Hello all and thanks for checking in at the O’Grady Fly
Fishing Adventures. If you are thinking it has been a while since I have posted
anything, then you are absolutely correct. When I first started working with the
Drift, I promised myself that I would never be one of those “get here the
fishing is always awesome” people. Many years ago, I had contacted a fly shop
and was told that conditions were awesome but when I got to the river, it was a
mess. I love fishing too much to ever do that to anyone.
Now on
to the Ark conditions, the flows have been teasing us gauge watchers all
summer. The river one day will seem to be on the way down and just about the
time you get excited, it goes back up and clarity has not been pretty. Today
the river was down to just over 700cfs and clarity was just a tad better than
last week. Cat and I decided that even difficult fishing would be better than
sitting on the couch. We got to the river around 9:30 and the day started
pretty slow. After an hour or so of nothing, we hooked into a few smaller fish.
We were hoping the river was beginning to turn on and the it went back into
shut down mode. We continued to explore and I made my way into an old favorite run
and first cast, I landed my fish of the summer. I muscled him in as quickly as
I could, and was thrilled when I got him netted. He was just a tad under 22 and
solid as an ox. We fished for a while longer and then decided to work back to
the car.
One of
the things we noticed today was the amount food we saw that was available to
the fish. There were broken crawdad shells everywhere and we saw lots of midges
and caddis. The fish today were not easy but they were sure healthy. With the
flows dropping, we were able to explore around and we noticed that with another
extended runoff, we are seeing some changes in the river.
People
are always asking me in the shop when I think that the flows will drop and
although it is just a guess, I am optimistic for the near future. I think with
the amount of food in the water, is would behoove you to cover as much water as
possible. The best way to do that right now would be by taking a float trip
with Cody, four hours of hitting every good run on the river. As the river
continues to drop and clear, I will continue to explore and get this year’s
river figured out. September should see some really good fishing and I will
start excepting walk/wade trips after Labor Day. Fish today were landed on
Zipps Whisked Nymph and the Beaded Soft Hackle. I probably wouldn’t make the
drive from Denver but if you are in the Springs or here in P-town, get out and
give it a try. I also got to play with my new Sage Spectrum reel today and although I didn't get a lot of action, so far, so awesome. A full review later. As always, Connell, Cat, Winston and The Drift Fly Shop want to
thank you for reading….
