Springtime In The Rockies Too 04Apr16

So while it continues to snow and my new skis are being prepped I headed down to the Pueblo Tailwater of the Arkansas. The BWOs (they are big) and little grey midges were popping and I had a great spring day, especially 10-2, despite the 500cfs and fluctuating flows. The RS2, FoD and Reimagined Black Ice did the heavy lifting and Awesome Midge and green vinyl KF Flasher got their share as midges. The BWO hatch was thin (70+° and sunny) but evident. I caught two fish over 20" and both were very strong kype-jawed and a smidge embattled from the spawn - all the females I caught were <20" but strong too. Only gorgeous rainbows this day, but I also lost 50% of the fish hooked! Dunno if that's early season, unpracticed technique, strong "smart" fish headed for the logs and rocks or what but it happened last year too in April I recall. Fish had not moved out to the mid-stream triangles and best catches were feeding mid-column behind the weirs. I lost a lot of bugs too... back to the tying bench - at least they are bigger and easier to tie. Awesome.