The Arkansas River Fishing Report 1/31/2113

  Hello all and once again thanks for checking in with our fly fishing blog. I wanted to put out a little river report and hopefully a few helpful hints. Winter time is not my favorite time of the year to fish but with a little patience fish can still be had. With the colder water temps the metabolisms of the fish slow considerably and the fish try to conserve as much energy as they can. The last few weeks we have been fishing deep slow runs while making sure we were getting to the bottom. Midge hatches will move a few fish into feeding lanes but they will just as quick move back to deep water. The sunny days have kept the size of the midges in the 24 to 26 range with a variety of colors. We have noticed a few spots that seemed to be holding a lot of fish but seemed to be having our best luck hooking a few fish and then going ahead and moving into the next hole. I know that can be a little more difficult on the more crowded weekends. If you are fishing a three fly rig then try to fish three different colors and check for yourself if they are keying in on any particular color for that day. For me, every day the fish seemed to be keying in on a different color. The last several trips to the river have produced very similar results, quite a few hookups with a descent number of fish landed. I have not hooked any pigs but have landed quite a few in the 15 to 18 inch range with the largest at just over 19 inches. Takes have been very subtle and with the deeper fishing about one in four fish have been hooked foul(time of the year). Over the next few weeks continue to hit the deeper runs and as we get later into February then we should start seeing the rainbows preparing for the spawn and most will start feeding a little harder again.

  Saturday the 9^th will be the TU fishing tourney between the damn and Pueblo Blvd. You still have the right to fish wherever you want but I would make a request that if you will be fishing that day to please go in below Pueblo Blvd. If you just want to watch, there should be some pretty good anglers and you never know, you may even learn a thing or two. As always, thanks for reading and hope you get out and enjoy this beautiful mild weather we have had. Connell, Cat, Winston and THE Drift Fly Shop.