Falling River, Rising Fish

If you follow our fishing conditions page on www.arkanglers.com, you know that prophesy is not necessarily my strong suit. Especially when it comes to projecting river flows. I have been watching this river for many years, serve on the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District board, and have many contacts in the rarefied chambers of water management. Despite these advantages, I am often surprised, if not downright contradicted, by the behavior of this river in May and June. Now that it is July, I will humbly crawl out of my cave of humility and see if I can see my shadow, or at least see my way out of the woods.

 

We had an early peak around Memorial Day and then cool weather dropped and cleared the river for awhile. We had a second lower peak in mid-June and then the river dropped again. And then last Friday the river rocketed to its highest flow yet, the result of heat, the high angle of the sun, continued west-slope imports, and full storage vessels on the upper river. Monday morning we were at 3530 cfs at Wellsville. Today we are already back down to 2630 and dropping. It has been a prolonged process but it looks like we are finally headed into summer flows on the Arkansas.

 

All has not been doom and gloom during this time. The fishing at Antero Reservoir has been insane – many trips catching 30-40 fish or more and many fish over 5 lbs. The upper end of the Arkansas, above the confluence with Lake Creek, has been overrun with caddis and a variety of stoneflies. The main channel has been too burly to fish but the side channels and pockets in the grass have been full of aggressive feeders. Over the last three weeks, most of our high lakes have opened and cruising cutthroats have challenged the blood pressure of a number of ArkAnglers’ guests. All of these waters, and our lovely tributaries, will continue to produce even as we turn our attention back to the Arkansas. There is no shortage of fishing opportunities in July and August!

 

What can we expect on the big river? I think we will be dropping into the Very Fishable flow range of 1600 and below by early next week. At that level, the river is out of the willows and there is plenty of good structure breaking up the flow along the banks. Golden stoneflies will still be in evidence but yellow sally stoneflies and pale morning dun mayflies will take center stage. Hoppers will be profuse along the banks and caddis, in a variety of sizes and colors, will fill in the gaps. July and August represent some of the best dry fly fishing of the year. Mornings may suggest a beadhead dropper but midday to evening should be double dries along the edges, my favorite combo being a size 16 yellow stimulator followed by a 16-18 light cahill (pmd).

 

Oceanic and atmospheric observations are suggesting a fair bit of moisture in the rockies this summer. So we may see some days when monsoon rains murk up the lower river and push our trips upstream. Outside of those occasional events, we expect great fishing in Bighorn Sheep Canyon for the next 120 days. Depending on how you look at it, that’s a long time or will be gone before we know it. Either way, we hope you will find your way to the Arkansas this summer or fall.

 

We update our website almost every day. And we are here on the phones and email from 8-6, seven days a week (8-5 on Sunday). Please call us if we can help you with information, equipment or a trip. And we look forward to your next visit.

 

Best Regards,

 

Greg Felt

ArkAnglers

Cool Days Clear the Water

Every year at this time, nature affords us a few weeks to regroup from the spring and reload for the summer. Actually, it is often more like a month. But this year has been different with intense heat coming early and a large amount of snow melting in May, ahead of schedule. And while a cool, moist weather pattern circulates over the upper Arkansas River basin now, the fact is that we are moving through the runoff period quite gracefully thus far. We have seen the river go as high as 3350 cfs this spring but now it is back down to 2120 cfs with good visibility along the edges and NOBODY fishing. Moving upstream, flows become increasingly fishable, with about 550 cfs in Hayden Meadows and 1810 cfs in Browns Canyon.

A common misconception at this time of year is that one can’t catch fish above a certain flow level (fill in the blank, everyone has their own opinion) or turbidity (this ranges from crystal clear to coffee with cream). In my experience, there is no limitation based on flows or turbidity.  There are no absolutes, rather it is the relationship between yesterday and today that matters. 2120 cfs is a lot of water, and two feet is not a lot of visibility (both looked at from Arkansas River standards), but if it was 2500 yesterday and one foot of visibility, then the trend is decidedly positive and fish will respond accordingly. (As I am writing this, a local angler just walked in. He had just spent a few hours fishing the County Line section in upper Bighorn Sheep Canyon and had tremendous action along the shoreline). Runoff does not appear as a steady slope on a graph. It is a series of peaks and valleys with a lot of plateaus mixed in. Any time things flatten out or drop, clarity improves at the same time that fish become established in their positions. This is when hungry fish go nuts!

The way this runoff is playing out, I do not anticipate the river getting really high. It may not even hit the high point of 3350 cfs set last Friday. As a result, there are going to be plenty of days over the next three weeks that will fish quite well. After that, summer and stoneflies are full on. It all looks pretty good from here on out.

For those who are impatient, or don’t want to wager on peaks versus plateaus, our trips to Antero Reservoir have been absolutely red hot. We are talking about high fish counts and big fish in a beautiful setting on a comfortable boat. If you have wondered about this South Park fishery, now is the time to hit the water. We have good availability in the weeks ahead.

Warmer Weather Brings New Options

Warm weather and longer days have brought snowmelt into the Arkansas River, raising the water levels and increasing the turbidity. Conditions are poor from Salida down but we are still fishing the river from Browns Canyon on up. Caddis continue to hatch in Browns Canyon and the section between the canyon and Buena Vista, and blue wing olives continue to emerge on cloudy days as well. While we continue to float and wade the river, this time of year our attention is diverted by other options:

Antero Reservoir – Our boat-based trips on Antero have been incredibly productive recently. Many fish caught and some of excellent size, as the photo below demonstrates.

 

These trips depart daily early – 5:30-6:00 am – and the wind can bring them to an end by early afternoon. But the fishing is incredible right now and we highly recommend this trip. Larry Friedrichs and Larry Stiefel both have custom fishing boats so we have  four person per day capacity. This trip is a great alternative to the river from now through the end of June.

 

Mid-Elevation Lakes – There are many options opening up in the valley right now that offer the peace of a lake in the mountains coupled with hungry feeding fish. On some of these lakes, we are able to launch our float fishing rafts for better access. On others, we work the shoreline.

 

Tributary Streams – Some of the tributaries are raging, but many are fishing well already. Fish are hungry in these streams and a dry-dropper rig works fantastic. While the pressure can be significant in the summer, early season fishing there is excellent.

 

We have been keeping close tabs on the river conditions. Visit our conditions page at www.arkanglers.com for the latest updates. If these trips are of interest, or if you want to plan ahead for stonefly fishing in the second half of June, call us at 719-539-4223 or email us at info@arkanglers.com.

We look forward to fishing with you!

Fly-Fishing Schools with ArkAnglers

ArkAnglers fly-fishing schools are a great way to introduce friends or family to fly-fishing. The schools begin with a morning classroom session, followed by a casting clinic, lunch, and a half day of guided wade fishing (2:1 guest to guide ratio) on our private water in Bighorn Sheep Canyon. With flows dropping and the river becoming much more accessible, this is a great time to get someone started in the greatest of all sports.

We currently have classes scheduled for this Saturday (4/4) and Saturday, April 18th. Cost is $175 and includes all equipment, flies, and lunch. Call us at 719-539-4223 or email to info@arkanglers.com for information or reservations.

Flows Dropping on the Arkansas!

Many who monitor conditions on the Arkansas River know that winter and early spring flows have been unusually high this year, the result of releases from Twin Lakes. The Bureau of Reclamation has been moving water from Twin Lakes to Pueblo Reservoir in order to vacate space for imports from the Frying Pan drainage during runoff. The large releases reflected the intent of the Bureau to move this water early, so that they would be able to reduce flows during the critical period of 4/1-5/15. Though late storms could necessitate some additional mild releases, the Bureau has completed its plan on time and is now stepping down the flows over the next four days. By Friday, the entire 330 cfs run from Twin Lakes will be reduced to zero, leaving us with a Wellsville flow around 300 cfs.

 

To say this is good news would be an understatement. Spring flows of 250-400 cfs are optimal for the brown trout fishery:

 

-         Dropping the flow reduces the current velocity, allowing brown trout to make use of much more river bottom habitat. This reduces competition, allowing more fish to feed more effectively.

-         In April and May, reduced flows allow the water temperature to warm more, strengthening the hatches and increasing trout metabolisms.

-         Lower flows also lead to better recruitment of brown trout fry as they emerge from the redds in April.

-         Low flows make wading easier and make more of the river accessible to anglers.

 

While it is early yet to project, it looks like flows will remain quite low well into May. There may be an occasional slug of murky water due to rain or melt from an abnormally hot day, but true runoff will probably not be a factor until May 20^th or so.

 

Blue wing olives are hatching consistently now and caddis should begin to emerge in Canon City in 2-3 weeks. There are a few caddis around, not the species that causes all the excitement, but fish will take them off the surface late in the day. Stonefly nymphs and caddis larvae continue to take a lot of fish early in the day while the afternoons are devoted to blue wing olives.

 

If you’ve been holding out for dry fly fishing or easier wading, the wait is over. Both are happening now on the Arkansas.

 

Greg Felt

Rising Fish on the Arkansas

Though today’s weather looks like winter, it has triggered the hatch we associate with spring. Blue wing olive mayflies are coming off from Stone Bridge to Canon City and our trout are onto them. Rising fish have been spotted throughout this reach and are providing local anglers with the first good dry-fly fishing of the year.

 

Most of the recently emerging bugs have been size 18, even some in the 16 range, and have been coming off with even mild cloud cover. Wind, a potential part of any spring day, has had no real impact on the hatch or feeding. The hatch has typically been happening between 12:00 and 4:00 when a little cloud cover combines with water temperatures in the 40s. The hatch can be very localized – strong emergence and feeding in one riffle-pool-tailout and little or nothing in the next. So moving around and observing fish/bug/bird behavior is a good idea.

 

Also, it can take a critical mass of adult bugs on the surface to get the fish to switch from emergers to dry flies. As a result, combining the two forms is a good idea. I like to drop the emerger a good 3-4 feet behind the dry. This gives the second fly a longer drift time. This tactic is more effective if you take a “field view” of the water as opposed to focusing solely on your dry. Looking into the water will help you spot fish feeding beneath the surface and give you more information than just staring at a little parachute adams.

 

 

Look Into My Crystal Ball…

The spring fishing season has begun on the Arkansas River and many are wondering what the next sixty days have in store for the fishery. If one is sitting in Denver, checking the scattered data points that are available on the internet regarding our flows and snowpack, one might think that we are heading into a situation similar to last spring. At that time, late releases from Twin Lakes kept us at two to three times our normal flow through April and the first half of May, making fishing difficult and the hatches inconsistent. While the pattern looks similar today, it isn’t. We are in for major positive change in about ten days. The following paragraphs contain our predictions for the months ahead – they are not airtight, but they have been formed in consultation with experts on this basin. They represent the most likely scenario based on what we know at this time.

 

1)    Flows in the river are higher now than the historical average. Despite the long spate of beautiful weather we have enjoyed, this higher flow is in no way the beginnings of an early runoff. Rather, 55% of the water in the river today is coming out of Twin Lakes. While the Wellsville gauge reads 638 cfs today, the discharge from Twin Lakes is 348 cfs, with 280 cfs of that being trans-mountain water. The Bureau of Reclamation has been moving a significant quantity of water all winter to make room for native runoff and imports from the Western Slope. They have taken a proactive stance this year so that they will be able to back off the releases from April 1^st to May 15^th, as suggested in the fishery flow recommendations of the Arkansas River Voluntary Flow Management Program. Based on today’s flows and releases, if the Bureau were to stop their Fry-Ark releases right now, we would be looking at a flow of about 350 cfs at Wellsville. So expect 350-400 cfs starting in early April.

2)    The Bureau began moving water early this year because our early to mid-winter snowpack was well-above average. In mid January, the upper basin (above Salida) snowpack was about 140% of normal. As of today, we are down to 107% of normal. The outlook for the Fryingpan drainage, where much of our imported water originates, has declined similarly. The snowpack accumulation season is not over, but the forecast looks dry. We expect the snowpack percentages to continue dropping.

3)    The warm weather we have had for the last two months, coupled with a lack of precipitation, has dissipated all of our low elevation snow and has dried out many south-facing slopes. Our snow line is currently at about 9500 feet – all of our “vulnerable” snow is gone. What this means historically is that we can expect a late runoff. Given that most of our snow is high, and on north-facing slopes, we will probably maintain good fishing conditions until May 15-20^th, have a mild runoff, and be back in action on the Arkansas around June 20^th. The high snow, and especially the north slope snow, does not come off until the angle of the sun is near its peak, during the second and third week of June. Every year run-off plays out a little differently but this high and north slope snow simply does not come off earlier, regardless of temperature.

4)    The condition of the river bed, home to our aquatic insects, is excellent. High water last year scoured a lot of the mud and clay out of the substrate. Then an absence of monsoon rains in July and August meant that we experienced no summer flash floods – the muck did not get replenished so our mayfly and stonefly populations have really benefited. Expect great pale morning dun and yellow sally hatches throughout the summer. And a strong blue wing olive hatch this fall.

 

When the flows drop at the beginning of April, the resulting decrease in current velocity will open up a lot more habitat to our brown trout, give the emerging brown trout fry a better chance at survival, create better wading and fishing conditions, and allow the hatches to come off more consistently and the fish to take best advantage of them. We ought to have six, maybe seven weeks of good conditions on the Arkansas before runoff takes its natural course. If you haven’t scheduled your trip to the Arkansas yet, now is the time. Feel free to call us at 719-539-4223 or email to info@arkanglers.com with questions or to make reservations.

 

 We look forward to some great spring fishing this year!

 

 

Greg Felt

Correction on Fly Tying Demo

The fly-tying demo with Dirk Bosley is Saturday 3/28 and not 3/21.

Sorry for the confusion

Greetings Anglers! A few announcements and some fishery news:

If you missed it, there was an informative article by Charlie Meyers in the Denver Post yesterday. Go to http://www.denverpost.com/huntfish/ci_11882783p

 

to view it. There is also a related story link adjacent to it regarding a presentation Greg Felt will be giving to the Denver Cutthroat Chapter of Trout Unlimited on Tuesday night (3/17).

Saturday, March 21st Dirk Bosley will be giving a fly-tying demo at our Pueblo shop from 10:00 – 12:00. The topic is “Tying the Caddis Life-Cycle”. Dirk is an accomplished tier and teacher and will be glad to help all with caddis or other tying challenges.

Also on March 21st, we have two instructional programs going on at our Salida shop. Carol Neville will be teaching one of our regular fly-fishing schools on the Arkansas River. Course includes a morning of classroom instruction, a casting clinic, lunch, and a half day of guided wade fishing on our private water (2:1 guest to guide ratio). Cost on that is $175/person. We will also be conducting our Fly Fishing 101 class on 3/21. This is a group clinic on the basics of fly-fishing and some on-stream work, but does not include lunch or the 2:1 guided trip. Cost is $100/person but includes a $100 gift certificate redeemable at any of our three shops. Call 719-539-4223 or email to info@arkanglers.com for more information.

On April 11th, Pueblo shop manager Alex Zipp is hosting a trip to Maria Lake down near Walsenburg. Details are listed below:

Maria Lake Trip

Come join us for a full-day outing to Maria Lake!

What: A full day of fly-fishing on a 250 acre private lake for trout averaging 18-20 inches.

When: 8:00 am till dusk, April 11th.

Where: Maria Lake, just east of Walsenburg.

Cost: $150/person unguided; $275/person guided. Lunch included in both rates.

Stop in or call 719-543-3900 to register.

Come Join the 24″ Club!

 

We’ve had a number of inquiries lately from people looking to purchase used float fishing rafts. Spring is a tough time to find them. Most folks, and certainly most outfitters, who’ve sat on a used boat through the winter are generally going to keep it through the ensuing season just in case they need a back-up. That said, ArkAnglers is a dealer for Aire, its subsidiary, Outcast, and Downriver Equipment. Since we don’t stock a showroom full of boats we are able to keep our costs down and offer these lines to our customers at very competitive prices. If you are looking for a boat, frame, or combination, I urge you to get a quote from us before you buy. You may be surprised at what we can do to help you out.

Finally, it’s time for another reminder to book your spring fishing trips soon. Reservations are coming in at an accelerating rate. If you have specific dates that you want to fish, or a specific guide that you want to fish with, I encourage you to get signed up soon. These hatches will be starting before we know it!

We look forward to fishing with you!

Greg Felt

ArkAnglers

Lonely Fish Seek Attentive Anglers

I continue to be impressed with the fishing reports coming out of Bighorn Sheep Canyon. Earlier this week we conducted a “Never-Ever” trip for a husband and wife, neither of whom had used a fly rod before. Each landed three fish on the half day trip and had action on several more. The folks around here who have a better idea of what they are doing are chalking up even better results, particularly through the middle of the day when the sun is on the water. We are definitely hearing some reports of 20-fish afternoons.

Up at the Salida end of the canyon, stonefly nymphs and black midges seem to be the most productive. Lower down, the stoneflies are still the best lead nymph, but tan and red midges are generating good results. Not many folks are fishing yet so the intrepid angler can usually find miles of water for herself. Expect blue wing olive mayflies to begin hatching in the canyon about a month from now.

If you can’t wait that long for dry fly activity, we strongly suggest a trip to the Pueblo tailwater. BWOs have been hatching most days there for months and the fish definitely have an eye to the surface. Call our Pueblo shop at 719-543-3900 for information or directions. 

Rainbow on the Pueblo Tailwater

 

 In addition to the Fly-Fishing 101 class described in the entry below, we are continuing to offer our traditional Fly-Fishing Schools. This combines a morning of classroom instruction with a casting clinic and then half-day guided wade trip (2:1 guest to guide ratio). We have one scheduled in Pueblo on 3/7 and classes in Salida on 3/21, 4/4, and 4/18. Call us at 719-539-4223 for Salida classes and 719-543-3900 for instruction in Pueblo.

We’ve also had a number of inquiries this winter regarding our rowing instruction program. We are not offering our 5-Day class this spring but do offer customized individual instruction on a daily basis, just like our guided fishing trips. We typically begin conducting these classes 3/1 and continue to do so through about 4/20, when we take a break for the caddis hatch. Give us a call or email to info@arkanglers.com if you would like more information.

Finally, if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to start planning your spring trip(s) on the Arkansas. Float trips begin around the first of March and our private water wade trips are already on the water. We want to accommodate everyone, but the sooner reservations are made, the better job we can do of it. See you on the water soon!

Greg Felt