January 8, 2020 - Valco Ponds parking area
Flows: 110 cfs
Water Temp: 39 @8:30a
Water clarity: ~3’
Air Temp: 36 @ 8:30a. Highs forecasted to be in the low 60s.
Hatches: BWOs – sporadic throughout the day.
Waxing gibbous moon
When Brian and I were pulling out of the Tailwater last week (Jan 3) I had a cough that came out of nowhere. A few hours after I got home I didn’t feel right – and ended up with my 2nd bought with the cold/flu this season. Not sure what was in my flu shot this year – but it hasn’t seemed to work very well - ugh!!
When Brian asked if I would be OK to go yesterday – I was tempted, but decided I needed a couple more days to recuperate. So he went solo and was able to enjoy some unseasonably nice January weather – even for Pueblo. It seemed that a lot of other fishermen were out to enjoy it too – as Brian said there were fishermen stacked every 50 to 100 yards along the river.
Checking the bug activity with his seine showed pretty much the same nymphs as last time: Caddis, midges, and what looks like a grub, although there were more midges than caddis this time.
Courtesy of Brian Kenney
Brian had a good start to the day fishing downstream from the Bend Hole – landing 3 nice Rainbows, all on a #20 Beadhead Barr Emerger. Two were in the 12’ to 14’ range and the other was ’16. Then the day seemed to peter out and got very slow.
This Rainbow took the #20 Barr Emerger
Nice 16" male Rainbow.
Above pictures courtesy of Brian Kenney
According to Dale – a regular on the Tailwater who we run into on almost every trip – the slow fishing was due to the Big Moon. I’m sure there’s something to this, as I’ve seen predictions based on moon phases – but I haven’t tracked them with fishing results. Curious, I looked up the moon phases for January and found that for January 8, 2020 the moon was in waxing gibbous phase - almost full. Today, the 9th there will be a full moon. We’ll have to ask Dale more about this next we see him.
Waxing gibbous moon
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