Time: 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: Lone Pine

I decided to try different stretches that I saw from the highway that I previously bypassed. I began at the Lone Pine recreation area, as I parked along the highway to avoid the parking fee, and I hiked straight down to the river. There was a wide area in front of me with a drop off, and I waded along the edge of the drop off until I approached the far side. I tied on a yellow Letort hopper and copper john. A large boulder was situated in the water, and current curled around it and entered a nice pool, and I cast above the boulder along the bank. The hopper drifted along the current, and as it tumbled to the drop off, it disappeared. I set the hook and had the largest brown that I ever caught on the Arkansas River. It extended to around 16 inches. I did not have my camera, as Jane and Dan took it on their ascent of Mt. Elbert.

I moved upstream casting to shallow lies, and I caught browns on nearly every cast. I worked up the small channel on the north side of an island, and by the time I reached the top of the island, I landed twelve trout. I crossed back over to the parking lot and moved to the next spot. I parked just before the Loma Linda KOA campground and hiked the path and ate my lunch by the river. After lunch I walked down the highway, and then I fished back upstream. I caught a couple trout in the wide flat area, where I crossed back to my lunch spot. I caught these trout on a elk hair caddis. Next I walked the path around a place where a family was swimming in a deep hole. I worked upstream, but it transitioned into very slow water. When I reached the campground, a man was spin fishing, so I turned around and returned to the car.

Next I drove upstream to an area of pocket water just before Cotopaxi. I hiked down along the river, and then I worked my way back up from just above some rapids. I picked up a few more browns and then quit for the day at around 5PM.

Fish Landed: 17

Time: 8:30AM – 1:00PM

Location: Fremont – Chafee County Line

Arkansas River – 08/07/2005 Photo Album

We got up early and had breakfast at the Country Bounty. We first stopped near where we ended the previous evening, but farther upstream in some pocket water. I tried various attractors; a yellow Madam X, a lime green trude, a parahopper with a copper john dropper; but I experienced limited success. I landed two small trout. We tired of this lack of action and decided to head back to the Texas Creek area.

We fished the same stretch below the Texas Creek bridge that we covered the previous day. I caught a nice brown where I began on a beadhead hares ear, and then another on a yellow Letort hopper. After this short lived success, however, I began absorbing refusals. I tried a gray Madam X and green trude, but none of these options delivered. Next I tied on an elk hair caddis, and I began connecting with fish. By the time I reached the top of the island, I landed another 12 fish; all browns on the elk hair caddis.

View Upstream from Texas Creek

I worked my way up the river along the right bank toward the bridge. I picked up a small brown in a deep eddy along the side, and then I approached Dave Gaboury, who was working the bank in the pool downstream from the Texas Creek bridge. He had on a Royal Wulff with a flashback pheasant tail. I watched as he cast a foot away from the bank. On three successive casts a brown rose and inhaled the royal wulff. I was 10 feet out from the bank, so I switched to a Letort hopper trailing a copper john. I landed a nice rainbow that took the copper john along the current seam and then a smaller brown near the shadow of the bridge.

Fish Landed: 17

Time: 6:30PM – 8:00PM

Location: Fremont – Chafee County Line

We headed back to the river after dinner and parked at the county line, and then we walked down the bank. I decided to try dry flies, and I knotted on a lime green trude. I caught two trout on the trude. At dusk we began noticing trout launching out of the river. I deployed a seldom used LED headlamp and rigged up with a strike indicator and caddis pupa, but this tactic did not generate any success.

Fish Landed: 2

Time: 11:00AM – 4:30PM

Location: Texas Creek

Arkansas River 08/06/2005 Photo Album

Dave Gaboury, my friend from Kansas City, flew in on Friday night and I picked him up at the airport. We attended the Karssiens going away party in Stapleton, and then we checked into bed. We arose at around 7:30AM and drove to the Arkansas River. By the time we arrived there and began fishing, it was 11AM. We parked at the parking area at Texas Creek and hiked down the north side of the river to the point of a long island and then fished back upstream. The Arkansas was flowing strong at around 630CFS.

Nice Size

I crossed the near channel and fished up the far side of the island. I started out with a yellow Letort hopper and copper john, and immediately I hooked up with a decent brown. I caught another smaller brown, also on a copper john, but then I began getting refusals on the hopper, so I switched to a gray parahopper and began catching fish again. By the time we quit for lunch, I caught 12 browns and 1 small rainbow by working up along the south side of the island. Two or three of the trout took the parahopper, and the rest chomped the copper john.

Parahopper Worked on 8-6-05

We drove upriver to the Valle Bridge lease area after stopping for lunch at the trading post recreation area. Dave immediately hooked a nice brown in the lease area, as I crossed over and again went up the far side of an island, where I landed a decent brown on the copper john. We were not finding a lot of fishable water, so we packed it in and drove to the area by the Wellsville bridge. I walked downstream a bit and landed a nice brown on the copper john, but after releasing it I was approached by a nice gentlemen who notified me I was on private property.

Afternoon Brown

We hopped in the van and moved around the bend to Lunch Rock and began fishing upstream. I caught one more trout in this stretch. Dave found a nice run at the top of a long pool and hauled in quite a few. We quit fishing around 4:30 and drove to the Super 8 in Salida, where we checked in and then ate at the Country Bounty.

Fish Landed: 16