06:00

Fri. March 20thIt's safe to say that any weekend you get out on the water 3 days is pretty good. Combine that with the fact that it was 60 degrees in Gunnison in the middle of March and that just makes me happy!I fished the Cooper's Ranch area starting where the main braid connects up with the river again. The water was pretty off color, but the fishing was still decent. Unfortunately, since the

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-84006498071251271452009-03-21T08:37:00.011-06:002009-03-24T20:28:23.065-06:00

Jay and I typically find ourselves in the middle of adventure. I'd say first and foremost we are "dreamers", Jay more so than I but I'm always convinced that his crazy schemes are going to work so I jump on board and our once dreams of catching 5 lb. brookies in hidden lake usually end up in us being lost, 5 miles back in the woods hooking 5" brookies instead.It's funny though, because I wouldn't

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-81932782515567653372009-03-15T19:06:00.003-06:002009-03-15T19:21:04.925-06:00

Well, Michelle and I just rolled in from 6 glorious days in Cozumel, Mexico! Prior to that we spent the weekend before at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo.Just as a quick update, things went so awesome we wouldn't have believed it could have been that good. The show was a lot of fun. I'll bet well over 3000 people showed up, there were a bunch of great vendors there (Jay and I ran into some old

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-37930947727059883692009-03-01T17:21:00.010-07:002009-03-01T20:08:44.600-07:00

The wife and I headed out for some winter fishing this afternoon.If I can diverge for a moment, I'm soooooo over winter! It's funny that I moved out here for college and the prospect of skiing all the time, and now ... I live for the summers. That's sort of the fate of this valley; it seems to be a common theme.Anyway, It was a great time, and if you haven't read my article on winter midging you

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-31077136381605563782009-02-27T19:08:00.003-07:002009-02-27T19:16:36.238-07:00

I just finished loading up a new article to the website called "Longing for Summer Days" by Jay. I love his writing style, it always has so much thought to offer. You can't just read it, you have to put yourself into it and it really comes alive. Plus, he loves to use words that you have to look up in a dictionary (like "allochthonous appetizers", which, in river terms, means a food source from

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-7815312889176688142009-02-25T21:09:00.004-07:002009-02-25T21:37:05.720-07:00

Here is a fun thing... Jay and I are heading out on the road with the company next weekend. It'll be our "first such mission for the company" (Seinfeld) as we head to the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo. I'm hoping to post more the closer we get to the show, and maybe even do a bit of twittering from the show. I think it's going to be a really good time. We have come up with some really fun displays to

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-72324058242859948352009-02-13T15:21:00.000-07:002009-02-13T15:28:02.969-07:00

Sorry, if this is pretty "geeky" right now. I'm mostly just finding out all the cool ways how I can make my blog show up on my facebook and other things like that.Speaking of... if you want to become friends on facebook just click hereSweet!-Jeff

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-54554912160220432122009-02-13T14:45:00.000-07:002009-02-13T14:51:30.906-07:00

Check out the links on the right, specifically the "fly-fishing pictures". I downloaded this application that lets me load photos straight from iPhoto up to Picasa (google's online photo sharing program). Then I just log in and put some quick captions and it's good to go!I think it's pretty sweet way to upload photos. Click on the pictures and it'll take you to the album so you can see them

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246601229297993652.post-74169075171207847152009-02-11T22:24:00.000-07:002009-02-11T22:45:34.720-07:00

I started this blog a little over a month ago now... This is my first entry.Funny how that works. It's almost been the fact that I started a blog made it hard to come up with the first entry. Lately, Jay and I have been kicking out a bunch of content for the website (most of it being the articles), and it's definitely necessary. Ultimately, I don't really know the future of Allen Brothers "

Jeff Allenhttps://profiles.google.com/113990014611297186817noreply@blogger.com1