San Juan River

Dad and Grandpa

This river has a bit of history in my family. My Grandpa and my Dad used to fish it in the 70s. I remember a few times begging to go when I was little and remember getting told that walking in the river is dangerous and that I had to be bigger... Funny the things you remember.

70s Rig

The money rig in those days was a two burlap nymph setup dredged with a slinky weight. They would use a spinning rod and tie a slinky weight on the end of the line with  two 6" droppers  12" and 24" or so above the slinky weight each with a burlap nymph. They would cast out into the current and keep just enough tension on the line to detect a strike. They used to KILL it with this setup. This was back in the day when you could fish right up to the dam and they would be able to cast out to the main current coming out of the dam and get their flies right on the bottom.

Yikes!

I guess hearing about those trips stuck because as soon as I got into fly fishing I was asking to go fishing on the San Juan. My first trip was in 94 I think. I had just barley started fly fishing and actually started out fly tying with burlap nymph patterns.  My Dad would take my buddy Nate and I down to Colorado Springs Sports on Academy and Austin Bluffs to talk to George who was learning us in the ways of fly fishing rigs. He got us tying thread and disco midges once he heard we were planning a trip down to the San Juan. This was a bit of a challenge going from size 12 burlap nymphs to size 22 disco midges! The killer patterns on that trip as I recall were a chamois leach, size 18 red hot, and size 22 olive thread midge. I caught the biggest fish I had ever caught on a fly at that point which was a 19" rainbow on a chamois leach. I was shocked when I netted it!

So after a 20 year hiatus, and a trip up to the North Platte that was canxed due to weather, Ben and I decided to head down south the day after Christmas and get two days, Friday and Saturday,  of fishing in and then drive back Sunday morning.

Not a whole lot has changed in 20 years. Abe's shop is a little bigger and he added a few rooms but it's still Abe's. Rizzo's is now Fish Heads and there is a third shop now which has a descent selection of fly tying materials if you need to tie something up in the room.

Fish Heads has a restaurant which I highly recommend. We were actually able to score prime rib Friday night which was great. They also offer rooms which I may check out next trip. Abe's was more than adequate however if you don't require anything fancy. If you are in your room for anything other than sleeping or showering in Navajo city during daylight you probably need to do more fishing. 

Upper Flats

We hired a guide for the first day which was a good call because it was hard to read the water with it being so off color. Chris, out of Abe's,  put us on a few runs I would never have fished and they fished well.We fished the Kiddie Hole and landed a few to include a nice 18" bow I fumbled trying to get a pic. We then moved up to the upper flats and continued to hook fish fairly consistently.

After lunch we moved downstream. We started a ways above Baetis Bend and worked our way down to the end of the bend. I missed a 20" class fish as the sun was setting on Baetis Bend that hit a midge emerger that I was testing in

Pueblo. I guess that goes to show that a midge is a midge is a midge. Not too much to change other than color and size.

We spent Friday night tying up some flies and rigging up for the next day. Ben has a very unique saying (which I can't repeat here) when he realizes that he missed a rod eye after rigging up. Let's just say that it's probably not the best thing to yell when two dudes are in a hotel room with thin walls.... 

On Saturday we decided to hit Texas Hole. Figured anyone who fishes the San Juan needs to hit Texas Hole at least once and this was Ben's first trip to this river. We hit the water around 8:30 and it wasn't too crowded. That changed quickly though.... Fishing was good and I landed 2 in 4 casts. The fishing tapered off though as the dude hatch progressed. Ben landed a nice 18-20" fish at the top of Texas hole and I missed a nice one in the same area.

After lunch we decided to work our way through the braids. I remember this section from the last trip and have always thought it would be cool to work your way through them searching for large trout. I was right. It was very cool. You can really get back off the main channel of the river. It feels like small stream fishing. The difference is that you are catching 20" brick red bows!

Leach patterns were definitely the ticket this trip. Most of my fish, including these last two shown here took a leach pattern I developed for Rainbow Falls. A chamois leach worked well if tied large enough. The standard 1-2 inch pattern didn't do squat but a 3-4 inch pattern got bit fairly consistently. By the end of the trip we were fishing double leaches. Not the prettiest rig but very effective.

It was a really fun trip overall. It brought back a lot of memories. It's comforting to know that a river you fished 20 years ago is still fishing the way you remembered it. I don't think it'll be another 20 years before I return but I sure hope it continues to fish well for years to come.