Place: Pueblo: Arkansas River Tailwater

Date:2/9/2013

Temp: 36-41

Flow: ≈ 90 cfs

       This weekend was we had the 3rd annual FrostBite Fishoff down here on the Ark and had a great showing. I'd like to give a big shout out to TU and all the volunteers that helped make it happen. Ben, Lou and all the guys and gals really did an awesome job. I Had a great time commiserating with everyone and got to pick the brains of some great anglers like Alex, Cat and Cody. Also big congrats to Brett and Ray for taking 1st place, which I had a front row seat to since they were in my section during the afternoon session. Brett felt the need to cut it close and sealed the competition in the last 8 minutes landing 3 nice bows. ZO's own Ernie Garcia was in the competition, stepping in to help out when a contestant dropped out. He definitely had a great time on and off the water, especially during the celebration knockin' back some drinks and doing what he does, inducing laughter and making friends at every turn. Although he fell short in the competition, he fared well during the banquet when the Zen light decided to shine on us during the raffle drawings. 

       Remo and I finally got a chance to get out the day before and had a very good day. It was much needed after battling the flu for a few weeks. We started around 9 just upstream from the nature center. Competitors in the FBFO were not allowed to be on the water five days prior to the tournament, making our day rare as we only came across two fisherman all day. It was a very welcomed change of scenery considering most days the river is starting to look like the Platte or Taylor, where people are bumping elbows and battling for prime lies like teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert. After gaining control of their spot on the river, they recklessly jump right in and most find themselves with disappointing looks upon their face just as the teenage girls do after getting closer and realizing Justin Bieber is wearing their grandmother's cardigan and is wearing the same pair of jeans they are. Moral of the story...dont be afraid to leave a spot and let fish rest, take a step back before jumping in, water clarity is so good right now you have a big advantage to sight em out and avoid spooking them by fishing blind. Fish are in full color and in prespawn mode, females are cutting redds so please watch out for them and during the spawn. Only about 10% of the eggs actually make it in optimum conditions so they really don't need us making numbers worse trampling around. Look for fish in the skinny water and tailends of pools, colors are so vibrant and water is so clear now is the best time to hone in your sighting skills. We landed a number of nice fish in the 17-19 range on light rigs shallow rigs. Best rigs included a nuke egg trailing either a small baetis pattern in 18-22 of your choice(barr's emerger, pt rs2), or midges 22-24, blue and red for were most productive, Ghetto booties, iceman midges, craven's blue poison tung, true blood midges and a little midge we tie called 'merica midge(which i will put up a recipe for). The best advice I can give though-get out and fish! Give yourself a chance to relax and get away from life and enjoy some time with your fishing partners.

Tight Lines,

Clint
http://www.zenoutdoors.com/