Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Finally the day came to get out and FISH!  I decided to hit the tail waters in Pueblo so my wife could bait fish.  All the other places I like to fish are flies and lures only.  It wasn't the most involved fishing trip, but tons of fun with my family.  

                My day started with the unusual weather being in the high 50's to the mid 60's and the waters tempiture was really warm for this time of year.  I was surprised to see how low the water level was….. It was the lowest I have seen it since this time last year.  The aquatic vegetation has really grown on the rocks due to the warmer conditions hosting a slew of new insect life.   I had eyes on plenty of Blue Wing Olives and Trico’s.  The film in the slower water was littered with spent Trico's (or spinners as we call them) whom were suspended in the film.  Although the water was murky some anglers had consistent success with small dries.

                I ended up on the water at 1130 and the whole gang was there.   It seems as if all of Pueblo decided to go fishing!  I knew I needed to walk around before gearing up to see if I could get my spot. By this time I had noticed only three or four fly fisherman by the bridge closest to the dam so I had hope.  Low and behold my favorite hole was open!  So I moved in and staked my claim. No sooner than I had gotten to the water in comes a bait fisher man.  I watched as his line so elegantly spanned the river and crushed my dreams of the lunkers that I knew would be waiting eagerly for my flies.  For a second I thought I would wait it out, but as the sounds of stampeding teenagers followed by dad with a beer cozy persuade me to wave the white flag and headed for quieter waters.

                I moved my frustrated and confused wife down to the foot bridge to see if I can get her power bait into a pack of starving trout.  There is a nice pocket of slack water to the left of the bridge and when the water is higher it has a nice seam.  It was my fall back slot and we were able to finally get to fishing.  It was well worth the walk!  The fish were surfacing sporadically, but did not like any of the RS2’s, BWO or Trico patterns I had.  I went down to size 20’s and still NOTHING! So switching to the nymph was my next solution and threw on a small egg pattern with a size 20 bead head flash back pheasant tail dropper.  Like clockwork a fish!  Not a big one, but a success! 

                On the way out I talked to some of the other anglers and the Pheasant tail was king.  A couple flies that were catching fish were the red midges and red larva.  Red always kicks trout butt down there, but today I couldn’t put it all together.  The only reason I picked the Pheasant tail was that it looked like a number of the different bugs swimming around my feet.  Lesson learned…..don’t just look at what is flying and landing.  Going beneath the surface could have lead to a more successful day.  It’s easy to get wrapped up in the obvious and let the sublime slip away.  Until next time....Tight lines!