Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Above Buena Vista

Arkansas River 05/14/2021 Photo Album

My last fishing outing took place on May 5, so I spent nine days waiting for an opportunity to once again satisfy my fly fishing addiction. The nine days included a visit from my daughter, Amy; Mothers Day, two Theo Thursdays, and several rounds of bad weather on the days, when I was available to fish. In fact, it feels like the last six weeks have followed a trend, where the worst weather rolls in Sunday through Tuesday, my most available days to fish, and then nice weather arrives for Thursday through Saturday. Needless to say I was quite anxious to dip my waders in a Colorado waterway.

I narrowed my options down to three. I could return to Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Platte River, as flows were maintained at a very favorable 55 CFS. I entertained a second option of making the two hour drive to the Eagle River in the Avon and Edwards area, since flows were in the 250 CFS range and trending downward. This suggested that run off remained in abeyance, and a short window was available to leverage in my favor. Option number three was the Arkansas River above Buena Vista. This section is relatively new to me, but I enjoyed some fine action in the vicinity over the past two seasons. The fly shop reports stated that the upstream caddis migration stalled earlier in the week due to rain and cool temperatures. My weakness for chasing the Arkansas caddis distorted my reasoning powers, and I opted for the Arkansas River with a small chance of hitting the leading edge of the resumed caddis progression.

Enticing

My maps application suggested that the quickest route to the middle Arkansas River was to head west on Interstate 70 and then south over Fremont Pass through Leadville to the turn off to my desired destination. I enjoyed driving a route that differed from the oft repeated US 285 through South Park and Fairplay. The trip was uneventful, and I arrived at the parking lot at an Arkansas River access point by 10:30AM. The temperature was 60 degrees, and I quickly donned my waders and rigged my Sage four weight, before I hiked along a path that followed the rim of the canyon for nearly .9 mile. To combat the wind and provide an element of warmth in the morning I pulled on my light raincoat. A pair of fishermen departed the parking lot ten minutes before me, and they seemed to choose the same direction, so I was on high alert to locate their position.

Quite a Setting

I never spotted another angler, so I angled down the bank at a relatively gradual location and prepared to initiate my quest for trout. The river was crystal clear and flowing at around 200 CFS, and I was tickled with the convergence of nearly perfect  weather and stream conditions. Occasional bursts of strong wind were one adverse factor. I debated whether to set up an indicator nymph system or a dry/dropper, but the clear and relatively low river convinced me to choose the dry/dropper path.

Iron Sally Working Early

Stunning Markings

I dug out an ice dub tan chubby Chernobyl as my top fly and added a go2 bright green sparkle caddis pupa and beadhead size 14 prince nymph. Neither of these flies excited the fish in the first twenty minutes, although I did experience two very brief connections. A very dark cloud rolled above me, and I noticed two small blue winged olives, so I swapped the prince nymph for a sparkle wing RS2, but this combination was equally ignored, so I paused to consider another change. In this instance I swapped the RS2 for an iron Sally, and just before I broke for lunch at 11:50AM, an eleven inch brown trout chomped the iron sally. I was on the board and very pleased with that status.

After lunch I continued upriver and explored likely holding spots with the dry/dropper. The iron Sally nabbed another pair of small brown trout, but clearly my catch rate did not match the quality of the water that I covered. I decided to extend my leader to four feet to create deeper drifts, and while I made this change, I repositioned the iron Sally as the top fly and swapped the g02 sparkle caddis pupa for a LaFontaine version with a dubbed body rather than the chartreuse micro braid. The bright green emergent sparkle pupa accounted for a pair of fish, but I remained dissatisfied with my success rate, so I once again completed a change. I knotted a 20 incher to my long dropper as the top nymph, and kept the bright green caddis pupa on the point.

Beauty

This became my combination of choice, and the fish counter elevated from five to ten over the next several hours. I was very pleased to reach double digits, as the fishing was by no means easy pickings. I covered a ton of river and executed prodigious numbers of casts to register this total. By 2:30PM the catch rate dwindled to a lackluster lull, so I dumped the bright green caddis pupa and replaced it with my old reliable beadhead hares ear nymph. Oddly the hares ear duped two rainbow trout, one in the twelve inch range. I cannot remember ever landing a rainbow trout from this stretch of water in my one previous exploration of the area.

A Rainbow Appears

By 3:30PM the hares ear lost its magnetic qualities, so I made one final adjustment to a size 16 emerald caddis pupa. During the last hour I adopted the practice of dead drifting the dry/dropper for three casts, and I followed up with some very active manipulation of the line. Frankly I felt like I was stripping a streamer rather than a chubby Chernobyl and a pair of nymphs. The aggressive line management sort of yielded positive results, as I landed a fine brown trout and witnessed several follows and a couple momentary hook ups.

These Spots Are Amazing

I desperately wanted to move beyond thirteen before quitting, but by 4PM I remained shy of the desired count, and I was bored and weary, so I tromped back to the Santa Fe and called it quits. A thirteen fish day on a freestone river on May 14 is an accomplishment to appreciate. One brown trout with very dark black spots stretched to thirteen inches, and a couple others were in the twelve inch range, but overall the size of the fish was on the small side. This was consistent with my prior experience north of Buena Vista. The thirteen fish required five hours of focused effort, and the 20 incher was the best producer, but I never stumbled on to a fly that was desired more than others. I suspect the trout were laying low and being opportunistic, and success was more about reading the water and executing solid drifts or imparting the desired movement than fly selection.

Fish Landed: 13