Fly Fishing Report Pueblo's Arkansas River Tail-water

2/16/2013

I stand ankle deep in the Arkansas River near the nature center.. 

The Arkansas River tailwater remains  a skinny line of water moving through Pueblo. It reminds me of some of the skinny snow runs I have maneuvered down on my tellemark skis this winter. Skinny snow runs now will mean even skinnier waters later.We still need snow. We still need water. The fish need a bigger river.

I fished today with my guide friend Ron. We guided together for years and years. We tended to often see things the same way. It is meaningful to fish with people when you both see eye to eye.

Probably the most important issue that Ron and I share is the pace that we now fish. No need to haste. No need to catch "tons" of fish. No need to "catch as many as we can".  No need to fish all day.  No need to sit on one hole all day. A slow walk along the river stopping here and there and making some casts. Ta;lking. Looking. Catching a few here and there. 

I think in the end more of us should learn to fish in this manner. We don't know how and if these fish are going to hold up in these skinny waters. The river is crowded. If the weather patterns does not change these fish will be stressed for another season. A whole other year.  

The fish we caught took the usual fly patterns. A size 16 green thorax bead head Pheasant tail nymph and a size 22 gray RS2. We could have caught more fish and if we stayed longer we would have probably had to change flies. But why?

Let the skinny water flow. Let the fish go.