Arkansas River - Pueblo Tailwater

After several days of sustained increases, flows on the Ark, below the Pueblo reservoir, were nearly cut in half and are now sitting at roughly 70 cfs. With this in mind, expect productivity to suffer over the next couple of days as trout will take some time to normalize to the new flow. Assuming flows hold steady, trout will hold idle most of the day in the deep and slow moving water through the early Friday (10/22). Otherwise, productivity will improve thereafter. Water temps have held below dangerous levels for the last week and you can now safely enjoy a full day on the water. Nymphing will garner the best results throughout the day, but the dry fly action has been superb as of late. Look for sporadic midge and trico activity mid morning and caddis in the afternoon. Additionally, we should start to see some BWOs make an appearance so keep an eye out for this hatch as trout will have a feast when it comes. When it comes to nymph rigs, you’ll want to stick with smaller attractor flies at the lead on Thurs (10/21) followed by smaller imitative midge, baetis or caddis pupa. Starting on Friday (10/22), air pressure will begin to drop making bigger nymph offerings the way to go. As such, leeches, stones and worms will be the most effective lead fly. Cloud cover will give trout a sense of protection and allow them to move about the water more freely. However, with lower flows expect trout to stack up in the deeper runs, pools and pockets.