Arkansas River Tailwater 03Apr17

I lost my first seven fish and was 2 of 10 in AM! WTF. The flows were ~550cfs but bumped as I arrived @ Nature Center on a decent morning on cold and turbid water and I was the only man there. What a frustration as I hooked up on many good fish but they were strong and ran hard - I don't know if it's my rusty skills or the special strength and size of the fish. Three resulted in lost rigs!? Ultimately I was able to turn the corner and finally landed a fish, and then landed a big 21+" cutbow. I had just lost the mate from the spot after a 10min fight or so and a run into the backing way downstream in strong current with limited mobility for me, when I hooked another and kept this one closer to me. Woohoo. He was beat up from the spawn but strong and pink/gold with kipe jaw. I moved upstream to Valco for lunch and landed more fish including another 21"+ lunker. Conditions are not yet super-prime but getting there. I caught good fish on my Blood Midge, Awesome midge, Black Ice and RS2. I felt like conditions improved mid-late PM and upstream of Valco. The selfie on the 2nd big fish was strangely rendered into the sun but still had to promote it.