First, I want you to know that this is NOT a fishing report. It would have been a fishing report, but some things got in the way. Hence the rant that will follow......
Still here??
Due to the flows on the Arkansas, we decided to make a trip to the Big Thompson on Saturday morning. We got up early because we wanted to have breakfast at our favorite little spot in Estes Park. We got dressed, made coffee, fed the dogs and for some strange reason, I checked the flows again.
OOPS!!!
The water gods raised the flows by over 300 CFS OVERNIGHT!!!!
From 125 CFS to almost 500 CFS.... OVERNIGHT!!!
Well, just damn.....
So, we unpacked and sat down to drink our coffee and decided to get some housework done.
Just for reference, as of Monday morning, the flows were back to 125. How's that for interesting?
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Arkansas River, June 13, 2009
So, first the facts.....
Temps were in the very upper 70s to mid 80s. Water temps were mid 50s. Light wind and BRIGHT, bluebird skies. Flows were 1650 to 1700. We fished from Spikebuck to Vallie Bridge.
Any idea where I'm going with this one?
Things were a bit slow to say the least. I had determined that I was going to fish a BIG dry adult stonefly all day, no matter what. I would fish something smaller, either dry or nymph, as a dropper. Most of the day was spent with a smaller stonefly or caddis on top.
Now, the frustrating part.... I COULD NOT STICK A FISH ALL DAY LONG!!!!
I missed several fish both on the big stonefly as well as the dropper. I even hooked one fish for jut a minute but never even came close to landing it.
The fish had moved off the banks a bit and out as far as the first seam. If you could find a big eddy behind a large rock next to the bank, it was almost guaranteed to have a fish or two in it.
So, we'll be back at it soon and more info will be posted. I'll try and do a little better with the reports, but you get what you pay for.
Now a final note.... BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!! The water is high almost everywhere and it can be very treacherous. While I would, at times, like to see fewer fisher-folks on the water, I don't want anyone injured or killed.
Temps were in the very upper 70s to mid 80s. Water temps were mid 50s. Light wind and BRIGHT, bluebird skies. Flows were 1650 to 1700. We fished from Spikebuck to Vallie Bridge.
Any idea where I'm going with this one?
Things were a bit slow to say the least. I had determined that I was going to fish a BIG dry adult stonefly all day, no matter what. I would fish something smaller, either dry or nymph, as a dropper. Most of the day was spent with a smaller stonefly or caddis on top.
Now, the frustrating part.... I COULD NOT STICK A FISH ALL DAY LONG!!!!
I missed several fish both on the big stonefly as well as the dropper. I even hooked one fish for jut a minute but never even came close to landing it.
The fish had moved off the banks a bit and out as far as the first seam. If you could find a big eddy behind a large rock next to the bank, it was almost guaranteed to have a fish or two in it.
So, we'll be back at it soon and more info will be posted. I'll try and do a little better with the reports, but you get what you pay for.
Now a final note.... BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!! The water is high almost everywhere and it can be very treacherous. While I would, at times, like to see fewer fisher-folks on the water, I don't want anyone injured or killed.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Well, I am, at last, back!!!
A back injury (nothing major) has kept us off the rivers for a while but I'm back in the swing of things now.
So, let's catch up on this past weekend. We hit the Arkansas early Saturday morning. The stones were hatching on some parts of the river and, according to Bill Edrington at Royal Gorge Anglers, the fish were really looking for the big bugs and any wayward caddis that happened by. The flows were 2300 to 2500 cfs depending on where we were. The water was kind of silty but not to bad with a couple of feet visibility. The weather was mostly overcast with a little bit of sun here and there. Temp were in the 70s with water temp in the mid to upper 50s. It was WINDY!!
We started near Spikebuck and, to be honest, fishing was only fair but we were fishing in conditions we had never fished before. We were fishing with a stone dry and a general search pattern dropped a foot or so behind the dry. We caught several smaller fish but the larger fish were eluding us. At long last, we found the secret.... The larger fish were so close to the bank they were almost walking in place of usual swimming thing. Once we figured that out, the bigger fish started to show up little more frequently.
We then moved up to Wellsville but that turned out to be a mistake. We did not find any fish up there so we moved back down river to the Vallie Bridge area. By this time, the wind had laid down and we were under mostly cloudy skies. We had also figured out the patterns the fish were after and we were fishing a stonefly with a dry caddis as a dropper. We caught several fish including one of the biggest, by weight, fish I have ever caught on the Arkansas. It really was a pig and very fat compared to the "normal" brown.
All the fish we caught were browns. No 'bows.
As an after-note, we stopped by Coyote's Coffee House in Penrose because they had live music and BBQ for dinner. Don't waste your time.... The music was ok but the BBQ tasted like it was out of a can and the prices for that canned BBQ were a bit outrageous.
A back injury (nothing major) has kept us off the rivers for a while but I'm back in the swing of things now.
So, let's catch up on this past weekend. We hit the Arkansas early Saturday morning. The stones were hatching on some parts of the river and, according to Bill Edrington at Royal Gorge Anglers, the fish were really looking for the big bugs and any wayward caddis that happened by. The flows were 2300 to 2500 cfs depending on where we were. The water was kind of silty but not to bad with a couple of feet visibility. The weather was mostly overcast with a little bit of sun here and there. Temp were in the 70s with water temp in the mid to upper 50s. It was WINDY!!
We started near Spikebuck and, to be honest, fishing was only fair but we were fishing in conditions we had never fished before. We were fishing with a stone dry and a general search pattern dropped a foot or so behind the dry. We caught several smaller fish but the larger fish were eluding us. At long last, we found the secret.... The larger fish were so close to the bank they were almost walking in place of usual swimming thing. Once we figured that out, the bigger fish started to show up little more frequently.
We then moved up to Wellsville but that turned out to be a mistake. We did not find any fish up there so we moved back down river to the Vallie Bridge area. By this time, the wind had laid down and we were under mostly cloudy skies. We had also figured out the patterns the fish were after and we were fishing a stonefly with a dry caddis as a dropper. We caught several fish including one of the biggest, by weight, fish I have ever caught on the Arkansas. It really was a pig and very fat compared to the "normal" brown.
All the fish we caught were browns. No 'bows.
As an after-note, we stopped by Coyote's Coffee House in Penrose because they had live music and BBQ for dinner. Don't waste your time.... The music was ok but the BBQ tasted like it was out of a can and the prices for that canned BBQ were a bit outrageous.
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