Be happy, life is too short!: February 2011

Hello everyone,

It has been cold but still very good fishing on both nymph and dry flies.

Strangely the river is clearing up a bit lately and I have no clue.

The Lake-Turn-Over effect last till first part of March on normally but seem to me it may clear up before March if this phenomenon continues.

The flow is steady at 480 CFS and water temp is around 39’ so have warm socks on if you planning to fish more then 4 hrs.

Current hatches are 80% midges (see my recent youtube video), 10% baetis and others.

I have noticed that there are more annelid (aquatic worm) populations on certain section of the river so you’ll also need few larger Yong Blood flies along with other normal patterns if you planning to fish the river near future.

BTW, Jerry and I fished Arkansas River below Pueblo Dam late Jan for couple of days.

This was my first time there but it didn’t make any difference catching lots of trout.

The first day when we arrived on the river it was already after 1 PM, it took us almost half day to find a place to buy fishing license for Jerry due to Colorado FG computer malfunction therefore we didn’t have much time to fish.

Furthermore my previous client Marc P who lives in Castle Rock fishes there often met us and invite for lunch by the riverside, see photos, which was 3 course meal so we actually started fishing after 2 PM, what a lunch we had.

Thanks Marc!

After the lunch I studied the river for at least 20 min, collecting bug samples and check out the river configuration then seeing the midge hatches and tied Andy’s Candy Midge and caught 10 to 14 inches size trout on every 2 to 3 cast.

What we didn’t’ know was that there was fishing tournament on that day and many people were on the bank watching me catching and at least dozen people thought I was one of the contestant participating the event.

Once they found out I wasn’t in and wanted know how I was catching one after another so told them about my patterns then they all ask me for my business card and handed them out.

After catching a dozen trout in 30 min I handed out my rod to Jerry and left him catching few more where I was.

Noticed Marc was struggling to catch only couple so checked out what he had, sorry to see none were my flies, he was nymph fishing with RS 2 flies those one with tails and no tails on the other.

I tied on iYong Special/ rYong Special combo to match the hatch on his rod and caught couple of trout on 5 cast without using strike indicator as he wanted see if my flies will work and gave back his rod and watched him catch 6 or 7 trout around 20 min then left for my own fishing.

Here’s a lesson for all of you, when you use my flies on match the hatch you’ll catch lot more trout rest of your life.

FYI, Jerry has been fly fishing for 40 yrs before he met me and now he only uses AK flies because he knows better.

After I left Marc I tossed AK-Salad and had too much fun, there was a strike or two on every cast but most trout were too small to eat size 4 fly so only landed 30 to 40 % of them.

The next day, we fished Nature Center area and also caught lots of trout but none were over 11 inches and they all look wild, see photos.

Anyway, just about everyone thought I was using RS 2 fly but I never have and now many others know AK flies rule!

Some say I have Mojo but I don’t think so, Jim my regular client who lives in Farmington caught 30 some trout one afternoon using my flies by himself fishing couple of weeks ago on the San Juan.

The only pattern I’m missing in my selection is stonefly nymph and that will be next project.

Here’s BOR letter about the river:

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION

NAVAJO DAM STILLING BASIN PLANNED MAINTANENCE WORK

UPDATE

February 4, 2011

SENT VIA FAX AND E-MAIL

Reclamation's contractor for the Navajo Dam stilling basin maintenance work has a notice to proceed, and is scheduled to begin work next Monday, February 7th. It is anticipated to take approximately 1 month to complete. The work will consist of installing a cofferdam to prevent flow from entering the stilling basin, pumping water out of the stilling basin, and finally removing the sediment with a front-end loader. Reservoir releases will be maintained at a rate of 500 cubic feet per second through the City of Farmington's power plant throughout the duration of the project. To minimize disturbance, the contractor plans to use a water-filled bladder to serve as a coffer dam. No impacts to the downstream fishery or anglers are anticipated during this work, as the contractor is required to ensure no turbid water is discharged downstream. The New Mexico Game & Fish Department will be onsite to remove any fish in the stilling basin.

If you have any questions, please contact Vern Harrell at (970) 565-0865 (vharrell@usbr.gov), or Pat Page at (970) 385-6560 (ppage@usbr.gov).

Happy fishing and enjoy the photos (double click to enlarge)!

Andy Kim

Vic, regular client