January 14, 2020
Flows: 110 cfs
Water Temp: 36 @ 9:30a
Water clarity: ~3’
Air Temp: 28 @ 9:30a, getting into the high 50s low 60s.
Hatches: BWOs starting at about 10:15a lasting to about 3p. May have been Tricos too (not sure about that – see picture below).
Me and about every other fisherman in Colorado decided to get a day in at the Pueblo Tailwater yesterday. I arrived at the Valco Ponds parking lot at about 9:10a and the lot was already pretty full. As I was rigging up I chatted with another guy – Tom – from Denver. He had been to Deckers last week and we talked about the conditions, crowd, etc. Tom also goes to Montana and Idaho once a year, so I was picking his brain about the rivers and spring creeks in the region.
Trying out my new seine. Caddis, baetis, midges.
Starting out with a #14 Pine Squirrel Leach – hitting the pools, runs, and pocket water - I worked my way from the parking area down to just above the Double Tree Hole. There were four fishermen taking turns in the hole and pulling out some nice Rainbows. Tom (the guy from the parking lot) saw some nice Rainbows in a small pocket just upstream from it, and landed 3 nice Rainbows. He said they were hitting his #20 Harvester Midge and offered me one. (Later I did some research on the Harvester and it was developed by Russ Doughty from the Missouri Trout Fishermen’s Association. It’s also called a Rusty Midge).
You can’t refuse a successful nymph – especially one you haven’t tried before – so I took it and rigged up my nymph rig with the #14 Pine Squirrel Leach followed by the #22 Harvester Midge, and a #22 Red Rojo Midge. Then headed downstream toward the Bridge Hole – hitting the runs and pockets along the way. I ended up losing my entire rig in a pool that looked very fishy – but had a lot of debris (downed trees, logs, etc).
Since it looked like BWOs were coming off by then, I changed my nymph rig to a #16 Red Copper John followed by a #22 Stalcup Baetis and a #22 Barr Emerger Flashback BWO, and continued to work downstream to the Bridge Hole. Adding a couple of #0 split shots (3 total) and moving my indicator up so that I had about 9’ of leader and tippet in the water - I began to work the hole from the fast water. I landed a 12” and 13” Rainbow in the pool below the fast water – letting the line set at the end of the drift. Both hit the Stalcup Baetis.
Trico - so maybe it was them coming off at 10:15a....along with BWOs?
As I headed to the car to shed some clothes (it was getting really hot!) and to eat lunch – I hit any seam, run, pocket or pool that looked fishy – with no hits. I had some company as I worked my way back upstream. A beautiful Great Blue Heron – even though it looks prehistoric.
After lunch I decided to go upstream to the Hatchery Hole. As I was heading that way and crossing the river, I was a little surprised to notice that it was open. There was some nice pocket water on the way across the river – so I decided to go back and drop off my dry fly rig on the bank – and fish it before crossing. Before I was done with all this - and with no hits – someone moved into the Hatchery Hole - Jeez!!
At the tailout of the Hatchery Hole I noticed some risers and decided to try a couple of flies I tied up last week: a #22 Parachute BWOs and a #22 Sparkle Dun. Just as I began to work the run – the wind picked up, and before long it was gusting at what seemed gale force! Despite the wind, I was able to get some good casts and drifts in and was able to land a “13, 12”, and 6” Rainbow – all hitting the Sparkle Dun. I did have a couple of hits on the Parachute Adams – but missed them.
I kept looking up at a pocket above the Hatchery Hole that I fished with dries before – to see if anything was rising. I didn’t see any, but decided to go check it out anyway. The cast would be much shorter (easier) there. But when I got up to the pocket water, nothing was rising, so I tried my nymph rig. No hits and I worked my way into the Hatchery Hole that was now open – adjusting my rig with more weight and longer leader. No luck – and as usual it was if someone flipped the switch and there were no more risers. With the wind getting increasingly worse – I decided to call it a day.
All in all - a great day to be on the river
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