April 1, 2021 – The Pueblo Tailwater
Flows: 230 cfs – dropping to 207 cfs by 3p.
Water Temp: 40F @ 9a
Water clarity: Crystal clear
Air Temp: 32 @ 8:30a, 72 @ 4p.
Hatches: Midge – 10a to mid-afternoon. BWO – 1p to 2:30p.
Flies: #18 Desert Storm, #22 Flashback Black Beauty, #20 Pure Red Midge Larva, #20 & #22 Top Secret Midge, #18 Copper John, #20 Mercury Pheasant Tail, #22 Chocolate Thunder, #22 Barr Emerger, #28 Black Midge, #24 Mercury Beatis, #22 Cripple, #22 Improved Sparkle Dun.
Top producers: Top Secret (20 & 22), Chocolate Thunder, Pheasant Tail, Black Midge, Sparkle Dun.
A hen cutbow. I got this one in the fast water of the Valco Ponds Run.
First day of April - a good day to be on the river. - especially with temperatures forecasted to be in the low-to-mid 70s. By the end of the day – it felt to me as though the fish were fooling with me just as much as the April summer-like day.
Brian and I met at the Valco Ponds Run. Our thinking was the warm days that we’ve been having would both warm up the water, and spur bug activity. And that would get the trout out of their winter lies and into the faster water – where they would feast on the bugs.
It turned out to be a good call. As usual, Brian had already landed a couple of nice rainbows by the time I arrived at 8:45a. He was hoping this would be the day that broke his 4-week curse of landing a couple of fish early – then nothing the rest of the day. And it was. He ended up the day with 6 rainbows in the net. A very good day!
One of Brian's early catches. The fish in the tailwater are healthy and beautifully colored.
Photo by Brian Kenney.
The water temperature was a very favorable 40F – and the trout were definitely spreading out. Brian was fishing below the submerged tree and I started out in the fast water upstream of it. On about my second or third cast I had a fish hit. It was a hit that I would normally hook up a fish on – but I was distracted by something and didn’t get a good hook set. It would portend things to come for me.
These are tiny black midges that were eaten by one of Brian's rainbows.
I can’t remember a day where I lost as many fish as this day. Some were hooked up and fighting and somehow spit the hook, others were quick hits that I missed, while I had a couple others break my line. I also had a really nice fish on that took me under the submerged tree! Not a good place - and I lost that one too.
Another one of Brian's early catches. He took the small black midg
It was a big rainbow in the +20” range. I saw him in the fast water mid-afternoon – same place that I had originally started the day at. It took about 5 casts – with weight adjustments – to get the fly in front of him. The take was subtle, but I got a good hook set. The fish took me into the boulders and I was concerned about getting my line frayed by them. So I waded into the middle of the stream and kept my rod high to avoid any scraping of the top of the boulders. It worked. But the submerged tree was only about 10’ below where I finally got him out of the boulders. I was having a hard time handling him but was able to keep him from going under the tree - for a bit – then he got under it. By that time Brian was near me with his net in hand to assist landing this bad boy.
But once he went under that damn tree all bets were off. Brian waded into the deep water that is below the tree and we could see the fish still fighting to free himself. At that time I had no control of the fish as my line was tangled up in the tree. Brian took a few stabs at him but missed. Then the fish broke the line and was off.
Brian fooled this cutbow with a small black midge. (Nice work by Brian to use a fly that imitated what the were eating.)
Photo by Brian Kenney.
As a side note, when I arrived in the morning the water was flowing pretty high but was still very clear. I was thinking of going with 5x tippet versus 6x. (5x is stronger but thicker. More on that in a bit.) I usually rig my flies with 6x thinking that it offers more stealth. Since Brian had already hooked up and landed a couple of fish, I asked him if he was using 5x or 6x. He was using 5x. So that’s what I went with.
Besides those first 2 hits that I had right off the bat, I wasn’t getting fish that I spotted in the water to take. Then I lost my rig and went back to 6x and that’s what I fished the rest of the day. I was thinking to myself “Is this sort of like a superstition? Is there really that much of a difference between 5x or 6x?”
I wanted to do some research on that because I just couldn’t get off the thought that I need to fish 6x for the stealth. I also needed to restock my 5x and get some 4x (ekes!) for a trip that we are making to Wyoming. So I chatted with Tyler over at Minturn Angles explaining my trepidation to use 5x. Interestingly he said that all flouroflex tippet (that's what we use) is virtually transparent in the water. The difference between 5x and 6x from a diameter perspective is .001”. That’s one thousands of an inch! But 5x is much stronger – enabling the angler to fight and land larger fish. He further explained that to him – the reason to go to 6x is the size of the flies he’s using. For instance – in the winter on Colorado tailwaters – we fish with very small flies. So 6x is required to get the tippet through the eyelet of the fly.
So there you have it.
I will now be changing my tactics – using 5x unless I have flies on that are too small to use it with. Funny how you get locked into something – but you can’t really remember if it’s for a valid reason or not.
Releasing my 1st catch of the day.
Back to our outing. I probably would have been able to land a couple of the larger fish that I had on if I would have stayed with the 5x tippet. But there were other reasons for so many break offs. I’m pretty sure I was late on a lot of sets and on others I don’t think I got good ones. When you have a small fly – in the size 22 and 24 range – you have to set the hook so that it can penetrate the hard surfaces of the fish’s mouth. Earlier – more crisp – hook sets is something that I am going to be working on.
Something else I noticed regarding hook sets. When fish are feeding they face upstream. Makes sense, since the flies are caught in the current and float downstream. So typically the hook set is in a downstream direction. Once when I was with a guide he advised to set straight up. When I asked why that way instead of downstream, he said it’s easier to remember because sometimes the current is flowing to your right and sometimes it’s flowing to your left. Depending on what side of the river you’re on.
Well what I noticed is on a couple of my hook sets – the fish seemed to move downstream as they hit my fly. Like they were swimming with it. And when I set the hook – in a downstream direction – I basically pulled the fly out of their mouth. Interesting. So I might start setting the hook more in an upward direction and see if that makes a difference.
This rainbow hit my Chocolate Thunder.
We stayed in the Valco Ponds Run all morning. Initially, our plan was to fish that spot first – then move downstream towards Tom’s Run. Right before lunch, Brian asked if I wanted to move down in that direction. But right then I was going after about four fish I could see feeding at the top of the run – and I wanted to see if I could hook one up before leaving. Just after that conversation I was able to do just that. He took me into the fast water toward where else – the sunken tree. I was able to get him through the throat of the tree - where it had broken in two - and he was now in the deep pool below it. Then he broke free and my target fly was gone. I thought my knot broke loose – but when I inspected the flies and tippet I noticed that the tippet broke just below the second fly. Made me feel a little better – but not much.
When we broke for lunch I did have one fish in the net. Should have been several more – but at least I had one. Brian had a couple more to add to the two he caught earlier. As we were eating our lunch we noticed that there were fish rising. So we agreed to try to get some on dries before leaving for Tom’s Run.
Releasing another one caught in the fast water at the Valco Ponds Run.
I still had my Cripple and Sparkle Dun tied on to my dry fly set-up from our last trip. We weren’t sure what was hatching – but it was about 1p – and we figured they must be BWOs. Some fish were coming out of the water chasing whatever was hatching and some were sipping them on – and just below - the surface. My thought was this is perfect for a Dry/Dropper set-up. But since I had on my two dries – I thought I’d give them a try first.
Brian started upstream and I moved downstream below the sunken tree. On my first several casts I had two takes – and two misses. Then I had one on – yes! But as was the case – he somehow broke free by spitting the fly. Unbelievable! All were hitting the Sparkle Dun.
Then the rising stopped.
We could still see fish all along the run – so we continued to fish for them – instead of moving on. In fact we spent the rest of the day in that one spot. At one point, I tied on a Mercury Pheasant Tail and a Chocolate Thunder. Those did the trick and I landed a handful of fish with them. Yeah – I was actually able to get them in the damn net! I got them all in the fast water above the sunken tree.
A beautiful 19" rainbow Brian pulled out of the slow water behind the boulders.
Photo by Brian Kenney.
Meanwhile, Brian crossed the river and was fishing from the other side. After a bit he was able to entice a nice 19” rainbow to take in the slow water behind the boulders. Kudos to him, because it’s a difficult spot to fool a fish. The water is very slow and crystal clear. So the fish have a lot of time to inspect your offering and they can clearly see it. But he got him and was able to keep him from going under the sunken tree. Using the stronger 5x tippet paid off! And further proof that the .001” really doesn’t matter.
Brian called it a day a little after 3p. I didn’t have enough yet so I continued to fish for about another hour. In that time I had 2 more fish on. I got one in the slow water behind the boulders – same place Brian hooked up his rainbow earlier – this one ran into the boulders and broke my tippet. The other one spit my fly.
Par for the day.
This one looks like a painting.
Brian broke the curse and the fish were fooling with me - on that April Fools Day.
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