Went out the past weekend to fly fish the Arkansas River below Salida for 2 days. My fishing buddy and I saw it was going to be 50 and sunny both days so we thought, why not go brush the cob webs off our fly fishing skills to get ready for the upcoming months on the river. Takes were very subtle n fish were hanging out super deep. But once we figured them out we were able to get into em. Ended up bringing 6 to the net on Sunday before 2pm, which Id call a good winter fly fishing day! Beyond excited for the spring ahead. It was a beautiful weekend learning a lot of new water and even had a bald eagle fly right over our heads at about 10yd.
The fish were in super deep pools, often nymphing 6-10ft to first fly, and had to use tons of weight and be super attentive to any tick in the indicator. We found black and tan to be the colors for midges and I only fished size 18. I saw more adult midges than I thought I would and around 10-11am a decent hatch of tan/grey/black midges were coming off.
Most fish we caught were on the smaller side, with a few 15in mixed in, and this 17-18in bow was the highlight of the trip. It ate a size 18 black rs2 on the swing at the end of my drift. The indicator didnt even budge but I swung the flies and lifted n had him on.
Cheers to all the fly fishermen out there who are just as excited for the upcoming season as I am!
