Arkansas River – 08/06/2005

Time: 11:00AM – 4:30PM

Location: Texas Creek

Arkansas River 08/06/2005 Photo Album

Dave Gaboury, my friend from Kansas City, flew in on Friday night and I picked him up at the airport. We attended the Karssiens going away party in Stapleton, and then we checked into bed. We arose at around 7:30AM and drove to the Arkansas River. By the time we arrived there and began fishing, it was 11AM. We parked at the parking area at Texas Creek and hiked down the north side of the river to the point of a long island and then fished back upstream. The Arkansas was flowing strong at around 630CFS.

Nice Size

Nice Size

I crossed the near channel and fished up the far side of the island. I started out with a yellow Letort hopper and copper john, and immediately I hooked up with a decent brown. I caught another smaller brown, also on a copper john, but then I began getting refusals on the hopper, so I switched to a gray parahopper and began catching fish again. By the time we quit for lunch, I caught 12 browns and 1 small rainbow by working up along the south side of the island. Two or three of the trout took the parahopper, and the rest chomped the copper john.

Parahopper Worked on 8-6-05

Parahopper Worked on 8-6-05

We drove upriver to the Valle Bridge lease area after stopping for lunch at the trading post recreation area. Dave immediately hooked a nice brown in the lease area, as I crossed over and again went up the far side of an island, where I landed a decent brown on the copper john. We were not finding a lot of fishable water, so we packed it in and drove to the area by the Wellsville bridge. I walked downstream a bit and landed a nice brown on the copper john, but after releasing it I was approached by a nice gentlemen who notified me I was on private property.

Afternoon Brown

Afternoon Brown

We hopped in the van and moved around the bend to Lunch Rock and began fishing upstream. I caught one more trout in this stretch. Dave found a nice run at the top of a long pool and hauled in quite a few. We quit fishing around 4:30 and drove to the Super 8 in Salida, where we checked in and then ate at the Country Bounty.

Fish Landed: 16