Time: 11:15AM – 4:00PM

Location: Buena Vista area

Arkansas River 06/22/2026 Photo Album

I was rather excited to make my first fly fishing and camping trip of 2026. The excitement lasted, until I broke for lunch at 11:45PM with three small brown trout to my credit. Monday, June 22 was mostly a dud from a fishing perspective. The camping was fun.

Starting Point

The temperature registered in the low seventies, as I set out at 11:00AM, but once the few clouds cleared, and the sun did its work, the temperature quickly climbed to the eighties. The flows were probably in the 300 CFS range, and the river was very clear. I certainly thought that I was destined for a decent day on the Arkansas River.

Foam Is Home

As mentioned earlier in this report, I landed three small brown trout between 11:15AM and 11:45AM. Little did I know that this would be the best action of the day. I began with a tan pool toy hopper, a 20 incher, and a hares ear nymph on my Loomis two piece five weight. All three fish grabbed the beadhead hares ear nymph. Quite a few refusals to the hopper persuaded me to change tactics after lunch.

Small Jewel

I scuttled the dry/dropper and migrated to a double dry. The first duo was a peacock hippie stomper trailing a light gray deer hair caddis. The hippie stomper increased the quantity of refusals, but it did contribute one sub twelve inch brown to the fish count. Another trout slashed a yellow sally after I replaced the caddis, and I boosted the fish count to five with the largest catch possibly measuring nine inches.

Promising Water Ahead

The refusals convinced me that dry flies were the ticket, if only I could find what they wanted. I chose the path of cycling through flies, and it was not pretty. Flies that maintained a presence on my line were a size 12 yellow stimulator, an olive-brown stimulator, an olive-brown deer hair caddis, a yellow sally, a Jake’s gulp beetle, a classic Chernobyl ant, and a tan mini chubby Chernobyl. Some were totally ignored, and a few initiated looks and refusals. It was rough. Even the looks and refusals came from small fish. Where were all the decent fish in the river?

Best Fish of the Day

At 2:00PM I encountered a couple and a young girl. The man tubed down the river, and the girl appeared to be readying an inflatable raft. I chose to exit and hiked back to the car. The poor fishing did not justify circling around the tubers to undisturbed water.Center Run

I kept my waders on and drove to another favorite spot in the area, but the change of scenery had no impact on my bad luck. I revisited the dry/dropper for a short while using the tan mini chubby with an iron sally, but this seemed even more futile than the double dry approach.

Yellow Sally

I returned to a black body elk hair caddis and an olive-brown deer hair caddis, and futility continued. The black caddis created a few looks and refusals, but I quit in frustration at 4:00PM and returned to my campsite.

Prickly Pears Were in Bloom Everywhere

Gnarly Beauty

Monday was a tough day on the Arkansas River. I landed five small fish and never dialed in a productive fly, and the fish that I caught or enticed to look at my flies seemed to be smaller than average. I am already planning to visit a different river on Tuesday.

Fish Landed: 5