juanin it

fall break

Kids had a fall break from school last week, giving us the opportunity to get out onto the Juan.

Did not have both kids out casting rods much last summer, so this was a welcome break for me as well.

Time to catch up, spend some quality time together.  Sharing smiles, laffs, whoops.

And disappointments too- some of last year's planters have all grown up.  To totally school the uninitiated on the Juan.

Still others did meet their match in the form of this ole angler. Ha!

From San Juan Fall 2013

A good day's work...

...done.

Sometimes traveling for work doth hath its privileges.

daytrippin

Our daytrip up to the Juan proved most excellent.

In terms of company kept and fishing both.

 

We met several of those Sixteen....Thousand stockers recently planted by NM Game and Fish.  Never in my 15 years fishing the Juan have I seen so many pods of fish snarking the midge hatch up river and down.

Quite fun for the lad.  And for the father in witness.

Quantity scratched off the list, I led the boy back down the braids in search of Quality.

Head hunting the bigger alphas amongst the beta chatter.

The fish never stood a chance. ;-)

Weather has been simply incredible and looking to stay that way- get on out there and follow your bliss my friends!

boy v fish

On the Juan.

The fish never stood a chance.

one thousand seven words

annnd as a slideshow with bonus content.  That was a fun trip, thx for playing along everyone!

one thousand six words

one thousand five words

one thousand four words

 

one thousand three words

one thousand two words

one thousand one words

one thousand words

Having just returned from the Juan, I think I'll let the pixels do the talking for a bit.  Look for a new installment each day this week.

a new year's juan

Man, I don't know bout you guys, but seems like it's been forever since we last stepped into a stream.

Round here, November usually proves a good time to hit up the Juan, what with soccer obligations letting up.  Not so this year, as our NM Game and Fish folks have been conducting major rehabilitation work on our favorite stretch of the Juan.  Yep, you read that right- a renovation project on the fabled San Juan river.  More on that later in the week.

Anyhoo, with renovation work finally complete + holiday visitations done = time to pull the trigger on a new years trip up north.

Turns out the lake turned over just last week, rendering less than 2' visibility thru turbid water, darnit- that spells tough fishing.  At least the new digs proved impressive, adding plenty of new holes to spread out the anglers and the fish.  

Not much help for the boy and I in the AM, we worked over each new hole encountered, beating the water into submission with not a single fish to show for it.  Frustration mounting with each barren pool, I took to wading right thru each in turn to sample the depth, see what we chased out for our swing back around later in the day.  Nada!  What gives, dude!

Early afternoon, we make it up to the famous ESPN hole, losing two fish to LDR's.  But still!  Where's the beef, man?!

A bit dejected, and bewildered, we swing back around to try our hand thru the braids again.  Sheesh, like learning the river all over again!

Late in the day, I'm sitting bankside sorting thru the day's third birdsnest while Will works over a pool previously pounded in the AM.  Hey Dad, there's a fish rising, and another one!  Schweet dude, that's what we're needing!  

I put my head down in an attempt to focus on the task at hand, dam near hopeless- how does he do it?  Dad, I got one!  Awright, that's the stuff buddy!

Making an executive decision, I promptly cut away our second leader, lay the rod aside, and join the fun.

Five hours fishing and not a fish to hand, huh.  The sun makes its dip toward the canyon walls and the braids finally come alive as fish after fish stage out of those new holes to feed on the late afternoon midge hatch, schweet.  

Five hours of mounting frustration culminating in 90 minutes of midging frenzy, I now revel in my boy's grin growing with each fish released.  

Yep, that's the Juan for you.

through the lense

 

 

Been a bit slow on the fishing front lately, what with springtime winds, yardwork, work stuff. 

 

To help rekindle the stoke, I humbly tender some doctored shots from my last San Juan trip.  

 All photos courtesy Ben @ AZWanderings.com,

.....shamelessly doctored by yours truly.

arizona wanders the juan

AZ prospecting

The Dry Flies faction of DFFT hosted AZ Wanderings on the San Juan Sunday.

AZ heat

AZ money

We met at Texas Hole parking lot, I planned out a whirlwind tour of the middle flats for the day.  It was great fun fishing with such a genuine guy, excellent angler to boot.  

I've fished the Juan for many years, witnessing Ben's evident excitement fishing this fabled fishery had me seeing it with renewed eyes. It is truly a fantastic resource.

For me, I found myself taking pride in the fact I could put a Juan newcomer onto good fish, increase his catch rate showing him a tip or two, leave him with enuf groundwork in technique and hot spots to continue to pump up his trip thru the week.

Particulars:  

• Our first fish for the day proved to be a double- both hollering out at same moment.  'Double!'  Can't beat that with a stick, now can ya?
• Big fish were aplenty- none over 19", but we each landed 2-3 in the 18-19" class, noice!
• We spent most all our time picking pockets in the braids above Kiddie Pool, stalking and sight fishing all our victims.  Red hots, zebras, brown KF emergers ruled the day.
• Lake turnover proved mostly negligible- visibility around 2'.  Bluebird day, moderate wind, temp's into the low-mid 60's.  Moderate big midge hatches (black, #24), medium crowds, tho Ben reported Barnum-and-Bailey atmosphere around Kiddie Hole on Saturday.
• My Awesome Moment of the day, fish wise: nice 17" rainbow hen in the net, beautifully colored.  I pull the KF out of her jaw, find a perfectly tied UFO embedded in her opposing jaw,  said UFO now resting comfortably in my midge box.  Never been paid to land a fish before! 

Thx Ben, twas a great day!


mjh

Ben's post lives here and here

I shall fish this day

From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood chases fins with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England angling now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

That fished with us upon this day.

with apologies to Bill~

Meeting Ben from AZ Wanderings up on the Juan today.  Hope this finds you out chasing fins of your own this fine Spring Break!

mjh

big on the animas

golden hour on the Juan

So yeah, work stuff called me up to Cortez, CO.  No matter how you slice that drive, the route takes you within a 30min drive out to the Quality Waters on the Juan.  So I've been swapping biking and fishing each time I head up that way since the project began back in the Fall.

Fishing felt right this goround, so I packed the fly rod, hit the water noon on Sunday.

Waded right into a schweet midge hatch, slurping pods all over the place, many in just 12" of water.

johnny flash, #24, in black or brown, don't matter which

Worked this one pod over from stem to stern, pricking a few, landing a coupla less.  Managed to wrestle this good ole boy to the net.

grizzled veteran

So Monday after my project meetings I'm chatting with a client who's an avid angler, swapping lies stories and patterns from my day on the Juan.   He relays how the warm weather has the Animas turned on, guys having banner days while the gettin's good, you should get on out there. Man, I'm traveling back that way on the way home, hmmmm, what were they bitin' on again?

in the shadows of highway 160 bridge

Monday afternoon has me pulling into a dirt pullout just down from the Humane Society in Durango proper.  I look over and spot a coupla gents breaking their gear down, having just quit the river.  I mosey over, ask them what's the skinny.  Ryan and ?John? are both locals, friendly (as is everyone in that town!), give me a few pointers.  Turns out Ryan is a guide for Heads Up Fly Fishing (booya!) so he knows the schizzle allright. They both dig into their boxes and offer up a coupla of their favorite patterns- clown's egg and red annelid, nice!  

I offer to trade in kind from my San Juan box, both kindly refuse- what gentlemen! Eying my midge patterns with a wry grin, Ryan leaves me one final piece of advice to not fish too small- we fish them big on the Animas. 

Wow, thanks again guys, youdaman! 

So I step into the same runs that Ryan and his bud just quit, right in the shadow of the highway 160 bridge above.  It's not 10 minutes before I meet this guy-

17" brownie

Another 20 minutes and I'm tight to a big boy, bulldogging it down deep in the current.  For 3-4 minutes, he's towing me around a coupla pools, never once giving thought to nearing the surface.  Just throbbing head shakes, zigs, zags, ohmygawdthisguyishuge!  I can wait him out: drag's set just right, new 5x tippet on the end, now he's getting tired, I'm getting line onto the reel.  I'm already mentally writing the blog post Headline: Victory! when I feel that sickening tick, ping, and minute slippage of the line that says something's not right, just might have this dude now fouled.

Sure enough after 5 minutes, I'm finally getting him up for a looksee.  Freaking huge allright, well past 20", prolly 22-24", big BIG wild brownie.  Holy smokes!  

But yeah, I have him fouled, my #20 clown's egg snagged right in a pectoral fin, %@#$%^$!

Yep, 'twas not to be.  One more roll, my rig's flying back in my face.  

I just stand there, rooted in the river, defeated, heart pounding in my chest, hands still shaking from the adrenaline rush and my lord the disappointment of the moment.

Reeling up while gazing back downriver at what might have been, Ryan's words float back to me- we fish em big on the Animas.  

Truer words never spoken, my friend.

Rio de las Animas Perdidas

pig

Stopped by the Juan on my way up to Cortez, CO.  Bluebird day, temps into the 50's, fish gorging on midges mid afternoon. More when I get back home~



someone's been into the christmas pudding!

 

sanitized

Oh yeah, forgot to tell you guys~ 

If you're like me, you've long appreciated the atmosphere found in NM's favorite watering hole, the Sportsman's Inn on the San Juan.   Guides, sports, anglers, more than a few celebrities, all have kicked back their chairs between bites of a ginormous green chile cheeseburger, drafts of their favorite brews, and recounted the day's exploits.  

Records of those exploits are to be found in the hundreds thousands of greenbacks plastered on the walls, inscribed with anglers' names and particulars of fish caught.  You might remember the boy and I finally added our own contribution last spring, schweet.

So when the sun finally set on our last trip up that way, we gladly headed down river to enjoy some refueling and retelling.  So imagine our surprise upon entry, and the Sportsman's seemed curiously empty, devoid of life.

The boy snapped to it first- hey where're all the dollar bills?  Where's our dollar bill?!

Waitress soon relayed the sad, sad tale: removed, one and all...

....by order of the State Fire Marshal.  

Oh the Humanity!

Whatdahay man, have you no sense of history, of decency sir?!

SFM not a fly angler, it would appear.

Mike and Will, upper left, spring 2010.  One of about 5,000 round the bar.

Sanitized, Fall 2010, courtesy of the State Fire Marshal.  Sniff.