08/19/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

08/19/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Flows 95

Sorry for the lateness is posting this report...life sometimes gets in the way of fishing!  I"m neck deep in my busy travel season right now and the wife is busy with fair season going on.  Lucky for me, this means that when the wife needs to work down in Pueblo, I get to tag along and do some fishing!

The flows have been very low all summer, allowing for easy wade fishing unlike previous years when the river is roaring at 1200.  This has been a blessing and a curse for the river...fishing has been good all summer, with great hatches going on, but fishing pressure has been extremely heavy and I'm seeing lots of people leaving the river with big fish stuck on a stringer.  I have nothing against taking some fish home for dinner, it's just sad to see these big fish, some that I'm sure I've caught and released being taken home.

I started the day at Valco, and I thought I was there early enough to beat the crowds...unfortunately, the parking lot was already full!  I rigged up my rods and made my way down to 3 rocks and was able to get into some fish right away!  There were 3 guys fishing the slack water below who immediately made their way up and tried fishing where I was when they saw I was catching fish.

I picked up a few more on a prince nymph and another that took a brown z wing caddis.

Instead of sticking around and trying to fish around the 3 guys that moved up, I decided to move on and see if the fishing was any good upstream.

I made my way past a few other fisherman fishing the hole just above the parking lot, and past another 2 that were fishing the gauging station.  The fast riffles and pocket water above didn't have anybody in there so I dropped in a picked up a couple smaller fish.

The brown z wing caddis took most fish, with a few taking the prince.  There were quite a few fish slurping the surface, but I was too lazy to change and besides, I was catching fish! 

Around noon, the fishing died down...the fish stopped slurping...and I was ready for a drink and on to some old familiar water!  I headed over to the water treatment plant played around in the riffles and pocket water.  all small fish, but it was nice to fish in an area not as crowded as Valco.

After about an hour or two, I started wondering if the city park spillway was fishing any good...so I hoofed it back to the car and headed on over. 

I didn't see anybody fishing!  I soon figured out why.

Although I caught some fish, all were small and it wasn't as productive as it's been in the past.  The low flows, the higher temps and people taking fish home most likely attributed to the poor fishing here.  Usually there's at least a couple bait dunkers trying to fill up a stringer.  I did find a pod of suckers and they proved to be fun for a little bit, but I decided to move on back to Valco to see if I could get into some bigger fish.

It was getting late, and my arm was getting tired...I haven't had a full day of fishing in a while and I was getting fatigued!  My casts were getting sloppy but I was determined to get a few more fish before I called it a day.

So after a few more fish, I decided to call it day.  I long day, filled with great fishing!  Some big, some small, but it was still fun feeling the tug of a fish.  No brownies this trip, but the rainbows put up a good fight!

I nymphed all day, being lazy, I never tied on a dry.  Even though there was a trico hatch, a midge hatch, and a small caddis hatch.  I mainly used a prince nymph, barr's emerger, a z wing caddis, and a micro mayfly.  5x tippet/leader, with a small split shot.  This rig can be fished about 90% of the time in Pueblo, even in the winter, and I'm actually looking forward to this winter when the fishing pressure will be off and some of the bigger fish will be out!

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...

01/29/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

01/29/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Air Temp forecasted to be 60 degrees
Sunny day/Overcast with a little wind

Dave fished on Saturday and mentioned that he really had to work for every fish that he caught...not a good sign for Sunday.

We got to Valco at 9:00 and there were already 5 cars in the lot. While we were gearing up, 2 more cars showed up. It was going to be a busy day on the river. 3 guys were already fishing in our number 1 spot, so we moved up river to number two. Our usual set up for this stretch of river is a two bit hooker followed by a variety of midge patterns, with one of them black. I started with a size 20 thread midge with a glass bead head and copper wire wrap. This was a fly that had taken many a fish on this stretch...unfortunately, Dave's prediction for a slow day was spot on. We really had to work the water hard to get bites, and most strikes were subtle. With heavy fishing pressure, it was no surprise, but it wasn't what we were expecting.

We picked up 2 fish within a couple casts, but missed quite a few hits and we had numerous long distance releases. These fish were getting smart!



We decided to move over the favorite spot #1 to see if anybody was there, and we saw the 3 guys leaving. As they were walking out, they mentioned that fishing was tough....we agreed and made some suggestions on flies.

Even though it was fished all morning, we were able to pick up a few fish in the usual spot...just not anything of size.

So...after a slow morning, we decided to head over to the spillway to see if we could increase our numbers. We switched up our rigs to a barr's emerger up top and a midge below. We picked up quite a few stockers, but again, it wasn't as good as it's been in the past couple of trips.





A few more colorful were had as well...maybe the impending spring and spawn is helping to get these guys colored up!



The surprise of the day, and the biggest fish came in a more unusual spot. I was fishing the riffles down below between the bridge and the spillway and managed this nice guy. Just shy of 16 inches.



He took a blue poison tung. Just goes to show you that big fish can be anywhere! Even in shallow riffles. So don't be afraid to try new spots. Fish on the Ark are eating year round and they aren't always sitting in deep holes waiting out the winter.

Overall, this was a slow day. By no means was it a bad day, but slow considering the fishing pressure. I didn't check flows, but it also looked like the flows might have been bumped a little accounting for the fishing being off.