Fall On The Arkansas Headwaters ~ All Brownies 29Sep23

I hopped over Fremont Pass into Lake Co and fished the headwaters of the Arkansas River south of Leadville today. It was another great day in the mountains and I chose to wet wade again. It was cold "early" @ 10:45am ~ I began at the first bridge crossing and fished up from there. I caught a couple small German browns but persisted with my rig of purple chubby (no action), tung head FBPT, and RS2. Yeah that's Mt Elbert & Mt Massive overseeing my efforts. Subsurface got some action but I didn't go too far, as a kid from Oregon (I learned back at the car) jumped right in front of me; I headed back to find another spot.

My next pull off was at Hayden Meadows where again I started alone. I hiked down 1/2 mile and fished back up to the car. The water was more comfortable and had more holding spots. The Rodfather Endless Wisdom tossed the same rig well ~45ft, even as the wind began to blow. Fortunately it was blowing upstream. I did better here with another half doz browns ~ mostly on the BHFBPT but some on a green copper john and more on the RS2. No surface action or bug sign at all today.

It takes me less than an hour to roll down to the Ark HW... not too bad. The fish are not very big here but it's fun; one has to chose a light rig to match the bounty. Evidence on this high up part of the Arkansas suggests the browns are still in good shape here, vs some other CO rivers or sections. Colors are popping in Lake Co too.