The Best Time of Year to Fly Fish the Arkansas
The Upper Arkansas River in Brown’s Canyon National Monument on Monday, March 24 2025.
Overview:
Looks like a nice weather week ahead. The fish have spread throughout the river and are gorging themselves on BWO nymphs, emergers and duns throughout the day. It’s the best hatch of the year! The small flies you may be using, and the cool low clear water we typically have in the spring can make for technical fishing. We’re starting to see a lot of both float and wade anglers out there, so everyone please play nice.
Weather:
Do not trust your weather app in the mountains! There are so many microclimates around here it really takes a lot of local knowledge to forecast the weather and not an algorithm. It looks like we are heading into a week of warmer drier conditions after the cold and snow from last week. Be prepared for heavy winds in the spring. The fishing tends to be better on cloudy or even rainy/snowy days in the spring and fall.
Water Temperatures:
Our morning air temperatures are becoming warmer every day. With that said, temperatures upriver of BV are still in the 40’s for much of the day and temperatures below Salida are probably hitting the mid-50’s in the afternoons.
Flows:
It’s currently 339 cfs at the Wellsville gauge. Which is pretty typical for this time of year. Flows are being augmented with a small amount from Twin Lakes as Lake Creek is currently running at 136 cfs. Local ranchers are starting to turn on their ditches. We are about at the peak of our snowpack for the year. Looks like the Upper Arkansas Basin will be about 100 percent of median snow water equivalent for the winter. State-wide we’re at about 89 percent. The US Drought Monitor has recently put the Upper Arkansas Basin in the moderate to severe drought range after years without drought conditions here. But that’s not too unexpected since we’ve been in a La Nina pattern for a while now. All of this to say I would expect to see a normal flow year on the Arkansas in 2025. The length and peak flows of runoff will be largely dependent on springtime temperatures, but I wouldn’t expect runoff as high and long as the last couple years.
Clarity:
The water is pretty darn clear throughout the entire river. The morning after a particularly warm day will be a little cloudy due to low elevation snowmelt. Experienced anglers know that the clearer the water the more precise your presentation needs to be.
Habitat:
The trout have spread throughout the river and are no longer grouped up in slow winter runs. With that said, they are also not just along the edges either. The flows are low enough that they are able to find pockets around exposed boulders. Also, look for riffles, foamy seams and eddies. The Rainbow Trout are spawning right now so look for them in deep slow water feeding before or after they spawn in nearby gravel.
Food:
We are right in the middle of the best hatch of the year. Blue Wing Olive mayflies are coming off in force most afternoons. Fish will feed on BWO nymphs all day and emergers and nymphs in the afternoon. When the weather is calm, cloudy and cool they may also feed on duns making some amazing dry fly fishing. The fish are also feeding on midge nymphs and emergers right now. There aren’t a ton of stoneflies or terrestrials moving around at this time of year. There are some caddis around downriver but the fish on the Arkansas will always take a mayfly over a caddis. I know that’s not what most of the literature on the Arkansas says but trust me it’s true. These days the BWO hatch is much bigger and more important to the fish than the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch.
Rigging:
In my opinion, tippet size should always match the size of your fly and the length of your leader should match the technique you are using to present that fly. So, if you are using a size 18 dry fly to imitate the Blue Wing Olive duns the fish will often feed on this time of year you may want a tippet/leader combo at least in the 9 foot 5x range. With that said, the water is fairly slow and shallow this time of year, so you may not necessarily need the faster sink rate that long and light tippet gives you with nymphs. You’ll also lose less flies on the rocky bottom with slightly heavier tippet to your nymph. When the water is higher and faster in the summer, I find I benefit more from thinner and longer tippet to my nymphs than during the spring. If you’re into the micro leader craze then I hope you enjoy fighting the extreme winds we have here and don’t mind breaking off a few tungsten beaded nymphs in the shallow cobble.
If you want to read more about rigging, click here.
Float Fishing:
Typical low spring flows are making for very technical boating. In my opinion, there isn’t enough water to make float fishing above Big Bend or below Lone Pine worth it at this time. There are no new hazards in the river that I know of but people in Salida do a lot of tree-pruning this time of year and seem to think it’s ok to just let the cuttings drop into the river for some reason. So, watch out for mini strainers and logs from time to time. There has been some construction on the road along the river going into Ruby Mountain that involves blasting the cliff near the river. As a result, the river has been closed in that area as well as vehicle access to Ruby Mountain. Don’t expect to be able to float from Fisherman’s Bridge to Ruby Mountain or put in at Ruby Mountain. So, for all intents and purposes the river is closed to boaters from Fisherman’s Bridge through Brown’s Canyon to Hecla Junction.
Wade Fishing:
Flows are definitely low enough to make for much easier wading than during the summer. Upriver of Buena Vista will have plenty of places that you can wade across the river. Less so below Salida, but those spots can probably still be found. The river has been closed due to blasting for road construction near Ruby Mountain. Access to Ruby Mountain has been closed as well as foot access to the Bighorn Springs SWA.
Etiquette:
This time of year, the Arkansas gets much busier with both boat and angler traffic so it’s important to take a deep breath and realize it’s just fishing. Float and wade anglers are generally pretty courteous to each other, but other recreational boaters may not understand the etiquette around fishing. With that said, most of the river traffic right now will be anglers with other recreational boaters showing up during run off and the summer. When wade fishing, realize that most anglers will be moving upriver and will want to cover a lot of water on a river like this. Especially this time of year, wade anglers don’t often post up at a pool for long periods of time. They’re typically on the move. So wade anglers on the Arkansas expect at least a couple hundred upstream yards in most cases. There’s lots of road access and if you come to a pull off that already has a car or two at it you should move on a find an empty pull off. Also, this time of year you can often wade far into the river or all the way across it. If you find yourself in or near the main channel keep an eye upriver for boats that have no choice but to float through the spot you’re standing in. Likewise, boaters need to be aware of wade anglers in spots they may not normally be able to get to and let them know you’re on the way well in advance. The fish in this river are pretty used to seeing a ton of boat traffic and will quickly go back to feeding after a raft comes through. So, I don’t typically lose much sleep over quietly boating through a wade angler’s water. But I don’t fish that water either. Boat ramps should be less busy this time of year, but you should still try and keep to a max of 15 minutes of loading/unloading time on the ramp. I typically am in the habit of unstrapping and pumping my boat in the parking lot and then backing my trailer down the ramp and immediately putting my boat in the water and moving it as far up or downriver away from the ramp as possible while I park my truck or do a shuttle. I also NEVER let my dog run off leash around the ramp. The ramp is not the place to practice if you’re new to backing up trailers.
Just have a simple adult conversation if you are ever in doubt as to what the best etiquette is when interacting with another angler.