GR8 Float On The Arkansas With Matt & Rick 29Apr23

I got an invite from Rowmaster Matt to float the Arkansas River in his new drift raft and I jumped at the chance to join him and Rick. It was a gorgeous day driving through Big Horn Sheep Canyon with sun and 70s for the 9 mile trip from Rincon to Valle Bridge. We got a bit of a late start with CO 115 under construction and down to just 2 lanes and 45 mph for 20 miles south of Colo Spgs. I reached Rincon about 9:15am and caught a couple browns awaiting Matt so I could load my gear and be the shuttle car... as any unselfish dude might do. We started down river about 10:40am with ~300cfs flows here. The Ark here is a freestone, primarily brown trout fishery, and we are nearing the infamous "Mother's Day Caddis Hatch" (if we might not already be in it). We saw lots of caddis hatching in the AM and then returning to lay eggs late in the day, but there was not a lot of top water action this day. My favored caddis imitation, my Wired Up Ice, fooled quite a few fish today. It is also prime BWO mayfly hatch time here as well - and again we saw lots of 'em. Our mayfly imitations like purple RS2 and MHFBPT took their share and even the green electric Perdigon scored some. It is a bug bonanza on the Ark right now.

While I did "get to" row some simple sections, Matt & Rick are now strong rowsmen with several seasons, and did the bulk of the effort down especially tricky rapids, while I sat back and caught fish... nice for me. I did fine on the oars ~ no one died or swam. Matt was stoked to make a clean (no rocks or spins) pass on Tin Cup... here's the pic of the Class 4. I need to say also that Matt's new craft is being decked out sweetly... he is designing a never before conceived on water craft rod vault with his favored sheet metal guys in COS, Ultimate Rod. See the right side of boat pic ~ way to go Matt; it worked great and he could even dance on it.

We all caught decent trout. Seems like Rick nabbed the best brown... we think I hooked him first then fumbled the set I guess (and buggered my rig requiring retying). NP, Rick shot in the same little tongue and landed a nice German brown. As you can see, boatman Matt now has a mondo boat net we all appreciated. I caught a decent and rarer rainbow.

So, story goes, Dave lost his bobber as Rick & Matt rounded private water turns past an angel ~ I can't say for sure. The beauty of the Ark in BHSC includes not only world class fishing and friends but the majesty of the Sangre de Christo range. We had snow at many elevations 2 days ago and it lingered here and provided us a spectacular lunch view... sandwiches & brews of course.

There were plenty more fish, all browns, both German and Scottish, which looked like these of mine. I threw the Rodfather SB2020/Cutthroat today. The RFCT is a 4 weight we all tried with success and general praise.

Great time with the "cool kids" today... it was a long day as we "beached" at 8:15pm and had load-out duties and then the reshuttling to do. I promised the team a dinner & beer but the kitchens were closed in Canon City on arrival so that payout is due another time. Thanks guys for the fun day.