Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM
Location: Hayden Meadows, southern section
Arkansas River 07/09/2018 Photo Album
Fourteen fish in a day of fishing is a decent accomplishment, but nevertheless Monday was a day, when I never achieved a consistent rhythm.
I evaluated several possible destinations for a multi-day camping and fishing trip, and I settled on the upper Arkansas River/Turquoise Lake area. Numerous vehicles occupied the parking lots and pullouts at the northern side of the Hayden Meadows area, so I continued until the CO 55 sign appeared, and I turned left and crossed the river and parked. Two SUV’s were present when I arrived, and a pair of fishermen were downstream from the bridge.
Productive Spot
I quickly pulled on my waders and assembled my Sage four weight. I elected to fish upstream and began with a size 14 Harrop hair wing green drake in the attractive deep foam covered hole and eddy just above the pipe that carries water under the road. The eddy failed to deliver fish, but then I moved to the upstream position and drifted the hair wing through a V-shaped area where the currents merged. On the third drift I allowed the dry fly to float deep and along the seam at the start of the eddy, and suddenly the green drake imitation disappeared. I quickly set the hook and was temporarily connected to a twelve inch brown trout. Temporarily is the key word, as the fish executed a leap and plunge and shed the fly.
Deep Run on a Bend
For the next two hours I moved upstream at a rapid clip, and I was forced to circle around two pairs of anglers. The Harrop generated refusals, so I rotated among a size 12 olive stimulator, a size 14 gray stimulator, and a size 14 yellow stimulator. All these choices were intended to imitate gray drakes and yellow sallies. Several quality deep runs revealed rises, but all my flies were refused by the choosy surface eaters. I did, however manage to land five brown trout during this period including a very rewarding fifteen inch chunk. For a period of time I fished a double dry combination with the gray stimulator in front and the yellow version on the point. The gray stimulator produced three of the five landed trout, and the yellow one accounted for two. I witnessed a few large natural gray drakes along with a smattering of pale morning duns and yellow sallies. Aside from the fifteen inch brown trout the other fish measured in the ten to twelve inch range.
Looking Good
As I spotted a couple additional gray drakes, while I munched my lunch, I challenged my rigid thinking. I read my blog post from 2017 on the upper Arkansas River, which documented that I crushed trout on the Harrop hair wing, and this research caused me to focus on the stimulator and hair wing styles of dry fly. But what about other productive green drake imitations? I rotated between three different styles on the Frying Pan, until I determined which one fooled the most fish. I resolved to think outside the box, and I knotted a size fourteen parachute green drake to my line after lunch.
Looking Down on a Brown
The move was effective, and I jumped the fish counter from five to eleven between one and two o’clock. The trout in moderate riffles ripped the surface parachute with conviction. Another fifteen inch brown visited my net during this period, but it was quite skinny, and I feared it was suffering from some sort of disease. Of course the parachute was not perfect, and quite a few refusals accompanied the confident takes.
By 3PM the presence of gray drakes, yellow sallies, and pale morning duns disappeared, so I switched to a dry/dropper method. A red hippy stomper assumed the surface position in my lineup, and beneath it I attached an ultra zug bug and size 16 iron sally. During the last hour these flies enabled me to add three additional small brown trout to the count. All favored the iron sally, and in addition several trout snatched one of the subsurface offerings but avoided the net after perfecting some escape maneuvers.
Less Shadow
Monday was a decent day, but I wish I would have experimented with the parachute and comparadun green drakes earlier, especially during the time when fish were visibly feeding on the surface. Perhaps I will return on Tuesday and test the alternative green drake styles.
Fish Landed: 14