November 30, 2021 – Pueblo Tailwater (The Tree Hole to Tom’s Run)
Flows: 89 cfs.
Water Temp: 44F.
Water clarity: ~3’ to 4’ - improving.
Air Temp: 41F @ 8:30a – 54 @ 4p.
Hatches: Midge 9a – 4p, Trico 10a – 2p, BWO 11a – 2p.
Flies: #16 Red Copper John, #16 Chartreuse Copper John, #16, #18, and #20 Red Midge Larva, #20 Olive Midge Larva, #20 Red Mercury Midge, #22 Red Rojo Midge, #24 Top Secret Midge, #20 Mercury Pheasant Tail, #22 Mercury Grey RS2, #22 Chocolate Thunder, #24 Flashback Black Beauty, #24 Sparkle Dun, #24 Griffith’s Gnat.
Top producers: Red Midge Larva (all sizes), Top Secret Midge, Red Mercury Midge, Chocolate Thunder, Mercury Pheasant Tail, Sparkle Dun, Griffith’s Gnat, Olive Midge Larva.
The catch of the day!
The Front Range of Colorado is going on one of the longest periods in history without any snow accumulation. Lately, we’ve tied a few 140 year old records – and it seems each day ties another one. The people in Colorado are starting to freak out. Except golfers – like me. We have been able to get rounds in each week – even this past week - the 1st week of December! It does feel a bit like the Twilights Zone though. It’s supposed to be cold and snow here at this time of the year.
Not sure if the warm weather is affecting the fishing. The water temperature may be a bit higher for this time of year but it’s still been in the 40 degrees range. Ideal for trout habitat.
Brian and I have been fishing the Tailwater in Pueblo exclusively during the past six weeks or so. In my last blog titled “Where Have All the Big Fish Gone”, I mentioned that we’ve been catching a bunch of fingerling rainbows and only a few nice size fish here or there and was wondering what was going on. The Arkansas as a whole – and the Tailwater specifically – are a little different than the other rivers we fish here in Colorado.
One of the runs between the Tree Hole and the Bridge Hole.
I posted a question to the Trout Unlimited community to see anyone had any ideas. All the responses I got from the members regarding our experience suggested it was related to stockings and spawning. They reasoned the small trout were probably just stocked – and the big fish were busy spawning. I could see the stocking angle but not the spawning one because of the big fish that we did catch, most – if not all - have been rainbows. Not brownies. And the brownies are the only species that is currently spawning. Also, Brian mentioned that he spoke with a Colorado Parks and Wildlife employee about a year ago as he was in the process of stocking the river. The guy said they only stock 10” or larger fish.
Still stumped, I reached out to the biologist at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife department in Pueblo. She handles the Tailwater section of the Arkansas River. She explained that the small fish we're catching are not stockers and confirmed that the smallest they stock are 10" "catchable" trout. The 3" to 8" rainbows are naturally reproduced from the spawn this spring or during last year's. That's really encouraging news - indicating a healthy fish habitat!
She further explained that they see a lot of the little fish every fall and believes it has to do with the lower water levels moving them into concentrated areas. She was actually electroshocking the river this week and said she found more of the small fish than in prior years.
A female rainbow Brian caught in the Tree Hole.
She also saw a lot of fish in the 17" to 20" range, and a good amount in the 20" to 25" range. As for why we are not seeing and catching as of many of them as we normally do? She thinks it's because they are feasting on the small fries!
This all makes sense to me.
As for the Arkansas and Tailwater being a little different from the other rivers we fish in Colorado - it’s a big river. In the summer the flows are increased to over 2,000 cfs. That’s over 20 times the current flows. So in the summer the river is much bigger than when we fish it in the fall and winter. All the other rivers that we fish are pretty much the same size. Even though their flows are usually much higher during run off – they are not as much as 20 times higher.
That’s not to say the other rivers don’t have a similar effect. Point being - we were catching small fries on the Dream Stream in October. The flows on the Dream didn’t decrease by nearly as much, but they still decreased and the small fries probably became concentrated just the same. And the big fish were probably eating them too.
I’m now wondering when will the fish acclimate and go into their normal winter lies and feed as we've experienced in the last few years. It may take until the natural attrition process takes place. In other words – the weaker, slower or otherwise less fortunate small fries will be eaten. The stronger, faster and maybe luckier small fries will grow to the point that the big fish are not willing to expand the energy necessary to feed on them.
Another beauty Brian caught in the Tree Hole.
Brian Kenney.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the entire winter. I’m planning to pay close attention to what’s happening on the river as time goes on.
Meanwhile, we fished what I call the Middle Section of the Tailwater this week. That would be from below the Double Tree Hole to below the Tree Hole. We don’t fish this section too much. It seems to have a limited number ideal fishing spots to me. Although we have had great success in the Tree Hole – catching good numbers and sizes in it.
Since we haven’t fished it at all this year – we decided to give it a try. There was a decent midge hatch underway when we arrived at the river’s edge at 8:15a, and it was open. Brian got there just in time – as another fisherman was walking toward it but was a little slower than Brian.
There’s enough room for two guys to fish the hole. As we normally do, we took turns fishing the various parts of the hole and run. Brian would fish the top, I would fish the bottom – then we’d change places. It was all Brian in this hole on this day. He caught several rainbows in the 12” to 15” range, and pulled in an 18” and 19” rainbow - and a 24” brownie!
Brian releasing the big brownie back into the water.
There’s a tailout below the hole that is shallower than the hole itself and that’s where I started to fish. My rod was rigged with a HCD and I thought I’d give it a try knowing that to fish further upstream and into the hole, it would be best to fish it with a standard nymph rig. And I ended up staying with the HCD rig for quite a while. Too long in my estimation.
When I finally did switch to a standard nymph rig I had a couple of huge granny knots that required cutting my flies off and retying them. So I spent a lot of time out of the water. On one occasion as I was retying my rig Brian may have had as many as 5 fish on!
And there were the trees to deal with. We call it the Tree Hole – but there are actually a few trees that line the north side of the river. We stand on the south side and cast into the current that flows under the tree branches. Sometimes the wind may cause a high cast – or you just get lazy with the cast – and your flies end up in one of those trees. I can’t tell you how many flies I lost in those damn trees over the years – but I can tell you I lost 5 or 6 in them on this outing!
Brian got this female cutbow in the Tree Hole.
More time out of the water retying. For me -it was one of those mornings.
At about 10a quite a few fish began to rise to a Trico hatch. For some reason I can’t seem to resist fishing to rising fish. Even if they’re small fish. I spent maybe an hour to an hour and a half casting dries to them. I wasn’t sure if they were all the small fries or not – but was pretty sure some were. My hope was that there were some in the 12” range too. But they were all in the 6” to 8” range. At least the ones I caught.
While Brian was catching monsters - I was catching ones like this!
So while Brian was catching several nice fish and some monsters - I was catching a bunch of small fry rainbows and brownies!
Our plan was to head upriver after lunch. I had visions of nice rainbows feeding in the shallow seams at Tom’s Run and that was our ultimate destination. But along the way there were a lot of nice runs, riffles, pools, and holes to fish.
I hit one of them right after lunch that sits just upstream from the Tree Hole. There had to be a few nice fish in it – I was convinced. But after covering it a few times all I had was another 5 small fish. These ones were closer to 8” and maybe one towards 10”. I was making progress!
Brian in the Tree Hole with a nice 19" rainbow.
There were a several more spots along the way that I was sure would hold at least one nice fish each. But I kept getting little guys. Dang it anyway!
After a bit Brian met up with me and we proceeded to the Bridge Hole. We’ve fished this hole many times and it seems that we catch a couple of nice fish and then it goes cold. There is a fast riffle that feeds into it creating a deep pool. The fast water continues running from north to south. At the south shore it turns to the east and then continues under the bridge. There is slower water in the pool to the east of the fast water and an eddy to the west side of it.
Brian was fishing along the eddy, and I was on the north side. I usually start there and cast into the fast riffles above the hole, then proceed to fish the seam between the fast and slow water. Then I fish directly in the fast water – letting out line till my flies are at the bend. Then I let them drift to the surface.
Releasing one of Brian's rainbows in the Tree Hole.
Once I went through this process and as I left my flies float in the current toward the surface, I felt the tug of a nice fish – and I raised my rod high. It is very tricky to get a good hook set at the end of the drift. Pull up too fast and you pull the flies out of the fish’s mouth. Trying to set to the right or left is preferred – but easier said than done. So I just held the rod high and the fish was on.
My thought was “I can’t lose this fish. My first nice size fish of the day”. And I didn’t. He put up a good fight - making several runs - but I was able to guide him into the slower, deep water. As soon as he saw me though – he took another run. Brian came over to help net him. As I was bringing him back in he saw Brian he took yet another run. But he was tiring and I finally was able to guide him into Brian’s net.
I got this beauty in the Bridge Hole on a Mercury Pheasant Tail.
After that we leapfrogged a bunch of guys and headed into Tom’s Run and the Double Tree Hole. Once we got there I was disappointed that we didn’t see any fish in the normal spots. We both got a few little guys in both the run and hole – and I landed a 15” sucker in the Double Tree hole. But that was it.
We covered a lot of water and had about a mile or so walk back to the car. We fished it hard and it was quite a day. I was spent.
Even with just one nice size rainbow in the net – I enjoyed being on the river. And even catching the little ones on dries was fun.
The day belonged to Brian though. He caught his biggest fish ever and it was a sight to see!
One more look at this 24" bad boy!
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