Put another day of tough work in on the Ark in Pueblo. It's a grueling practice schedule but we've been down to Pueblo twice now in order to give ourselves a chance at not finishing last in this years
Frostbite Fish-Off. This river has always been a challenge for me and that didn't change on this trip!
The challenge of this river though is what makes it so rewarding when you do hook a trout. I know everyone has their own idea of what a "smart" trout is but for me, some of the smartest live below Pueblo Res.
We convinced my Dad to come along for this trip. Always nice to fish with the Old Man. Pueblo has always been tough for him too and on this trip it was especially tough. Some days just don't work out the way you plan but as he reminded me this day, fishing is called fishing and not catching for a reason. On thing he did catch was a stunning view of a group of deer crossing the river just downstream from him. How can anyone be really bothered about not catching a lot of fish in this sort of environment? I think it would have bothered us a bit in the 90's but we've both mellowed out a little since our days of hiking into Cheesman Canyon in rubber waders.
Early fishing was pretty productive. I had a few in the net within the first half hour on some test midge patterns I've been playing around with. Nothing special or different really than whats been out there but just different tweaks and different materials. I tied a size 18 black beadheaded wooly bugger sort of fly (black ostrich herl body)and that seemed to really work well as an attractor for a small black midge on point. No split shot needed on the rig which I think can make a difference sometimes.
We headed downstream and really got pinned down where we were fishing. BIG crowd moved in and just about every piece of water was taken. We had some good takes at first in the run we were fishing but things slowed down quite a bit. It was a long deep bend run and I think the trout know how to get out of the way of flies in these type of runs. I did manage to get one really good hook up at the tail end of the run in about 8 feet of water. Super deep dredge rig with small flies so the hookup was probably super late. Only had him on for about 5 seconds but it was heavy. Probably a thirty incher.
Things really died down after that. I decided to see if Ben wanted to try another test pattern. This one was basically a size 18 black RS2 only tied with a marabou tail and with gator hair for the wing. I figured it would look great once it was in the water. Not the best looking fly though when it's dry and when I handed it to Ben I don't think he was too thrilled to tie it on. But being the good fishing buddy that he is he did and it paid off with this nice bow. REALLY colorful fish in person.
Another good day on the river. A few clues as to what the fish were doing that day. They for sure switched off of midges onto something else in the late morning. I couldn't figure it out though. Tossed a lot of tricos and BWOs without much luck. I think we moved the fish out of their normal feeding lanes since there was three of us dragging two or three nymph rigs through the bend. I did get a descent grab on a white slump buster just before we left but I really wasn't ready for it and missed the set. Always worth tossing a streamer before you leave a run.
