Oh, What A Day

January 2, 2024

The Arkansas River – The Tailwater, In-town (The Steel City Run to the Honey Hole.)

Flows:  65 cfs.

Moon Phase:  Waning Gibbous (82% illumination).

Water Temp: 41F @ 1p.

Water clarity: Clear to about 5’.   

Air Temp: 32F @ 8:30a – ~50F @ 4p.

Hatches: Midge: 10a – 3:45p (still going as we left).

Spawning: Redds seen but no spawning activity observed.

Flies: #16 & #20 Red Midge Larva, #22 Flashback Black Beauty, #22 Miracle Midge, #24 Olive Jujubee Midge, #20 Mercury Pheasant Tail, #24 Black Manhattan Midge, #16 Red San Juan Worm, #18 Desert Storm.

Top producers:  , Red Midge Larva (both #16 & #20), Mercury Pheasant Tail, Desert Storm, Flashback Black Beauty, Black Manhattan Midge, San Juan Worm.

The Steel City Mural on the levee along the Arkansas River in Pueblo.

Tip of the hat to Don Davenport.

He mentioned the success he’s had on the In-town section of Tailwater lately – and then provided me with some intel on parking and some areas along the river to check out.

We decided to finally give it a try to see what kind of day it would be.

And oh – what a day it was!

Brian and I never fished this part of the river, shunning it in favor of the Tailwater upriver which really hasn’t been producing lately.  That part of the river - from the dam to the Nature Center - has been a struggle the past couple of weeks and after hearing from Don, I was looking forward to trying a new part of the river.

Looking downriver from the Steel City Run. The 4th Street Bridge in the background and the levee - with it's murals - along the river on the left.

Brian wasn’t – initially. When I mentioned “in-town” he envisioned fishing in a rundown city among trash, homeless people in tents, etc. (Later he would change his mind.)

We parked in the lot at the Dutch Clark Stadium. It seemed to be a central place to start.  We could either go downstream toward the 4th Street Bridge or upstream toward Reservoir Drive.

It’s a bit of a hike to the river from there. It could have been shorter, but we parked close to the road thinking the threat of a break-in was less likely with the car parked close to the road. 

1st fish of the day. A hen rainbow - just under 19" and weighing somewhere near 5 lbs.

I was first to the river and the path from the parking lot lead me to the river walk pathway. From there, I noticed a nice run in the river below me.  I scouted it a bit upstream and down just to see what I could see then I found a way to get down the bank to the river's edge.

There is a huge levee along the north side of the river with very large murals painted on it.  I noticed one of them right away – it was very familiar to me and stuck out. It’s a relief of a steel mill with the words “Steel City” spelled out along the bottom of it.  It was right across from the run I intended to fish.

Anytime someone mentions the “Steel City”, Pittsburgh comes to mind – for me and most others also.  But Pueblo is a steel city too. It has a working steel mill and the city is proud of it and the steel workers who man the furnaces.  Sounds very familiar.

So I started out in the Steel City Run.  I liked the place already!

Looking upriver from the Steel City Run.

It was about 8:45a when I got streamside and it was cold. I had to redo my rig and with no bugs in the air, I decided to go with a midge larva setup. Tying them up would prove to be a real challenge with freezing cold fingertips that had no feeling in them!

My choice as a lead fly was a #16 Red Midge Larva.  I use it a lot in the mornings especially on this river and followed it with a #22 Flashback Black Beauty and a #22 Miracle Midge – three different colors for the fish to choose from.  I left a small bit of mud on my .12g split-shot because the water was flowing pretty fast into the run and I wanted my flies to be down near the bottom – thinking that would be where the fish were on this cold morning.

Before I finished with my rig, Brian showed up with his rig already tied up and began fishing a small seam upstream of me.  The part of the run I wanted to fish was river-left where there was a nice long line of riffles flowing into a deeper trough along the riverbank.  I was thinking there would be fish all along the run with a higher probability of them being near the tailout.

Another look at the big rainbow (murals in the background).

I couldn’t see that far into the deeper trough – so sight fishing was out.  I’d have to cover the trough methodically – starting at the top of it and work my way downstream. That’s my preferred method. A guide I recently hired instructed me to begin at the bottom of the run and work upstream.  His logic was the fish look upstream and I had a less chance of spooking them if I approached from the downstream side.

I think his logic is flawed.

First off if you start at the bottom, you have to cast above the target area in order to get a good drift into it and in doing so you may spook an unseen fish. Secondly, if you start at the top of the run you get a good drift from just above the target area, then across from you, and then downstream of you - thus covering more area.  If there are no fish, you proceed to move slowly downstream – covering the area just upstream of you and then farther downstream of where you left off last time.  And you continue till you get to the end of the run.

This all applies to when you can’t see a fish – and it works for me.

Got this 15" rainbow on the Red Midge Larva in the Steel City Run.

When I got to the bottom of the run my indicator wobbled a bit.  I set the hook not knowing if it was the bottom or a fish, and felt a strong tug on my line.  It wasn’t BAM – but it was a slab of a trout, I could tell. 

What I came for!

Downstream of me the water was faster, flowing to the left into a pool and as I was fighting the the big rainbow I wanted to keep her out of there.  No way I wanted to lose this fish. I hadn’t had a fish this size on in a while and it was fun to fight her.  Finally getting her across from me – then upstream of me, and I guiding her to my net.

A big rainbow indeed – measuring 18 ½” and had to weigh at least 5 pounds. She took the Flashback Black Beauty. As I released her I was thinking to myself “if I don’t catch another fish all day, I would still be happy”. 

But as I would find out later, that was just the beginning!

One of Brian's rainbows. This one took his Pheasant Tail.

Brian Kenney.

Brian had begun to fish the top of the run as I was netting the big rainbow. He was on the other side of it and when he got to the end of it, he went farther downstream into the deep pool below. I went back to the top of the run and worked it again.  Then again. And one more time just because.  All told I missed three – and landed another rainbow about 15” while Brian landed a smaller rainbow down in the tailout.  The one I landed hit the Red Midge Larva and Brian’s hit his Pheasant Tail.

While we were fishing the run we noticed a few midges starting to come off. It was about 10a and they looked to be about a size 22.

That was a fun run and I found it hard to pull myself away, but I wanted to explore more of the river. We were trying to decide to either go upstream or downstream – finally choosing upstream. When we first got to the river, it was all ours.  No one in sight. While we were fishing the Steel City run though, three guys moved into the river upstream of us.  Our plan was to leapfrog them and fish farther upstream.

A fat 17" rainbow. Notice the pinkish coloration - we caught a few like this.

Before going though, there was a small pocket of water I wanted to explore. I approached it cautiously – casting into it from a good fifteen feet away – and feeling very confident that there was a fish in it.  Getting your files to drift in the right seam of water flowing between huge boulders is a challenge, but I finally got them where I wanted them.

The second time I got them there my indicator abruptly stopped, and I set the hook.  Yeah – there was one in there and I now had him tight on my line.  Another big guy – felt like a fatty.  I was trying to lead him into the soft water behind the boulders, worried that he might get my line wrapped around one of them and break it.  But I got too aggressive, and he broke off all on his own. 

Ugh!

The shadow cast across this rainbow gave it - an appropriate - steel blue hue.

Brian Kenney.

This part of the river is hard to access.  You have to climb down a steep bank from the walking path in order to get to it and back up it to get out of it.  The bank is thick with trees and shrubs making it even more challenging. The riverbank is strewn with large pieces of what looks like slag and broken concrete making walking along the bank very difficult.  So in this case you pick your poison. 

We climbed out to walk along the walking path.

Once we passed the three fishermen, we found even more.  They had the place covered from above the Steel City Run to the end of the levee, all the way to the pedestrian bridge, and just above it.

Another lightly colored rainbow.

Brian Kenney.

There was a couple of spots open just above the bridge which I tried.  Brian had moved farther upstream – getting above the other fishermen where there was a series of three weirs.  Fishing below weirs is usually a good idea, but I didn’t like the look of the water – it seemed too slow. (Later I would find that I was mistaken.)

The small spots that I tried were just not working out – I felt hemmed in unable to cover the water as I would have liked and I eventually headed upstream to meet Brian.

He was now farther upstream of the weirs and I decided to stop at the second one.  Below it was a deep pool river-left that looked promising and once in position I casted into it.  After several attempts – BANG.  A 15” rainbow hit the Flashback Black Beauty. 

Releasing a 14" rainbow. We caught a lot similar to this.

After releasing him I noticed several rising fish farther down in the pool.  They were creating dimples in the water – obviously feeding on emerging midges just below the surface.  I decided to change up my flies and remove my mud, leaving only the .12g split-shot as weight.

It was now near 11a and normally I would change out my trailing midge larva for something imitating an emerger – and switch my lead fly to some sort of attracter. Knowing that midges could be active all day long, I left my on my Red Midge Larva.  Since my Flashback Black Beauty was working – I left that on and decided to change out only my last fly.

As I was reaching for my Top Secret – I hesitated and chose a #24 Olive Jujubee Midge. Don reported the Top Secret working last week – but I’ve been having so much success with the Jujubee, I just couldn’t pass it up.

A 15" rainbow in hand.

After catching more fish on the Flashback Black Beauty I decided to change my last fly yet again. I was ready to try the Top Secret.  Dale, an old time regular on the Tailwater told Brian and I once that he had a lot of success with a Red Midge Larva and would tie on three of them in different sizes. Thinking of that, I chose a Black Manhattan Midge.  It’s a midge pattern developed by Forest Dorsey that is a cross between a Mercury Black Beauty and a Black Top Secret.

After that, it was almost one after another in the pool.  All rainbows with most in the 12” to 14” range with a few 15 inchers sprinkled in and they were hitting all my flies - the Red Midge Larva, the Flashback Black Beauty, and the Black Manhattan Midge.

At one point I had two rainbows hooked up on a single cast – a Double. It felt like one big fish. As I fought them to the net and I was confused when I got them close enough to see them.  “What the heck is going on” I was wondering - and I found that netting two fish at once is a challenge.  One hit the Flashback Black Beauty and the other hit the Black Manhattan Midge.

Here's my Double. (I would get another Double later in the day.)

As I was netting more than several – how many I’m not sure – I had my eye on a little seam just upstream of the weir and decided to go give it a try.  The seam was on the other side of the river – river-left – and as I approached it, I found a there was trough nearest me that lead into a small pool and the seam of faster water was on the other side of it.

In the trough I could see a larger rainbow that looked to be in the 17” range. Wow, I was able to sight fish – finally.  That’s one thing that we did notice – the river is clearer in this section, which makes sense since it’s farther downstream.

Brian with an 18" rainbow.

On my second cast to the big fish that was sitting at the top of the trough – my indicator paused and I set the hook, hard.  BAM fish on.  But it wasn’t the big fish. A smaller fish – about 14” - that I didn’t see hit my Red Midge Larva.  Dang it.  After realizing that a smaller fish hit – I quickly guided him out of the trough and into my net hoping not to spook the big fish.

Back at the top of the trough and yes, the big rainbow was still there. It wasn’t long and I hooked him up and I found that he was in fact a 17 incher.  He hit the Black Manhattan Midge. 

As I was casting to this guy I noticed a few more bigger fish in the middle of the pool and proceeded to go after them. This was a “honey hole” if there ever was one. I was getting fish left and right – sometimes on each cast. And some of them had size to them – one 18” – with a few 17" and 16” sprinkled in.  The rest were from 12” to 15” and they were hitting each of my flies with the same gusto.

Releasing a 17" beauty.

I fished right through lunch – and anyone who knows me, knows that is a very rare occurrence!  How could I stop? The midge hatch was in full force – fish were hitting left and right.  Exactly what I came for!

Eventually Brian worked his way back downstream toward me.  I asked how he was doing, and he said he had netted a few smaller - 12” to 14” – rainbows. I mentioned that this hole was on fire and that there was room upstream and downstream of it, if he wanted to join me.  Which he did.

Another 17" rainbow taken out of the Honey Hole.

Brian started to hook them up too and I finally decided to break for lunch.  I was starving and thirsty – and I was getting worn out too.  As I sat on the bank eating my sandwich I watched as Brian hooked up a nice one.  I could tell by the bend of his rod. When he finally netted him, I was surprised that it was a big as it was – an 18” rainbow. Surprised only because Brian was able to fight him to his net as quickly as he did, given the size of the fish!

Somewhere around 2:30p the Honey Hole dried up.  We either caught all the fish in it – or the ones we didn’t catch decided to move on.  Meanwhile, Brian had his eye on a spot downstream of the weir below us. For some reason it caught Brian’s eye and he asked me to join him.

This area is further downstream of the pool below the second weir that I fished earlier, and the water is rather flat.  Fish were rising in it though – creating more dimples. We casted to them with light nymph rigs, landing fish after fish. It seemed that every time I was hooked up, I’d look upstream and Brian was too!  They were rainbows, a lot of them in the 12” to 14” range with some of them 15”.

Releasing a 14" rainbow.

Then it happened again – I Doubled up!  Unbelievable.  And it was on the same flies - two Doubles in one day.  The fish on the top was able to break off right at the net, but still I had them Doubled up.  From this point on, this run will be known as the Double-Double!

In the middle of all this I noticed that my Black Manhattan Midge was getting torn up from all the action. Instead of replacing it though, I thought I’ll give a try and see what happens.  Then on my next cast a fish took it!  I mentioned this to Brian and he said he experienced the same thing with his Pheasant Tail.

It was about 3:45p when Brian was able to drag me off the river.  Brian estimated that he netted over twenty fish with me netting over thirty. I would agree.

Beautiful - pinkish colored - rainbow with the Honey Hole in the background.

What a day – oh, what a day!