Arkansas River
7/18/2016
Flow:  748
Water Temp:  63
Brian and Harrison are members of Pikes Peak Fly Fishers and Brian bought a trip during their annual auction that Steel City Anglers donated to PPF.  I was more than a little concerned about the high flows and water temperature.  My concerns were relieved when  they proceeded to land about a dozen nice bows in what I am calling the “The Trout Slam”.  Harrison landed a beautiful  pure cut on the third cast then a cut bow , rainbow and Brian landed a nice brown.  Both of these guys have fished in Alaska and lived for 12 years in Hawaii they never learned nymphing.  They had an incredible time and are planning on coming back in the fall after winter storage.  Bugs of the day BH Hares Ear, with the exception of one bow on a SJW, all took the Hares Ear.  Do trout have a bug fixation?  We have another trip this weekend and the water temperature should stay below 65 degrees.    It was a fun day and the Coyote Grill out did themselves with three Buddy Holly's, lunch was incredible!
Tight Lines.
Lou

July 9, 2016

Flow: 706

Water Temp: 61-70

The water is cloudy, the river is roaring and monsoon rains have flooded our favorite park. But I will once again climb up and beat the old dead horse by using the phrase; in every adversity is the seed of an equal or greater benefit. This morning the flow was pushing a thousand cfs and I was all set to fight the current and cherry pick a few spots. But lo and behold the waterline was receding. By ten o’clock the flow dropped to six-fifty. The clarity was less than optimal but that’s not the reason we fish this river. The trout don’t go away; they don’t fast in imperfect conditions, the delight in it! Predators are kept at bay and it appeared the only fools willing to fish the Ark tailwater were me and Steve. Being five miles from the dam I sat down my stool and had a long draw of coffee and gave my old pooch an extended pet and listened to the river flow. Finally I stood back up and on my second cast put it to the brown. Just as I netted it Steve found me to take a few pics.

Upstream above the Flag Hole we found the spring run side channel had dropped and trapped several nice trout in a pool that was rapidly warming up. I got two on the Douglas Upstream 3wt and Steve got two nymphing. All four were rescued and released in the main channel.

We fish here not because the conditions are perfect, we fish here because this is our home and we know where to go, we know the water, we know the trout and we know we know we can walk in with our muddy feet and get a cold beer at the Coyote Grille.

Thanks for reading and if you have a few hours to volunteer for something the Nature and Raptor Center need a lot of help after the landslide.

Tight lines,

Ben