December 28, 2023
The Arkansas River – The Tailwater (The Gate Hole to Weir #2.)
Flows: 66 cfs.
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous (98% illumination).
Water Temp: 47F @ 1p.
Water clarity: Clear to about 3’.
Air Temp: 32F @ 10a – 45F @ 4p.
Hatches: Midge: 9:30a – 3p. Small size 24 in the AM and larger olive, size 20 (the fuzzy ones) in the early afternoon. BWO: Sparse, seen a few 11a – 1:30p. Size 24/22.
Spawning: Redds seen but no spawning activity observed.
Flies: #16 Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear, #22 Flashback Black Beauty, #20 Desert Storm, #18 Pheasant Tail, #20 Parachute Adams, #22 Cripple, #22 Mercury Baetis, #24 Olive Jujubee Midge, #22 Black Rojo Midge, #22 Blood Midge, #16 Purple Prince Nymph, #18 Bead Head Pheasant Tail.
Top producers: Pheasant Tail, Desert Storm, Jujubee Midge, Cripple.
During the time between our last outing and this one I was wondering where I might find the fish congregating – in numbers and size.
It was a solo trip. Brian and family were busy welcoming a new granddaughter into the world! Congrats to them!
My thoughts were on places where I’ve caught fish in the past and that were overlooked and underfished and therefore would mean less pressured fish.
The Gate Hole is one spot kept coming up.
It’s below the Nature Center and even though Brian and I both have had great success there in the past, I hardly ever see other fishermen in it. It’s hit or miss though – and since it’s been mostly a miss in the recent past - we haven’t fished it much lately.
Below the Flag Hole at the end of the day with the sun low in the sky.
One reason I think it’s overlooked is because it’s a good walk to get there, and another is it’s kinda isolated. Once you fish it the next closest hole upstream where we usually find fish is the Diver Hole. And there isn’t much downstream of it. So it’s another good walk to get back to a fishy spot. There are other spots along the way to the Diver Hole, but neither Brian or I have caught a single fish in them. The Nature Center Pool being the exception. But that spot is hit or miss too.
Well it was a good day to be out for a walk. Even though I got to the river late it was only 32F when I left the parking lot, so the walk to the hole would warm me up. And I was thinking that I would need to keep moving in order to find the fish anyway. The water department had dropped the flows 12cfs in the middle of the night. And there was a bright, full moon last night too.
Things were stacking up against me! I would have to work for ‘em.
I didn’t see any bug activity along the run when I arrived. This run is pretty long, consisting of a couple of small pools or large pockets, runs along the bank, and a slower large pool at the end. I’ve caught fish all along the run and in all the fishy spots. Nice ones too – seventeen to over twenty inches.
I checked my rig from last week and I still had my #18 Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear as the lead fly followed by a #18 Pheasant Tail and a #22 Black Rojo Midge. That’s a pretty good setup for the morning. And I quickly found out that staying with that rig made it much easier on my frigid fingers!
I started at the top of the run, adjusting weight as I fished the various pools, pockets, runs and tailouts. Eventually I ended up in the slow pool at the bottom of the run.
No hits. No sightings. Nada.
The runs along the Gate Hole.
It was a bit disappointing, but I had the whole day to find them. I envisioned myself walking all the way upstream to the Tree Hole if need be. The fish are here, but where – only they know.
My next stop was to be the Nature Center Pool. I like to fish it even though it hasn’t really been a top producer. Shallow, fast riffles flow into a drop off at the top of the pool and that’s where I like it. The fish are usually either in the riffles just before the drop off – or in the deeper water just below them.
As I walked up to the spot I found a few kids playing along the bank. Boys maybe eight or nine – and acting just like eight- or nine-year-old boys. Walking in the water – splashing about – throwing stuff into the water.
Well fishing this spot would be no use so I continued on toward the Diver Hole. On the way I stopped at the previously mentioned fishy spots just to see. You never know unless you try – right. Well it was the same result as what I’ve found before. Nothing!
A close up of one of the seams along the Gate Hole.
When I finally reached the Diver Hole I found two guys fishing in the slow water below it. One was a guide and he was directing the client on where to cast, etc. I asked if they minded me fishing just upstream of them – near the boulders at the top of the pool – and they obliged. I briefly chatted with them and found that even though they could see a few fish – they haven’t had any hits so far.
Before casting into the hole I decided to change up my flies. There is a fly that I used at one time that the fish just killed. They eventually tore it up pretty good, but I still have it – for keepsakes. The dubbing on this fly is different than what I had so I never got around to tying one up - until last week that is. That’s when I went to the fly shop and picked up some of the dubbing along with a few other things.
My facsimile was pretty close to the original and I was anxious to give it a try and that’s what I replace my lead fly with. It’s a #16 Purple Prince and I followed it with a #22 Desert Storm and a #22 Flashback Black Beauty.
It was now about 10:45a/11a and I saw a few midges coming off. They were small ones and there weren’t a lot of them.
1st fish of the day - he took the Desert Storm.
I’ve read where a lot of times us fly fishermen read a fishing report and then use the flies that are recommended in it. The result is the fish see a lot of the same flies and may start ignoring or even avoiding them. That’s one of the reasons I picked the Desert Storm. It’s a midge larva pattern and is used mostly in the winter months – and I don’t know of a lot of fishermen who use it. The Black Beauty? I almost always have that fly on in the morning. The fish love it.
I could see some fish at the top of the pool just beyond the submerged boulders, but they didn’t love my flies. Adjusting my weight – more weight, then less, my depth and my drift - proved fruitless. The fish seemed to be moving away from my flies – not toward them. When I see that after making all those adjustments – I leave.
I had my sights on the run along the bank above the #1 Plunge Pool where I hooked up a big one last week. As I gathered my stuff to head that way I saw a fisherman standing along the bank, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to fish “my” spot or was just looking. There was also a guy fishing the #2 Plunge Pool so I decided to fish the run leading into the Diver Hole and see if “my” spot opened up in the meantime.
There was no action in the run and I noticed that they guy was moving on from the bank near my spot. That was my cue to head that way. My hope was that the big rainbow was there. If he was and I got him to hit, I had a plan mapped out to net him this time. Instead of the big rainbow, I found an 8’ one. Not what I was looking for! He hit the Desert Storm.
Got this 12" rainbow in the pool below the Tire Hole.
I gave it a several more tries - landing another small guy on the Desert Storm - before heading farther upstream with my sights set on the Flag Hole. There were now fishermen all along the river upstream of me and my hope was the hole would be open. I was encouraged to find no fishermen in it until I spotted those little kids again! Ugh.
It appeared that they were with their dad and granddad just walking along the river taking in the sights. The dad and granddad moved along, but the kids stayed near-by jumping in more puddles and making a big racket. That’s when I asked them if they knew there was some tadpoles upstream of me in a little backwater. As soon as I did, they ran off. I must have spooked them!
It was now a little after noon and bug activity was picking up. Midges. Although I did spot a BWO or two. I ate streamside watching the river. As I looked into a soft spot of water that was formed by an eddie just below me I spotted a nice rainbow. I just finished my sandwich when I spotted him and was anxious to get my stuff together and go after him.
Another look at my 12" rainbow.
My pack was laying along the path a few feet from me and I needed it and my net. I stayed low as I moved for it not wanting to cast a shadow on the water where the rainbow was, but I needed to stand up to put on my pack and when I did my shadow was cast right above the rainbow. That’s all it took – he was gone - nowhere in sight.
But I still had the whole run to explore. After covering it from top to bottom and back again, I decided to move on. My next target was the Tire Hole and I walked directly to it bypassing some spots that have produced in the past. But I wanted to get into some fish – and big ones. Or at least bigger ones.
As I approached the hole I saw two guys fishing it from position A. The spot I wanted. So I decided to fish my “secret” spot. It’s a small pool at the very end of the run. There is a submerged weir and the water flows around it river left with a slow pool forming river right. I like to cross the river and fish it from the small pool casting into the fast water.
By now I had replaced the Desert Storm with a #18 Pheasant Tail – following it with a #22 Mercury Baetis. After casting into the seam of fast water several times I finally had a hit!
Yes – fish on. And it was a bigger fish – measuring a whopping 12”!
Got this 14" rainbow on a Cripple late in the day.
Not to sound braggadocious – and not wanting to jinx myself – I would normally call that a small guy. But it was the biggest fish I’ve caught in a couple of weeks!
Sometime this river is like this. And it’s usually in late fall. Small fish everywhere. I’ve commented on it in past blogs. You can still find the big guys but they’re not as plentiful and you have to take advantage of the opportunity when you hook one up.
One of the fishermen left Position A in the Tire Hole and I was hoping I could squeeze in at the bottom of the run. The fisherman who was left was accommodating - well more than accommodating, even willing to yield some of his space for me. As I chatted with him I found out that this was his first time fly fishing and the guy who had just left was a guide providing a ½ day lesson.
So I started at the middle of the run and worked my way downstream. But before going in I made a change to my flies. Midges were now coming off strong and I tied on a #22 Olive Jujubee Midge as my target fly. Eventually I was walking my drift downstream and when I got to a spot just above a submerged weir, I fish hit. And it was a strong hit. A BIG fish.
I set the hook and line immediately started to stream out of my reel. Then - - - nothing. What the heck?
When I retrieved my flies I noticed that my trailing fly – the Olive Jujubee Midge - was gone and the tippet between it and my Pheasant Tail was broken.
Damn it anyhow!
But these things happen. Earlier when I was in the Flag Hole, I got hung up not once - but twice - on some substructure and pulling on my line to release it may have weakened my tippet. You never know and you can’t change out your tippet every time you get a snag. Well I guess you could, but it would be a bit overkill in my opinion.
A few years ago I met Don Davenport while I was fishing the Tire Hole solo. I shared it with him, and we became friends. Coincidently he was fishing the Tailwater the same day as me and he sent me an email about his day on the river.
He fished “in-town” – the section of the river that runs through downtown Pueblo– and had great success netting several rainbows between 17” and 20”. The hot fly of the day for him was a #22 Top Secret Midge.
One of Don's 20" rainbows he got in town on a Top Secret Midge.
Don Davenport.
That section of the river sounds like a good place for my next walk!
After the big guy broke me off I continued to fish the bottom of the run with my eye on the weirs upstream of me. Just upstream of Weir #1 there is a run along the bank – river left that I like to fish, and farther upstream is Weir #2 another place I like to fish.
But at the time there were guys fishing it, so I bided my time in the Tire Hole waiting for something to open up. I also thinking of walking all the way up to the Tree Hole, but I couldn’t see it from my vantage point and didn’t know if it was open or not.
After a bit I decided to head upstream to see what I could find. When I got to Weir #1 the guy was still fishing the seam that I like upstream of it so I decided to cast dries to some rising fish. They were the little guys though and I wasn’t too excited. I did have some lighting quick strikes and missed them.
Then Weir #2 opened up and I headed that way. More little fish. That’s all I found and hooked up a few of them – 6” to 8” rainbows. They were hitting the Pheasant Tail.
On the way back downstream I asked the guy who was still fishing the seam above Weir #1 if he minded if I tried a small pool downstream of him. He was agreeable and we chatted a bit. He said he was netting some fish, but they were only the little guys. Got them on a #22 Chocolate Thunder. I didn’t spend too much time on the small pool. It was dry and I headed farther downstream, working my way to the car.
I eventually ended up in the slow water below the Flag Hole. Here the river looks like a lake – the water moves that slow through a large, deep pool. I was scouting a few troughs near the bank – river left. A place where I’ve caught some nice trout before. I didn’t see any there but noticed that there were some fish rising farther out in the almost still water.
They didn’t look like the little guys and the rises were creating dimples on the surface. That usually indicates that they are feeding just below the surface. Occasionally one would come all the way up to the surface. The midge hatch was still in progress, so I was thinking they were eating emerging midges.
My dry fly rig had a #22 Parachute Adams, a #22 Cripple, and a #24 Olive Jujubee midge as a Dropper already tied on it. Should work. After making several casts and not getting any interest I was thinking of heading home. The sun was getting low and it was getting late.
The end of the day with a rainbow in the net.
But I figured this is good practice and concentrated on my dry-fly casting techniques. One of them worked perfectly and I even commented to myself “that’s the way you do it”. My flies gently landed on the water and were riding high on the surface – then BANG!
A 15” rainbow hit my Cripple and I guided him to my net. I was happy to have a fish that actually put up a nice fight! That seemed like a good time to end the day.
Out for a walk along the river – netting a few rainbows along the way.
A good day to be out.
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