Arkansas River (Pueblo)

Decided to take a solo trip down to Pueblo this afternoon for a few hours of fishing. Wanted to find a closer parking spot to the run I had found last week. Somehow I managed to find a way through the park and a neighborhood to a road that led right down to the river just downstream from where I was fishing last week.

I headed upstream to the run I had missed a 20 incher in the week before and rigged up. There was a guy fishing just upstream from the run but the run was open. I waded out and started getting rigged up. He came down and we started talking. His name was Jeremy. He lives in Pueblo and fishes the Ark every week. We talked about this section of river and how we liked it because of the good runs and lack of people. He asked for some pointers and I gave him a few flies. He said he wanted to watch me fish for a few so I said cool. I waded out to the run and took a cast. I missed a fish on my first cast and hooked on on my second! Love this run! Jeremy offered to take a pick and I'm glad he did. This is one pretty fish.

I stayed in this run for a while and landed another half dozen or so. I wanted to hit the runs down by the train bridge. Every descent run produced at least a take. Probably landed close to 10 descent bows in a few hours. Just what I needed to recover from a stressful week!

Batteries are recharged and I'm ready for the Holidays!

Arkansas River (Pueblo)

Better late than never. Totally spaced writing up a blog entry for last week's trip. Busy week trying to get everything done at work in order to enjoy some time off! We had a nice 5X5 buck great us in the parking lot downstream from the nature center! Not a bad start to a day of fishing.

Mike, Marty, and I wanted to get away from the crowd and find some new water so we headed downstream from the Nature Center. There are a few nice runs shortly downstream from the Nature Center but then the river slows down and flattens out for a while. I kept walking downstream and we came across a nice spillway. Reminded me of the one on the East Portal of the Gunnison. Marty and I fished directly below the spillway for a while and we both managed to land a handful of dinks. Good warmup for the day.

Mike caught up to us and took a few casts and managed to land a few as well. We kept walking downstream past a section of weirs that went on for a few hundred yards. I turned a bend and found an awesome run where two currents combined directly in front of a drop off.  This was a prime run. I hooked up almost immediately. I stayed in this run for a while and managed to hook and land several descent rainbows. I decided to keep heading downstream and Marty took a few casts in front of the drop off. I didn't get very far downstream and Marty yelled out that he had a nice one on. I walked back upstream to provide a net and to get a pic. It was a nice red 16" rainbow. Really nice fish but he didn't want his picture taken and jumped out of Marty's hands before we could get a pic.

Mike and I moved downstream and found some really nice runs below a train bridge. Mike hooked into a really nice bow that fought hard for about 10 minutes. It finally looked like it was coming into the net and made one last unexpected run and the hook pulled out! Would have been the fish of the day. Mike learned about getting net happy the hard way. Just after that I hooked into a really nice bow that took me directly under a log and got me hung up. It was a pretty action packed 15 minutes without a fish to show for it.

We decided to start heading back upstream and I had to through a few more casts in the run above the drop off. After a few minutes I hooked into a really nice brick red bow that took off like a bullet across the river to the far side. I got a good look at him as he broke the surface. This fish was a 20 incher. He started running downstream directly for a group of submerged branches and I knew I had to turn him. I turned my rod sideways and tried to keep him from getting in the brush and the hook pulled out. I knew it was too much pressure but if I let him run I'd lose him and my flies. That one hurt!

It was a good half day on the Ark and we learned some new water. I think we saw one other guy fishing along this stretch. Nice to hook good fish away from the crowds.

Frying Pan River

25" 9# Brownie

I don't even know where to start to describe this trip. It was one of those trips that border on "epic". It didn't start out great but quickly changed for the better.

Dad, Mike Greene, and I left for Basalt Friday afternoon around 1. We needed to take a detour to the Orvis outlet in Denver so I could use my Orvis gift card on a pair of waders. Long story short I sent in a pair of waders for repair and they sent me a full refund in a gift card (always good customer service). Very cool store if you are ever in Denver. I picked up a pair of Silver Sonic waders and the guy gave me a coupon for $25 off at the register. With that and the gift card I paid $98 for them. I LOVE Orvis! For a full review on these waders check out John Kleis' blog entry here .

We stayed at our usual digs in Basalt, The Green Drake Inn. Nice place but I had brought a small DVD player to watch some fish porn that night and they didn't have the TV remote and there was no way to select a video input for the TV.... Alicia had gone and loaded up on chick flicks and came home to no DVD player. Sorry babe! I'm a bone head. Especially when it comes to a Frying Pan trip. OK I'm wandering...

On to the good stuff. We woke up at 4 and planned to do some fishing before daylight. We arrived an hour before daylight (that is before driving past our turn and heading up past the reservoir in the dark because we were too busy discussing social security of all things) only to find a car in the parking lot. Bummer! Love the Frying Pan and have fished the entire stretch from the damn to Basalt but I REALLY love the toilet bowl (along with the rest of the state - more to come on that later). We walked up to the damn and there was one guy there. We don't like to crowd up on people so we were discussing what we were going to do when we started talking to the guy. He had been there since midnight doing some night fishing and was getting ready to leave. Score! Nice guy who appreciated us not just jumping in the run all around him.

The flow was around 40 which is the lowest we had ever fished this river and it was dark so it was hard to get dialed in right away. We are used to fishing this river at at least twice this flow and the current coming out of the damn was a lot lighter than what we are used to. I set Mike up at the top of the run and tried to get him dialed into getting his flies on the bottom and feeling a hit. Mike picked it up quickly and landed this nice 20" bow. This was Mike's biggest trout ever but he would quickly break his record.

Dad, Mike, and I started rotating out of the head of the hole as we each caught fish. Mysis were the obvious choice but we also hooked some fish on egg patterns. Pretty much any Mysis size 14 - 22 worked well but especially those patterns that you can't find in the shops :-). I could go on and on about these fish. Big, strong, and colorful. We wound up catching 10 fish over 20" and probably 60-70 fish altogether. We were all totally worn out at the end of the day. It's awesome that such a place that gets so much pressure still has as many big healthy trout that it does. I think that says a lot about most of the people that fish these popular tail waters.

Mike caught 2 fish over 20". The two biggest trout he's ever caught. I was really happy to see Mike landing big fish. I think he REALLY has the bug now. Mike also landed this beautiful cut-bow which is one of the nicest I've ever seen.

Dad wound up with two fish over 20" including a football of a brown. The bigger browns in this run don't have many spots along their bodies. It's almost like it's a cross between a cutthroat and a brown only there are no red marks along the bottom jaw like a cutthroat has. I'm not sure if such a fish exists but if it does it may be what we are seeing here.

I wound up catching the biggest brown I've ever caught. It took about 15 minutes to get him in because he got hooked by both my flies. It wound up going 25" and weighed just over 9 pounds! Awesome fish.

Here is the good stuff. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I'll close with a few words on foul hooked fish and fishing etiquette.

FIRST UP THE BOWS

NOW FOR THE BROWNS

You do wind up foul hooking some fish in this run. You can't help but foul hook some fish when you are fishing a run as packed with trout as this run but you should NOT be trying to foul hook fish as I've seen guys through the years trying to do in this run. It's important to know when to set the hook and when not to. It can be hard because some takes are very subtle. Especially the bigger fish. This just takes time to learn. You can usually tell right away if a fish is foul hooked. If you aren't feeling good head shakes and you feel a steady "swimming" type of feeling then the fish is probably foul hooked. If you do foul hook a fish it's best to just horse them in and get the fight over quickly in order to not wear them out too much. If they break off or pull out - no biggie - they'll live to take your fly another day.

A few words on fishing etiquette. No one likes to be overrun when fishing a popular spot. At the same time nobody owns these popular spots. We had a guy come up around daylight and started talking with us. He was polite and asked if we minded if he fished with us. We said we didn't mind and even though it was extremely tight with 4 guys crowding the damn, it was better than hogging the run and getting in an argument. The guy was a nice guy and I enjoyed fishing with him. I would encourage everyone to do the same thing. On another note - we had guys that just walked up and started casting in front of us. This is not the approach to take with people. Most of the time if you just ask someone if they mind if you jump in they will let you do so.

I'll admit that in my day I've told some people to get lost when trying to fish next to me. I don't know if I'm getting mellower or if it's just the few grey hairs that are starting to replace red ones but I've learned to just let things slide and it makes for a much more enjoyable day of fishing. It doesn't matter who it is, you will always learn something new from another fisherman. I think that you just have to have the right mind set when fishing places like the toilet bowl. If you don't want to be around people when you are fishing then these popular places are not the places for you.

Had a GREAT time with Mike and Dad. This is one for the books, at least the blog. Will remember this trip for a long, long time. 

South Platte (Charlie Meyers SWA)

Quick evening trip to the Dream Stream with Marty. Wanted to see if there were any stragglers left in the river. Flow was super low at 40. Really too low to fish this river in my opinion. There were still nice runs between boulders and on the bends but not like I'm used to on this stretch. I knew there was some deeper water downstream from where we were fishing so we huffed it and it paid off. I landed this nice 18" bow. This guy has been around the block a few times as you can see from the scars on his mouth. Other than than just a small rainbow and sucker. Looks like things are winding down on the Dream Stream for the winter. Next up THE FRYING PAN!!! Oh yes! Hopefully some nice pics on the way for next week.

Arkansas River (Pueblo) - Pillars Park

My nicest out of Pueblo so far. Not the longest I've caught but this guy is a specimen.

What a day! Three fish over 20" is good anywhere. Having that kind of day in the middle of a large city is pretty unique. We headed back to Pillars Park for another chance at dredging the weirs. Ben Lewis, Marty, and I showed up at daylight. A bit chilly in the morning but warmed up fast. Flow was around 40 at Moffat St. We started downstream on the weirs but it was slow going at first. I wound up catching one nice chunky bow here on the right. She slammed a size 16 chartreuse Amnesia John. Took a BIG run and I thought it was a bigger fish. Very strong bow that new how to throw her weight around. 

After whipping the weirs pretty good we decided to go upstream to the Martini Hole. I caught a few small bows but it wasn't too hot at first. Ben Lewis joined us and hit a nice 20" bow pretty quickly on a San Juan Worm. This fish was a fighter! She took a few really strong runs. She just wouldn't come in. I was finally able to get a net on her. What a fish! I love the graffiti in the background. This makes for a pretty unique picture and fishing experience. Very nice stretch to fight a big fish. Not a lot of underwater obstructions and a nice bank that you can run after fish along.

After Ben gave us a clinic on how to do it with a San Juan, I decided to try a sparkle worm. It didn't take too many casts before hooking into this nice 21" bow. Ben got a nice worm hole shot on this guy. This was turning into an epic day on the Ark. These fish were not sipping Tricos. They wanted meat. And what better combo than steak and eggs? I decided to trail my sparkle worm with an Otter's Egg and I moved up closer to the top of the run where I could get a faster drift. Anyone seen the movie Low & Clear? There is a line that stuck with me that talked about swinging an egg just as you would a streamer. Well.... it works. On my first swing attempt this guy about took the rod out my hand (fist pic and shown below). Any dry fly purists still reading? This guy took some nice runs downstream. Unfortunately he did some alligator roles on me and got my sparkle worm stuck in a fin. That made getting this guy in really hard! I eventually just had to horse him in and pray that I didn't break him off. Good tippet (Trout Hunter 5X)! This fish was awesome in every way. Jaw, shape, colors, spots. Just a really nice trout. An awesome day on what is really becoming my favorite Tailwater. There is a ton of water and big fish throughout.

Marty was having a rough day so I decided to see if I could help. We adjusted his rig and fly selection and he hooked up after a few minutes. Remember that the slightest adjustments make all the difference between catching fish and not catching fish. You have to dial into each run that you fish. You should be adjusting your indicator and weight every time you move to a new run (check out Mojo Mud). Just a few steps up or down stream can put you off the bottom or have you stuck on the bottom. The other thing to remember is that if your leader has become too short from fly changes, you really need to add some tippet to extend it back to 9'. If the butt section of your leader is within 3 or 4 feet of your flies then the fish will see it and avoid your rig altogether. Depth and presentation are more important than fly selection. Especially in the fall and in between hatches. Before changing flies make sure you are dialed into the run you are fishing. After that you should be able to hook up with one or two fly changes.

Arkansas River (Pueblo) - Urban Fishing

Today we had the pleasure of meeting up with Guide and owner of Steel City Anglers, Ben Wurster, to hit some new water on the Arkansas River in Pueblo. I had seen several pictures that Ben has posted of nice trout that had been caught in town. I emailed him to see if he could give me some pointers and he provided a map of where he goes and offered to meet up with us! As you can see this stretch of river has it's own kind of beauty. Not the typical image that comes to mind when you think of fly fishing in Colorado but the "graffiti" provides an interesting backdrop while you are fishing. It makes it easy to name different runs such as the Martini Hole. I have to say that this stretch has big fish written all over it. It's deep plunge hole after deep plunge hole. Even at low flows these holes stay deep and cool. Ben said that he's broken more good fish off along this stretch then any other stretch on the river and I can see why.

Ben (Lewis), Mike, Marty, and I got to the river a little late since someone was holding the map upside down on the drive to the river. I won't mention any names but it starts with a J and ends with a amie. We just took the scenic route which is what was planned all along. It worked out in the end though because as soon as we were rigged up Ben Wurster pulled into the parking lot. We decided to head upstream to the Martini Hole which starts with a nice drop off on a bend and then runs along the drainage and cuts a nice channel over 100 yards long. The Bens and Marty hooked up immediately. I decided I was going to work the length of the cut with a streamer but didn't manage to find any players. I switched to nymphs and landed a few nice trout on egg patterns and san juans.

A front blew in out of nowhere and it looked like our day was going to come to an end around 9. We grabbed our gear and started heading back to the truck. 5 minutes later we were at the truck and the wind was gone and the sun was shining. It was time for a change anyway. We whipped the Martini Bar fish enough for one morning.

We headed downstream and started fishing the weirs. This stretch of river is awesome. Use plenty of weight and make sure you have 10 feet of leader to get down far enough. I'm sure there are some 8-10lb trout in this area. Marty hooked into two nice bows (no pictures unfortunately) and I landed this nice 16" bow. Size 14 red Copper Johns and any Amnesia pattern seemed to be the ticket. The secret to this section is getting to the bottom. A stiff 6 weight to chuck weight is ideal.

Had a really good time on this trip. Always good to get a great group of guys out on the river. Almost everyone caught fish (sorry Mike - your day is coming up :-)) and Marty had an all star day with two nice 18" bows. I'll be doing more urban hog hunting for sure!

Arkansas River (Pueblo) - 100 Fish Day!

What a day on the Arkansas! If we went three casts without a fish we started wondering what we were doing wrong! Marty and I linked up with David and Stephen at daylight and walked down to Valco Bridge. I have hooked some very large trout under the bridge and I wanted to position Stephen to have a shot at one of them. I helped Stephen rig up for deep dredging and showed him the drift that he wanted. He took the rod and had the drift down right away. This guy knows how to fish! He hooked up within a few casts but unfortunately the fish broke off. Might have been the fish of the day!

The flow was low, around 40. It's the lowest I've ever fished this river. The hole at Valco still fished very well. I've had two types of day fishing this area. Days were I hook several large fish and days were I hook tons of dinks. Today was a dink day. I think the hole had recently been stocked. I don't think our flies had a chance to get deep enough to the larger fish before being gobbled up by a little guy. Even though we weren't catching big fish it was a lot of fun having constant action.

Fly selection didn't seem to matter. Anything worked for a few fish. We even got into some good streamer action. Stephen was catching nice fish on nymphs and streamers. He did a good job switching back and forth when the action died down with one method.

Probably the most exciting point of the day was when Marty hooked into something large that took a good tear across the stream right towards me. This was not a dink! Stephen was ready with the net in case the fish took a run downstream. After a few minutes the fish came up and we all got a good look at a large SUCKER!!!!! It isn't a trip to Pueblo unless you feel the burn of the sucker. Today it was Marty's turn. Good net job by Stephen. Good practice for the dozens of huge trout that he is sure to catch in his young angling career!

Marty with the fish and the sucker burn of the day