9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Forecasted high for the day: 37 degrees
Flows: Normal 65 CFS
With hesitation, I went back to Pueblo on Sunday. Although the decision was easy, since we were watching the Super Bowl with the in-laws, I wasn't really looking forward to fishing if it was going to be a tough day like it was last week.
After some research, I found out that they had bumped the flows about 20 CFS last weekend. That, combined with the nice weather and heavy fishing pressure, the fishing was definitely off.
After checking flows for this weekend, it looked like flows were back down and I was hoping the cooler weather would keep some of the fair weather fisherman off the water.
I started fishing at the spillway since I know there is fish there. Nothing too big, but I didn't want to have a skunk hanging over me.
Right away, I started catching fish on a tungsten zebra midge, flashwing prince, and a midge braid midge.
Nice healthy stockers, with the biggest around 14 in.
I was the 1st person on the water at 9, but not long after the bait fisherman starting showing up, so I decided to head out of the area and see if bigger fish were biting at Valco.
Before I left, I did notice a guy and his 2 kids "fishing" next to the bridge. They looked like they were snagging for kokes with the big heavy rods and they way they were jerking them. I approached them and asked how the fishing was. Immediately, he was defensive and said, "Good. Fishing is good, we're using tube jigs and we're fishing for suckers." Obviously a trash fish, but still...snagging is illegal.
They quickly left after I fidgeted with my phone for a little bit. I was looking for the operation game thief number but I couldn't find the right one. In any case, they left quickly knowing that I had busted them snagging.
So on to Valco...
As I pulled into the lot, there were already 8 cars there. I assumed that my favorite spots would be taken, but luckily, nobody was down by the 3 rocks! I switched up my rig with a barr's emerger in grey and a zebra midge with a chartreuse wrap.
Immediately I hook into a bunch of fish! For some reason, I was losing just as many as I was landing. Nothing too big, but bigger than fish at the spillway.
A few skinnier guys too...probably because the bigger guys were being taken by the bait fisherman. Another fly fishing guy told me he just saw some bait fisherman load their cooler with a fish that had to be at least 20 in, and super fat. Oh well...
Anyways...I ended up picking up quite a few more fish. A surprise since the fishing at Valco is good, but today they really seemed to like the zebra midge with the chartreuse wrap. So, after losing my last zebra midge to a nice fish that ran me down stream and snapped me off, I decided to explore a little more and I made my way over to the dam.
I re-rigged with a flashwing prince, a red hot midge and blue poison tung. I started at cable hole with a fish that took the red hot.
After catching 2 more fish, I decided to explore downstream past the foot bridge where I eventually made my way to the hatchery output. The water was coming out pretty good and there was a nice pool just off of the river that the output created that held a few fish. All small frys with an occassional 12 -14 incher. No pictures since we've all seen those! It looks like a nice spot, and I was told by the guys at The Drift Fly Shop that some big boys hang out around there. I didn't find any that day, but I'll definitely be back to explore there a little more. It looked like lots of good water, but with kick off time nearing, it was time to get off the water and watch some football!
Overall another great day on the Ark. Unfortunately work will prevent me from hitting the Ark for the next 2 weekends, but I will be traveling to Lake Tahoe, so I hope to come back with a good fishing report for the Little Truckee!
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