It Was Windy

January 13, 2021

Flows: 90 cfs

Water Temp: 44F @ 4p.

Water clarity: ~4’

Air Temp: 54 @ 8:45a, 59 @ 4p. (Not including the wind chill).

Hatches: Midges – sporadic mid-afternoon

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent

Flies: #18 Red Copper John, #18 Copper John, #20 Red Midge Larva, #22 Black Beauty, #22 Red Rojo Midge, #24 Jujubee Midge, #18 Flashback BH Pheasant Tail, #22 Chocolate Thunder, # 22 Parachute Trico, #22 Matt’s Midge, #20 & #22 Black and Red Zebra Midge, #22 & #24 Blue Miracle Midge, #22 Parachute Adams.

Top producers: Blue Miracle Midge, Red and Black Zebra Midge, Parachute Adams, Red Midge Larva, BH Pheasant Tail, Red Rojo Midge, Jujubee Midge.

The Valco Pond Run.

Wind.

The bane of fly fishermen and golfers. Two of my hobbies.

For the most part, the weather in Colorado is beautiful. It’s known for clear blue skies and 310 days of sunshine a year – beckoning you to the outdoors. It can be subject to fits of nature though, and turn on a dime – going from very pleasant and sunny in the morning – to snowing in the evening. Honest.

When we moved here a little over 30 years ago, we noticed that it could be quite windy. I remember commenting to Keeny when we first got here that it’s very strange outside - the wind is blowing hard and there are no clouds in the sky and no imminent storm approaching. Strange indeed – for us being new Coloradons.

As a kid I used to watch American Sportsman. It was a series that aired on Saturday on ABC and featured Curt Gowdy – a sportscaster, avid outdoorsman, and fisherman from Cody, Wyoming. It was about hunting and fishing in the America West and prominently featured Wyoming. At the time people didn’t get to travel that much – at least people in my neighborhood didn’t. So as I watched the show I would dream of fishing in the western wilderness someday – and visiting Wyoming.

An 18" rainbow caught in the Valco Ponds Run.

Then we moved to Colorado and Wyoming was only about a 1 ½ hour drive north from our home – still is. Naturally I wanted to plan a trip there soon after we arrived – to see for myself what it was like. I began to ask around to the locals - people I new here - for suggestions on where to go, etc. One comment that stuck out was “it’s windy up there”. After hearing that, the plan petered out. I told Keeny, if someone from Colorado says it’s windy in Wyoming- it must be really windy there. And I don’t like wind!

We never made the trip. It took us a little over 25 years from that time until we finally made a trip to Jackson – as in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We drove it. It’s about a nine-hour drive and took us through much of the state of Wyoming. Beautiful state.

The point to all this is it can be windy in Colorado - sometimes very windy. And it was this Wednesday when Brian and I made a trip to Pueblo to fish the Tailwater.

The forecast was for a high of 60F and mild. Then a minor storm was to move into Colorado, bringing with it high winds. But the winds weren’t supposed to arrive until late in the day – mostly concentrated in northern Colorado. Nothing was reported about winds in southern Colorado – where Pueblo is.

There are lots of deer in the park. This little one seems to be saying - quite gawking and move on, so I can cross the road!

There was no wind during the drive down I25. I didn’t notice anything at all until I pulled into the Pueblo Lake State Park. There are access points to the river in the park – and we use it as a meeting place. I had just entered the park – and noticed wind buffeting my car. “Was that a blast of wind?” I thought to myself. I looked around to see if I noticed the wind blowing – and sure enough I saw sage brush swaying in the wind. Damn!

After I parked and got out – the wind was really blowing. Gale force wind. Jeez, I was thinking “if I didn’t just drive 1 ½ hours to get here – and commit to meet Brian, I’d just as soon leave”. Wind makes fly fishing difficult…..at best. When it’s blowing with gusts in the 50 mile/hour range –as it was on Wednesday - it can make it down right miserable.

When I met Brian on the river that was the conditions. It was hard just to tie on my flies. I lost a couple of them and some tippet as I struggled to get my rig in order. Casting was an adventure – especially if you had to cast into or across the wind. Forget it. In the first hour I had two wind knots that required taking everything off and rebuilding.

OK – enough whining!

The fishing turned out to be pretty good. In the 1st hole we fished - despite the wind - I caught 3 fish in the first 20 minutes or so. They were all small though. Two were about 6 inches – and the big one was 8”. Given the circumstances, it was a hard spot to fish properly – and after my 2nd granny knot, I suggested that we move downstream. I wanted to find a spot that we could fish using a short line nymphing technique – requiring only a short cast. This would help mitigate the effects of the howling wind.

A lightly colored, pinkish rainbow that I caught later in the day at the Valco Ponds Run.

When planning this trip, our plan was to fish the Hatchery Hole 1st thing, but there was someone fishing it when Brian arrived earlier. There were a lot of fishermen out – probably like us - counting on the nice weather that was forecasted. So as we moved downstream, all of the typical spots were taken. And the same guy was still in the Hatchery Hole when we got there.

As we approached, he was reeling in a nice fish and we stopped to watch him. He was talkative and was telling us that he was catching them regularly all morning, what flies were working for him, and so forth.

Brian decided that he was going to fish the tailout of the hole. The tailout is below from where this guy was fishing, but within earshot. But there is only enough room for one there – so I continued to move downstream and ended up at the Parking Lot Hole. So named because it is adjacent to the Valco Ponds Parking area. It’s a pretty deep hole with boulders providing structure to hold fish. I never fished this spot before and it took some exploring to figure it out.

I spent 1 ½ hours there and had 3 nice fish on – landing one of them –an 18” rainbow. I was expecting to see Brian at some point, but didn’t. My thought was that he must be catching fish or he would have moved on. It was getting toward lunch and I decided to walk up to see how he was doing.

1st decent catch of the day for me. An 18" rainbow.

I caught sight of him as I was coming to a bend and he was in the Hatchery Hole. I thought the other guy must of moved on and Brian now had the hole to himself. But as I rounded the bend I could see the other guy (Brian told me later his name was Mike) fishing right next to Brian. It made me laugh to myself. Brian has a way of making fast friends and I was thinking after a short while, Mike probably asked Brian to share the spot with him.

I decided to eat my lunch streamside and watch them. Both had fish on in the ½ hour it took for me to eat. They were chatting it up and having a good time.

As I was walking to my spot on the riverbank to eat earlier – another angler claimed the tailout that Brian had initially started in. As I ate, I noticed that some fish were rising just below where he was. But he was fishing into the deep water and ignoring them. After finishing lunch I asked him if he would mind if I fished for the fish rising below him. He had no objections so I did.

I’ve fished this spot for risers before and they’re usually little ones – but there is always the chance of getting a 12” or larger fish too. So I fished dries for a while and caught a bucketful of 6” to 8” rainbows. They were aggressively hitting my Matt’s Midge. It was a fun filled hour or so.

A sample of the small rainbows hitting dry flies.

When I had enough, I again moved downstream – thinking about the 18” rainbow I caught earlier. On the way I stopped at the Parking Lot Hole to give it a try – but there was no one home this time. So I moved down to the Valco Ponds Run. This was high on my list of placed to hit. I had fished it for the 1st time about 2 ½ years ago and caught some nice fish there. I was surprised to find it open.

It reminds me of Tom’s Run but it’s a little bigger and deeper. There are about 5 boulders providing structure and forming a deep hole and there is a large tree trunk at the tailout providing additional structure leading to another, short deep hole. It didn’t take long to entice a 15” rainbow to take a Red Rojo Midge. I got him between the last boulder and the tree trunk.

Releasing the 15" rainbow.

I went back and covered the area thinking that there had to be a few more fish in there – and there was. Soon after, I got into a 20” rainbow – the catch of the day – right behind the last boulder. I continued to fish that spot and the short hole below the tree trunk and was able to get another 18” rainbow and a few more in the 14” range. In fact I spent the rest of the afternoon there.

The 20" rainbow in the net. Too big to hold it with one hand to take a picture! Notice how big his tail fin fans out.

It was getting late and clouds started moving in and surprisingly, the wind died down. Aside from the riffles, the water took on a glassy black glaze. Most of the other fishermen where now gone and it was peaceful. I had never fished the other side of this hole and it was on my way to the car. So I decided to cross the river and fish it before climbing up the bank and heading to the car.

Looking across the Valco Ponds Run. The deep hole is below the 2 white boulders on he left side.

At the very least I could get an idea of how it fished for future reference. When I got over there I found a deep hole with a few seams – created by the huge boulders - feeding into it. I casted into the seams – hitting one after the other – and letting my flies drift into the deep pool. Then BAM - fish on! It was a good finish to the day – a 19” rainbow.

Last one of the day - a 19 incher.

As for Brian, I never saw him after leaving the Hatchery Hole in the early afternoon. We caught up with each other later in the evening and he had a good day too. He caught several rainbows in the 12” to 15” range in the front part of the deep water at the Hatchery. He also moved a bit upstream where there is an eddy that’s formed above the drop off and fished to some rising rainbows. There he had fun catching a handful of them – they were hitting his Parachute Adams.

Clouds moving in at the end of the day.

Yes it was windy – very windy! But we made adjustments - fishing spots that you could fish with short casts and where you could get a good drift, in spite of the howling wind.

And had some excitement and fun too!