Salida – Let the guessing games begin.
Much is being made about where and when the celebrated caddis emergence will pop along the Arkansas River over the next few days. But there are other elements to this prime situation that demands just as much speculation and far more decisions.
The caddis event tied closely to weather and water temperature – warm sunshine and 55-degree water would be nice – already has begun with the usual fits and starts in the reach from Cañon City to Parkdale. How far and fast this signal event moves on a three-week journey upstream to Buena Vista is purely a matter of conjecture.
“It’s started, but not in a big way. That’s how it always begins,” said Bill Edrington, proprietor of the Royal Gorge Anglers fly shop in Cañon City.
“People are out searching for the caddis hatch right now. That’s the big ticket, but they may find it and they may not. You never know this time of year.”
What they should know, Edrington said, is that a veritable buffet of several insects is roiling beneath the surface of the Arkansas River right now: two kinds of caddis, blue-winged olive mayfly nymphs and three species of golden stoneflies.
Any angler willing to open his mind and more than one of his fly boxes can find something a trout will eat. Catching fish on the Arkansas poses little problem right now. It’s just a matter of deciding how to do it.
During the next few weeks, those who insist on fishing with dry flies must learn the rhythm of a two-step dance. On warm, sunny days, the best move is to join the progressively upriver search for caddis. But when things turn cool and cloudy, settle into a nice run just before midday and wait for the BWOs.
Don’t assume trout like caddis best. Greg Felt, guide director for the ArkAngler fly shops, explains it like this.
“Often, you’ll be doing well on caddis, then a cloud drifts over. Suddenly the rise form changes and your fly doesn’t work anymore. You’d better be ready to switch to a BWO.”
Meanwhile, that rich broth of nymphs continues to bubble down in the depths, leaving the choice of dining areas strictly up to the trout.
All of which goes a long way toward explaining the strange happenings Thursday when the brown trout that populate the river in such agreeable numbers completely ignored a blanket hatch of BWOs.
On a bright sunshine day when a cold wind gusting at more than 30 mph blew spindrifts of snow like prayer flags from tall mountain tops, the BWOs failed to make their scheduled appearance. Not a bug stirred; no fish dimpled the surface.
Past 2 p.m., when the hatch usually ends, the little gray insects suddenly swarmed over the surface like wood smoke. Thing was, trout paid no attention to them.
Visitors from Denver who switched to a classic BWO dry fly hastily changed back to the same subsurface combination that had worked all day, a Barr Flashback Emerger trailed behind a Barr Tungsten Rubber Legs. Trout gleefully gobbled both patterns before and during the hatch.
“That makes me think a lot of nymphs were swimming all day and the fish were gorging on them,” Felt said. “The trout can hold their position near the bottom with less effort and it’s the same amount of protein.”
The delayed BWO emergence, Felt explained, was a direct result of the bright sun. The bugs didn’t respond until later in the day, when the sun lowered. By then, the trout were stuffed.
Caddis, mayflies, stoneflies. The Arkansas banquet is set. All that remains is deciding what to do with it.
While Arkansas River trout populations remain in good condition, Division of Wildlife biologist Greg Policky has sounded a minor alarm that leaner times are on the way. Brown trout prospered during the low-water years about 2002 when they battled less current; they’ve done less well with recent flow increases.
“We’ll see a leveling off, starting this summer,” Policky said. “We’ll see fewer fish over 14 inches and they’ll be thinner.
“I don’t think fishermen have noticed much, and fishing is still good compared to the 1980s and ’90s. But as we get into a wetter cycle with more summer flows, you’ll see it in the fish.”
A solid runoff will be boosted in downstream reaches by the draining of Clear Creek Reservoir, adding approximately 70 cubic feet per second to summer flows.
Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
