Fishing the tail Waters

Pueblo WestView photos/Bill Claspell Bait anglers will find plenty of success on the lower Arkansas River. My son Daniel likes the results he gets from fishing Fireballs under a splitshot.
Fishing the tail waters

This is prime time on the lower Arkansas
If I could pick just a few months out of the year to fish the Arkansas River, I would pick the months between December and April every year.
Yes, I know that those months span the winter and early spring months on the calendar, but here on the tail water, you won’t find a finer time to be on the river than now.
The Arkansas below Pueblo Dam is probably one of the very best tail-water fisheries in the state.

I’ve dropped a lot of ink over the past few years proclaiming the merits of this section of river, and why not? It’s located in our back yard, is mostly accessible to the public, and has a big fish population that will rival most any other river in this state, regardless of the season.
The river here has grown in popularity over the years, but the winter fishing remains mostly a local secret; which, I suppose, is just as well for those of us who enjoy spending our days casting without competition with other anglers.
There are a number of reasons why this section of river fishes so well during the winter months, and chief among those is that the river is fed by the lower gates of the dam.
In the coolest months of the year, the surface temperature of the water behind the dam drops, sometimes to the extreme that ice forms in the coves and upper-river arms.
Subject to the elements of wind, snow, and cold nighttime temperatures, the surface may be as much as 10 degrees cooler than the deeper water that is not exposed to the weather, and it’s this warmer, deep water that feeds the river below the dam all winter long.
Fly anglers should be prepared with plenty of smaller flies that will match the numerous hatches that occur during the day.
Having all this warmer water to feed the river during the winter is a big plus for our fishery because warmer water means active insects, and having all those bugs to feed on throughout the year keeps the fish active and gaining weight all through the months when most fish in other rivers stay mostly dormant in the pools.
And now, with the winter-water storage program underway, the flows on the tail-water have dropped to a level that is consistently slow, making the river a virtual paradise for fly, lure, and bait anglers alike.
While the entire river, from the bottom of the dam to its confluence with Fountain Creek, will hold good populations of fish, on the coldest days the upper stretches reap the most benefits from the warm water discharge from the dam.
It’s these first two to three miles of river that attract my interest during the winter months and that have provided me with some of my best days on the water.
As is the case with most tail waters, the Arkansas River sees numerous hatches throughout the winter.
Unlike high country tail-water fisheries, though, our mild climate, combined with the warm-water discharge from the dam, contributes to massive hatches of insects during the winter months that normally aren’t seen in other places.
These hatches consist mostly of midges, but mayfly species, such as blue-winged olives and tricos, also can be found on most days.
Because of the diversity of the hatches that occur on the river on any given day, I keep a special fly box prepared that will help me to match whatever hatch is occurring.
This box contains all my smallest flies, from sized 18 WD-40s to sized 24 CDC midge patterns.
I also keep a healthy supply of small dries, like Adams mayflies, blue-winged olives, and trico spinners in my box that range in size from 18 to 24.
Bait and lure anglers also will find success on the river at this time of year.
The old standby, Pautzkey’s Green Label Fireballs, are my first choice for bait when the kids are fishing with me.
The lower river is home to plenty of big fish, like this nice cutbow.
Rigged on a size-10 snelled fishhook, with a couple splitshot arranged about 8Ð10 inches above the bait, the Fireballs can be absolutely deadly on trout.
It’s not unusual for my three kids to catch and release 20Ð30 fish in a day on this type of rig.
The bait rig can be fished nearly anywhere there’s water, but I really like the way that it performs near the tail ends of riffles, as the water drops into a deeper pool.
Trout will congregate in these areas and will quickly pounce on the bait as it bounces along the bottom.
For lures, I prefer using floating minnows on the tail water.
I like the Rapala 2 1/2 inch minnow in any kind of shiner or rainbow trout color.
These lures may appear rather large for trout, but I’ve caught some mighty big browns and rainbows by swimming the lures around slower moving pools or the tail ends of riffles.
These lures also can be fished around faster water and on short casts behind current breaks where rocks or logs emerge from the bottom to form back eddies.
Colder weather normally spells the end of the fishing season for many river anglers, but on the tail water there are as many reasons to be on the river now as there are ways to catch the fish that live there.
And whether you’re throwing flies, bait, or lures, the lower Arkansas is sure to provide you with plenty of action all winter long.
Pueblo West resident Bill Claspell is an avid outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman who also enjoys writing about his escapades.

He can be reached by e-mail at bnlrac@msn.com

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