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!