January 30, 2020
Flows: 100 cfs
Water Temp: 36 @ 10a
Water clarity: ~6’ to 8’
Air Temp: 25 @ 9a – 50s @ 4p.
Hatches: Crane Flies – 11:30a to 2:30p.
Fishermen in the Denver metro are lucky enough to have 6 or so world-class rivers to fish within a 1 ½ hour drive. So Brian and I took advantage of this and got in a 2nd day of fishing this week! Taking advantage of the moderate late-January weather in Pueblo – we hit the Tailwater again.
This one took a #24 Black WD40
We’ve noticed that it’s more crowded up stream near the Valco Ponds and the dam – so we chose to start at the Nature Center parking area. On Tuesday the Diver Hole and run leading into it was on fire – so we thought we’d start there to see if the fish were still stacked up in it. So after taking a look at the insects – we headed that way. And sure enough there were lots of fish in the hole and the up stream run.
The run between the #2 Plunge Hole and the Diver Hole
Midges, caddis, and baetis
Within 1 ½ hours, we landed 4 fish between us - a really great start to the day. I had my midge rig set up with a #20 Red Pure Larva followed by a #24 Mercury Black Beauty with full flash and a #24 Top Secret Midge. I was able to land 3 fish – 13”, 15”, and 17”, all Rainbows - one out of the Diver Hole and 2 in the upstream run. Two took the #24 Top Secret and one on the #24 Mercury Black Beauty. Brian landed a “15 Rainbow in the Diver Hole.
Here's Brian with a 15" Rainbow
This Rainbow was my 3rd one of the day
Photo courtesy of Brian Kenney
So yes – this was a great start – then it became somewhat of a struggle for me.
As I mentioned previously – one of my bad habits is that once I sight a fish or group of fish – I will stay in the hole too long trying to entice a hit. Is this patience or am I’m just stubborn!
So for some reason the fish all of a sudden quit hitting. They were still in there – visible and it looked like they were feeding. Thinking about it – maybe with two fishermen hitting it pretty hard and landing a handful of fish could have had something to do with it – but it was amazing to witness. Then the Crane Flies started to come off. When this happens – the fish become very selective and will only feed on them. So the fishing becomes more difficult. Anyway, I stayed in this ¼ mile area the whole day – alternately trying to get fish on various dry and nymph patterns.
Brian on the other hand decided to move upstream in the early afternoon. He ended up at Brian’s Run - I named this run after him. About a year ago, when we first started fishing the tailwater – Brian discovered this run, which feeds into the Flag Hole. It’s a nice run with fast, deep water on the near bank – and a shelf with slack water about 15 to 20 feet out. This creates a nice seem that fish hang out in. Brian did well – landing 6 more fish.
Brian landed this one and 5 more fish with a Black Sparkle Wing RS-2
Photo courtesy of Brian Kenney
Getting back to the Diver Hole – after lunch there were fish sporadically rising. It seemed every 5 to 10 minutes one would come up – and they were in completely different areas. Occasionally, one or two would consistently rise in the same place for a period of time. We confirmed they were Crane Flies – as I caught a few with my aquarium net. I actually saw one of them crawl out of his husk and fly away - that was very interesting to witness! I tried everything I could think of to get them on dries – including a dry dropper with #24 Matt’s Midge leading and a #24 Black Beauty trailing, a Hopper Dropper with an Amy’s Ant followed by a #24 Griffith’s Gnat and a straight dry fly rig with a #20 Mosquito followed by a #24 Griffith’s Gnat. I had a couple refusals and few strikes – which made me even more determined – leading to more time spent. Ugh!
A Crane Fly before emerging. This lead me to ty on a Black Beauty as a dropper.
After spending way too much time trying to entice a strike on these various setups – I switched back to nymphs – changing the rig to baetis. The lead fly was a #20 Black Rainbow Warrior followed by a #22 Pheasant Tail Flashback and a #24 Black WD40. Fish were feeding in the run between the #2 Plunge Hole and the Diver Hole. This run is about 2’ to 4’ in depth with large, uneven rocks, river rocks and some debris (twigs, branches, etc) and about 200 yards long. I had a #0 weight on – and it seemed that I would get hung up on a rock as my drift came close to the fish and spooked them.
So after coving the run a couple of times – I thought about something I read in Pat Dorsey’s book Fly Fishing Tailwaters. Dorsey says in the fishing strategies for midges section - “Typically only one size 4 or 6 split-shot is needed when the trout are actively feeding on pupa. Many angles make the mistake of fishing with too much weight, resulting in their pupa imitations drifting below the feeding fish”. As mentioned earlier, I had a #0 split-shot on my rig as it looked to me that the fish were near the bottom. But I decided to replace it with a #4 split-shot – with the thought that at least I wouldn’t get caught on the bottom. Then on my second cast to a feeding Rainbow – BAM. He took my #24 Black WD40 and I landed a nice 19” Rainbow. For me, this was the only fish landed in the afternoon.
A 19" Rainbow - what a way to end the day!
Thank you Pat Dorsey!!
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