Finally Flows Are Wadable ~ Fishing The PT On A Hot, Dog Day 22Aug24

The flows on the Arkansas Tailwater finally dropped to ~450cfs a couple days ago. I haven't fished the PT since March due to unwadable water levels! So, despite the 93° temps, I headed down to Pueblo today, to the Nature Center and arrived before 10am. I was all alone; fishing was meh, I caught a half doz fish in several hours but everything was small rainbows/cutbows 11"-15". I tied on two Perdigons, one oil can and one like a rainbow warrior, and a new caddis trailer... all of these worked. I used flashy stuff because the water is very off color and turbid. I saw tons of yellow-green hoppers of all sizes on the way to the river (which never seem to work) and tons of blue and other colored dragonflies on the river. I observed a bit of other bugsign like small grey midges but it was really too hot. I wielded the Rodfather Bombadeer (RFBA), a light 8.5' 4.6wt 4pc fast rod, my latest build. It is mated to the Ross Evolution LTX 1.5 reel with MPX Mastery 4 wt (a half weight heavy) today ~ the green rocks better with the wraps than the orange Rise, and it's smoother. The RFBA is a bit more refined than the Rodfather Diamond Blaze with a lighter feel and swing weight but equivalent power - almost too light, it's a toss up. It played great but couldn't cool the air or the water for me; in the water was the place to be down here in the heat.

I was snagged on a small twig and when I pulled it out there were plenty of caddis larvae on it ~ I tied one on as #3. The new caddis is a chartreuse or cinamon brown micro chinnele "detached body" thing tied with a peacock herl head over opal mylar flash on the shank. Chinnele is tied on with wire from the back forward basically but it is fully secured under the thorax initially. The whole tie is simple & fast and not unlike Mayer's micro leach really. It worked well in Summit recently and again on the Ark today. I mainly go to it, my Wired Up Ice, or the beige chamois or yarn tie these days for caddis... depending on depth and color needed. I could tie this with a bead head for depth, but don;t. And I use caddis throughout the summer. Though, my caddis box is also full of many less used ties.

Also worth noting are the velcro fly patches on my vest. I use these constantly and they get destroyed in a quarter year or so. The original Simms ribbed foam is good but $10/patch. I've used alternative types of foam patch products and even made my own ~ depending, the less dense foam deteriorates much more quickly and doesn't hold as well as more dense stuff or closed cell. Well, I'm cheap and I believe I've discovered the answer for these on the most recent attempt finally. [Cheap like when I suggested you buy arrow feather drying duff as your refill on desiccants ~ just keep the drying crystals and add more duff.] I bought THESE for $9 and cut each one of the two supplied cards into 4 rows of bumps... so I got 4 patches for $2.25 each. I tossed one row from each card and kept the hanging thing for something down the road. Solved... I paid $9 instead of $40.