PUEBLO — For Greg Felt, it was one of those lost-in-space experiences that happens to a fisherman if he lets his mind wander a bit.
“If you just dropped me here, I’d think I was somewhere in New Mexico,” he said, aiming a cast where a deep run curled beneath a bank lined with tall, gnarled cottonwoods.
Searching further for a point of comparison to this place where the Arkansas River leaks from Pueblo Reservoir, Felt referenced the San Juan River.
“The difference is, the San Juan has bigger fish and a whole lot more people.”
The profusion of stocker rainbow trout planted by the Colorado Division of Wildlife in this rejuvenated urban stretch of the Arkansas fairly well dictates that most of fish are small. But not always.
DOW also stocks an occasional round of bully broodfish, fish that prompt a sort of whale-in-the-bathtub sensation from the lucky anglers who catch them. Minutes earlier, pausing at the ArkAnglers fly shop (719-543-3900) on the road to the river, a Denver visitor heard a local angler boast of catching rainbow trout 24 and 27 inches long. Tales of fish up to 30 inches also have been drifting around. Small fish indeed.
Large, river-bred brown trout occasionally spice the catch, along with a sprinkling of holdover rainbows that endure the perils of a fishery the wildlife agency manages for put-and-take. These survivors typically reach 14 inches, about a pound in weight, with enough of an attitude to put an agreeable bend in a lightweight rod.
For snowbound anglers looking for a break in what has been a cold winter, much of the charm rests with the climate.
“This is a real banana belt,” chimed Paul Turner, who had just gained 10 degrees on his morning drive down from Colorado Springs. Felt, a partner in the ArkAnglers shop, had added 20 notches to his thermometer while driving down from his home in Salida.
This temperature surge had everything to do with the larger reason both had come here. Over the past couple of weeks, these warmer climes had sparked a robust baetis mayfly emergence. Known to most anglers as the blue-winged olive, these small bugs bring trout of all sizes to the surface.
Their appearance on mountain streams in late March and April signals the start of dry-fly season. Below Pueblo Dam, the party has started early. The buzz around the Denver fly-fishing shows the previous week told of 30 fish days, more than enough to mobilize homebound anglers suffering acute withdrawal pangs.
Turner, who works as a guide at The Hatch fly shop in Pine Junction, was making his third trip in recent days to this rejuvenated urban stretch of the Arkansas River, all in the interest of pure pleasure.
Typically fished in sizes 20 and 22, the BWOs begin popping around noon on overcast days and sometimes lasts as long as 3 hours. Bright sunshine can stifle the hatch, but persistent anglers extend the action with matching nymphs, notably the RS2 or Flashback Barr Emerger.
On a day late last week when a dry cold front blustered in on a strong wind beneath an unblinking sun, few insects appeared, causing anglers to delve beneath the surface for a few holdover stockers.
These are the remnants of approximately 30,000 catchable rainbows stocked by the division of wildlife each year. Most succumb quickly to a barrage of all-tackle fishermen that have turned this into one of the most popular fisheries in the region.
But anglers who choose to hike away from the parking areas to explore the entire 7 miles of the splendid DOW stream improvement project will find solitude and better fish.
The occasional hatchery broodfish, 2 to 3 pounds, spices the catch, along with large rainbows that leak through the dam.
“We’ve heard reports of a 10-pounder,” said Jim Melby, area biologist. “An occasional hog comes out, origin unknown.”
Melby is most pleased that water releases from the dam have remained strong in recent months.
“We’ve worked with the Pueblo Water Board and the Colorado Division of Water Resources to find innovative ways to exchange water,” Melby said of a cooperative arrangement that has kept 100 cubic feet per second coursing through much of the winter.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
