CoWW Outing To Oil Well Flats & BHSC Caddis Hatch 06May16

Weather was stellar for most of the outing along the Arkansas River - though it rained a smidge on and off and was chilly overnight. We started with a good ride at Oil Well Flats Thu after work but DD did indeed have a flat so we rode in shifts. Then we headed 16 miles up the canyon to a nice open camping spot along the river near Texas Ck... we were mostly alone on Thu PM but by Fri night the place was full. We met Rick & Gary, software guys from FedEx whom Greg knew - plus, this time it was not Yoho who broke the tough guy pose, new guy Gary smiled. We dined on fine white chili Jim had prepared with "the best cut cilantro ever" and had great campfires. We really didn't see a caddis hatch and the river seemed a bit cold, a bit high and a bit off color from optimal conditions. Those factors were borne out in mediocre fishing though we did catch some fish (mostly 10"-12" browns but a few "14 rainbows) in faster deeper water on Friday... all on subsurface stuff like stonefly nymph, mayfly emerger and caddis larva imitations. Greg said my hydrophobic mayflies sank... hmmm. Saturday was harder yet and the flow chart explained that some with a 15% hike in flows to ~440cfs. I caught one in the AM but I risked wading pretty far across @ Pinnacle Rock to so do. The fishery needs multiple warm days and steady flows to really turn the caddis on - it may not happen this year in a big way given the late storms and likely runoff pretty soon; we'll see. Still, its always a treat to get out with the guys.