Windy day on the Arkansas River

Went down to the Arkansas River around Texas Creek with my brother and Mark to try and catch the caddis hatch.  We stopped by Royal Gorge Anglers and they thought the recent snow may have pushed back the hatch a week or so.  Not the news we were hoping for but we still had high hopes for the fishing.

We start fishing each at our own spots.  Derron starts above us and catches a couple of fish before I hear Mark has landed his first fish.  I,  still having no luck, try some nymphing and still nothing.  I decide to walk upstream and do some dry fly fishing near the edges. 

I find a nice slack water area on a bend and start casting.  Couple casts in I have landed a nice 12" brown trout to start me off.  I move a little farther upstream and find a nice section of water where I can see fish feeding on the surface.  I cast out the bwo and bam! I got another good size brown landed.  I catch two more before the guys get me and we drive downstream a little.

We try one of the state wildlife pullouts and try our luck on a section of water with almost no structure.  I move to just below a set of riffles with a couple of boulders that are creating some slack water.  I cast a few times through before I finally get a bite and have landed another 12" brown.  I move above the riffles and try another couple holes but can't get anything.  With Derron and Mark having no luck we decide to try another pullout upstream a little.

We find a nice section of water with a bend and some good structure.  I find a couple of runs to try and cast out a caddis.  A couple casts in I land another brown somewhere in the 12" range and then another to finish off the day.

The day ended up being pretty slow fishing and pretty windy all day making the dry fly casting a pain.  Always good to be out fishing with friends and family though.

Rod:  Unagi 12'
Line:  Riggs Floating Line 12'
Flies that worked:  BWO, Elk Hair Caddis