May 22nd, 2026

Arkansas River (Lower Freestone Basin)

Attention: If you're on the Front Range, Taylor will be at Orvis Park Meadows on Thursday, May 21st presenting on tactics for the Arkansas River at 6PM! Join us to take your game up a notch!

After a great cool down during the meat of the week it looks like we're headed back to more average temperatures through the holiday weekend. This week has featured some of the best fishing we've seen yet this Spring! Alot of different active bugs out there..we’re even beginning to see hatching Yellow Sallies, PMDs and Red Quills! Flows at the Wellsville gauge are right around 300cfs... which is an exceptional wade level and good enough to float for most sections. Clarity has improved dramatically with the cooler weather, and that should hold for the next week at least. Fishing has been great, get here and have some fun!

Things are transitioning pretty quickly into early Summer fishing on the Arkansas River Freestone! With nearly record low snowpack on the Ark basin, it's very likely that we won't see any notable runoff...so fishing will just continue to roll on. With hatches beginning earlier than average, we've already began to see Yellow Sallies, Pale Morning Duns, Red Quills and a few early Hoppers in addition to the still substantial Caddis & BWO activity. We likely will see flows in the 250-400cfs mark over the next several weeks as what remaining high level snow make it's way down...but it likely will have little affect on clarity and fishing will remain excellent. Be sure to plan some days in late May and June, as they could be some of the best weeks of the season this year!

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Stream Conditions

Wellsville Flowrate: 293 cfs 

Cañon City Flowrate: 254 cfs

Clarity- Clear 

Snowpack is around 20% of average...the equivalent of what snow is left around the end of June on the average year. Essentially there is little to no snow left to melt, even at elevation. We will likely see very little release this Spring as water managers make an effort to hold water for release this Summer. What water is in the river on top of native flows is release water moving down for water calls downstream. 

Suggested Methods

Our guides are beginning to see alot of different bugs out there now, so your rigging needs to change accordingly. Fish are eating larger dry flies already due to the introduction of a few more Hoppers, flying Ants, Yellow Sallies and early Stoneflies. Dry/ Dropper or Dry/ Double Dropper will be our focal method moving forward along with nymphing as needed and of course plenty of streamer fishing. Typically we like to run a bushy foam dry up top dropping a heavier attractor nymph in the middle position (Yellow Sally, Caddis, Red Quill Nymph) and then trail a 2nd dropper off that middle dropper as needed (BWO or PMD nymph). You can easily run the same flies in a nymph rig as needed. For those streamer junkies out there...it's time! With more consistent water temps and alot of Brown Trout fry emerging at the moment...streamers have been very effective!

Arkansas River (Upper Freestone Basin)

General Overview

We're seeing localized Caddis hatches all the way through Buena Vista and we likely will see that only ramp up more this week with the warmer weather. The Upper Basin is also seeing a bit heavier BWO activity along with the Caddis, while new Summer Bugs and Terrestrials start to enter the scene on the Lower Basin.