Time: 11:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Above Salt Lick and Texas Creek

Fish Landed: 7

Arkansas River 04/21/2012 Photo Album

After experiencing a great day of fishing Wednesday, April 18 I invited Dan to accompany me on another trip to the Arkansas River in pursuit of the major brachycentrus caddis hatch. Typically the hatch begins in Canon City and moves up the river as the water temperature warms closer to the mountains. I hoped that the warm air temperatures of Thursday and Friday would provoke movement in the hatch, and Dan and I could partake of the rare experience of fish throwing caution to the wind and rising everywhere to caddis dry flies.

Dan invited his roommate Adam to join us, so the three of us met at my house at 8AM on Saturday morning. We loaded up the Santa Fe with all our fishing gear and lunches and departed for Canon City and the Bighorn Sheep Canyon. The big decision was where to fish in the canyon so that we would experience the leading edge of the caddis hatch progression. I chose a spot above Salt Lick where I had ended my fishing on Wednesday. Because it was the first outing of the season for Dan and Adam, it took longer than normal to prepare to fish, so we weren’t on the water until 11:30 or so.

It was already quite warm when we began fishing and temperatures would eventually climb to the mid-80’s by 3PM. I should have anticipated that the warm air temperatures would move the timing of all the activity forward in the day, and we should have started the trip earlier, but I was locked into what happened on Wednesday when the conditions were cooler. I began working with Adam and rigged him up with a purple prince nymph as the top fly and a green body caddis pupa as the trailing fly. Adam and I worked up along the bank for a bit, and I demonstrated and showed him how to sling the cast upstream and impart twitching and jigging action to the flies. At one point early on, I spotted a rise above a protruding rock and had Adam place a drift by the far side and he experienced a momentary hookup. I was pretty excited to see some quick success from my pupil.

Dan with First Fish of the Day

Meanwhile I tied a prince nymph on Dan’s line from his Christmas fly box and added a bright green caddis pupa. Dan crimped on a split shot, and I showed him how to attach a thingamabobber and he was off on his own. Dan waded out toward the middle of a nice riffle stretch and in short order hooked a nice brown. As Adam and I worked up the bank Dan covered the middle of the river, and he was having decent success mostly on the bright green caddis. At one point while Adam untangled his line, I tossed my prince nymph and bright green caddis combination into some small pockets and landed a 12 inch brown. I resumed working with Adam for a bit after he broke off one of his flies, and watched as he hooked a decent fish in a nice seam. I could see the fish turn and roll on the line and then Adam’s fly came flying back toward us.

After a bit more guiding I felt Adam was self sufficient, and I began focusing on my own fishing more intently. I managed to land a second fish, but things were definitely slower than Wednesday in spite of the fact that I observed a much denser presence of streamside caddis on the rocks and willows. Dan had landed three fish and had another three foul hooked fish, and it was 12:30 so we decided to break for lunch. We climbed the steep rocky bank and circled back to the car and snagged our lunches and took them down to the river and ate in the warmth of the sun.

After lunch we hiked back to where we’d ended our morning and resumed fishing. We spotted some very sporadic rises, and Adam had broken off his wet flies, so he converted to fishing adult caddis imitations. While fishing dries Adam snapped off his fly on one fish and then landed his first fish of the day. Meanwhile Dan suggested that the person who landed the most fish in the afternoon would buy the beer at dinner for all. I picked up a few fish as I moved up along the left bank, but I was covering a lot of water, and the fish were definitely not tuned into the pupa and movement the way they responded on Wednesday.

Bad Ass Adam

On Friday night while having drinks at the Vine Street Cafe with friends someone mentioned that everyone had to be a bad ass once in their lives. This led into examples that defined what being a bad ass meant. The group was concluding that I had never been a bad ass.

At one point as I was fishing on Saturday I looked up and noticed Adam standing on a gravel bar with his waders down around his ankles and his shirt off. When I caught up to him I asked if he’d taken a tumble in the water, and he replied, “yes, I got wet”. Adam is 27 and around 6′ 3″ tall and very muscular and was not using a wading staff. After Dan and I decided to leave the area and move to Texas Creek and the three of us were walking back along the shoulder of the highway to the car, I asked Adam to show me where he’d experienced his dunking. He pointed to a narrow channel of the river on the road side of the island. I looked down and saw a thirty foot stretch of river with large bulging waves where the river flowed over huge submerged boulders.

Adam Demonstrates Casting Technique

I looked at Adam while Dan look on and suggested, “Crossing at that spot and taking a plunge definitely qualifies you for bad ass status.” Dan vehemently agreed.

We threw all our gear in the car and executed a U-turn and drove another five miles upstream to Texas Creek, crossed the bridge and parked at the fisherman parking lot. The three of us proceeded to hike down the cactus laden trail beyond the barn and rustic horse corral to a point 100 yards downstream from the island that I was targeting. Another fisherman and a young boy were present in the nice pool below the island. Dan crossed the river and fairly quickly landed his fourth fish of the afternoon. I worked up along the right bank and experienced two long distance releases on fish that felt decent.

By now the sun was lower and the air had cooled a bit and intermittent clouds blocked the sun. The caddis swarms moving up and down the river along the bank were intensifying but very few caddis were actually touching down on the water. We made our way up the river to the nice pool below the point of the island, and the other fisherman had departed, so I worked the water thoroughly with no success whatsoever. Dan waded back across to our side and when we came to the right channel of the island I spooked a trout from a shallow lie along the right edge. Dan waded up along the left bank and shot a cast upstream, and I was surprised to see him land a fish in short order. Adam grabbed the right bank and I moved to the middle, but I could see this branch of he river was too narrow to support three anglers at once. I decided to cross the island and fish up along the left side.

Another Nice Catch for Dan

When I got to the left top of the island to some nice pockets I waded out 25 feet so I could fish back to my right to the pockets as this cut down on the glare. For the next half hour I experienced the best fishing of the day as I landed two nice browns on my duke nymph and had two additional long distance releases. I continued above the island and met Dan and Adam who reported they hadn’t landed any additional fish after the one Dan caught while I was looking on. Adam and Dan were growing weary of fishing, so they moved up the bank to a deep run below some white water while I worked my way across the river to the bank. As I did this I spotted several sporadic rises, so I decided to make a last stand with caddis dry flies. I clipped off the wet flies and removed the split shot and strike indicator and tied on a size 14 dark olive body caddis.

A Nice Late Day Brown for Dave

I couldn’t arouse any interest from the fish in the spots where I’d observed rises, but as I was prospecting and moving I noticed a rise a foot or two above a boulder next to the bank. I positioned myself so I could drop a cast to that spot, and on the third or fourth drift a  trout sucked in the fly. I set the hook and for a moment felt the throb of a fish, but just as quickly the fish was off and seeking cover. Dan landed five in the afternoon as did his father so Dad bought dinner and beers at the Phantom Canyon Brew Pub in Colorado Springs on the return trip.

On Sunday morning I checked out the fishing reports on the Arkansas River and it seems the hatch progressed as far as Cotopaxi. It is very difficult to pinpoint the location of the progression, but the shop in Salida indicated that there was minimal success in upper Bighorn Sheep Canyon, and Royal Gorge Anglers mentioned good fishing as far as Cotopaxi. I’m guessing that we were fishing below the leading edge emergence based on the lack of action on pupa and the thicker swarms of caddis on the willows and rocks along the river. The warm air temperatures and lack of cloud cover probably caused the egg laying adults to return to the water later in the day after we departed. The search for the epic caddis hatch continues in 2012.

Time: 10:15AM – 5:00PM

Location: Upriver from Salt Lick access area

Fish Landed: 29

Arkansas River 04/18/2012 Photo Album

My friend Steve Supple and I made another trek to the Arkansas River on Wednesday, April 18. From a weather perspective it was about as good as it gets in mid-April as the high temperatures reached the 70’s, and it was mostly sunny with some periods of cloudiness in the afternoon. We set out in hopes of finding the leading edge of the elusive Arkansas River caddis hatch. Did we find it?

I met Steve at his house in Lone Tree at 7:15AM, and Steve offered to drive his new Subaru Outback so I eagerly acquiesced. We stopped at the Royal Gorge Anglers on our way to the river, and Steve purchased a few flies so we could get some advice. Bill Edrington, the former proprietor, told us that cooler temperatures had caused the hatch to stall in Canon City, but with the nice weather forecast for Wednesday, he predicted the caddis should be moving into the canyon between Parkdale and Texas Creek.

With that information stored in our brains, Steve and I eagerly departed and decided to try the water around Salt Lick as our starting point. I never fished this area which is situated between Five Points where I ended on my last trip and Pinnacle Rock, another favorite destination of mine. Steve purchased an annual Colorado State Parks pass, and these cover parking at the Arkansas Recreation Headwaters parking areas, so we took advantage and parked at Salt Lick. Both Steve and I were in our waders and rigged up and ready to test the waters by 10:15.

Steve began at the tail of an attractive pool and run just upstream of the steps from the parking lot. I moved to the top of the run and tied on a Go2 caddis as my top fly and a bright green caddis pupa as the bottom offering. Within the first fifteen minutes the indicator paused and I set the hook and landed a chunky 12 inch brown that went for the Go2 caddis. I was quite pleased with this early success and anticipated a day of fast action. Unfortunately as I moved up the river and covered some very attractive runs and pools, I struggled to see any more action. I exchanged the Go2 caddis for an ultra zug free-living caddis, and that didn’t help.

First Fish of the Day

I encountered a high rock wall that blocked my path along the left bank, so I crossed the left channel to a small gravel island and fished the smaller north braid. I changed flies several more times and experimented with the emerald caddis pupa and a beadhead RS2. Edrington suggested a caddis larva and RS2 for the morning, so I reverted to the local advice for awhile but to no avail. Finally I returned to Steve, and he informed me that he landed two early, but wasn’t having much luck either.

I paused and remembered that in previous years at this time of the month I had success with prince nymphs. There were quite a few caddis flitting about in the willows and boulders, so perhaps the fish would be attuned to diving adult caddis which is what I believe the prince nymph imitates. I didn’t have anything to lose, so I tied on a prince nymph as my top fly and added an RS2 to the bottom. I walked back up along the river and climbed around the large vertical rock wall to the next nice spot above. In short order I landed a second fish on the RS2, but then in a nice deep run I hooked and landed a nice brown on the prince nymph. A fourth fish, a rainbow, came to the net within minutes, and this fish favored the prince as well. Finally in a nice deep slot 20 feet out from the bank, my indicator plunged and I set the hook and was attached to a heavier fish. I played it briefly, but it made a dive and a roll and broke off both my flies. Since it broke at the top fly I assumed this was another prince nymph incident.

Since it was now noon, and I needed to tie on a new set of flies, I decided to climb the steep bank and hike down the highway and relate my prince nymph successes to Steve and see if he was ready for lunch. Steve agreed that he was hungry, so we munched our lunches streamside and decided to move the car .2 miles upstream as I intended to continue working my way upstream after lunch.

Stretch of Water Fished

After moving the car, Steve migrated back to the nice water by the vertical rock walls and I resumed fishing the pockets and slots along the left bank. I attached a new prince as my top fly and decided to return to the bright green caddis pupa for my second fly. There were enough caddis in the air that I felt there had to be pupating and emerging insects, so I was covering both emergence and egg laying with my two flies. These two flies turned out to be a great choice as I landed thirteen additional trout up until 2:30, or over a roughly two hour period. Most of the fish were taken from quite small nondescript lies right along the edge. I was employing the jigging technique that worked the previous Friday, and many of the fish grabbed a fly as I lifted the rod tip. It was great fun and the hardest part was scrambling over the prolific large boulders and rocks that exemplify the Arkansas River valley. In addition roughly 75% of the fish snatched the bright green caddis on the lift, but the prince continued to produce the remaining fish.

Another Nice Catch

At approximately 2:30PM I approached a long deep smooth pool. I was having so much luck with the pair of wet flies in the small pockets and faster water, that I decided to skip over the long pool. But as I was negotiating my way over the rocky bank I spotted a couple rises behind a rock in the pool. The sky clouded up a bit and the breeze picked up and another fish rose, and then another, and well you can envision the picture. I was having fun subsurface, and it is a significant pain to tie on the nymphs and pinch on split shot and add a strike indicator, so I didn’t want to abandon my successful approach prematurely. But there were now enough fish showing that I couldn’t resist going to the top. Besides this might be the beginning of a massive hatch, although it seemed the fish were focused on skittering ovipositing adults.

I clipped off everything and tied on a nice size 16 dark olive deer hair caddis. On the first cast above a large subsurface rock a feisty brown rose and inhaled my caddis. It wouldn’t turn out to be this easy; however, as I targeted some other sporadic risers and experienced some refusals. But then I spotted a fish rise towards the middle of the river and I floated a downstream cast over it, and another smashing take took place. After I’d landed a few on dries, Steve appeared high above at the top of the bank and asked how I was doing. I told him about the risers, so he decided to return to the sweet water he’d been on in the AM and check out the flats for rising fish. I continued up the pool and landed perhaps five in total from the pool area.

When I reached the faster run at the head of the pool, I was trying to decide whether to return to subsurface fishing or stick with the dry fly. I was guessing the subsurface fishing would be as good or better than my early afternoon experience, but I didn’t relish the changeover, and it was fun doing something different. Why not try prospecting with the caddis in the same spots tight to the bank? I decided to give this method a try, and sure enough it worked. I added another four browns to my total by popping casts into the small pockets and slack water between the river current and the bank. I felt like I was covering more water to get the fish, but I was having fun nevertheless.

By 3:30 I wasn’t seeing any more rises and fewer caddis were on the water and I was having difficulty punching my casts into the wind, so I decided to return to the prince nymph and bright green caddis. Using these flies I landed a couple more fish, but broke them off at some point as it was approaching 4PM. I wasn’t sure how long Steve planned to fish, so I used this as an opportunity to make the long hike back to the car. I found Steve back at his starting point from the morning, and he told me things had slowed down quite a bit. As we watched, however, we saw a few sporadic rises, so I decided to tie the caddis back on my line and made a downstream cast so the fly drifted over the spot where the trout had risen several minutes ago. I noticed a subsurface flash, and in a split second set the hook as the fish bulged on my fly.

Intently Following the Drift

That pretty much ended the rises, at least rises that weren’t in unreacheable positions near the far bank. Steve and I decided to drive back down route 50 to Parkdale and inspect the flats in that location for rising fish. We stashed our gear in his car and made the five to eight mile trip east to Parkdale and checked out the water. We didn’t see anything to attact us to the water, so elected to remove our waders and make the long drive back to Denver.

Once again the main caddis hatch eluded us, but we had a great day nonetheless working prince nymphs, caddis pupa and experienced a tease of a midafternoon hatch. It is these teases that draw me back in search of the massive caddis hatch.

Time: 10:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Between Spike Buck and Five Points

Fish Landed: 32

Arkansas River 04/13/2012 Photo Album

Are you superstitious? If so, then it probably isn’t a good idea to take a long drive to go fishing on Friday the 13th, but I did exactly that. Perhaps the bad luck manifested itself in the number of times I snapped off my flies. As I recall I snapped off both flies twice on fish while playing them and at least four times when snagged on assorted sticks and rocks in the river. Fortunately the Arkansas River is wide open and doesn’t pose much of a risk of snagging streamside vegetation or I would have experienced that roadblock as well. On two occasions I broke off two flies along with two split shot requiring a complete start over from a fly rigging standpoint.

Friday the 13th, however, did not seem to affect the number of fish I landed. It was a great day on the Arkansas River. Although I didn’t encounter the magical brachycentrus caddis emergence, I caught a bunch of fish anyway and did find a different caddis hatch that was fun and exciting albeit not as dense as the brachycentrus hatch.

High temperatures in Denver and probably along the Arkansas River as well did not reach above the mid-60’s on Friday. It was cool and breezy all day and I wore a fleece in the morning and a rain jacket in the afternoon. I arrived at my target stretch above Spike Buck and was on the water fishing by 10:30AM. There were quite a few other fishermen on the river, but not the large numbers that inhabit the area when the main caddis hatch is on. The day can be clearly divided into three distinct segments.

I stopped at the Royal Gorge Angler fly shop on my way to the river and purchased three Arkansas rubber legs as well as the materials to tie my own for the future. I began fishing above Spike Buck where I’d ended my day on my previous trip on April 6, and tied on one of the Arkansas rubber legs that I’d just purchased. To the bend of the stonefly imitation I tied an 18 section of tippet and added an emerald caddis pupa. I fished for around fifteen minutes when the indicator paused and I set the hook and landed my first brown of the day on the emerald caddis. I moved on fishing all the nice pockets and runs along the bank and by 11AM I landed a second brown on the caddis pupa.

First Brown Landed on Friday

However, I felt like I was moving along too rapidly through some very attractive water without action, and the rubber legs wasn’t producing, so I decided to remove the large weighted fly and go to two smaller flies. I replaced the weighted fly with two split shot and tied on a bright green caddis pupa as the top fly and returned the emerald caddis pupa to the point position. Things began to pick up after this move, and I also discovered two techniques for giving the flies movement that seemed to be very effective. For upstream casts, I twitched my rod tip up and down as the flies drifted back toward me, thus creating a jigging action. On casts straight across I began making quick jerky downstream mends. This is the exact opposite of what a fisherman strives for to create a desirable drag free drift, but it was effective during the caddis activity period. Both techniques were quite effective and I landed another five fish bringing my total to seven as I approached a long slow deep pool.

Stretch of Water Where I Began

I decided to skip the pool and focus on the faster runs and pocket water with my wet fly techniques, but as I climbed the rocks along the bank, I was startled to hear a voice. Another fisherman was quietly standing along a large ledge rock waiting for me to pass, and I hadn’t seen him as I was focused on climbing the jagged rocks. We exchanged greetings, and he asked how I was doing, and I told him I’d caught seven and described fly movement as my key to success thus far.

Once I’d reached the top of the long pool, I resumed fishing with my jigging and swinging techniques. Just before noon I hooked what felt to be a nice fish on a bad mend, but the fish immediately headed for the heavy current and went downstream. I began a feeble attempt to climb down the rocks so I could follow downstream, but before I made more than a step or two, I must have moved the rod back towards me for a moment and the fish snapped off everything; two split shot and two flies.

I sat on a rock and performed a totally new rig, but this time I tied on an ultra zug free-living caddis. I made five of these flies during my winter fly tying, and it looked like a winner with a black plastic bead and bright green body with a crystal flash rib. I tied a new emerald caddis on as the point fly. Over the next twenty minutes or so I fished up along the  left bank to a point across from a gray box next to the railroad tracks and landed two more brown trout. These fish much to my surprise inhaled the ultra zug nymph even though it was the top fly, and both hammered it on a dead drift. My first segment of fishing was defined by imparting action to a pair of flies wet fly style to prompt takes.

At noon I climbed up the steep bank and returned to the car where I grabbed my lunch. I decided to drive up the highway to the next pullout as I was planning to continue fishing upstream from where I ended my morning. However, when I parked in the pullout near another vehicle, I observed three fishermen lined up along the bank so I made a U-turn and headed back east where I found a nice pullout halfway between where I intended to begin fishing and the occupied area. As is my usual practice I took my lunch and water bottle to a position next to the river so I could observe while eating.

After lunch I returned to my end point from the morning and initially continued fishing in the manner I’d adopted earlier. However fairly early in the process I snagged bottom and tore off my flies. I was pretty upset to lose the ultra zug, and as I tied on new flies, I decided to tie on another but replace the emerald pupa with a bright green pupa. If the bright green ultra zug was working, why wouldn’t a bright green pupa work as well? This turned out to be a great move and I landed many of my fish between noon and 4PM on the bright green pupa.

As the afternoon progressed the sky grew cloudier and I began noticing an increasing number of caddis dapping the water. The air temperature was also dropping and I was glad I still wore my rain jacket. I worked my way through another deep pool where the three fishermen had been positioned and then a wide shallow stretch with a small island next to another large pullout. In the early afternoon I was discovering that I didn’t need to impart as much action to my flies and the most productive areas were fairly shallow riffles over gravel bottoms. In two or three cases my indicator paused, so I attempted to lift my line thinking I was hung up on the bottom due to the shallow depth only to discover that I hooked a nice brown trout.

Between 1 and 3:30 I landed another eleven fish to put me at twenty on the day, and I was feeling quite satisfied with this achievement in spite of the lack of a dense caddis hatch or even a blue wing olive hatch. Most of the fish took the bright green caddis, but I did catch a couple on a beadhead RS2 which I added for awhile thinking perhaps the BWO nymphs were active and in the drift. It was getting quite chilly and windy as I turned a corner in the river, and I could see the Five Points recreation area 150 yards upstream, so I decided I’d quit for sure at 4PM for the long drive back to Denver. I wasn’t having much luck as I covered half the distance to Five Points, but began to see an increasing number of caddis on the willows and dancing on the water. Suddenly I spotted a few sporadic rises, and then as I approached a nice stretch of water, I saw quite a few rises.

The area I was below was a classic small pool in the shape of a fan with the faster current spreading out around several large boulders. I decided to clip the subsurface imitations and give a caddis dry fly a try. Sure enough on the first cast of a dark olive deer hair caddis at the tail of the pool, a small brown tipped up and sucked it in confidently. I released the fish and dried my fly and got it back on the water quickly and was rewarded almost instantly with another fish. I extracted around six fish from this beautiful water, but towards the top of the pool snapped off my fly. I replaced it with a slightly larger and bushier caddis with a palmered body. This fly produced equally well and added another three fish, but while trying to extract the fly from the mouth of a fish I was having difficulty and managed to pull all the wing fibers from the fly. By now my hands were quite wet and raw from the cool air and wind and constantly dipping in the water to release fish.

Nice Trout Caught on Caddis

I tied on a third deer hair caddis and worked up through two or tree additional pockets and picked off another three fish. I was now within thirty yards or so of the Five Points platform that juts over the river, and there were quite a few people ahead, and my hands and body were approaching shivering status so I reeled up my line and called it a day. Twelve fish in the last hour on caddis dry flies was an exciting and unexpected end to my fabulous day on the Arkansas River.

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: 100 yards downstream from Spike Buck to above Spike Buck Access area

Fish Landed: 12

Arkansas River 04/06/2012 Photo Album

Do certain flies work better as a pair? Was a beadhead pheasant tail meant to be fished with a San Juan worm? Does an Arkansas rubber legs make a  RS2 more effective?

Wind is one of the more difficult factors to deal with in the world of fly fishing. That’s exactly what came into play Friday, April 6 as I visited the Arkansas River. The Royal Gorge Angler web site reported that caddis began hatching in Canon City and the weather forecast called for high temperatures of 70+ degrees in Denver so I decided to make the trip.

Stretch of River Fished in the Morning

I targeted the stretch of water below Spike Buck and planned to commence fishing where I’d ended my day on an earlier trip. Even though the hatch began in Canon City, I didn’t expect to see caddis hatching upstream where I was fishing, but one never knows. By 10AM I had parked opposite the entrance to the Spike Buck recreation access area and walked down the highway to a cluster of three pine trees where I carefully negotiated my way to the river. I immediately tied on an Arkansas rubber legs nymph that had served me well on my previous trip, and then added a bright green caddis pupa on the point. The rubberlegs was weighted so I didn’t need to add any split shot, but I did loop a thingamabobber to the leader a foot or two below the junction with the fly line.

First Brown of the Day

I worked the water for a while but had no success so I clipped off the bright green caddis and tied on a beadhead hares ear. After covering a couple additional nice runs with no success, I moved to an emerald beadhead caddis pupa on the point. This brought some action and after hooking and losing a fish, I connected with another fish and landed it. The first landed brown of the day fell for the emerald caddis pupa. With new optimism I moved upstream and landed a second brown on the caddis pupa. But the next fish I hooked after sensing a pause to the indicator immediately made a run and dive under a large boulder in front of me. I tried to lift the flies by applying pressure up and forward, but nothing was moving and I couldn’t feel any pulsing through my rod. I waded over to the rock and saw a branch lodged across the front. Evidently the fish had wrapped me around the branch and broke off. Much to my dismay both flies were gone, so I took the time to patiently extend my leader, add two split shot and decided to go with a double caddis pupa offering. I placed the bright green caddis pupa on top and then added the emerald pupa to the end.

I moved upstream along the south bank casting the pair of caddis pupa and landed three more 9-11 inch brown trout. It was now noon so I decided to cut back to the highway directly across from a railroad bridge that ran along the opposite side of the river. I placed my rod and frontpack in the rear of the Santa Fe and grabbed my lunch bag and water bottle and walked down to the river across from the car. I perched on a large rock that protruded into the river and munched my lunch while observing, but I was seeing nothing of interest on the water. By now the wind velocity had increased with periodic gusts, and I had to keep my elbow on my lunch bag so it wouldn’t blow away while I ate with my other hand.

After lunch I grabbed my rod and returned to the spot across from the railroad bridge where I’d quit for lunch. I kept the two pupa on my line and worked my way upstream again. However, the wind was now gusting so hard that I had to pause and turn my back from time to time while waiting for the wind to subside to a breeze. Even with two split shot and an indicator, many casts were being blow back toward me. Fifteen foot casts became five foot casts much to my dismay.

Nice Riffle Yielded Two Nice Browns

I reached seven fish landed as I approached the stretch near where I’d eaten lunch and I’d experienced a long dry spell so I decided to change my approach. I did start to notice a very occasional blue wing olive in the slower eddies along the bank, so I moved the emerald caddis to the top position and added a beadhead RS2 beneath. But this didn’t seem to be working in spite of the sparse BWO hatch so I resorted to the recommended combination when caddis aren’t hatching. I clipped off the emerald caddis pupa and replaced with my version of the Arkansas rubber legs. My fly was constructed with yellow and brown variegated chenille and rust colored rubber legs. The length of the fly was a size 10 3XL; whereas, the purchased fly was close to a size 8 streamer hook, and my rubber legs were darker in color.

Typical Brown from Afternoon

Is it possible that a synergistic effect exists between two flies even though only one of the flies is hooking fish? The emerald caddis and beadhead RS2 did not work, but the golden stonefly and beadhead RS2 proved deadly. Over the remainder of the afternoon I landed another five brown trout, and these fish were larger that any of the fish I caught in the morning and early afternoon. The weighted stonefly tended to lodge in the rocks in the more shallow riffles, but this is exactly the location where I hooked most of the fish. Two to three foot riffles and runs at the very top of the run were the most productive areas. I was absolutely amazed at the nice fish that spotted the tiny RS2 that was dangling a foot behind the large Arkansas rubber legs. Perhaps the large stonefly serves as an attractor, and then the trout spot the trailing RS2 and this is similar to the natural BWO nymphs present, so they grab it for an easy feast. Why would the same fly work with one fly but not with another?

I can only theorize, but I’ll continue to combine the Arkansas rubber legs with an RS2 on the Arkansas River.

Time: 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Location: Down river from Spike Buck access area

Fish Landed: 8

Arkansas River 03/18/2012 Photo Album

My fishing adventure took place on Sunday, but this saga begins on Saturday, St. Patrick’s Day. I receive a regular email from the Blue Quill Angler in Evergreen, and I noticed a presentation was scheduled for March 17 on fishing Clear Creek. Each of the last three seasons I’ve increasingly visited Clear Creek as it is probably the quickest location I can get to for an afternoon or evening of fishing. A young guide who operates out of Blue Quill Angler named Cody Scott made a great presentation and I recorded some helpful notes on places to fish that I haven’t explored yet as well as suggestions on technique and flies for the different seasons of the year. I’m quite anxious to put Cody’s recommendations to the test.

I also received an electronic newsletter from Royal Gorge Anglers in Canon City. This shop is owned by Taylor Edrington, the fishing travel agent that I used for my Alaska trip and the same agent that Jane and I are using for a December trip to Argentina. Taylor’s recent email announced that his shop was moving from downtown Canon City to a new location along route 50 on the way to Royal Gorge, and he was having an open house on Sunday, March 18.

Jane and I decided to check the new place out, so we packed up the car with fishing gear as well as Jane’s mountain bike and headed south. The plan was to stop for lunch in Canon City and then check out Taylor’s new shop. Jane would then drop me off along the Arkansas River and return to Canon City to ride her bike on the river pathway. As we drove west toward Canon City we noticed a thick haze over the river valley created by all the wind stirring up the dust. The dust was so thick that it made the sky seem like an overcast cloudy day.

We stopped at a Subway in Canon City and picked up sandwiches for lunch and then drove a couple miles to the new Royal Gorge Anglers. Taylor was right inside the door, and Jane and I chatted with him a bit and browsed the store and left. There were a lot of people there, so we didn’t want to bother Taylor too long.

Next I decided to fish in the canyon west of Royal Gorge and Parkdale so we headed west on route 50 to a nice long pullout just before the bend that precedes the Spike Buck access parking lot. Jane and I climbed down some rocks to a perch above the river and ate our lunch sheltered somewhat from the severe wind. The wind was so bad that Jane decided to remain near the car and read while I fished rather than battling headwinds on her bike.

The Stretch of River I Fished

I gathered my fishing gear and prepared to hike up the highway a bit to a spot where the bank wasn’t as steep. I descended to the river and decided to begin with a Chernobyl ant trailing a beadhead hares ear and beadhead RS2. The Royal Gorge fishing report suggested going deep with golden stonefly nymphs, baetis nymphs and midge larva, but I wanted to try the dry dropper before dredging the bottom. I fished in this manner for perhaps half an hour with no success whatsoever, and I was having great difficulty punching 15 foot casts into the heavy wind.

First Brown of Day Fell for Beadhead RS2

I decided to change strategy and went to a strike indicator and split shot above the BHHE and RS2. I began working the 10 – 15 feet of water along the bank and finally saw a pause and felt a momentary hook up at the tail of a deep run. While this was going on the sky was clouding up in addition to the layer of dust, and I thought I noticed an occasional BWO. I continued to cover quite a bit of water without any success so I decided to go with the store recommendation. I clipped off the beadhead hares ear  replaced with an Arkansas rubber leg that I’d purchased in the spring of 2011. I only had one of this style of fly, but felt it would best imitate the molting golden stoneflies. I added the beadhead RS2 to the bend of the stonefly and began casting to the likely runs along the bank.

Arkansas Rubber Legs Was Effective

It worked. In short order I nailed a brown as I began to lift my line and discovered that the first brown of the day had sucked in the RS2. Next I hooked another fish that was able to free itself in the current below me. But action was definitely beginning to pick up and in a slower moving area below some big boulders, the indicator paused and I set the hook and played in another brown that took the Arkansas rubber legs. For the next hour I moved fairly rapidly up the bank along the river making two to three casts to each likely run and in the process landed another six fish. They were mainly in the 9-11 inch size range with the last probably measuring out at a foot. Of the eight fish landed, three were tricked by the Arkansas rubber legs and the other five had the tiny RS2 in their lip. I also had a couple foul hooked fish and two long distance releases.

Perhaps the Nicest Fish of the Day

Toward 4PM the sky got even darker and it began to drizzle as the wind continued to whip down the canyon. I released my last fish at 4:08 and hustled up the bank and returned to Jane for the drive back to Denver.

Time: 12:00PM – 2:30PM

Location: Fremont-Chafee County Line

Fish Landed: 3

Arkansas River 11/12/2011 Photo Album

The weather forecast for Denver was highs of 61 degrees, so I felt it was an opportunity for another late season fishing venture. Jane decided to join me for a drive to the Arkansas River, and we set off by 8:45AM for the three hour drive to the destination below Salida at the Fremont-Chafee county line.

The fish counter on my fishing blog revealed that I needed to catch three fish to equal my 2010 cumulative total, and I’d be misleading readers if I didn’t concede that this was a goal foremost on my mind. We tracked the air temperature on the dashboard thermometer as we crossed South Park on US 285 and the reading troughed at 35 degrees on the top of Kenosha Pass. By the time we reached the pullout along the Arkansas River the temperature had improved to 50 degrees.

The wind was gusting quite vigorously as I pulled on my waders so I decided to wear my down vest with my rain jacket as a windbreaker, and I chose my ski hat for head protection. I munched down my lunch and was ready to fish by noon. I elected to use my new Scott 6 weight that I’d purchased for the Alaska trip as I expected to fish mostly nymphs and streamers and punch casts into the wind.

My first casting foray was from the high rocks just below the pullout where the car was parked. During previous trips in the summer and fall I had spotted numerous fish in this location and figured they’d still be there. Sure enough after five or so casts I moved to the edge of the high rocks closest to the river and spotted a decent fish swimming from the edge closer to the current fifteen feet into the river. I flicked a cast with the thingamabobber trailing a beadhead hares ear and beadhead RS2 twenty-five feet upstream so it would drift to the area where the river dropped off into deeper water. On the second drift the indicator dipped, and I set the hook and was attached to a nice thirteen inch brown that grabbed the tiny RS2. Jane was nearby so I asked her to hold the rod with the fish while I scrambled down from the large rock. Jane handed the rod back to me and I landed the fish and Jane snapped a photo.

Number 528 on 11-12-11

I couldn’t coax anymore fish from this area, so I decided to cross the river at the tail of the long pool and hike down the railroad tracks. I didn’t intend to go as far as the small island, but once I climbed the steep bank to the tracks, I got on a roll and ended up below the island anyway. I began in a nice riffle below the island and in short order on an upstream cast; I hooked and landed a slightly larger brown on the beadhead hares ear. The productive right channel north of the island was still ahead, and I was one fish away from 530.

Feisty Second Catch

I fished the next stretch of good looking water below the island with no results and then moved up into the right channel as I faced upstream. There is a decent pool two thirds of the way down the right channel, and I skipped the shallow tail section assuming that the fish were holding in deeper water with the cooler water temperatures. I reached a nice deep trough behind a protruding rock at the top of the pool and placed a cast midway up the trough above a large submerged rock. As the nymphs began to sweep around the rock a brown grabbed one of the flies, and I had a momentary hookup, but in short order the fish was free. I’d missed an opportunity at 530 fairly early in my outing. Next I punched a cast into the wind so the nymphs hit the water right behind the protruding rock. As the indicator drifted on the current seam the indicator darted, and I made a strong hook set and saw a nice rainbow streak downstream past me. Eventually I applied pressure and stripped some line before the rainbow once again reversed and headed downstream a bit. Again I applied upstream pressure and as I brought the rainbow upstream a few feet, it turned its head and the tiny RS2 popped free. I’d missed an opportunity to land a beautiful rainbow that would have tied me with the 2010 fish count.

When I got to the top of the island I climbed up on the bank to circle around the shallow tail of the next run in order to reach the deeper runs and pockets along the bank further upstream. I heard a voice and noticed Jane had walked down the highway, and she was checking to see how many I’d landed. I called out, “Two to go” and resumed my quest. Jane continued to track me along the highway shoulder as I worked my way up the river and as I waded into position to continue casting. It was now around 1PM and the wind began to gust fiercely directly into my face. I was using a 9’6” 6 weight rod with a split shot and strike indicator and still was having trouble getting my cast upstream.

Finally after covering around thirty yards of decent water, on a drift through a nice deep trough near the north bank, the indicator bobbed, and I hooked and landed number three on the day and number 530 on the year. It was a nice brown roughly the same size as the second catch. I called out to Jane that I was now even and looking for one more fish. My hand was wet from releasing the fish and also from constantly grabbing the handle of my wading stick, and it became quite gnarled and chilled from the rapid evaporation caused by the wind chill.

I moved up through a few more deep pockets with no results before reaching my crossing point. It was now around 2PM and already the sun had dropped below the ridge to the southwest so that the entire river was covered in shadows where I was fishing. I crossed over at the tail of the pool and climbed the bank and returned back to the high rock where I’d begun the day. As I cast the nymphs into the wind I created a huge tangle around the strike indicator. I had to clip off both the flies and even after doing so, spent quite a bit of time unsnarling the immense tangle of monofilament. The wind was blowing hard and causing my net to repeatedly bang against my leg in an annoying fashion. Once I’d finally straightened the line, I decided to try a streamer in the late afternoon shadows.

I tied on a huge yellow-olive articulated streamer with lead eyes that I’d found while fishing the Taylor River in 2010. I flicked this out into the current above the deeper water next to the high rock and let it swing down and across below me. I executed this process repeatedly and then moved up higher in the run and repeated with shorter casts. Nothing was going for the streamer. I spotted a nice deep pool behind a large vertical rock 25 yards upstream so I walked up along the shore to this point. There were trees behind me, and I was having difficulty getting a backcast to fling the heavily weighted streamer out to the edge of the current. After ten casts with no results, I attempted to backcast downstream and then fling the fly toward two o’clock, up and across from my position. But on the backcast I either hooked some debris or snapped off the fly. The wind was still blowing unrelentingly, and I just spent 10 minutes untangling a mess, and I was quite chilled in the shadows of the canyon so I decided to call it quits and settle for a tie with 2010.

When I returned home and checked the weather, I noticed that Thursday highs in Denver are forecast to be 61 degrees. The book is not yet closed on 2011.

Time: 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Fremont-Chafee County line

Fish Landed: 14

Arkansas River 09/25/2011 Photo Album

Temperatures were forecast to hit the mid-80’s on Sunday and in fact for most of the last week of September. Anticipating a busy week at work, I decided to make another trip to the Arkansas River while the weather remained nice. I checked the ArkAnglers report and it stated flows were low (298 cfs) and there was BWO activity between 1-4PM. The report also suggested midges and tricos in late morning and small indicators.

I arrived at the river by 10:30AM and parked at the Fremont-Chafee County line pullout. Originally I planned to fish upriver near where I ended when I made the Tuesday trip with Amy and Joe, but I was still bothered by not catching any fish in the north channel by the small island downstream from the pullout. I knew there were fish there and decided to cover this water again. I crossed at the tail of the long county line pool, climbed the north bank and hiked down the railroad tracks to the normal starting point below the island.

Nice Brown to Start Day

I was in the river ready to fish at 11AM and elected to use a lime green trude as my top indicator fly. Below that I tied on a tiny black midge larva with a bead and silver ribbing and then below that I added a sunken trico pattern I’d purchased at the North Fork Angler on Thursday. I covered the attractive series of runs below the island with only an inspection to show for my efforts. A decent fish rose up within a foot of the surface to look at the trude, but did not elect to feed.

I started in a small pocket at the very bottom of the right channel (north) and had no luck, but in the next pocket a brown grabbed the tiny midge larva, and I landed and photographed my first fish of the day. Amazingly in the same small obscure pocket next to the north bank, I hooked and landed two more twelve inch browns on the sunken trico. I worked up to the large smooth pool and on a long cast three feet out from the bank noticed a large bulge near my fly. I set the hook and experienced a momentary hookup  to what felt like a decent fish. The tiny stuff seemed to be producing.

But as I covered the bottom half of the pool I couldn’t entice more action while at the same time noticing numerous rises in the run that fanned into the pool. I waded into the pool a bit and shot some casts to the top anxiously anticipating action. Unfortunately I began to elicit refusals to the lime green trude, and the fish weren’t paying any attention to the trailing flies. After working the area with a shotgun of casts and still seeing occasional rises, I clipped off the three flies and tied on one of the two trico spinners I had in my Pennsylvania box.

On perhaps the fifth cast to the center riffle a nice brown rose and sipped in the trico. I was thrilled to catch another nice fish in the north braid on a tiny dry fly. I landed another decent fish in the next pocket above the large pool on the trico spinner, but then it ceased drawing interest. I didn’t want to waste the remainder of the channel on the spinner, so I tied the three original flies back on my line. I removed the midge larva and substituted a RS2. By the time I reached the top of the small channel I landed four more nice trout and most of these were rainbows. One particularly tough rainbow ignored my flies when I cast into a five foot long pocket when I approached from below. I could see the fish hovering in the middle of the pocket. Once I got slightly above and to the side, and after making some upstream casts along the left side, I flicked a couple casts back into the pocket and eventually the beautiful rainbow couldn’t resist and grabbed the RS2.

Long and Chunky Rainbow

As I worked upstream I began to notice larger mayflies, so I believe the trico hatch waned and the BWO’s kicked in. I began to catch more fish on the RS2. My original plan was to skip the water above the island and wade back across for lunch, check out the deep rock pool while I ate lunch and then drive back toward Salida and resume fishing where I ended on my previous trip. But as I waded up the river I couldn’t resist flicking casts into some juicy runs and pockets and landed another three fish, one brown and two nice rainbows, before I crossed back over to the car for lunch. Much to my surprise it was nearly 2 o’clock when I checked my watch while wading across the river for lunch.

Long Brown with Lime Green Trude in Lip

Indeed as I ate my lunch I spotted three fish feeding leisurely in the high rock pool. I took my lunch bag back to the car and grabbed my rod and attempted to circle around the rocks and approach the pool from the side. Alas, by the time I was ready to cast the trout disappeared. I prospected a few casts, but had no success and returned to the car and drove to the second pullout traveling west toward Salida.

Two Trout Observed During Lunch in This Pool

I climbed down the bank to the sand beach area and waded across to the north shore. This crossing proved to be a bit dicier than the previous with one deep swift spot giving me a scare. Once on the north shore I climbed the bank to the railroad tracks and hiked east a short distance and then slid down the bank to the beginning of the pocket water. With the wind picking up and some BWO’s still present, I elected to tie on a yellow Letort hopper, beadhead hares ear and RS2. I covered quite a few pockets with no action, so I removed the BHHE and fished with just the hopper and RS2. Eventually a nice fish rose and smashed the hopper and as it ran downstream I got a good look at what appeared to be a nice rainbow. I allowed the fish to strip out line, but when I finally gained some control, it made a sudden reversal and broke off my flies.

Foliage Changing Along Arkansas River

I continued fishing the pockets and landed two more rainbows, one very nice fish in excess of 15 inches on the hopper and a second on the RS2. Nearing 4PM I exited the river and hiked back down the railroad tracks and had another difficult crossing where I’d crossed previously. There is a nice deep narrow pool next to the beach and I spotted a nice rainbow holding a foot below the surface two thirds of the way down the pool. I flicked my flies just above the rainbow and it slowly rose, but I reacted too quickly and set the hook slightly nicking the fish. The fish remained in its position for a bit, but it was now wary of my presence.

Very Nice Rainbow Wouldn't Remain Still to Photograph

I ended my day at this point satisfied with 14 nice fish with the smallest 12 inches and several in excess of 15 inches.

Rain Shower Near Mt. Princeton

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Fremont-Chafee County line upstream

Fish Landed: 16

Arkansas River 09/13/2011 Photo Album

I was disappointed with the size of the fish I caught on the Big Thompson on Saturday, and I was itching to visit the Arkansas River for some September fishing. The reports from the fly shops were encouraging and the flows were ideal. Amy and her roommate Joe were visiting, and they wanted to tag along and do some hiking while I fished so we planned a trip for Tuesday, September 13. We got up early and were on the road by 7:15AM. It was quite cool and overcast and the temperature registered high 40’s on the mountain passes on the trip to Salida. It would remain cloudy most of the day with the sun peeking through intermittently between noon and 2PM.

I parked at the pullout just east of the Fremont-Chafee county line and put on my waders and gathered everything I would need for a day of fishing without access to the car as Joe and Amy were driving toward Cottonwood Pass and hiking to Ptarmigan Lake. I said goodbye and hiked down the path to the river below the cable and crossed at the bottom of the long pool. I then walked along the railroad bed to a point below the island and angled down to the river. I began with a Chernobyl ant and a trailing beadhead hares ear and cast to the deep run below the island. My first action included two temporary hookups on the Chernobyl ant, but both fish got off before I could apply any pressure. In the riffles below the channel on the right side of the island, a rainbow grabbed the BHHE and I was on the scoreboard with one fish.

Arkansas Rainbow Trout

I worked up along the left side of the small island and landed a small brown near the top, but the water was largely unattractive. I retraced my path to the base of the island and covered the right channel. In an unusual change from previous experience I failed to land any trout from the right channel. I probably experienced five or six refusals to the Chernobyl ant and startled a few nice fish from their lies along the edge. When I reached the top of the island I took time to swap out the Chernobyl for a yellow Letort hopper. I landed two more twelve inch rainbows along the right bank between the top of the island and the tail of the long pool across from where Amy and Joe dropped me off. I covered quite a bit of real estate so the fishing was quite slow. Since I had my lunch in my backpack, I sat down on a rock just below the long pool and munched while observing the water. The river was largely barren of any aquatic insect activity.

After lunch I climbed up the bank to the rail bed and skirted the long pool. A dad and two boys were fishing from the other side, and I didn’t want to disturb them, and I was looking for pocket water not a long smooth pool. I resumed fishing at 12:45PM and remember looking at my watch at 1:30 and thinking that I was averaging less than two fish per hour and it was turning out to be a dud of a fishing trip in spite of the nice overcast conditions.

Nice Fat Rainbow with Yellow Hopper in Mouth

In my mind I was debating switching to deep nymphing in the faster runs and channels, but as I was doing this some denser darker clouds rolled in and the wind picked up and it felt like rain was imminent. I put on my raincoat anticipating the rain and tied a small RS2 to the BHHE. Ahead of me was a nice long side pocket between a strong run and the bank. I made a 25 foot cast, and a fish rose and smashed the hopper. I played a decent rainbow to the net and moved up a few steps and punched a cast into the wind to the top of the pocket. Wham! Another rainbow attempted to inhale the hopper. Amazingly as the weather got worse, the fishing got better. I’ve observed this trend on numerous occasions.

The Back of a Feisty Brown

Next I noticed a nice wide pocket in the middle of the river behind a large horizontal rock. I flicked the three fly combination up and across to the top of the pocket and just as the hopper began to drag a beautiful rainbow grabbed the trailing RS2. I was now observing very sporadic BWO’s fluttering above the water. Perhaps the trout were tuned in to BWO nymphs subsurface? Between 2 and 3PM I landed seven very nice trout with roughly four hitting the yellow Letort hopper and the others taking either the beadhead hares ear or RS2. I also snapped off the hopper twice on rising fish and in the process lost six total flies. I’m not sure if I was setting too hard or had a bad knot attaching the hopper to the leader. After losing the second BHHE of the day I substituted a beadhead pheasant tail and landed two fish on that fly.

Pretty Rainbow Near End of Day

By 3PM I worked my way up the river to a point across from a wide pullout bordering a huge rock next to the highway. Another fisherman was fiddling with his line, and then I noticed he sat on the top of the bank overlooking the river and watched me fish. This required a show, so I focused on my task and landed three smaller fish along my side of the river from small pockets while he observed. I also foul hooked a nice 14 inch rainbow while he was watching. I didn’t count this fish, but as far as he knew it was another fish I landed while he was a spectator. After I landed three fish he made his way down to the river and began fishing. He moved almost in parallel with me but slightly downstream on the opposite shore. During this period of observation I landed five more trout to bring my total to 16 on the day.

After a very productive couple hours in the afternoon, it was approaching 4PM, and I told Amy and Joe I’d meet them at 4, so I hustled back up the steep bank to the railroad bed and hoofed back on the railroad ties, and then waded across the tail of the long pool and up the bank to the car. Amy was reading in the front and Joe was sleeping after their high altitude hike. I told Amy I wanted to check out the river from the high rocks next to the car, so I walked down to my convenient observation point. Sure enough four or five fish were visible warily rising and feeding on something small next to and above the high rock wall. Amy came down to check things out and also saw the rising fish. I clipped off my three fly set up and tied on a CDC BWO and cast from high above the river to a nice sized rainbow that was feeding pretty actively. The wind had picked up and repeatedly blew my cast five feet to the left of my target. Finally I compensated and placed a cast above the fish. I couldn’t really see my tiny fly and it was difficult to control drag from the high casting angle, but on perhaps the sixth or seventh cast with Amy watching and poised with a camera I noticed a rise approximately where my fly would be. I set the hook and nicked the fish as it put a nice bend in the rod tip, but while Amy looked on the fly slipped out of the rainbow’s mouth and came flying back toward me. I stumbled as I protested demonstratively and that probably put down all the other fish. On that note, my fishing adventure on the Arkansas ended for the day and we made the long return trip toDenver.

Of the 16 fish landed I estimate that 10 or 11 were rainbows. This was the second time in recent memory that rainbows outnumbered browns on the Arkansas River.

Time: 1:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Lunch Rock upstream

Fish Landed: 3

Arkansas River 07/27/2011 Photo Album

I convinced Dan that since the fishing slowed on Chalk Creek we should move to the big river, the Arkansas, and give that a try. We returned all our gear to the Santa Fe, and I drove the half hour or so to the Arkansas River below Salida. I parked at the big rock I refer to as Lunch Rock. We made sure we had our water and sunscreen as there was less cover and we were at lower elevation.

The river was still running fairly high at 1320 cfs when ideal is typically 500 – 700 cfs. The edges were clear and there was usually around five feet of water to fish. Dan and I took turns casting to the likely runs and pockets. Dan continued with the Chernobyl ant, but in spite of some expert casting wasn’t creating any interest. I switched to a yellow Letort hopper because the fly shop reports usually recommend something large and yellow. I landed three 11-12 inch browns over the first hour or two, so I switched Dan to the same fly with a hares ear dropper. I had a beadhead pheasant tail dropper, but most of my action was on the hopper.

The wind did gust from time to time and we were punching casts directly into the wind most of the afternoon. The conditions seemed to support good hopper fishing. We arrived at a large rock that protruded out into the river ten feet or so, so we walked out on the rock and observed the eddy created behind it. We were probably ten feet above the river and we initially spotted a nice rainbow hovering a foot or so below the surface where a myriad of currents met. As we continued to observe, we spotted two more fish further out in the eddy right along the seam of the downstream current where the backflow met. Dan cast for the near rainbow first and in short order the fish darted up and grabbed his fly. Dan set the hook and for a split second felt the weight of a decent fish but it managed to free itself before being introduced to the net.

Next he cast a bit further out and in a flash a fish crashed the hopper. Dan played the fish expertly while I clumsily scrambled around and down the rock to net it. The brown was a nice fat fish, and Dan loved the visual experience of seeing it all develop. We tried to find additional spots to sight fish in this manner, but they didn’t exist at this stage of flows in the area where we were fishing.

Dan's Catch of the Day

We were re-energized and moved up along the bank continuing to cast our hopper/droppers until five PM. I had a couple refusals and missed a decent fish, but our fish catching pretty much ended mid-afternoon, and we suffered through a long dry spell at the end of the day.

Casting Along Arkansas River

Time: 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Location: Lunch Rock upstream

Fish Landed: 9

Arkansas River 07/17/2011 Photo Album

On the way to camping at Alvarado Campground near Westcliffe with Jane I stopped at Royal Gorge Anglers to chat with Taylor Edrington. I asked him where I could fish, and he told me that flows at Grape Creek were 6 cfs, extremely low, and areas were closed due to forest fires. He informed me that the area south of the Arkansas River was actually in a state of drought and was vastly different from northern Colorado which is floating on snow melt. His suggestion was to try edge fishing the Arkansas below Salida. Per Taylor, “don’t even wear your waders and cast within six inches of the bank.”

Jane Enjoying the Ride on Rainbow Trail

Salida was too far to drive from the Alvarado Campground, so I spent Friday setting up camp, mountain biking and hiking the area. On Saturday Jane arrived and we did another mountain bike ride and then a two hour hike and cooked dinner and enjoyed the beauty of the area. On Sunday after packing up camp, we strolled around Westcliffe and explored the shops and had a tasty lunch on the patio at one of the restaurants. After lunch Jane headed back to Denver and I headed to the Salida area to try edge fishing as recommended by Taylor.

I parked at lunch rock just above the Wellsville bridge. It was extremely hot, probably in the mid-90’s so I initially took Taylor’s advice and just wore my shorts and my front pack. I assembled my Sage 4 weight and bounced down the rocks and tied on a yellow Charlie Boy hopper. I worked up the stream for a bit but didn’t have any luck with the Charlie Boy so I switched to the old standby, yellow Letort hopper. I was just hopping from rock to rock and popping the hopper within three feet of the bank, and in short order I picked up two brown trout and photographed them. After landing the first two I failed to hook one, and then I broke off the hopper on a hook set.

First Trout from Arkansas on Sunday

The hopper was producing reasonably well, but I decided to try a Chernobyl ant for more buoyancy as my next fly. This produced a third brown, and then from a position six feet above the water on some rocks I hooked and landed a nice rainbow on the Chernobyl. I had to hoist the fish up to my level and then toss it back down.

This One Was Pretty Long

Next I reached an area where the water fanned out and was fairly slow and shallow, but there were a bunch of willows along the edge. Normally I could have walked out on a rocky gravel bar, but I couldn’t get in good position without my waders so I skipped this area. But the going was getting rough because the vegetation was tight to rapid current, and I found myself scrambling up and down the bank to get around these tough access spots. I decided to go back to the car and put on my waders. I moved the car a bit upstream to where I ended my fishing and put on my waders in the 90 degree heat and returned to the river.

Next some black clouds rolled in, and I heard some thunder so once again I returned to the car and dug out my raincoat and wrapped it around my waist under the waders. Finally I returned to the river ready to fish and started getting into a rhythm. I wasn’t catching fish in every likely sheltered lie along the bank, but frequently enough to keep me enthusiastic and moving along.

At another point I spotted a very nice brown that appeared to be in excess of 15 inches within a foot of a large rock sticking above the surface. I was careful in my approach, but he didn’t respond to the Chernobyl ant. I added a copper john dropper in hopes the big guy might grab something subsurface, but that didn’t work and the brown disappeared.

There Was a Large Trout Off the Point of This Rock I Couldn't Catch

I left the copper john on as a dropper and kept working up along the bank picking up nice browns along the way. My last fish was a beautiful rainbow that grabbed the copper john. The rainbow charged out into the fast water, and I had to work him up and allow him to run several times before landing. After releasing the rainbow I looked at my watch and it was approaching 5PM, and I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me and unpacking all the camping gear, so I quit for the day.