COTOPAXI — With a cadence arguably better suited to its namesake, the Arkansas River’s fabled Mother’s Day caddis hatch has not yet locked into its annual upstream march from Cañon City through Salida. Rather, it is waltzing.
Pulsing and pausing in three-quarter time, the bugs are there. And the trout are hungry.
“Within 10 minutes we had two fish, both of them on caddis,” Billy Hicks of the Salida-based guide service said after a productive Sunday float from Vallie Bridge to Lone Pine. “The majority of fish we caught today were on dry flies, Mother’s Day caddis, maybe 50-60 fish in the boat. It was a lot of fun.”
As has been the trend for years, the moth-like Brachycentrus caddis that bring a protein bonanza to ravenous trout in the spring started popping off the river around Cañon City’s Royal Gorge a few weeks ago. The “tax day caddis hatch,” if you will, has progressed upstream since April 15 in a rhythm of two steps forward, one step back, as water temperatures fluctuate with warming days and sporadic spring storms.
The hatch is unlikely to reach as far upriver as Salida in time for Sunday brunch, but in a nod to its early arrival, the Salida-based chapter of Trout Unlimited hosted its caddis festival banquet a week ahead of Mother’s Day this year. Water reached the prime caddis-hatching temperature of 56 degrees about 25 miles downstream at Cotopaxi last weekend, offering eager anglers with an itch for dry-fly fishing action an early opportunity to scratch it.
“It has been real good the last week. It’s been producing a lot of fish, and it’s been really consistent this year,” said Nate Pedersen, a guide with in Nathrop. “The best fishing right now is still downstream of Rincon (Campground). That’s kind of where all the action has been.”
The productive segment of the river is among some with a reputation largely built upon the reliable hatch. The first few weeks of May have earned a spot on the Colorado fishing calendar as a “must do” on the Arkansas for many an angler. And this year is no exception.
“We generally fish when we can, but I’ve always wanted to do the Mother’s Day hatch. The stars finally aligned for us,” said Bob Bergstrom of Longmont, who joined Tim Henker of Johnstown in Hicks’ boat. “I would definitely do it again.”
A simple comparison of experienced anglers Sunday was indicative of just how fickle the hatch, and fish, can be, however. Taking their raft out of the river at the same Vallie Bridge boat ramp where Bergstrom and Henker had launched for their 50-plus fish day, fishermen Doug Pierce and Jim Herde had roughly a dozen trout to show for a day-long effort. Just a day before, the number was twice that.
“Jim and I have fished in Colorado for 30 years, and we’ve never fished this hatch. This year we said: ‘OK, we’re ready. We just have to do this,’ ” Pierce said Sunday. “(Saturday) lived up to our expectations. It was good. (Sunday) was tough. There were more bugs, and we were fishing pretty much the same fly combinations, and we caught fish. But not as many as (Saturday).”
Some of the slowdown might be attributed to fishing pressure as caddis-loving anglers begin to swarm the stream. A slow rise in river levels associated with low-elevation snowmelt has also reduced visibility a bit, although runoff has not begun in earnest and water clarity remains plenty fishable.
Most likely, any lack of cooperation from fish can be traced to pure gluttony as aquatic life is stimulated by temperatures not seen on the Arkansas since last October. And besides, a dozen — or three — fish in hand can never be considered a bad day on the river.
“There was an outdoor writer from the Rocky Mountain News that wrote about the Arkansas River 30 years ago, so we came up and fished it. This is the first time we’ve been back since,” Pierce said. “Partly because I moved to Tennessee for 20 of those years, but also because the fishing was terrible. Mostly because it was terrible. But it’s a much , and the fishing is much better. We’ll be back again. Before another 30 years go by.”
