Arkansas River near Canon City

I see Royal Gorge Anglers web site is predicting a mass caddis hatch later this week. Anyone from around the area? Where is a good place to get on the river?

[This message has been edited by mwebb (edited 11 April 2006).]

The Arkansas has lots of access. Good access in Canon City as well as up river. I think its still too early for the caddis hatch. If you come down stop at either Royal Gorge Angles or Arkanglers in Pueblo and pick up a map that shows where there is public access. I suspect that there is 60+ miles of public access on the Arkansas between Canon City and Leadville. When the hatch occurs it will start in Canon City and work its way up stream. It can get real crowded but you can find places to fish.

Bill has told me that the "mothers day hatch" he really considers really to be a tax day hatch, it usually starts around the 15th and continues thru mid May. The insects aren't coming off in such great numbers and there are fewer fisherman on the water. Also remember the fewer insects on and in the water the easier it is for the fish to locate your fly. To see that many insects is a sight to see but your chances have also gone way down.

If you really want to know when the hatch is on you drive up the canyon - usually after noon - and when your windshield gets dirty you stop and fish. It can get frustrating when the fish are jumping like crazy and you have tried almost every caddis pattern in your box and you only get an occasional hit. You also can't tell your fly from the real ones .... Much fun

I hate crowds, so my buddy and I fished the Ark middle of last week, from Salida down about 10 miles to Howard. Fishing was HOT, and we each got 4 trout over 15 inches and too many to count at a foot or less, mostly browns plus a few rainbows. The big brown was 19 inches! Big dry as indicator and tiny #18-#22 blue or green copper john as dropper nymph in the AM. Then when clouds and rain moved in about noon, the BWOs started coming off, and we fished BWO dries + emergers until late afternoon when the sun came out again; at that point fishing cooled down and our arms were sore from fighting fish anyway, so we headed to the bar. We really only hit Swissvale (Rincon lease) up to the Stockyard bridge over those 3 days -- it was enough! We met only 2 drift boats and 2 waders that whole time( we were wading).

Sorry that I'm not really answering your questions about the caddis hatch. Just bragging because it was an awesome fishing trip last week! But I think if you hit Salida right now, you'll get good fishing, no crowds, and BWOs. The caddis might be starting soon down low near royal gorge and canon city, but by the time caddis are popping up around Salida, the river will be crowded. At least Christo won't be stringing plastic tarps over the river until 2009....

The folks at ArkAnglers in salida were very helpful, and we bought the locally-produced, VERY detailed color river map there....ESSENTIAL, shows all the legal access so you can avoid trespassing accidentally. But the guy at Angler's Junction, at the very East end of town, was the one who put us onto all those big fish and hot spots.

DAN

Ah, the Royal Gorge. When it's "my turn" I hope God adds to my life the hours I spent viewing a "View Master" reel depicting the Royal Gorge, the bridge and the SantaFe RR train and tracks at river level. That was probably the early fiftys and I still have it. To my GREAT dissapointment, I got to visit the Gorge when I was on tdy at Ft. Carson. Looked like a travelling carnival at the top. I left and prefer my "original" memories.

Mark

------------------
I'd rather be in Wyoming!

The caddis hatch is very water temperature dependant, 55 degrees and above, so the hatch will start on the lower river around Canon City and move upstream. Currently the river is seeing those temps for at least part of the day between Canon City and Texas Creek. Once the water temps hit 55, the Brachycentrus Caddis larva return to their cases, close them off, and begin the pupal maturation stage which takes 5 to 8 days. This activity started the middle of last week on the lower river so I would expect to be seeing mature caddis about now in and around Canon City.

There is excellent access to more than 2 miles of the river right in Canon City. They have spent more than $2M in trail, access, and stream improvements in the last couple of years and have another $1M earmarked for future improvements.

The first public access above Canon City is at Parkdale, just west of the Royal Gorge. Between Parkdale and Salida there is very good access to the river, and the access areas are clearly marked.

There has been some muddy water moving down stream caused by construction work near Buena Vista, but it's been in small quantities. If you encounter it, just drive a ways upstream and you'll find clean water again.

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/053906.gif

------------------
Dan S
"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel." Roderick Haig-Brown, A River Never Sleeps