Arkansas River (Pueblo)

Solo trip down to Pueblo today to get some fishing in before vacation is over. First trip of 2013! Crazy that the holidays have come and gone. Time is a strange bird..... Anyway - the weather looked promising and with it being a weekday I was excited to fish some open water.

I started below the Nature Center at the fence run but got a very slow start. Foul hooked one trout before moving upstream. Just above the Nature Center I found a riffle with a half dozen trout feeding and they readily took a size 20 Purple Poison Tung. Hooked 5 and landed 3 within 15 minutes before the riffle emptied out. This little male was very colorful. Can't wait to see him when he grows up.

Continued upstream and started to run into people. By noon the flag hole was a zoo. That was my sign to head downstream. I jumped in the Taco and drove down to the 4th street bridge. I wanted to see if the Bud hole was open so I parked at Dutch Clark Stadium. This run was wide open! Not a soul in site! Made my way down the hill and changed up my rig for some deeper water. I tied on a tan San Juan Worm and a size 18 red Two Bit Hooker and took a cast. Wham! First cast and hooked the nicest fish of the day. Getting lucky with a Two Bit Hooker in the Bud Hole is a lot more fun than it sounds! I worked my way up and down the Martini Hole and hooked a few more nice bows before calling it a day.

I'm starting to move around more on these trips. Fish the Nature Center upstream early and when the Dude hatch comes off head downstream. Really good fishing up and downstream from the 4th street bridge and up and downstream from the water treatment plant. My nicest fish in this river have come downstream from Pueblo Blvd.