Post by golferjeff on Apr 13, 2016 9:44:10 GMT -6
Just something to read on this dormant board. Spent 3 days in the Arkansas River drainage last weekend. This time of year is BWO all day every day. Caddis start to pop next week, but we were a little early for that one. Saturday was busy on the river, most public water had at least one angler. Larry and I fished at different spots from Texas Creek to Coaldale and were nearly shut out. I caught one small rainbow and he managed two average Browns. High pressure and bluebird skies didn't help. we did see BWO's, but not many rising fish.
Sunday was much better. Clouds and an approaching storm brought the bugs and fish to market. We fished the Arkansas River at all the public pullouts. The water was super low and super clear for the Arki. Fish were spooky, but at least they were feeding. I netted about 15-20 fish in all. All rainbows in one spot, all browns in several others. The largest brown only went about 14", but they are wild and fight like hell. Most were on BWO emergers, but a few were on little golden stoneflies. It was a good day in a beautiful place. It was snowing above 11000 feet, but it was only a drizzle at 7000 where we were. Really cool views. I just wish I could solve the riddle of catching the larger fish from this river.
Monday we decided to go on a little adventure. The storm the previous night had colored up the Arkansas River. We drove and hiked back to Grape Creek, a tributary of the Ark. We covered 2.5 miles of water and it was ALL productive. Each cutbank and plunge pool was loaded with fish. They weren't large, but a 14" fish in a creek 14 feet wide is pretty good. Larry and I both landed about 2 dozen fish and missed too many dry fly strikes to count. It was fun watching these Browns and cuttbows slash at our gaudy dry flies. Even when they took our trailers, it was usually an aggressive take. It was a lot of fun to be on the water with not another human within 3 miles. We were deep in a canyon at about 6500' elevation. The scenery was amazing. The fish we did catch fought like they were twice their actual size. I had one rainbow take me down two pools and wrap me around a submerged log. larry got it all on video, so I hope to be able to post it somewhere when he sends it to me. It was a great day of throwing dries to hungry fish.
Larry is still up there. He hit perfect ice out conditions on Spinney Mtn Reservoir. He mentioned landing over 2 dozen rainbows and cuttbows between 19 and 23 inches yesterday. Again, more pics when he comes back. He plans on hitting Pueblo tailwater and the dream stream (South PLatte) later in the week. I had to come back and file taxes and audits 
Pics later... check back in a few days 
