Smallmouth Bass

Almost every day I either take other people fishing or talk about fishing while working at the fly shop so it was very good to actually go fishing the last couple of days. Yesterday I fished my local smallmouth stream at what can only be described as the last place you would choose to fish this stream. I was in the middle of town, surrounded by construction and traffic but I had the stream to myself and the fishing turned out to be exceptional.

As I’ve mentioned over and over again in the stream reports, the water is way low. Finding fish is the key and presentation also seems to be important at the moment. I’ve stuck with flies that are natural “match the hatch” types. Yesterday I manged a lot of small fish and two about 14 inches. Today I fished a different location, one I usually pass up because it gets loads of pressure from all sorts of anglers.

The day was long. I fished about 3 hours with nothing but chubs and a couple of missed opportunities. At about the time I was ready to head for my porch and a cold beer I decided to fish a deep hole at the bridge that the bait anglers hit pretty hard. The friend I was fishing with had hooked and almost landed a nice carp there earlier in the day so I thought I at least had a chance at a carp. I went deep, fishing the Whit’s Hellgramite with two BB split shot to get it down. I felt a subtle take and hooked up to the fish in the picture. The deep bellied 16″ smallmouth fought hard, tail-walked briefly and managed one nice jump before coming to hand. The lesson learned the past few days… Get out of the fishing comfort zone and fish places you might otherwise pass up.

Canoe Float

I took the canoe out solo today and paddled about six miles of my favorite local smallmouth stream. The weather was amazing, sunny in the mid 70’s with low humidity. The thing of note is that today the river was running about 65 cfs. My previous lowest cfs to float the river was 85 but that was in August. The river is very low, especially for this time of year. The forecast has no rain for at least the next week. I’m not sure what this might mean for the fishery but I’m a little concerned.

My canoe is an Old Town 16′ Penobscot. One of the things I really like about it is that I can turn it around and paddle solo from the front seat. It’s a great river canoe and ideal when I put an angler in the front seat.

Run Off

It’s run off season. The water level has been rising steadily the past two days and is now at the highest point since I arrived in Colorado. I spent Satruday exploring the stretch of the river north of Buena Vista to the headwaters outside Leadville.

There is an incredible amount of public access to the river and many of the areas have designated angler parking. Parts of the upper river are also under special regulations. Left is the Upper Arkansas at the Hayden Meadow access. The character of the river is very different here from downstream. For a couple of miles the Arkansas flows through a high flat valley and meanders its way through multiple channels. There are a few beaver dams and some nice pools and runs. There is excellent access between the Hayden Meadow and Kobe downstream.

On downstream much of the river runs through BLM land and there is access from multiple pull-offs along route 24. Here the river enters a steeper canyon and picks up speed again changing the character of the water. There is public access above and below the town of Granite and then again at Clear Creek.

The increased flows had the river a little off-color and running swiftly. I did fish for an hour where Clear Creek meets the Arkansas and managed to land one rainbow trout.

Spring Run Off?

Left is another brown trout landed on our Thursday afternoon float. Friday I guided down-river for ArkAnglers. The water condition was a little off color but we did manage to land fish.

Today I’m again floating Cambo to Hecla Junction. The thing of note this morning is that the water level has risen quite a bit in the last 24 hours from a low at Nathrop about 550 CFS to almost 900 CFS at 8 am this morning. Looking at the peaks that surround the Arkansas Valley it’s evident that the snow we had last week has already melted. It’s been warm the last couple of days and the increased flow could signal the start of the run off. Another possibility is that some water has been added to the river for the adventure race this weekend in Buena Vista. This morning at 8 am there is a duckie race from BV to Johnson village. It will be interesting to see if the water does drop again or if in fact the run off has begun.

Arkansas River Comes Alive

Thursday Darren, Curtis and I floated the Arkansas and had a fantastic day of fishing. All the factors came together including the weather and water levels and we hit the caddis hatch head on.

We floated from Cambo to Hecla Junction in just under eight hours and caught fish the entire time. Above Fisherman’s Bridge we fished the usual hopper-dropper combo and the prince nymph caught fish as it has done all week. As we got closer to Fisherman’s Bridge around 2 pm we began to see more caddis and switched to the black foam caddis dry fly. That’s when the real fun began.

The top water action was non-stop and at times we were smothered with caddis. Once into Brown’s Canyon the already hot fishing got hotter. We coasted through pools where dozens of trout were rising. We had great fun picking individual rising fish to cast too. The water was so clear we could watch the take long before the fish reached the surface which added to the excitement.

The upper Arkansas is an amazing fishery. Last year I caught the tail end of the mother’s day caddis but by the time I got here the run-off had begun and fishing conditions were tough. I’ve spent the past year imagining what it would be like to fish here under optimal conditions and now I’ve done it.

Fish On!

I fished the Arkansas again today and had one of my best days ever on the river. The fishing came alive between 2 and 4 and I landed over a dozen butter-belly browns.

I fished between BV and Nathrop until the wind came up and made casting difficult. There were some caddis and BWO in evidence but no real hatch and no fish rising. I did have a couple of fish hit the stimulator I was using as an indicator but I took all the fish on either a prince nymph or a small flash-back pheasant tail nymph.

I was curious so I just measured my net. The opening is 12 ¾” by 15″. The net bow is cherry wood and was hand made for me by Ron Thompson of Shelby, Ohio. Thanks Ron I’m sure you’ll be happy to know I’m putting it to good use.