09/01/12 Arkansas River Salida to Canon City

09/01/12
Akansas River Salida to Canon City
7:00 AM - 7:30 PM

Dave and I got an early start and headed up the road...1st stop was Ark Anglers in Canon City to pick up a few flies and get some info.  Recommended flies were 2 bit hookers, stonefly patterns and Amy's Ants in red/black.  Apparently the Red Quills were coming off so anything with a little red was the ticket.

We made it to our 1st pullout just past pinnacle rock and started fishing.  Dave started with a hopper and Amy's Ant while I started nymphing...a couple of casts in and nothing...this was not looking good!

Dave switched up to a nymph rig too since we didn't see any fish rising and finally managed a nice little brownie on a two bit hooker.

Fish count...Dave 1, Andrew 0.

On to the next spot!

Between Texas Creek and Coaldale was out next stop.  I changed my rig to a two bit hooker followed by a prince nymph and green caddis pupa.

Here we both managed a few fish!  All brownies, and all taken on nymph rigs...again...no fish rising.

These guys were all actively feeding in the fast riffles and tailouts. 

New fish count:  Dave 3, Andrew 2

With the fish count still low, I was giving Dave a hard time since this was his "home" water in the Spring and Fall.  He even makes a few winter trips up here and I've seen his pictures of some beautiful fall browns that he's caught.  With the pressure on to catch more fish, we moved up to his "favorite" winter hole.

Here Dave managed to up his fish count significantly!  Fish here were keyed in on green caddis pupaes and WD-40's and flashback pheasants.

While I managed a couple fish, every time I looked over towards Dave, he was doing this.

Dave was able to add 7 more fish to his count...I was only able to add 3.

So up the canyon we continued!

At Rincon, we saw some beautiful water and made the short steep hike down to the water.  Lots of riffles, tailouts and pockets that held some bigger fish!

After getting the fish count up, it was already starting to get late, but Dave wanted to try one last spot right at Wellsville. 

Dave changed up his rig again and was able to get into 2 big rainbows, but thanks to my poor netting skills, he lost them.  Both took a pink san juan worm.  He was fishing the slower moving water in the canyon while I was fishing the faster riffle water downstream.  Both times, his fish ran for the faster water and were able to spit the hook after a furious fight with one of them taking Dave into his backing.

Final fish count for the day:  Dave 18, Andrew 16.

I was hoping for a bigger fish count and some better fishing, but it was still a decent day.  The guys at Ark Anglers were generous in providing information and flies, but unfortunately we couldn't make it happen with their suggestions.

We hardly saw anybody on the water, and the sun was high for most of the day probably contributing to higher water temps and more weary fish.  We wed waded all day and the water was very comfortable.

Hot flies were mayfly nymph patterns and caddis pupaes.  I wish we saw more top water action, but it just was not to be...

Again, a decent day and it was fun exploring new water!  All my fish were brownies and Dave managed to net 1 out of 3 rainbows that he hooked up with.  These natural fish were all beauties with plenty of fight.  I'm looking forward to trying this stretch again this winter with Dave.  He says he's got it dialed in for the winter...next time, I'm going to beat his fish count!

06/17/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

06/17/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
7:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Flows: 130

Father's Day!

After fishing the Ark a week before with the flows around 400, I was disappointed to see the flows drop to 130.  The problem was I didn't realize this and showed up at the river and noticed it was significantly lower!  Oh well...

I headed to the water treatment plant and immediately got into some fish!  Nothing big...seems the bigger guys had moved out of the faster runs into deeper water for cover but it was good action!  Around 7:30 I noticed a lot of fish rising and the water was literally boiling with fish rising.  I switched my nymph rig to a black foam back emerger and a black rs2 and proceeded to catch fish on almost every cast!  Again, nothing big...but it was a memorable morning.  And of course I forgot the camera in the car...

After meeting up with the wife and kid for a Father's Day breakfast, we decided to head back to the river and bring Kaycee along in her backpack!  She really loves that thing and loves looking around as mommy or daddy fishes.

Brenda started off by catching a couple nice fish and this 17 incher was pretty much the norm when we fished the deeper runs.

Another smaller guy, but the action was consistent and Brenda ended up catching 4 and lost quite a few more before we could net them.  She was so excited that she didn't want to leave!

I even managed to catch a Brownie!

But of course my wife out fished me...making her 17 incher the biggest of the day!

Fish were taking two bit hookers, pheasant tails, rainbow warriors, 20 inchers, and all types of mayfly patterns.  Lots of mayflies were in the air as well, but no fish were really rising in the mid day heat.  I think if we stuck around longer, we would have seen a nice hatch as the temps went down in the afternoon.

Overall a great Father's Day!  Good fishing and quality time spent with the wife and kid!

04/08/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

04/08/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Flows 182

Easter Sunday!  Lots of candy was eaten and lots of pictures were taken of the kiddos in their Easter Sunday dresses.

I was able to slip away and get some fishing in before we had to head for home.

I headed over to Valco and was welcomed by a full parking lot!  With th beautiful weather, I was expecting people, but luckily I was able to fish the 3 rocks with only people down stream trying to fish the riffles.  I quickly managed a fish on a red san juan and another on a two bit hooker.  Nothing too big, there were lots of big fish slapping the surface and crashing on emergers.

Lots more fish in the 12-14 in range than I was expecting...but I did manage to hook into quite a few bigger guys.  Lucky for them, I was practicing long distance releases!  Quite a few of the big guys took a size 20 sparkle wing rs2...and they all managed to spit the hook before I could land them.  I guess that's what happens when there's a crowd looking on! 

After an hour at Valco, I decided to see if the fishing was better at the spillway.  Lots of bait dunkers here pounding the water right at the spillway so I focused on the riffles and below the bridge.  Again, lots of stocker sized fish, but I can't complain when the fishing is good!

Not a bad way to end my Easter weekend.  Fish were taking the usual fare of san juans, two bit hookers, and rs2's.  If you need to get a fix, head down to Pueblo sooner than later!  The flows will be jumping up again making it much more difficult to fish. 

I don't anticipate fishing the Ark in town again until the fall.  For any other trips down south, I'll head up towards Canon City and fish the Ark up there...the Mother's Day Hatch should be early this year with the low snowpack and warmer temps...

03/06/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

03/06/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
10:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Air Temp: 78

With Tuesday being forecasted as the nicest day of the week, Dave talked me into taking the day off. We decided to head to Pueblo since it was going to be a warm day and we expected lots of fish!

The wife and kid were even able to tag along!

Here is Kaycee meeting her 1st trout!



It was fun having the wife and kid around. Brenda hasn't been fishing since before Kaycee was born so this was our 1st family outing together. A friend of ours got us a Kelty backpack kid carrier which worked perfectly.

We decided to start the day at Valco and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, we realized that a lot of people had the same idea as us to take the day off of work and do some fishing. The parking lot was packed!

We quickly geared up and headed down to the 3 rocks and there were already 2 guys fishing the run behind there. A quick hello and we started fishing just above them. Brenda immediately hooked up by being out of practice, she lost the 1st 5 fish that she hooked up with. A few of them were quite big as well!

I was able to hook into quite a few fishing behind the 3 rocks while Brenda continued to fish the side run.





No monsters, but decent fish. It was fun having Kaycee on my back and to hear her squeal as I was catching fish.

After a couple of hours, Brenda and Kaycee were getting hungry so they took off to get some lunch. Dave and I continued to fish and we moved up to our #2 spot down from the gauging station.

The fishing here was a little slower, but Dave was able to hook into a few larger fish. Unfortunately they would come unbuttoned before he could get them in the net.





This was the biggest of the day, a nice 17 incher.



At around 2, the bite started to die. Maybe it was all the pressure...there was a ton of people out there. When we left, we counted at least 15 cars in the parking lot. So to end the day, we decided to run to the spillway and see how that was fishing.

Dave set up below the bridge and proceeded to catch a few, and I set up in the runs below the spillway and picked up quite a few stockers.





Overall, a great fishing day! It was crowded, but we were able to find the fish. Flies for the day were midge patterns. Jujubee Midges, Zebra Midges with a chartreuse wrap, WD40's and Flashback Black Beauties. Mayfly patterns like two bit hookers and prince nymphs also worked great as a lead fly. I even picked up quite a few fish at the spillway with a red micro san juan.

A lot of the rainbows were also starting to get colored up for the spawn. I would suspect egg patterns will start working again so have a few in your arsenal if you plan on heading down there. Flows should be jumping up pretty soon to so keep your eye on the flows before you head down there.

Arkansas Below Pueblo 12/31/11

Happy New Year!

I decided to ring in the new year with another day on the Ark. I met up with Dave and we decided to hit the spillway in the morning and move to Valco in the evening. Get our numbers in the morning and some bigger fish in the afternoon.

Temps were around 50, but the wind was bad. Really bad. 70 mph winds weren't uncommon and the gusts were almost blowing us off the rocks that we were standing on.

Besides the wind, it was a wonderful day. We were able to make casts between the wind gusts and actually got into quite a few fish.

At the spillway, we ended up fishing around the foot bridge and found a honey hole of suckers! It wasn't our intention to catch them, but they were there eating anything we drifted in front of them. They were fun for a while, but having to untangle our rigs was a pain in the butt and getting the slime off the line was almost impossible.



Of course fishing in the spillway was good as usual, the stockers were taking barr's emergers, two bit hookers and blue poison tungs on almost every cast. A few bait fisherman moved in around noon, so we decided to move over to Valco to see if we could find some bigger fish.





At Valco, we had the river to ourselves. Even though the lot was full of cars, most people were fishing upstream or at the deep hole dunking bait. We made our way slightly downstream to Dave's favorite spot and he immediately picked up a fish.





We were even able to manage a double!



At the end of the day, I managed the biggest fish with a 16 in. Certainly not the biggest I've caught down there, but it does make for a great ending to a good day.



So we braved the winds and caught fish all day...how can you be disappointed with that?!?! We didn't change much in the way of flies. Mostly leading with a two bit hooker followed by a baetis or midge pattern. We didn't try eggs or worms, but I think san juans will still catch a few, but I think we'll wait on using eggs again until the spring spawn starts for the rainbows.

Where am I headed next? I haven't fished the Blue as much as I would have liked...I've spent a lot of time down in Pueblo but now that the holidays are over, I probably will be spending a few more days on the Blue. I do have to head to Steamboat for work, so I might try the William's Fork or Yampa below Stagecoach, but if the snow is too deep, it won't be worth the hassle of hiking in to these tailwaters. I do want to get to the Frying Pan again, since winter keeps a lot of fisherman off the water, getting into the toilet bowl isn't a wait or a hassle and even if there is someone in the bowl, the flats fish well with 7x and size 22 midges!