Winter on the Arkansas

We'll not spend a lot of time on the blog during the winter, however, we would like you to visit us at the Denver Fly Fishing Show Jan. 5,6,7 2007. We'll be back after it when the spring hatches start. I apologize for the negligence this fall. I had a motorcycle wreck with severe injuries and am just now getting back in shape.

Excellent AM and late PM fishing....

I took this guy on a #16 Egg Laying Caddis evening before last. Fishing is incredible on these bugs with several Caddis hatches occuring late in the day.

Float fishing is hot!!!!!

Float fishing was great tonight using #14 Red Octobers, #14 Royal Wulffs, #16 Yellow Thunders and small hoppers.

Great AM fishing now......

Morning fishing is very good right now with hopper/dropper rigs, ants and Yellow Sallies. Afternoons are slow with the warm days.....deep nymph rigs will work with Yellow Sallies and Yellow Thunder trailing. Late afternoon/evenings patterns are single PMXs and yellow Humpies. The water has a green clarity after the floods of last week ended. Expect more clear water each day now.

July 15th

This picture is Brannon's First Arkansas Brown. Fishing was good on PMD nymphs like Yellow Thunders fished hopper dropper or on a nymphing rig. Water was clear down to Texas creek with edges clear down to parkdale.

Fishing Report June 29th

Fished from Texas Creek down this morning and did good using a #14 yellow stimulator, Yellow Thunders, Gold ice, and red or black Ants. Remember to fish the shore lines, most fish were no more than 4 feet off the shore line.

We're back........

Right now the water is rapidly dropping into condition for the rest of the summer. While still on the high side, fish are beginning to move a little away from the shorelines and back into outside seams and boulder pockets. You'll still find plenty tucked into the dirt, but more and more they will now begin to settle into prime feeding lies along the outside. Stimulators and Stonefly Nymphs of all sizes are working for the Golden Stones and Yellow Sallies. Take care wading.....the current is still a hammer if you make a mistake.

High Water for a while

For the next couple of weeks, the Arkansas will experience rising water and heavy runoff conditions. By June 1, the scouring will be complete and water levels will start to receed. When this happens, we are able to fish adult Stoneflies along the edges from a boat or by walking shorelines. This is the easiest fishing of the year, so stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, get in a whitewater raft and have some fun. That's a great way to spend an afternoon with the kids. Let us know if we can book one for you.

Lots of Fish on Now......

Some guys are just better than others. Nice fish from Caddis frenzy yesterday. Fish are on a variety of Caddis patterns and fishing in most places is just plain silly.

Egg layers were hot last evening....with BWOs as well

Bill,



Quick update. Went to Spike Buck yesterday afternoon. Cloudy, drizzle, and 40 degrees. Started at east end of Spike Buck and worked my way up about a mile or so along the south shore. Threw an egg layer. Not many on the water but I found that throwing the fly up against rocks in the water and let the eddy carry them back around I got plenty of strikes. In fact one of my best days on the water. Must have had at least 25-30 hook ups and landed about 20 fish. Some good size ones in the 14-16 inch range and chunky. Many small ones too. It was a blast. I watched a few egg layers hit the water and watched the action. As they swirled in the eddy’s they got swallowed up so I did the same and same results. Great time. Only spent about 3 hours tops on the water too.



Thought you’d like to know.



John

Spent Caddis

  

Caddis Update......

Fish yesterday were hard on egglayers from Texas Creek up to Cotopaxi in the afternoon. Clouds of gravid females were on the water around 3PM. Emergence of new bugs was slow, but should be big today around Vallie Bridge. Even in cool weather, the fish have eaten pupa continuiously. This hatch is a little sporadic, but fishing is certainly very good. Lots of new fly fishers hooking up.

Larry

We fishd near Texas Creek this morning, water temp was 49 at 8:30, took a long time to warm up, only 51 at 9:00. Fishing was slow, some on larvae and pupae. Moved down to Parkdale at noon, water was 5 degrees warmer, fish were eating pupa on the swing. About 2:30 began to see good numbers of rising fish, and took them on foam caddis for 2- 2 1/2 hours. Some fish on egg layers later.

Fish are staying on Pupa....

Since water temperatures are not soaring towards 60 degrees, fish are continuing to eat Caddis pupa voraciously in the mornings thru early afternoon. A pretty good hatch is going on the Canyon City riverwalk right now and the adult numbers should increase a lot this weekend. Concentrate on fishing the pupa wet fly style and fish egglayers after 5 PM for the best dry fly fishing.

Larry

My trip today was instruction for an intermediate fisherman,so we weren't hunting fish real hard. Water temp at Parkdale this morning did not break 50 degrees until nearly noon. Some fish were taking caddis pupa on the swing, and got a couple of takes on stimulators on top. We saw a light caddis hatch in Canon City this afternoon, with some egg laying activity. Water temp was nearly 60. The sun was high and bright, so not much surface action--Should be better when light level is lower, or more bugs.

fishing

Hello, I had a half day trip today and the fishing was good on caddis pupa and wet flies at parkdale this morning. I did not see any adult caddis this morning but I did see some in Canon City this afternoon. Curtis

Caddis

Hello everyone this Curtis and I was able to get out for about an hour today from 2pm-3pm and I found some caddis in Canon City on the river walk. We also got reports of some caddis at parkdale. The fishing was not great today for me but I did get one in that hour on a bubble pupa. The fishing will only get better now as the hatch grows, so make plans to come over and fish soon.

Blue Wings are GREAT and Caddis are knocking...

Guides today had great success with BWO nymphs. Flies like a Black Thunder and Black Ice in #20 were excellent. Fish were not moving to Caddis pupa as they were yesterday. Caddis are right on the cusp of hatching in the lower river. As soon as the pupa start to drift in the water column, the fish will be on them. If you don't see fish, stay with rigs underneath but not on the bottom. Use small split shot and drift the nymphs up in the buffer zone. We're on Caddis Watch now, so be ready.........

BWO emergers rule the afternoon

Wind has been a factor over the past couple of days, but BWOs have been coming off anyway. We had good strong hatches in the Canon City to Texas Creek water this afternoon and wind was actually a little milder in Canon than it was upstream......Larry's Iceberg Baetis has been the number one weapon. Fish it off a Black Ice nymph in late morning and pull it up in the film in the afternoon with a greased leader technique or behind a dry fly. This thing is devastating but hard to see, so I like the target fly approach. Fish are holding in pocket water and foam lines. Expect BWO activity to get really good with clouds later in the week. Water flows will start coming down on Thursday, making wading and finding fish a little easier and floating a little harder.

BWO Increase in Intensity Under the Clouds

BWO hatches today moved from sporadic to fair. We have taken fish on adults, but primarily on emergers. Patterns like RS2s, Larry's Iceberg Baetis, Chocolate foam wings, and Cold Turkey Baetis all took fish today from 11AM to about 2PM. Nymphing with a Golden Stone and a dark Baetis nymph like a Black Ice or Pheasant Tail produced fish this morning. Spring hatches are here.

Arkansas Turning On Quickly

Over the past 48 hours, the Arkansas has been doing its thing. Stonefly nymphs are molting in the mornings and fish are moving to them in choppy, current tongues. This afternoon, BWO nymphs really started moving around and the fish keyed on them big time. Fish a short leader with a Golden stone nymph in the morning and use the bounce nymph method. In the afternoon, rig a double nymph system with a #10 BH Prince trailing a #20 Black Ice or Cold Turkey (or your favorite BWO nymph).....fish this afternoon moved into prime lies for the first time this spring. Best areas were Canon City, Parkdale, Texas Creek and Vallie Bridge. The other areas exposed to sunlight were probably just as good. IT'S BAAAACK........

Mother Nature's Revenge

Very seldom in life, or at least in the past 15 years, can you be at the bend pool on the Frying Pan at 11:00 AM on a Saturday morning and not see anyone. I was on the river this past Saturday with my son who met me for a little February fishing excursion. The air temp at the time I took this photo was 2 below 0 with a fifteen mph wind out of the SE. Even the guide I met was leaving with his clients. Sometimes even the tailwaters are just too cold, even for a nineteen year old fish hound like my son. The skiing is great by the way.....

Winter Fishing picking up for this time of year

Right now we are taking quite a few fish along the Canon City Riverwalk, the water just below the Texas Creek Store, County Rd. 45 and the Salida leases and SWAs. Fish are moving the dark stonefly nymph patterns such as a #10 BH Twenty Incher with a red midge larva point fly like a #20 Red Copper John. Some fish in the Canon City area on a #20 Black Ice behind a Rubberleg stone. Get out and have some fun in this unusually warm January. We've probably got payback coming before February is over.