Autumn Splendor on the Arkansas River - Part 1

WARNING: This is a long post/trip report. You might want to get a beverage before you start... for the impatient and short attention spans out there, here's the summary: I caught half-a-dozen fish. Three were dinks caught around Rincon using BWO parachutes and Black Ice droppers. The other there were big (12" to 16"+) browns caught with an Autumn

Spent yesterday fishing the Arkansas River from a raft. My buddy and I floated from Salida to Vallie Bridge. Gosh it was a long day... but a good one!

Up at 4:30 AM and I was out the door by 4:45; arrived at my buddy's house by 5:20 and we were on our way down 285 to Salida by 5:30. Our goal was to be on the water fishing by 8:00. Goals are nice, but this one had a wait a bit until we found a shuttle. Too bad I didn't see my bed again until almost 11:30 PM. Gosh I love fishing, I just wish I didn't have to give up all the sleeping to do it.

Our first stop, ArkAnglers was a bust. Nice shop, nice folks, but nobody available to help with shuttle. Our next stop at Anglers Junction was the winner. There was just one lady at the counter and she said she couldn't do it, but got right on the phone and made a few calls. Within a few minutes we had a shuttle and I had a half dozen flies (Black Ice and chartruse Copper Johns) that would make or break my day of fishing.