Special Update

December 2025 Information Blast

Jim Davis wanted us to put out the word on the Wreaths Across America ceremony on Saturday December 13th.  If you would like to attend or support this ceremony honoring our fallen heroes please click on this link to obtain more information.  https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/153621/Overview/?relatedId=182846
 

December Special Events at the Peak Fly Shop

Open House at the Peak Fly Shop - December 13th @ 10:00am - Join us on December 13th for a holiday party at the Peak Fly Shop! Our very own Bill Kirk will be here at 10:00am to put on a seminar that will explain the lifecycle of the midge. Come learn in detail about every stage of this important bug! Bill will help you figure out how to figure out the stage of the hatch, as well as how to fish it. He will also be showing off some patterns he relies on to replicate each stage while fishing, and showing you how to tie them!
We will have food, holiday cheer, and sales throughout the shop - like a sale on gift certificates and bonus gift certificates with purchase!

Open House at the Peak Fly Shop featuring Landon Mayer - December 20th @ 10:00am - Landon is back for our annual holiday tradition - check out his presentation on "Sightfishing Secrets and Tactics for Success on South Park Stillwaters." Landon will be discussing how to best find and target trophy trout in South Park, both on the reservoirs and on the river. Landon will be signing copies of his books as well. We'll have food and drink - it's a party, after all - and sales throughout the shop!
 

Proposal by CPW to Ban Hair, Fur, and Feathers in Colorado

I want to remind you about the proposal to ban hair, fur, and feathers in Colorado.  Here is the information that we previously posted in an earlier newsletter.  A similar plan was just voted down in Denver.  Please send an email to CPW Commissioners to voice your concerns about this proposal so that we can continue to tie our favorite flies.

CALL TO ACTION: TELL CPW NOT TO BAN FUR AND FEATHER SALES IN COLORADO!   FLY TIERS AND ANGLERS BEWARE!  A citizens' petiition has been filed by a group (from outside Colorado, of course) that would ban the commercial fur and related animal products in Colorado. While the ban contains an exemption for a few things, to include "the sale of hand-tied flies," it would, as written, NOT allow the sale of fur or feather fly-tying materials. This would be a devastating blow to the at-home fly-tier. The Arizona-based "Center for Biological Diversity" has advanced this citizens' initiative to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission asking them to amend a Colorado Code of Regulations (CCR), and CPW are considering the initiative. It proposes an amendment to 2 CCR 406-018, as follows (underlined section denotes an addition to the amendment):       #018 – SALE OF WILDLIFE       A. Except as prohibited by Federal law or regulations of the Wildlife Commission, any person      may sell, barter or trade nonedible portions of wildlife (fur, feathers, hides, hair, teeth, claws,      hooves, horns, antlers, skulls and bones) which were legally taken or acquired.      1. It shall be illegal to sell, trade, barter or offer to sell, trade or barter bear gall bladders,      bighorn sheep ram skulls or horns, bighorn sheep capes and velvet antlers. Velvet      antlers attached to mounted deer, elk or moose heads and bighorn sheep skulls and      horns marked in accordance with Commission Regulation #220(C), may be sold,      bartered or traded.           a. Wildlife and wildlife parts legally possessed under a valid commercial parks           license may be sold, bartered or traded in accordance with Chapter 11 of           Commission Regulations.           b. For the purpose of these regulations velvet antlers are those deer, elk and           moose antlers completely enveloped by soft vascular skin.      2. The sale, barter, or trade of furs from furbearers is prohibited, except as provided below:      a. Handtied fishing flies. This exemption applies solely to handtied fishing flies sold as a      finished product. It does not include or permit the sale of raw, tanned, or otherwise      processed furbearer parts, including fur, pelts, or other materials sold separately for fly-      tying purposes. WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT: Email the CPW Commissioners! These are appointed positions and they do not face an election, but they are required to respond to citizen emails. This is not a time to send out a form email - such things are easily ignored. You need to email the commissioners with an original message expressing your concern and displeasure. Many of the commissioners are not outdoorspeople.  Stand up for your sport and your passion and let them know that a misguided ban on fur sales is not the way to protect wildlife. Your message need not be terribly long or involved. Let them know you oppose this amendment as written and that permitting the sale of flies tied elsewhere is not sufficient! Be assured that animal-rights groups are flooding the zone - it's time for us to do the same!   UPDATE: We have new instructions on the best course of action to email the commission - and better yet, it's easier for you, too! Don't email each commissioner individually; while they will read your email, it is not considered public comment. Direct your comments to dnr_cpwcommission@state.co.us - they will be forwarded to each commissioner individually and you will be adding your comments to the public record (yes, they tally up messages in support of an initiative or against it). Remember, your comments will be public!

Kevin Thomason
President