Time: 11:30AM – 3:30PM

Location: Lower Bighorn Sheep Canyon

Arkansas River 03/31/2024 Photo Album

I looked ahead at the upcoming week and realized that the weather was not conducive to fly fishing except for Monday, March 31. Even Monday was not ideal, as highs of 63 degrees in Denver translated to rather frigid temperatures in most of the Front Range stream locations that I frequent.

I turned my attention toward the south, and I determined that Canon City was forecast to have highs of 65 degrees with upper single digit wind speeds. I decided to close out March with a drive to lower Bighorn Sheep Canyon. I also noted on one of the fly shop stream reports that water was released from the upstream dams, and this caused flows in the lower canyon to bump up an additional 80-100 CFS.

I arrived at my pullout (I practically own it) by 11: 15AM, and this positioned me to be on the water casting by 11:40AM. The air temperature was 54 degrees, as I geared up, so I wore my long sleeve thermal undershirt, my fleece hoodie, and my rain jacket. I fitted together my Sage One four piece rod to combat the wind, and I headed to the river.

Lunch View

I fished up the river along the highway on the closest braid for forty yards using a size 8 amber ice dub body chubby Chernobyl, a yellow-green molting Pat’s rubber legs and an olive perdigon. I failed to arouse any interest in my offerings, and just before I was poised to cross the river to move to another favorite location, I hooked a stick. I slowly applied pressure, and the stick swung toward me, but it was anchored quite securely to the far side of an exposed rock. The current was deep and swift, so I grabbed my line and applied direct pressure, and I achieved the worst possible outcome. All three flies snapped off and remained in possession of the branch.

Nice Deep Trough

I spoke a few choice words and crossed the braid very carefully and moved to my favorite spot on the lower river. Before I launched into my new pursuit of trout, I downed my lunch, and then I carefully re-rigged my line. For this fresh start I configured my line with a gray body chubby Chernboyl, an emerald caddis pupa and another olive perdigon. Within the first thirty minutes I landed two trout. I was pleased with the breakthrough, but both fish were under twelve inches. One was a brown trout that snatched the emerald caddis pupa, and the other was a short but quite chunky rainbow trout that chowed down on the olive perdigon.

Get a Grip

I continued on my upstream migration, but for the next thirty minutes I was shut out. I suspected that the higher flows were causing my flies to drift too high in the water column, so I swapped the emerald caddis pupa for a 20 incher. This change paid dividends, when I hooked and landed two gorgeous rainbow trout in the 13 -14 inch range in a deep trough bordered by fast water on both sides. Clearly the added weight of the 20 incher was instrumental in gaining the necessary depth in the faster water conditions.

Perfect Spots

I continued with the three fly dry/dropper combination for the remainder of my time on the river, and I gradually built the fish count from four to nine. After I photographed and released number six, I was carefully wading upstream to a new position while dangling the flies below me. Suddenly I felt throbbing, and I assumed it was the strong current tugging on my flies, but I pivoted and raised the rod and found myself attached to a very strong and hard-fighting rainbow trout. Unfortunately it streaked downstream and pulled line from my reel, as It gained a position below the fast narrow chute. I considered scrambling along the rocky shoreline to follow the fish, but my quick judgement told me that was a recipe for a dunking or injury. I applied pressure to the rainbow and attempted to plane it along the surface and over the chute, but near the top, the rod tip bounced and the weight of the fish disappeared. Yes, another three flies were donated to the river habitat.

20 Incher

I decided to avoid further depletion of my chubby Chernobyls, so I moved to a yellow size 8 fat Albert, and another 20 incher and olive perdigon. I anticipated the need to tie additional olive perdigons to feed the cravings of Colorado trout!

Woah. Long One

On Monday, nearly all the landed trout were duped by either the olive perdigon or the 20 incher in a roughly even split. Seven of the nine netted fish were rainbows and two were brown trout. I continue to be perplexed by the reversal in the ratio of rainbow to brown trout in the lower Arkansas River. The first rainbow was the short and chunky specimen I referred to earlier; however, the other six were very fine hard fighting fish in the thirteen to fifteen inch range. They were worthwhile catches and justified my long drive to and from the river for 3.5 hours of fishing. Perhaps my next visit to the Arkansas River will coincide with cloudy conditions with the hopes of encountering a strong blue wing olive hatch. I noticed two naturals on Monday, but no rising fish.

Fish Landed: 9