Arkansas River, CO

Ark River Brown

I know.  A two month hiatus from the blog. I have been on a two month trek into the wilderness, fishing everyday, with no internet access.  Not exactly.  However, I was in Colorado three weeks with work, and did manage to get two quick trips to the Arkansas River near Buena Vista, Colorado in.  Here are the goods.

I was able to fish a private section of the Arkansas near Nathrop twice during my 3 weeks at Young Life's Frontier Ranch.  This section was full of cookie cutter 14" wild brown trout.  The flows were lower this June (typical run off season) than they were in August 8 years ago due to the non-existant snow pack this winter. By lower flows, I mean it was running at 350 cfs as opposed to the 4000 cfs it was running last June. It made fro great wading in this typically big water.

Double stone fly rigs were the ticket. A big foam dry with a bead head stone dropper in the evening, or a double stonefly nymph rig in the heat of the day.

The fish below took me to my backing.  I think it was the first time that's ever happened to me on a trout.

Leroy made a run

This brown below was maybe the prettiest brown I have ever landed.  It was on fire with red fins and spots.

A total of 3.5 hours, 45 minutes one night at dusk and 2 hours and fifteen minutes in the heat of the afternoon, yielded about 10-12 fish.  3 rainbows, and the rest wild browns, most of which were 14 plus inches, but none bigger than 16".

Back in the winter, I didn't even think I would bother fishing during my three weeks in Colorado due to the traditional run off that would occur.  Turns out, run off was a non-event this year.  Fish have been fattening up and feeding like crazy with low flows and warmer water temps.  It will be a banner Spring and Summer on the Arkansas. Wish I had more the 3.5 hours to fish it.

Later Leroy