Where to Go Arkansas River – Pueblo

 Conditions have remained good on the Ark tailwater. The flows have come up quite a bit and are now at 92 cfs. These are great winter flows and we do not know how long they will last. We are very unlikely to see these flows vary too much throughout the rest of the winter. Water temps have pretty much hit the coldest we will see all year. That being said, they arent cold enough to slow some of the hatches down. The river has been super busy this year and it doesnt seem to matter if its a weekend or a weekday. This location gets a lot more busy in the fall and winter. That being said, there is still plenty of fishable water down here. The fishing can be on the technical side, but persistence is the key. The fish are occupying all parts of the river and moving into riffles or shallower water to feed during the peak of the hatches. Nymphing has been the best method and the dry fly fishing has slowed down a bit recently.  We are seeing some rainbows starting to exhibit spawning behavior and have also seen a lot more redds in the river. It is very important not to disturb redds or any fish that are occupying them. This is the future of the fishery and we all need to do our part in helping these fish successfully spawn. There are plenty of feeding fish in the deeper sections of the river.

Hatches:

There are Midges, BWO's and still some Tricos in the system. Especially with lower flows, keep your patterns small and sparse! Pay attention to the hatches and switch accordingly. Cloudy days are supporting some absolutely great mayfly hatches.

Tactics:

Cover ground. Even though its busy you can still find some parts of the river that are relatively empty. Keep your terminal tackle on the small side with 5x and 6x tippet, and either small or no indicators.

  The river has been EXTREMELY busy. With the increase in angling traffic, its a great time to explore some of the lesser visited areas on the tailwater. Fishing in town has been great, just be cautious on where you park. and do not leave ANYTHING in your car.

Weather:

Short Term-  The recent storms in Colorado will start to exit the state tonight. We could see some flurries here this afternoon.  These storms brought some great moisture and snow to the high country. Still not enough to really make a dent in the low snowpack, but its a good start. We will warm up nicely on Saturday and that trend will continue into next week.  Temps will warm into the upper 50's and be mild otherwise. Temps will really warm up next week.

Long Term-  There could be another round of storms next week but they will likely be confined to the high country. Temps will end up getting pretty warm here by late next week and into the weekend. Forecasted temperatures are supposed to be in the 60's and 70's. Looking past that, there is some agreement that another active pattern could vbe coming our way sometime during the first week of March. Until then, it will be more of the same we have seen during this extremely mild winter. The hope is that the mountains can continue to get some more consistent snow. As we enter March, thats historically one of our snowiest months of the year. Fingers crossed that does happen.