Skinny Waters of Pueblo's Arkansas River Tail-water is Fine for Kids

Presently, Pueblo’s Arkansas River Tailwater is flowing at 60CFS.  A trickle of skinny water.  This is not the best flow for veteran fly fishers who have experienced the fabulous fishing of this past year and even this past summer where we saw reasonable flows between 200-300CFS. Yet, this skinny water was fine for a group of 4^th and 5^th graders I took on a field trip this past Friday. The low flows are much more manageable for kids.

For the past two decades, as a teacher and counselor, I have been taking groups of kids on their first fly fishing trip. How could I not? To see a kid’s face light up as they catch their first trout on a fly is one of the most amazing experiences. And the fact that such experiences cannot be measured or assessed on some standardized test makes it all the more wonderful.

The kids managed to catch small rainbow trout by drifting a small RS2 fly in the riffles and runs. A size 22 RS2 nymph continues to be one of the most consistent fly patterns for this section of river. The kids were amazed that such a small hook could actually catch fish. 

For the most part the bigger fish eluded us. However, one 5^th grade girl was fishing in a run when suddenly her strike indicator shot up stream. She lifted the rod and was battling a good size rainbow. She respectfully listened to my instruction as she did a great job of letting the fish take out line when it surged away and yet she also kept the slack out and reeled quickly when the fish moved back upstream. Back and forth she battled the fish.  I could tell she did not really know how big the fish was as it remained below the surface during the fight. Finally, I slipped the net under the 15 inch rainbow and lifted the fish out of the water for her to see. I said, “Look at this fish you caught”!

Her face lit up. Her laughter was ecstatic, perhaps, in part, in disbelief as she observed the colorful rainbow trout in the net.  Her first fish. Her first fish caught fly fishing. The skinny waters of Pueblos Arkansas River tail-water is fine for kids and a great place for them to catch their first fish.