Blog In Dormant Stage.................................................

It has been quiet around here for the past couple of weeks.    Just thought I would toss a post up here tonight and let everyone know.  Know what? All is well, here..............................................

However, there have been some significant happenings in my life over the past couple of weeks that have led me to this difficult decision.  This blog is being put in a dormant stage for now....

Remember, all is well, so don't anyone panic.  Am blessed to have an opportunity to live each day and I want to make the most of my time.  Just going in a new direction.....................

How about that! Thanks so much for all of you who have spent countless hours reading my blog and leaving comments.  You have helped me more than you will ever know.......................... 

God Bless!

We Have Lost One Of Our Own.........................................

I am totally shocked this morning to read of the loss of Bryan Kristopher Dale, from The Rogue Outdoors..

Bryan's death is being confirmed so I have no details to pass on at this time.  Just wanted my fellow BlogBuddies to know of what I have learned this morning.

Bryan, has been a follower and supporter of my blogging efforts at Pond Stalker headquarters for quite some time.  He often commented on my blog, as, I did his.  In fact, my fly box for warm water fishing includes some Crappie patterns that he had sent to me to experiment with.  I always appreciated his insight and blogging creativity.  He has just recently, in the last year, became a married man.  Most recently, he had remodeled his blog and it was looking top notch.   
R.I.P. my friend.  The blogging world will miss you.  
The Pond Stalker sends my condolences to his family and all of his close, personal friends during this difficult time..............................................

****An update from Bryan's wife Jane:

 
For sure plans will be Friday funeral service for Bryan Kristofer Dale in Marshalltown, Iowa. Approximate time at 11am Friday at family church and then celebration of life (with memories of Bryan) to follow at the country club. The church is fairly small so not all may fit there, but family for sure would like a headcount regarding the celebration of life service following so please respond here or to any of the Dale family. They know you may be coming a long way and would like to welcome you. I will provide more details later when I know them.

The "Geezer" Hatch.....................

Continuing to be confined to the home while the most recent blast of snow covered up Northern Colorado highways and surrounding area with heavy snow does have it's benefits.  

Just as in the case of my previous post, 
http://pondstalker.blogspot.com/2015/02/fly-fishing-size-dont-matter.html
fly fishing videos can be a beautiful respite.

So can a blog post by some fellow bloggers.  In this case, from the great blog, at Gink & Gasoline

Let me be up front with everyone.  I am a Viet Nam Veteran.  Some of you may have already known that.  Some not, I am sure.  In any manner, I have been profoundly impacted by my time during the war and have looked for a way to explain who I am and how I feel about it.

Well, when I read this post this morning over on Gink and Gasoline, I can't begin to tell you what it meant to me.  For it said everything about the time and the men and women that lived and died during that time.  Kind of like, "This is us, me, never forget what we have been through".  

If you are a regular follower of my blog and give a hoot about the Pond Stalker, please indulge me and read this post from the folks at Gink and Gasoline.  It is me, one of those Ol' Geezers.

Fly Fishing Size Don't Matter

Got up this morning and looked out the bedroom window. Yup, its snowing good in Northern Colorado. Also, supposed to be heavy snow this weekend and cold. Sounds like a perfect time to stay indoors and tie flies, read a good fly fishing book, or watch fly fishing video's if you have nothing else to do and honey-do's can wait. So, I am going to do something here that is sort of out of the normal for me. I came across a video that I liked pertaining to fly fishing warm water and rivers in particular for warm water fish. I thought it was very well done and set the mood for me this morning. Hope you enjoy.
**** A thank you should go to David Frazier for sharing this great video!

Pond Stalker 2015 and Beyond

From the ponds in and around Loveland, Colorado.

I am a retired Fly Fisher & Fly Tyer who has spent most of his fly fishing past chasing Trout in Stillwaters across the Western United States with brief excursions on small streams and warmwater ponds.

I won't make any attempt to mislead anyone here,  I have loved fishing lakes and ponds for years.  My passion has always led me to these waters and the fun they offer to the flyfisher and fly tyer.  Although, most trips out were for chasing the big trout that lakes produce, my secret passion has been the fun of fly fishing for Bluegill, Crappie, Sunfish, and other assorted warm water fish.  I am currently taking an interest in getting to know more about fly fishing for Bass.  Perhaps even some Carp in the future.  One step at a time you Ol' Geezer, I remind myself!

Living in Northern Colorado where I do offers plenty of opportunity for me to chase my dreams in warm water fly fishing and fly tying.  What I love most about it is that I can drive less than (15) minutes from my home and be on the water with a chance at a good time.  Economical, time saving, and, that word "FUN" again.  Which in turn means more fishing and tying time for me.   I am also very Grandchildren oriented so I have plenty of other activity to keep me busy so time on the water still needs to be worked around everything else.  

I, also, have to be a very budget oriented Geezer.   Being a Senior Citizen on a fixed budget requires that I spend my money wisely and my time efficiently.
I take great pleasure in keeping my fly fishing time as simple as possible.    From the gear I use to the techniques I use. It works! 

 Please take the time to look around on my blog and enjoy what is here. Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Please ignore this silly box here showed up and won't go away!!!!!

Bloggin' Time Or Something From Ground Control...........

Sometimes it seems that even during the winter months a fly fishing fanatic can be busy enough that sometimes it is hard to keep caught up.  For instance, check out this Blogger.

Anyhow, a few things have been going on to keep me more than busy it seems.  Time to catch up my blog readers with a few updates.

Let's begin with the announcement that I have started a new Facebook Group over on, of course, Facebook.   It is called Budget Minded Fly Fishing Gear.  

Being a Senior Citizen on a restricted budget really causes me to have to shop very closely and thoroughly when determining rather I can afford to add a piece of gear to my current fly fishing world.  There are many fly fishers out there just like me.  So, I decided to put up a page for Group input and feedback on those fly fishing related items that will help us all when looking for just the right piece of gear at the right price,  Anyway, we are off to a good start on the Group with about (40) participants already.  If you are interested please feel free to take a look at the link to the page and join in on the fun and sharing of real and practical information that any budget minded angler could use.  Your participation is appreciated.

Like most other fly fishers, winter is also a time for staying pretty close to the fly tying vise and I am no different than anyone else.  Here is picture I took just this morning of a hodgepodge of flies I have cranked out over the last 2 or 3 days.  This is just a sampling of the flies I have been adding to my boxes for Spring season.

To finish up with this update, Colorado has had some unusually warm days for a short stretch of time.  With that the ice has melted off some of the ponds.  However, I suspect we will have more cold and ice and snow before too long.  Spring is coming and I am going to be ready.  I have not yet received my custom Blue Halo Fiberglass rod from Average Joe's Fishn Poles.  However, Phillip, has it near ready and sent a photo yesterday.  I wanted to share it with you.

I am stoked to get this in my hands so I can begin my end of the job as a rod tester..............

My Custom Built "Blue Halo" From The Beginning

I wanted to share with my readers how things were coming along on my custom built Blue Halo fiberglass rod.

 If you are a regular reader of my blog then, as you recall, I have been blessed to asked to be a Field Tester for Average Joe's Fishn Poles.  Phillip Butterfield does some beautiful work on custom built rods and I have been eyeballing them a lot over the past year or so.  I was ecstatic to have Phillip offer me this opportunity to be a Field Tester.  I am ready, willing, and able to put this custom built sweetheart to the test this year on The Big Thompson River and my favorite ponds near home.

Phillip sent along some pictures for me to get the idea of what the rod's appearance and quality are.  I would like to share those pictures with you here.

It is a 8' Three Piece 5 Wt.

Yup, that would be me...................

Three Piece All Maple handle group

This is a note attached from Phillip:

" Thought I would give you a little look see as to the rod that you will be getting: The first thing that you'll notice different is the three piece maple handle group; next is the lack of an agate stripping guide (trust me those are purely for decoration and they don't come on the $299.95 factory model) Next you will notice that the mid section and the tip have matched guides. That is about all of the differences between my build and a factory build.  Oh I have also wrapped the furrel the full length to provide additional support, that too is different from the factory model."

Headed to Colorado..................................

Those are sweet words to my ears.  Anticipating getting out and putting a line on this and beginning my evaluation.  I am sure you will hear more from me about Average Joe's Fishn Poles. 

 Stay tuned...............................................

The "After Christmas" Owl......And Cabin Fever......

In my last post, I referred to receiving an after Christmas package of fly tying goodies from
 Owl Jones Art & Design.

It was packed full of a number of different fly tying goodies that Owl thought I could use this winter.  As I said, previously in the other post, he sure went out of his way to make a guy on the other side of the U.S.A. one happy old dude.  While I won't get into what all was sent along too me, I will make note of something here that I hope my readers take a close look at.

Pictured here are a couple of beautifully painted and tied Zazzy Poppers meant to be tossed for some ornery Largemouth Bass hiding under cover of whatever.  I just wanted to say, while I am not a skilled Popper fly rod angler, I certainly plan on giving these a go when the ice comes off the ponds.  Better yet, on through the summer morning and evenings also.  I have checked these two out and they are well tied and appear indestructible as far as the Popper head goes. I will give a review of how the Zazzy's do after they have been used a bit.

Now on to another point about Owl Jones.  Owl is a very active fellow.  Along with his successful Artwork, Owl is back on board the fly fishing blogging scene with his latest efforts.  Owl's new blog is called Fishlicker.  If you have read or tuned into some of Owl's past activities on the blogging scene you know he is a very talented writer, very funny when he wants to be, and, a pretty darn good fly angler to boot.  Do me a favor and get over and visit Owl's blog and say hello and let him the Pond Stalker is saying things about him..................................

Owl has also just began his winter time production line for his Zazzy Poppers.  He does keep it seasonal at this point,  So if you are interested in picking up some of his custom made Poppers check out his Zazzy Popper Facebook page.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, about that Cabin Fever stuff.  It sets in every year about this time out my way in Colorado.  Just can't wait to get out on some open water and fling a fly.  You know you can only watch so many fly fishing videos or tie up so many Wooly Buggers during the winter.  Anyway, I wanted to share what my BlogBuddy Josh has been up too over at Something's Fishy.
Josh has been trophy trout fishing with a fly.....................................................................
You will enjoy this, I did..........................................................

A New Year's Ramble...............................

Good Morning!

 
 What a rush! I see I have not posted since a little before Christmas so thought I would kick it in gear with my first post of 2015.  I am thinking that there were several small things I wanted to post about.  While, perhaps, none of them is worthy of a full post on their own, maybe collectively they will make for a heads up on what is and has been going on here at Pond Stalker Headquarters................ So with that I will begin my ramble...................

We had a wonderful Christmas season here at Pond Stalker Headquarters.  In fact, it was probably one of the best Christmas's with family in recent memory.  Also, received some blessings from BlogBuddies, Fly Tackle Dealers, and Facebook fly fishing friends.  More on that in a minute.

Recently, I went in and had my Flu and Pneumonia shot.  Results, I got sick!

 Oh, well......... At my age you try to take whatever precautions you can.  But, still, I don't like being sick,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

A friend asked me the other day about what I thought of the current issues we have in this country about Homeless Veteran's.  I didn't waste any words in telling her what I thought.  Take a minute if you will, and, contemplate on this.........................

 Folks, we have a problem here in the land of the free,,,,,,,,,,,,,'Nuff said.

Ok, lets ramble for awhile about how great is to have a wonderful bunch of guys and gals who support our blogging efforts and our efforts through other social networks like Facebook in my case.  I want to give a shout out to folks who made my holiday season extra special.  First off, all of the Contests and Giveaways from fly tackle dealers over on Facebook always adds to the fun.  I enter a lot, and most often, don't win a thing.  However, I still feel good about that as friends are winning and that makes me happy! I did win a dozen flies that I am looking forward to receiving from a new Fly Shop down in Eagle Nest, New Mexico.  

Thanks, Tim, from Eagle Nest Fly Shack

I, also, received an after Christmas package of fly tying goodies from my long time blogging friend, Owl Jones Art & Design.  Now Owl is a fly fisher, fly tyer, and artist.  We had talked about sending a long a few things that I could use, but I have to tell you Owl, you out did yourself here and I am very grateful for your blessings.

Also, want to send along a shout out to my friend, John Wood at JWFlyfishing.  John has provided flies to me to be field tested once I can get on the water.  Please take a moment and have a look at John's Blog and website.  He has some great patterns that I think will excite the fish wherever you may be.  He, also, makes some beautiful custom fly fishing nets, and, I will be picking up some of his Twisted and Tied Leaders to play with this season.

I have saved some exciting news for last on this post.  The other day, one of those sick days, I received a message from Phillip Butterfield at Average Joe's Fishin Poles.  He wanted to know if I would be interested in becoming a Field Tester for his custom made fly rods.  After a short conversation, an agreement was finalized, and, I am soon to be the owner of a 
Blue Halo 8' 4-5wt Fiberglass Custom Build to my specifications from Phillip.  As Phillip said too me, "Have a happy Halo New Year".  I have so noted on my side bar at the top of this blessing from Phillip. 

I am very excited about 2015 and my time on the water.  May your year be filled with blessings and happy hook ups.