Arkansas River (Pueblo) 12/30/11

What a day for fishing! Wind was calm, temperature was warm (high 30s starting out and high 40s low 50s after noon), midges were hatching, and the trout were eating. Flow was 71 which fished nicely.  Only downside was the massive crowd these conditions drew.

We (Dad, Marty, and I) parked at the Nature Center and jumped out of the car fully dressed and rigged to the dismay of other less prepared anglers in the parking lot half into their waders jumping up and down on one foot. We exchanged pleasantries and started our 75 yard hike to the river. Marty took three steps out of the parking lot and became parallel will the concrete. He stepped on a slick patch and went down hard. I heard the thud as he hit. He shook it off and was back on his feet in a few seconds but I knew it had to hurt.

We started fishing directly behind the Nature Center. Marty and I crossed the river and started fishing the deck hole. Dad waded upstream and caught a few in the first hole up from the deck hole on a tan San Juan Worm. In about 10 minutes of fishing Dad had hooked and landed his second rainbow of the day. Marty looked at me and stated that he was "showing off". I agreed, and decided to head upstream.

After turning the first bend I looked upstream and noticed every descent hole or run had at least one bubba in it. I continued past the next 3-4 bends with the same results. I was beginning to wonder if I should have left the deck hole. I found an open run and starting fishing. Dad joined me a few minutes later. I managed to catch two small rainbows in this run but after 20 minutes of nothing we decided to move on.

More of the same through the next couple of bends. Bubbas everywhere. We eventually made it to Valco bridge and I found a nice hole just downstream from the bridge. I was basically casting up to and slightly under the bridge. I hooked two small rainbows within the first couple of casts on a size 24 Bar Micro Emerger. Dad came up and fished the tail end of the run and started hooking fish too. We wound up fishing that hole the rest of the day. It didn't make sense to move since we were consistently catching fish and since we knew it would be hard to find another run that wasn't already being fished.

Dad wound up with 11 and I wound up with 18. The biggest of the day was an 18" rainbow (pictured above). I also caught this nice 16" bow.

The most productive patterns of the day were small black midge emergers. I saw a few Blue Wing Olives hatching and tied on a size 24 BWO Bar Emerger and caught a few but the Olives just didn't come off in any numbers. A size 14 Tung-Teaser also worked well (as it always does).

The midges that were hatching were TINY. I think the body size of the adults was like a 28. I need to get some samples and bring them back to the fly tying vise next time.

I kept expecting Marty to show up but he never made it upstream to Valco bridge. He moved upstream a few bends only to find the line of fishers that we had to walk past. His ribs were hurting from his fall earlier in the day so he moved back down to the deck hole and wound up catching 9 to include this little fatty. This was the first fish to really test his new Orvis Access 5 weight rod/reel combo. It's a pleasure to cast and Marty fell in love with it after landing this fish.

All in all it was a really great trip and we all had fun. Really starting to learn this river and am sure we'll be back many MANY times.