October 9, 2016

Flow: 120

Water Temp: 58-62

Hat trick just before kickoff.

The river continues to move to winter conditions and the fishery, while still technical, is coming into its famous winter environment. The first weekend I’ve worn waders it is very apparent I need a new set. The Days are getting shorter and we’ll be booking trips for the diehard anglers soon.

Now, if I could write a few words about how fine the Douglas Sky rod fights big Tailwater fish, I’d be a better author.  This is a great top end rod that retails $300.00 less than its competition.  The brown depicted ran fifty yards upstream and fifty yards down and the sky had the back bone to keep him out of the rocks and lumber. Spectacular loading and accurate forward casts, I’m excited to read the next five weight shootout.

The jay hooks that were not accessible for a slow drift are producing the best trout and the season is just going to get better. The water temperatures make for hard fighting fish taking san juans, olive hare’s ears and tricho patterns. I ended the day on a high note with the brown after a rainbow and cutthroagt and headed home just in time for kickoff.

Pueblo’s local guides are on the water daily and know where the trout and carp are in these changing conditions. Book your adventure today.

Tight lines,

Ben

September 29, 2016

Flow: 83

Water Temp: 66-68

Thanks everyone for the well wishes for my mangled foot. I’m moving pretty well now and as busy as we’ve been that’s a good thing. We are blessed; as I continue to say with the best guests an outfitter could hope for. To add to the ten pounds of crap in my five pound bag. My other company, Trigger Ink, saw one of the busiest weeks in our history. For the first time ever we had to produce orders for the Pueblo Chili Fest and one of Pueblo’s great high school rivalry games, the Cannon Game. That and my other orders made for twenty thousand impressions on tee shirts. If you are in need of customized fishing shirts or tees I’m your guy.

Now to the Ark Tailwater. The flows are now down to the winter season numbers. Clarity still has an algae bloom going so the deeper seams are still green. Fishing has been technical to say the least. The good news is that after so much structure in the river was completely filled in with last years record flows the weirs are cutting out new channels of deep water that our trout thrive in. Classic Barr’s patterns are working well and I anticipate some great sight fishing as early as this weekend. The numbers of anglers is low and there is plenty of room to fish.

Come on in brothers and sisters, the water is fine.

Tight lines,

Ben

August 14, 2016

Flow: 777

Water Temp: 65-70

You can’t keep an Evil Genius down.

Sorry for the late reporting over the last few weeks folks. It’s been interesting. In a foolhardy attempt to do some home improvements I managed to severely sprain my ankle and poison my dog.  With Lou’s help I rented a sander and started to get my oak floors back into shape. On the first attempt the pads wore out in under sixty seconds. So it was off to Lowes for several cans of stripper. If you’re a native to Pueblo you know that this is by far the best stripper in town. At our local gentleman’s club one is prone to offer a gratuity and say “Pardon me, but would you mind putting that back on?”, but I digress. Halfway through the evening of stripping floors our CFO Diamond, AKA deaf dog made her way into the chemicals. We were taking another break waiting on the stripper to work when the pooch came in acting more than a little crazy. I grabbed her in my arms and ran for the bath.  It was at this point that I too found the stripper and go akimbo (ass over tea kettle, Wendy I can fly, I just qualified for the Pilipino dive team, Is this how John Elway felt during the Drive?, why is there a skittle in my pocket?). CRASH!

Diamond and I pour ourselves into the tub and started scrubbing. Holding my dogs eyes open under a faucet until she’s wailing in total fear is something I never want to experience again. We minimized the damage and I had to get back to work, the sander was due back in twelve hours.

Ultimately we got the sanding done, I spent a week in the garage licking my wounds and finally got new urethane on the floors. Today it is beautiful and looks like it was just installed. Never, ever, EVER, again.

I know, I know, right now you’re thinking get to the fishing report you schmuck! If I wanted to read a bunch of nonsensical stuff I’d tune in to the O’Grady’s page Bahahahahahaha. 

Today a 16 gold ribbed hare’s ear did the trick. The water is clearing slightly but is still like a river of yoo-hoo. Visibility may be eighteen inches. Trout are hungry and healthy but you have to put it on their nose. Present nymphs two to four feet deep at the top and tailouts of any obstruction that slows the water.

P.S. Apparently it is considered bad form to break wind near a mass baptismal.

Tight lines,

Ben

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

June 17, 2016

Flow: 2582

Water Temp: 55

Last week I received the Douglas Sky 9’5# four piece. This rod has seen some great reviews and even though the river is cooking but I had to test the mettle of the Sky on my home water. The first thing I noticed is the accuracy at ten feet or sixty. My favorite color of indicator is a clear thingambobber. Fishing heavy foam lines I usually have to switch to black. Today I didn’t have to do that because my presentation landed exactly where I anticipated and I could follow it easily. This thing casts to a dime and at $650.00 outperforms rods pushing $1000.00. The sky played trout well and even at our flows gave me the confidence to get into tight spaces. The brown depicted was caught with me on my back in tight quarters the rod pitched perfectly three or four times and we hooked up. Great backbone allowed for the ability to turn the brown a few times away from the lumber before putting it to the net. Lake Pueblo is fishing well and there’s a little more accessibility now. I spent the day doing more trolling than fishing however. The visibility in the lake is beautiful and sight fishing from a pontoon is a kick. When the waters high there is always something to do in P-Town.

Tight Lines,

Ben