Rio Grande Float Season Open Dates It’s been a strange spring and early summer this year in Southwest Colorado. Thanks to the late snowstorms and rain, our rivers have been high and muddy for almost a month. However, we have finally hit peak flows and are on the down slope of runoff. With the delayed…
Tarpon Diaries, Day 4 – Silver Ghost Tarpon have been called silver kings. Kings of the flats some say. They may be kings to some, but to me they are ghosts. Slipping in and out again like a wisp of wind. By the time I see them and have a shot, it is too late. It…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/18/15 – Meat Whistle Here is the deal: the Animas hit 5500 cfs today, and it could get higher tomorrow. Instead of worrying about it, why don’t we just try new things. Why not try out Barr’s Meat Whistle. The Meat Whistle has been one of those flies that we like…
Duranglers Fly Fishing Fathers Day Father’s day is coming up this Sunday, June 21st. Do you have the perfect gift for the fly fishing father in your life? The man who raised you on the water, who dragged you along on ever adventure and showed you the world (even if you didn’t want to at…
Tarpon Diaries, Day 3 – Silver King Within the first 40 minutes of the day we have shots at 3 strings of about 8 each. Happy tarpon. After that, very little showing. We see them break from far off, but they turn and miss us. The light is flat and we can’t see a thing. …
Howler Brothers Horizon Hybrid Pants Review SHOP HOWLER BROTHERS We recently started carrying Howler Brothers here in the Duranglers shop. If you have never heard of Howler Brothers, the short of it is that Howler Bros make fly fishing and beach lifestyle clothing. When I first heard of Howler Brothers, my initial reaction was: “the clothes…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/16/15 – Boomerang “If it’s a boomerang, I call dibs” Jake declared as we opened the packages delivered by UPS the day before. Statements like this just provide evidence that throughout the summer; the mind of a fly shop staff employee slowly deteriorates into spouting nonsensical idioms. What’s worse is I felt…
Tarpon Diaries, Day 2 – The Deck Rocking in the waves, loosing my balance. Standing on the deck thinking I am going blind. Strain my eyes to see something. Nothing. It’s hot. The breeze cools my face. These waves are trying to rock me to sleep and I fight weariness. Tell another story to pass the…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/15/15 – Summer Bugs Is your dry fly box ready for the onslaught that is about to happen? Ok, so I know that the Animas is flowing at about 4,500 cfs and everything else seems completely blown out, but just hear me out for a second. The flows are up mostly…
This past week, I was fortunate enough to fill a spot for four and a half days on John’s tarpon dates in the Florida Keys with master guide Bus Bergmann. This was a very last minute opportunity (maybe even a once in a lifetime), so I went for it. Knowing very little about saltwater fly fishing…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/12/15 – Over the Hill It has been delayed long enough, it is now time. Pack the truck, rig the boat, and hit the road: it’s Rio Grande season. As you read this, half of the Duranglers guide team is headed over the hill to Creede for a few weeks of…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/11/15 – 6500 After unprecedented amount of rain yesterday and today, the Animas hit 6500 cfs here in town. It’s raging. Water like this is best left to only the best of boaters and oarsmen. We have said it in almost every report the past few weeks: lakes and tailwaters are…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/10/15 – Englorious When the rivers are swollen with runoff, you can place money on what Mark will be fishing for. Mark and Doug rocked it at Vallecito yesterday with 19 eats and 15 pike in the boat. And we had been hearing that the fly fishing pike bite was off.…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/9/15 – Flat and Tail The news is hard to hear, I know. I see you are feeling cheated. I am sorry to be the one to bring you this news, but it is not my fault. I don’t control the weather, it’s just one of those things that is above…
A Spey Rod for Trout There has been a differing of opinion on this subject recently in the shop. Some of us here really enjoy throwing two handed rods and swinging flies for trout on our local rivers. Others of us believe that the two hander is better reserved for steelhead and salmon and trout…
Animas Lunch Report – 6/8/15 – Peak Flows We took a week off from the Animas Lunch Report but we are back at it! This time, let’s discuss peak flows. We reported on our Facebook a few days ago that it looked like peak flows hit June 3rd. While this seemed to be true and…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/29/15 – Jump Shot After his days off, Jake dropped some great photos on us from his “weekend” fishing. Lots of awesome jump shots that capture the essence of the fight in time. Andy – The Animas is climbing back up to 1900 today. The weekend looks to be a warm one…
Duranglers June Monthly Report – The Dawn of Summer Despite the February-like May, the dawn of summer is almost upon us. June is game time for fly fishing in Durango and while runoff is currently kicked into high gear; there is still plenty of trout to be found. With the constant producer of the San…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/28/15 – Colorado Grand Slam Derek; one of the recent additions to the Duranglers shop staff and aspiring trout wizard, made the magic happen yesterday with a Colorado grand slam. (A Colorado grand slam is catching a brown, rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout all in one day) With runoff picking up…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/27/15 – Tarpon, Bow to the King Tarpon: if you are planning a trip to Florida in the next few weeks, this means something to you. Check out Redington’s new episode of Find Your Water showing the king of saltwater flats fly fishing, and peep the King Sticker too! Find Your Water:…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/26/15 – Let it Snow It’s raining here. It has been raining here. It is going to continue to rain. Apparently Durango decided to dress up like Seattle this May. The truth of the matter is that when it has been raining here in town, it is snowing up high. Our…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/22/15 – Get Used To It Well the Animas is in full fledged runoff now, and it will be for a while. It’s time to get used to it. Even as we are in full runoff, it continues to snow in the high country adding more to our every increasing snowpack. It’s…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/21/15 – Float Season Throwback How about another throwback photo to remind us that the float season is right around the corner! John with the old school Sage hat, massive bow, on an unnamed Colorado river. Summer is almost upon us! Kyle – Now would be a good time to seine the Animas to…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/20/15 – The Colorado Bonefish You may have noticed that this time of year, a lot of the Duranglers squad seeks out alternate fly fishing options. Most of us are exhausting our energies and spending our free days seeking out the violent pike. Bass is also an option, although it is a…
Animas Lunch Report – 5/19/15 – Return From the South Well Kyle and company made it back from their trip to Turneffe Flats in Belize this past week. Stories of high winds made for tough conditions but there were still a few shots at permit along with a few tarpon eats and a lot of…
