10/14/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

10/14/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
Flows 41
8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Another day down in Pueblo!  My buddy Andy joined me today and I was looking for the fishing to improve compared to yesterday!  We started at Valco again and picked up a few fish at 3 rocks, and we made our way upstream to the gauging station shortly after.  The fishing was still pretty slow like yesterday, but we were getting consistent bites.  Not a fish every cast, but we could pass our rig through some fishy water and eventually pick up a fish.

I was rigged up with a red san juan and 2 midges.  Andy had a red san juan, a soft hackle hare's ear and a midge.

Andy managed this nice bow at the far run at the gauging station.

Later in the day, we moved over to the Water Treatment Plant and caught a few more small guys.  I was starting to get discouraged, and Andy had to leave to go back to Denver so we decided to head over to the dam to see if we could find anything bigger.  The water looked even skinnier here so we decided to call it day.  Andy made his drive back to Denver and I started heading back into town...but I just couldn't resist one more cast at Valco...

I'm glad I stopped!  I ended up finally catching a decent fish above the gauging station.  He took a beadhead olive emerger pattern.

He measured out to 19 in, so certainly not the biggest, but a nice fish when all you've been catching all day is 12 inchers.

Here he is swimming away...

On my way back to the car, I ran into this little fella.  Made me want to tie on a crayfish streamer and see what would happen!

I guess this proves that there's plenty to eat in this river for the big fish!

So...a good end to the day.  Fishing was ok, but not incredible like I've seen it before.  I'll attribute the poor fishing to the low flows and windy conditions rather than my fishing ability.  :)

If you're going to head down, stock up on midges, mayflies, bwo's and trico's.  We witnessed an amazing trico spinner fall at 11:00.  Fish were rising to them, but took our small black size 20 midges as well.  I imagine a drowned trico spinner would get lots of hits too.  I tried a z wing caddis, but had zero hits on it...looks like the caddis are pretty much done.  Moving into winter, bwo's and midges will be the go to flies.

10/13/12 Arkansas Below Pueblo

10/13/12
Arkansas Below Pueblo
Flows 41
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

I got up at 4:00 AM and started my drive down to Pueblo from Vail.  I thought I might stop at the Dream Stream, but with the snow and rain, I figured it would be a better idea to make it to Pueblo before I stopped and fished.  I had a wedding Saturday afternoon and even if the weather did make me late...it wouldn't be an excuse my wife would accept!

So on down to Pueblo and my 1st stop was Valco.  I was surprised to see a lot of cars in the parking lot, and even more surprised to see this many fisherman on the water!  I guess the nice weather down south drew some Denverites to make the drive down south instead of west to fish.

I know the picture is a bit dark, but there were 4 guys fishing the gauging hole run and 2 guys standing in the middle of seams where fish lie!

So I made my way upstream and fished a red san juan, a two bit hooker, and midge.  I managed a few fish, but nothing of size.  I was pretty dissapointed with the low fish count and size so after catching a few, I hoofed it over to the Water Treatment Plant.

At the Water Treatment Plant, I didn't have much luck either.  I did run into the Steel City Angler guys and the local TU chapter who were doing a river clean up.  They managed to haul out 6 bags of trash and it still looked like they didn't do anything...glad they are out doing stuff like this, but it's hard when what they do only has a minimal impact.  Crazy how much punishment this river can take and it still produces good fishing.

I managed a few fish at the pools upstream but again, nothing too big so I decided to call it a day and focus on getting a good start tomorrow.



Fish were taking mostly the san juan and midge.  I had a few take the two bit hooker, and a few took a price nymph when I changed out the two bit hooker, but overall the fishing was slow.  The flows at 40 made the water really skinny and the fish super spooky.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

10/12/12 Clear Creek at Georgetown

10/12/12
Clear Creek at Georgetown
Flows 45
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Another trip to the mountains means another stop at Georgetown!  Flows are super low but the browns are stacked up nicely.  Even though it was a Friday, I did see 4 other fisherman, and a guide with 2 clients. 

The guide and his 2 clients were up at the deep pool behind the culvert, so I stayed downstream and fished the fast water all the way to the bridge and managed quite a few fish!  Bead eggs were still the favorite with a size 4 mm orange trailed by a red copper john.  Both were taking fish, with most interested in the egg.

I did get stopped by a DOW officer who was checking licenses and was happy to see him!  This little stretch gets hit pretty hard and since it is not a C&R only piece of water, it gets harvested pretty hard too.  Glad to see him out and about checking licenses and limits.

I only fished for about and hour, but caught probably 20+ fish!

Again, the hot flies were bead eggs and copper johns.  Since I only fished for about an hour, I never did change my rig up, but I'm sure similar patterns will still produce!

07/22/12 Arkansas River Below Pueblo

07/22/12
Arkansas River Below Pueblo
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Flows 82

It's been a couple of weeks since I've had a chance to get out on the water!  And the warm weather isn't making it any easier on the fishing!  Usually I would make a trip up to the mountains, but since I had to meet the family down in the Springs for dinner, I figured a quick trip to Pueblo was in order.

Flows have been fluctuating from as low as 65 up to 450.  Recently, it's been very low and the high temps aren't making it easy on the fish.  Fish are holding in faster water and behind piles.  Some fish will move out into the slower water to feed but if you are nymphing, keep to the faster water and tailouts.

Besides the warmer temps and low flows...the fishing is insane!  Hatches were happening all day long with caddis, mayflies, and midges.

I started the day at the water treatment plant and got into lots of fish right away.  Hot flies for this stretch were a micro olive mayfly, brown z-wing caddis, and flashback pheasant tails.

Most were rainbows but I was pleasantly surprised to catch a few brownies as well!  Nothing huge, most around 12-16 in.

As the temps got higher, I decided to move closer to the dam in search of bigger fish and colder water!

I got to Valco and switched up my rig to all caddis flies.  An elk hair flash caddis up top, and a brown and green z-wing below. 

I was happy to get into some bigger fish!  But as you can see in the second picture, the tube hatch was in full effect...I had to wait a while for the water to rest before the fish starting rising again. 

After a couple kayakers came through I decided to move upstream and see if I could find some more fish...

I changed up my rig again; this time to a z-wing caddis, a cream midge, and a black tube midge.  I had TONS of midges and caddis all over my legs and shorts.  Definitely a hatch going on!  I even noticed a few trico spinners, but I didn't have any patterns that would match in my fly box.

I fished just past the gauging station into the faster water behind the rocks and managed quite a few more!  The most impressive of the day would have to be this brownie that I caught in front of the gauging station.  He took a size 20 black tube midge.

When 4:00 rolled around, I didn't want to leave!  The fishing had been hot all day long with fish taking dries and nymphs.

Hot flies were caddis dries, emergers, barr's emergers, z-wing caddis, micro mayflies, two bit hookers, pheasant tails, rs2's, and black or cream midges.

Fishing closer to the dam is definitely recommended, colder water and it seemed like the water temp was perfect for lots of bug activity. 

07/06/12 Roaring Fork River Carbondale to West Bank

07/06/12
Roaring Fork River
12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Flows 640

This was a "business" trip!  A client from Chicago called and asked if I wanted to fish with him and another vendor while he was in Aspen for the week!  Of course, I wasn't going to say no...but I upped the ante and said, "Why don't we float it?"  I had just floated the Colorado on Thursday, so floating was still on my mind when I met them at 10:30 at the Taylor Creek Fly Shop.  We loaded up on some flies, grabbed some sandwiches and drinks and proceeded to unload the boat and run shuttle. 

Before we even stepped foot in the boat, Shaun said that we couldn't leave the put in without catching at least one fish!  I managed to take the honor of the 1st fish, a nice 16 in brownie that took an iron sally.

After a quick bout of paper, rock, scissor, Shaun lost and had to man the oars first.  Karl, our client took the front of the boat while I took the rear.

Fishing initially was great!  Karl was taking brownies left and right on an iron sally and a golden stone.  Even though he managed to lose his set up 3 times, I luckily had a few different patterns of golden stones that all seemed to work.  Of course, nothing was "photo worthy", but Karl managed to catch quite a few in the 10-14 inch range for most of the upper stretch.

I on the other hand, managed to hook into lots of fish, but proceeded to lose them promptly...maybe it was fatigue, or the excitement, but I didn't land another fish for the rest of the day...lots of hook ups, just none to the net. 

About halfway through the float, we couldn't out run the rain clouds and we got a little damp...nothing too crazy, just a little rain and wind...this might have turned the fish off since we weren't getting as many bites as we were on the upper stretch.

But not to worry, Shaun knew of a great little stretch where a deep run is feed by a confluence of water just behind an island.  The shallow bank allowed great wading access so we ran our rigs through this deep stretch many times.  Shaun managed to land 3, I managed to hook up with 3 and loose them all after a great fight.  This was the only stretch that we managed to catch any rainbows.

About the time we got back in the boat, the skies opened up again.  Nothing major, just some slight sprinkles again.  We decided to hoof it to the take out since the clouds behind us looked like they help more rain.

Just as we got to the takeout, the skies opened up.  It was a monsoon!  2 other boats made it to the takeout just after us so we all hurried to get our boats on our trailers and out of the rain.

Fishing was just ok on the Fork today...maybe it was the fishing pressure since we counted over 20 cars at the takeout, our maybe the weather turned the fish off.  Either way, it was still a fun float, but it would have been better if we caught some of the legendary big fish said to inhabit this piece of water!

Hot flies for this trip were all varieties of golden stones.  Size 12-18.  We tried some dries and saw a few rises, but didn't manage any on dries or other patterns.  An especially effective pattern was a wire wrapped stone.

I was pretty surprised to see it so busy for a Friday, but again, it was a holiday week so lots of people probably took Thursday/Friday off.  This was my 1st float on the Fork and I had a wonderful time!  Lots of easy water to row and besides the skinny water, it was a good float.  I think if we hit it when the water is a bit higher, the fishing could be epic.  If the water is at 800 or above, I'm sure the fish will have more cover and will be more willing to feed!

04/13/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

04/13/12
Blue River Below Green Mountain
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Flows: 72

Flows are low making wading and sight fishing super easy.  Flows are predicted to remain low as Green Mountain fills...this puts a damper on trying to float the Blue a bunch this year, but luckily fishing here is great at lower flows.

I was able to catch quite a few browns and bows today, all feeding in the riffles.  Hot flies were sparkle wing rs2's in black and flashback WD40's.

I even tied up a few rs2's with a tungsten bead, and without tails and managed a few fish on it as well.

I ended up catching quite a few dink rainbows, surprising since there usually aren't a lot of small fish in the stretch.

After spending a couple hours exploring, I had to head back for a meeting in Vail so I had to cut this trip a little short...but the fishing was great and I expect that it won't change much for the next month or so.  I am hoping the low water doesn't affect the hatches...the green drake hatch is awesome on the Blue and I hope I get a chance to fish it...