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.

Time: 9:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Texas Creek area

Fish Landed: 5 trout

Arkansas River 05/05/2011 Photo Album

My obsession with meeting the 2011 Arkansas River caddis hatch drove me to make another Thursday trip to the lower river above Royal Gorge. I reviewed the reports on ArkAnglers and Royal Gorge Anglers. Both indicated the hatch had advanced up the river as far as Coaldale, but the wording led me to believe it wasn’t the all out blizzard hatch that fishermen seek, so I decided to focus on the lower river near Texas Creek.

I got off to an early start again and the day was forecast to be beautiful with temperatures in the low 70’s. This would prove to be accurate with clear blue skies all day and only moderate wind from time to time. I crossed the river at Texas Creek and parked in the fisherman parking area and hiked down the path beyond the abandoned ranch and then descended the bank to the river below the island. I was encouraged to see no competing fishermen even though there was another car in the lot. The flows were up from the previous week and the water was tinged with some murkiness, but still relatively clear.

With the higher flows I decided to go deep with nymphs and rigged up a double nymph set up with a beadhead prince as the top fly and a beadhead emerald caddis pupa on the end. I worked the juicy run below the island from top to bottom and then back up again, but with no success. I thought this was unusual, but moved up the right channel and covered all the likely spots. In this stretch I had several one to two second hookups, so I was at least beginning to attract some attention.

First Trout on Thursday

I dropped back to the downstream tip of the island and worked my way up along the south bank of the island. When I reached the nice pockets toward the top of the island I finally hooked and landed my first trout of the day on the emerald caddis. Somewhere during this time I tore off both the flies, so I reconfigured with another prince nymph and a bright green caddis pupa this time. I moved above the island to a nice stretch of long riffles over a rocky bottom with moderate depth. In this area I experienced several more 1 -2 second hookups. At 11:30 I exited the river and hiked back to the car for lunch. I’d landed one fish, but had at least four or five opportunities that I failed to convert.

I grabbed my lunch bag and skipped over the fence at the bridge and sat on the beach below the bridge to eat while observing the water. I spotted very occasional caddis flitting about, but no fish or rising activity. After lunch I returned to the parking lot by way of the old cabin and shook some willow branches along the way. Hardly any caddis erupted from the branches as would normally be the case if the heavy hatch had advanced to this point.

Starting Point after Lunch

I stashed my lunch back in the car and grabbed my rod and gear and decided to hike down the path as far as I could go. This led me to a sweet spot where some large vertical rocks blocked further progress without climbing to the railroad tracks which were blocked by a barbed wire fence. I climbed out on a large rock that served as a small pier at the end of a pool formed where the river angled in toward the north bank. I drifted my nymphs through this area, and while doing so another fisherman arrived and positioned 30 yards above me beyond the nice pool.

I did notice several BWO’s floating on the surface in the deep pool, but had no action so I exited and climbed up the hill and skirted the other fishermen and went 50 yards up the river before cutting back to the bank to resume my quest for trout. I fished some shallow runs behind rocks and then decided to switch the flies again. I moved the caddis pupa to the top fly, returned the prince to my foam pocket, and added a RS2 to the end of the leader. With this combination I continued fishing up along the right (north) bank. The next hour or so from 1-2PM resulted in my most consistent fishing of the day as I landed four browns on the RS2. Two of the fish were a bit larger than what I’d been catching over the last two outings. I also was frustrated to experience two or three additional quick releases.

Fish Landed in Afternoon on RS2

When I reached the bottom of the island where I’d begun in the morning, I noticed several fishermen working around the island. The sky was bright blue and it had warmed up to the low seventies. I was seeing no caddis hatching activity or BWO’s for that matter, so I decided to head back to the car and drive back toward Royal Gorge and test the waters below Spike Buck where I’d had a 17 fish day several weeks ago. This was along the way on my return to Denver and also closer to Canon City where caddis were supposedly hatching for several weeks.

Blossom Next to Texas Creek Parking Lot

I parked the car in a small pullout and dropped down to the river and worked the nymphs up along the left bank for 20 yards with no success. Once again when I shook the shrubs and branches I saw no evidence that a heavy hatch had occurred. When I reached the area where the river widens a bit and creates some nice shallower eddies and pools, I clipped off the nymphs and tied on a bushy size 14 caddis. I thought I’d prospect with it a bit in the shallower areas and perhaps interest some fish. It was a nice thought, but didn’t work so I quit fishing at 3:30 and returned to Denver.

Time: 9:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Braided area above Pinnacle Rock

Fish Landed: 5

Arkansas River 04/28/2011 Photo Album

With the return of cool weather I knew the caddis hatch continued to stall in Canon City in spite of optimistic reports coming out of Royal Gorge Anglers. But based on my decent outing the previous Thursday, I felt I could catch my share of fish even without a blizzard hatch. Temperatures in Canon City were forecast to reach 72, so I felt it would be a nice day with a small chance of the big hatch kicking in.

I decided to park at the braided area I’d fished when Jane accompanied me two trips ago. There was another car parked in the pullout, but I didn’t see fishermen. Once I’d rigged my rod, I walked down the highway a bit to check out the very small braid that runs next to the highway. Some beavers built a dam at the bottom just before it rejoins the main river. I crossed below the dam and put on a caddis dry fly and flicked some casts into the pool created by the beaver dam, but I couldn’t see signs of any fish in the clear water. I walked to the small run at the top of the pool and made a couple casts there.

Next I waded across the tail of the main braid next to the highway and went up along the right bank next to a beautiful run and pool. I cast the caddis in some attractive areas of moderate depth, but again no fish. I decided I’d like to try the north channel, my favorite, while it was devoid of other fishermen and while I had the caddis on my line. I crossed over the next channel and then followed the bank to where the north channel met the main stem and made some casts in the first tail and pool. Nothing was developing, so I clipped off the caddis and tied on a yellow Charlie Boy hopper and dropped a beadhead prince and then a beadhead emerald caddis pupa.

North Braid Above Pinnacle Rock

I landed a fish on the prince, but then hooked up on a pair of fish that seemed pretty nice, but they freed themselves rather quickly. Something felt odd about these fish, so I finally brought my flies to hand and inspected them. I quickly found the answer. I’d tied the last fly on backwards. The tippet was tied to the bend of the hook with the eye facing forward. I had used the caddis pupa as the top fly on the last trip with an RS2 beneath, and returned the pupa to my foam pocket with the leader attached. I forgot to clip of the pupa and tie it back on in the correct manner. I reversed the direction of the fly and continued fishing the three fly combination up the north channel for the remainder of the morning. I landed three more small browns while covering quite a bit of normally very productive water. Three of the fish grabbed the prince nymph and one nailed the emerald caddis pupa.

At noon I waded back across the intervening channels and returned to the car for lunch. After lunch I wanted to resume on the north channel from where I’d ended the morning, but when I approached the stream I spotted another fisherman who had worked his way up behind me. I reversed direction and went back to the main channel by the highway and worked my way up along the right (north) bank probing all the likely pockets and runs with the three fly combination. I managed to catch a small brown in a juicy run at the head of a nice long pool on the emerald caddis, but the rest of the nice water that normally produces fish, yielded nothing. The sky remained pure blue with hardly any clouds and it warmed to the low 70’s. There was no evidence of caddis or BWO’s. I walked back down to where I’d ended the morning, and the other fisherman had disappeared, so I worked up the north channel to the top where it spilled away from the main channel. I couldn’t even get a refusal.

A View of Arkansas River Through Cactus

It was now 2:30 and I had lost confidence and decided that a change of scenery was in order. I remembered a trip two years ago when I fished up the small Texas Creek tributary and caught some nice fish relative to the size of the stream, so I decided to explore it again. I made a left turn and drove .2 miles to the first pullout and parked. I hiked along the road for a ways until I saw a place where the fence was down. I scrambled down the bank and over the fence and through the willows to the small stream that was low and only five feet wide at most places. I tied on a Chernobyl ant and trailed a prince nymph and began flicking the flies into all locations of enough depth to hold fish.

The next hour and half held amazement and frustration. I had several momentary hookups and numerous refusals on the Chernobyl Ant. My amazement stemmed from the quantity of wakes and darting fish that I spooked in the low clear water. I was unable to land a single fish although I spotted at least 30 fish in a short stretch of Texas Creek.

At 4PM I’d experienced enough frustration and called it a day.

Time: 9:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: Below Spike Buck

Fish Landed: 17

Arkansas River 04/21/2011 Photo Album

I was pretty well caught up at work, and the weather forecast for Thursday was high of around 72 degrees for Canon City. It was supposed to turn cooler for the weekend, so I decided to make another trip to the Arkansas River. Royal Gorge Angler reported caddis hatching in Canon City, so I felt there was a remote chance that I’d catch the hatch between Parkdale and Texas Creek, but if not, I knew from the previous trip that the flows were ideal, and I could probably have some luck working the water with nymphs.

I packed the night before and left the house at 6:40. It looked like rain in Denver, and I encountered dense fog as I drove south between Castle Rock and Monument. But the fog cleared and the sun broke through just north of Colorado Springs. I arrived at my chosen destination at around 9:15 and was on the river by 9:30AM. I parked in a small pullout .5 mile downstream from the Spike Buck access area.

I began fishing with a royal stimulator trailing an emerald caddis pupa. I wasn’t getting any action on the stimulator, but twice as I worked along the left bank, I experienced momentary hookups as I lifted the flies to make another cast. I was having great difficulty following the stimulator as it was too small to support the beadhead pupa, so I switched the top fly to a bright yellow Charlie Boy hopper. This was much more visible, and I landed three brown trout on the emerald caddis pupa before breaking for lunch at 11:30.

Brown Trout Landed Early in the Day

After lunch it was partly cloudy, and it seemed that every time the sky clouded over, the wind would pick up. I removed a layer, and overall it was quite pleasant for fishing. The water I was fishing was mostly nice pockets, and small runs within 15 feet of the bank. When I reached one point where there was a deeper run, I tried the strike indicator nymphing technique with a prince nymph and emerald caddis pupa, but this didn’t produce and I lost two sets of flies.

Typical Brown from Afternoon Fishing

I switched back to the yellow Charlie Boy with an emerald caddis and a beadhead RS2 below that. I spotted caddis dancing on the water very sporadically as well as an occasional BWO. I was landing fish at a fairly regular pace. It wasn’t fast and furious, but enough to hold my interest. I was moving from pocket to pocket at a fairly rapid pace and making a lot of casts.

Charlie Boy Hopper with One Leg

Low Clear Flows below Spike Buck Access

At one point the Charlie Boy hopper lost its entire wing, so I was fishing with a yellow foam strike indicator with legs. I clipped it off and replaced with a Chernobyl ant but retained the emerald caddis and RS2. I caught one trout on the Chernobyl ant. Toward the very end of the day, the number of caddis skittering on the water became more abundant, so I clipped off the Chernobyl and droppers and tied on a gray body caddis. I caught my last two trout on the caddis dry.

Time: 10:30AM – 4:00PM

Location: Braids above Pinnacle Rock and Texas Creek

Fish Landed: 8

Arkansas River 04/16/2011 Photo Album

Jane agreed to travel along to the Arkansas River above Canon City and Royal Gorge on Saturday, April 16, 2011. We packed lunches, loaded the Santa Fe and got off to a nice early start. We stopped at Royal Gorge Anglers and I bought some tippet and leader and spoke briefly with Taylor Edrington, the agent I used for my Alaska trip. Taylor showed me a Beulah 5 weight rod and recommends that I purchase a similar 6 weight for Alaska. I told Taylor I’d be back on another trip to discuss a rod, reel and line purchase.

When we descended the hill to the river at Parkdale, I could see that the flows were at a nice low level and clear. We drove along Big Horn Sheep Canyon to a pullout across from the multiple braids above Pinnacle Rock. I noticed the northern most channel was vacant, so I left Jane with the car, and waded across two channels below a pair of fishermen and headed for the north braid. One of the two fisherman fishing the nice run and pool along the highway, apparently saw me heading for the north braid, and made a dash toward that area as well. The fisherman would later become known as nemesis.

Arkansas Brown Takes Beadhead Emerald Caddis Pupa

I began fishing at the bottom of the braid where it meets the main stem of the river with a tan Charlie Boy Hopper trailing a beadhead hares ear. In short order I landed a small brown on the Charlie Boy hopper and then another small brown on the BHHE. As I worked upstream over some attractive water, the response to my flies ended so I switched the BHHE out for an emerald caddis pupa. Eventually when this also failed to produce, I switched to a nymphing set up with a strike indicator, split shot and beadhead prince on top with the emerald caddis pupa on the point.

Looking Back at Shack and Bridge

In an area with nice moderate depth of 3-4 feet and many subsurface rocks I landed two browns on the emerald caddis. At this point I was restricted from moving further upstream as nemesis was standing in a nice long pool spraying casts in 180 degrees. I retreated back to the main river above the confluence with the north channel. In this stretch I landed a brown on the prince nymph and had another hooked that escaped.

Deserted Ranch

I hustled back to the pullout to meet Jane as we’d agreed to meet at noon. Jane had driven down route 50 to a nearby river access point to get off the highway more and find some sunshine away from the canyon walls. We decided to drive west to Texas Creek and crossed the bridge and parked in the fisherman parking lot and ate our lunches shielded from the wind by the car. After lunch Jane hiked along the fisherman path with me beyond the abandoned ranch to a point where I dropped down the bank to the tail of an island. I love the deep run below the island but two fishermen were already there. They must have arrived while we parked and ate lunch since they weren’t there when we drove by on the highway. Guess who was now fishing the delicious run below the island? Nemesis was back.

Crumbling Corrall

I ignored the irritation and fished up the north side of the island and landed two browns; one on the prince and one on the emerald caddis. When I reached the top of the island, I dropped down 1/3 of the way along the south side of the island and fished back up to the top. Jane had set up her chair along the shore at the top of the island sheltered from the wind and snapped a few photos of me.

Dave Fishes North Side of Island

Dave Wades Around Rocks

Nice Chunky Fish in Afternoon

I continued along the right bank facing up the river and switched to a Chernobyl ant with the emerald caddis as a dropper. I landed one more trout on the emerald caddis between the island and the bridge. It was quite windy the entire time, and was a relief to quit and get out of the constant blow.