A check for leaky waders on the Arkansas River
On the way to visit a friend in southern Colorado, I made an intentional detour to the Pueblo Nature Center. The Arkansas River runs through there, and I wanted to stop by to check my fishing waders for leaks. The advantage of checking out the waders in the Arkansas River was a few deep pools that I remembered from previous trips. I reasoned I would be able to wade waistdeep in them to find any leaks in the upper part of my waders. The already balmy air temperatures didn’t hurt, either.
Warmer air temperatures are one of the reasons why the Arkansas River tailwater below Pueblo Reservoir has become an increasingly popular winter and early spring fishery for Colorado Springs fly fishers and a mainstay for Pueblo and Canon City anglers. The tailwater also provides good midge hatches in the wintertime along with excellent nymphing opportunities for anywhere from average-size trout to 20-inch plus rainbow trout.
It didn’t make sense for me to detour to the Arkansas River just to check my waders for leaks. I figured I’d need something to do while standing around in the river, so I packed my 4-weight fly rod, several fly boxes stocked with midge imitations, small nymphs and emergers and a few of my go-to dry fly imitations.
When I arrived at the nature center, there were a couple other fly anglers, but it was obvious that fly fishers in the know don’t see a need to be on water early in the day. By the time I paid the parking fee at the visitors center and geared up to fish, more vehicles with rod vaults on their roofs were entering the parking area.
The sky was clear with no wind which constituted ideal conditions for a midge hatch. I decided to fish a size #20 dry fly that often passes for a midge on the South Platte River and trail a size #22 Black
Beauty midge emerger a foot or so behind it on a 6X tippet.
I understood that it was still too early in the day for a midge hatch to come off, but that would give me time to refamiliarize myself with this section of the river, which I hadn’t fished for several years. Two anglers were already on the water dead drifting nymph imitations through a couple of deeper troughs that I remembered from previous visits. I watched them for a while before they waded my way, and I greeted them with my usual salutation, “Did you catch them all?”
They both shook their heads no, but one of them said he’d seen two fish but couldn’t get them interested in his flies. He also mentioned that he’d seen large 20-inch-plus trout there on several occasions, but none today.
I admitted to them that I’d come to the river mainly to check my waders for leaks, but figured I might as well fish, too. Both agreed that there should be a midge hatch a little later in the day and even pointed out a few stray midges in the air. They said they were heading downstream past the visitors center.
“There’s a couple of really good runs down there,” one of them said.
I said I was going to mosey upstream to look for rising trout and get the lay of the land. The river was clear and shallow with a few depressions in this area. I didn’t totally discount the possibility of spotting fish in the very clear, slow-moving shallow water, but figured my chances of spotting one and making a decent cast without spooking it would be low. I concentrated my effort on the deeper water near the river’s main channel.
I didn’t see any rising
Slower moving water often provides good midges hatches during the winter and early spring months on the Arkansas River.
trout. However, I did pass my flies over any fish that were holding near the bottom. Those trout weren’t feeding, which meant the odds were slim that one would rocket up through the water column to take my flies. With that in mind, I changed the trailing fly to a small beadhead nymph, reasoning that I’d be showing the trout my fly closer to where they were holding. Still, I didn’t move a single fish.
I passed another pair of fly fishers nymphing the opposite bank before I turned around and headed back downstream. One of those anglers was indicator nymphing and hooked up a fish, which buoyed my mood. I rerigged for nymph fishing.
This should be the part of the story where I tell
you the river came alive, and I managed to catch some fish, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the wind came up, ending any chance to fish to a midge hatch, and it didn’t help the nymphing, either.
As they used to say when I was in the guide business, “I smell a skunk,” meaning I wasn’t going to catch any fish.
The good news is I waded out into some deep water near the visitors center and stood there for a while right before I headed back to my truck. I didn’t feel any leaks then, and when I took my waders off at the truck, I couldn’t find any wet spots on my pants. That was pretty good evidence that I didn’t have any leaks.
You could say it was the luckiest part of my day.