It's Difficult To Fish The Arkansas Tailwater 18Oct23

Yesterday I headed down I25 toward Pueblo after assuring the detour around the train derailment repairs wouldn't heavily impact travel time. While Google Maps said 54min total time, it would have been much more as the backup on I25 on arriving at mile marker 108 was 2 miles and 30 min ~ I took my pill and finally turned left onto Pinon to acquire a dirt road named Overton. Initially it was fine but soon enough it backed up for miles. I turned around and headed home.

Despite flows having been reduced to just ~70cfs and the heat persisting a bit, I headed out again but chose to go via Penrose today; down 115 and east on 50. I forgot that 115 is under construction and mostly 2 lane now. Plus, with the I25 closure, it was much more heavily trafficked than normal. Ugh. I took my pill and added the 40min to the typical 50min commute to the PT.

I think it is fixed now. So, arriving late I did encounter the tail end of a fall BWO hatch. The water is still a bit murky and the Silver Surfer was the ticket ~ except when the fry went for the #22 grey PopTop. I caught several 17" cutbows and a ton of fry, but nothing bigger. The RF Diamond Blaze dispatched flies well to the thin waters. The only good news from the traffic snafu was that I saw only one other (guided) 2-man team on the river @ the Nature Center section. I departed very early anyway.

I also picked up my next (Nov23-Nov24) Nature Center parking pass while there; it's just $25 for seniors. Izzy's darling.

Kala & I again got to score a round of golf @ King's Deer. Matt's now 29 and we celebrated with pumpkin cake (one of his favs from Kala) at Torchy's afterward.