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Upper Arkansas River - Buena Vista Area Monday, July 26, 2010Flow at Granite: 455 cfs Water Temp.: 50s Clarity: Good ArkAnglers has teamed up with the Liars' Lodge in Buena Vista to offer a Women's Fly-Fishing Retreat in late August/early September. The session includes three nights lodging, the ArkAnglers Fly-Fishing School, optional additional days of guided fishing, breakfasts, two group dinners, and three evening seminars on relevant topics by the ArkAnglers staff. Email to info@arkanglers or call Greg at 719-539-4223 for details. Monday Update - Stuart Andrews Fishing with flies we can see!! It's mid-summer form for the Upper Arkansas, her streams and lakes. The flyfishing opportunities from Hecla Junction up are as varied and productive as one could hope to see, so bring your quiver of rods and sample the diversity. Several of the high stream trips I've done this past week have grand slammed (Cutthroat, Brook, Rainbow, & Browns) and it's been on a great combo of dry/droppers or double dries. On the river itself, Stimis and PMXs in Royal, peacock, and orange (10,12,14) have been a great top fly for the mornings, trailing the flashback PT or nymph (14,16) of your choice to hit the edges and seams. We've had solid PMD and Trico interest, so trailing a smaller Barr's emerger, RS2 or biot midge (18-22) as a 3rd fly can keep the action steady into early afternoon. Since the heat of the day drives the fish deep, try re-rigging with double BH nymphs and looking for the cooler, faster runs to keep the action going through to early evening. Still lots of other caddis species active, and going with the stimi/micro or mothers day caddis combo for the evening is a good bet. The fish are well dispersed, just cast between the kayaks and rafts if you're in Browns or the Numbers. From the Otero Pump Station on up past Granite, you can find good fish along the drops into deeper water as you move up the banks. Up above the US 24-Hwy 82 junction, water is summer low and clear, so use stealth and a delicate setdown to get within casting range of the Hayden meadows fish. The tributaries like Clear, Cottonwood, and Chalk Creeks are lower than usual for this time of year, but have been a ton of fun to work with a 7'6" rod and a single dry. Eager little brooks & cutts make this the perfect place for new anglers to learn about trout and their ways. Closer to the valley floor, browns and 'bows fill the niche and take flies with the same gusto. The lower, easily accessible lakes like Cottonwood and Crystal are all packed with trout and are fishing well in the mornings and evenings with a variety of midge and small mayfly patterns. There, suspend a small BH black or red biot midge off the dries and look for the windshadows to find feeders. As usual, I have been ranging around to as many alpine lakes as possible to test new flies and see how the Cutts came through the winter. This past week, I had a chance to get into 3 waters at 3 different elevations and found that the spawning behavior had wound down in all but the very highest lakes and the terrestrials were beginning to appear. On one trip, a variety of small hoppers, caddis, beetles, and mayfly dries brought strikes from greenback cutts up to 14". It's hard to beat the backdrop in these places, too. Tomorrow (7/25), I plan to get into Ptarmigan again, or a lake I've never been to, just heard about and will report back soon. Over in South Park, Antero continues to amaze with numbers and sizes of fish. As long as the heat continues, look to the deeper zones (9' +) for suspension nymphing and intermediate line tactics. Damsels, callibaetis, and leech patterns continue to attract the best action. This will probably slow in August, so get there soon. The Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area (Dream Stream) of the Platte has been seeing some fluctuations in her flows, but fishing has been good with Tricos, PMDs, and micro Caddis patterns. If all of this sounds daunting, give us a call at the Salida (719-539-4223) or BV (719-395-1796) shops to get the latest conditions and set up a day on the water of your choice, with one of our experienced guides. We can hook you up! Buena Vista shop is open 8:00-6:00 Mon-Sat, 8:00-5:00 Sun For more information/updates, call the Salida shop at 719-539-4223 or BV at 719-395-1796. |
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