My wife and daughter were out of town visiting a friend and I had an epic backpacking trip planned for the White Mountains, but wouldn’t you know it, we received some serious rain and all the creeks were running brown. Not being one to miss an opportunity to fish, I headed to the New Mexico with a couple of buddies to see how the San Juan River was fishing. We had a fantastic couple days on the water catching heavy rainbows, swatting mosquitos, and hanging with some pretty awesome guys.

A couple of things to note from the trip if you’re interested in heading that way soon.

1. Fish came on all the usual stuff: small midges, red annelids, San Juan worms, and tiny dries.

2. Sportsman’s Bar and Grill has opened back up under new ownership and their green chili burger was pretty top notch.

3. Bug Spray.

4. We always stop in a Float ‘N Fish when we are out at the San Juan, and this time we scored some great tying material from the bargain bin. If you are needing anything when you’re at the Juan, stop here.

5. Honorable mention: I’d never had breakfast at Abe’s, but their omelet with everything in it is legit.

The post Fly Fishing New Mexico: San Juan River appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Headed to the San Juan River with my friends Jason and Kristen for a 3 day fly fishing trip. After the recent cold snaps here in the Southwest, we were happy to see the temperatures climbing back up. The first day was a gorgeous blue bird day with plenty of sunshine. We worked our way through the Braids and up to the Upper Flats. Fish came on red annelids, KF Emergers, eggs, and other various midge patterns. There were many small fish due to the recent stocking overload, but I think by next season, there should be a plethora of really good fish.

Day 2 found us checking out a lower section of river, and while my friends were landing several good fish, I struggled to find my rhythm through the day. Although a few tugs on the line, I could not get anything going. Jason and Kristen both landed several beautiful rainbows and even a couple of browns. I finally got on the board later in the day, and towards dusk, found a couple rising fish to cast dries to.

We woke early on the final day and were on the water by eight. Although we still had a long drive back to AZ, we could not pull ourselves away from the water. I worked one deep run in the Braids for a good while and pulled many respectable fish to the net. I tangoed with two really big fish. One broke me off after a short run, and the other, in a heartbreaking series of events, slipped the hook on a shoddy net job by myself.

The whole weekend was a success and I had a great time with Jason and Kristen, who both are fantastic anglers. I ate my weight in beef jerky and had one of the best green chili burgers at Fisheads Cafe. If you get the chance, it is well worth the time to go over and fly fish the San Juan River.

The post New Mexico Fly Fishing: The San Juan River appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Sammie age

After I returned from my four day adventure at the San Juan, I received more than a few emails asking about what type of setup I was using while I was there. In answer to those emails I put my artistic skills to the test and drew up a diagram of the rigging that I was using. I am by no means an expert, but this information was handed down to me by more than one San Juan die-hard. It is good information and really worked while I was at the San Juan River. (Note: My pictures may not be to scale or 100% accurate, but cut me some slack…)

This is the standard setup that I used while I was at the San Juan. I used 6x flourocarbon tippet material off of my leader. My first fly never changed the whole time I fished a two nymph rig. The Red Hot annelid accounted for a majority of the fish that I ended up catching on the San Juan.

The second fly was equally important and I switched it occasionally as the conditions dictated. I generally fished a zebra midge (black body, silver or gold wire wraps, black head)

or a KF Emerger (brown body, gold wire wraps, Krystal Flash wing, brown head).

I found that the smaller the flies, the more fish I caught.  So I ended up fishing a #24 for all three flies.

Since I was fishing most of the time in the shallower ripples and braids above Kiddie Pool, I set my indicator at around 6 inches. After several passes through a particular lie, I would adjust my indicator to allow the weight to drop lower and the flies to float deeper.

When I fished one of the deep swift runs on the River I found that if I was fishing the rig at a really deep depth, I need to add more weight to my line in order to get the flies to the desired depth. I have heard and read that you should set your indicator at 1.5x the desired depth you desire and that will get the flies where you want them, but that’s difficult if you do not know the depth of a hole or run. For me it was a guessing game, but it seemed to work out ok. Experimenting with depth when the fishing slowed seemed to be one of the most important things I did in order to find fish again.

Nymph fishing under an indicator is not my favorite way of fly fishing, but the fish I caught were extremely rewarding. Even though I was using an indicator, its main use was not to detect the take. The indicator was there generally to keep the depth of my flies consistent. Most of the fish I caught, came from actually seeing the fish move or take the fly. I fished fairly aggressively and set the hook on any movement from the fish or anything out of the ordinary with my indicator.

If I am missing something on this topic or you have a question feel free to email or leave a comment.

The post San Juan River Nymph Rig appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

After I made it home and spent a day on the coach allowing my body to recover from four days of fishing, I wrote up my trip report full of pictures and stories. Looking back to my time on the water, there were a whole bunch of little things that brought this whole trip together. Many of these things were tips that others had shared with me before my trip to the San Juan River. Others were lessons that the actual trip educated me on. So the following is a somewhat random list of do’s and don’ts, tips, reviews, and all around good ideas if you are visiting the San Juan River.

Lodging – I stayed in a tent at the Navajo Lake State Park. Fishing consumed all of my daylight hours and lodging was secondary. Having said that, the Navajo Lake State Park was perfect for me. It was not even half full during this time of the year and my ten dollar primitive camping ticket bought me a place to pitch my tent, a warm shower, and covered the 5 dollar charge to park on the San Juan River. Not a bad deal when it comes right down to it. Hands down, great decision to stay at the Navajo Lake State Park.

Food – As I stated before, I am a breakfast guy. I have to have a couple cups of coffee and a warm meal will keep me going all day. Because it was in the 30’s most mornings, I opted for breakfast to be my one meal out per day. I highly recommend the Back Cast Cafe which is a part of the Fisheads Fly Shop. Food was good, service was great, coffee was hot, and it gave my boots a place to thaw out in the morning. It was nice to warm up before the day and charge my cell phone and camera.  For my other meals I brought sandwich makings from home and I brought a delicious venison stew that warmed my belly at the end of the day. This all helped me to cut down on costs.

Gear Needs – As big of a fan as I was of Fisheads, they did not have some of the basic tying materials that I needed for my time on the water. They pointed me in the direction of Float-n-Fish, another shop next door. Ray had all kinds of gear in there and even put some of the big box stores here in Phoenix to shame. If you need specific pieces of gear, you may want to check out Float-n-Fish

Clothing – I am not a big fan of wearing waders, but the San Juan River water temps are extremely cold. I did not really understand why others were telling me to layer under my waders until I got there and stepped into the water. Even when the sun is shining and I am getting sunburnt, my legs are still pretty chilly even through a pair of fleece pants I had on under my waders. Layering is a necessity for this river.

Rod/Reel – Everywhere I read online, guys were saying that I would need a 9 foot 6 weight rod. Maybe this rod would be ideal, but I fished my grandfather’s old 5 weight Fenwick and was happy with how that worked out for me. Any lost fish were certainly the fault of the operator and not the equipment. I talked with several people on the river that were catching fish on even smaller weight rods.

Gear – How to store and carry gear on the water is always funny to me. Everyone has a different system from a vest to backpacks, chest packs to lanyards. Normally on a small stream I take a backpack to have everything I would need “just in case.” Originally, I started with a backpack and a chest pack but quickly realized I did not need all that gear for this river. My few basic needs were the following:

1. Small box of flies, weights, and indicators
2. 6x tippet (and yes, I splurged for fluorocarbon and no, I don’t know if it helped)
3. Water
4. A couple granola bars
5. Forceps
6. Net

All of this fit nicely into my wader pockets and Wright and McGill Co. Chest Pack. A little velcro on my high dollar fly boxes helped to keep everything neat and secure. I am also a big fan of the platypus water containers (seen in the chest pack above) because they can be folded up and do not take up much room. This setup saved my back and shoulders and kept me very comfortable on the water.

Tying gear – If you do tie, definitely bring you gear along with a headlamp or other light source so that you can tie during the evening. I had only tied up a few of every bug at home, because I am broke and did not want to waste hooks and materials on stuff that was not going to work. This worked out well for me in the end, because during my down time on the river I was able to tie up some more red hots, zebra midges, and KF emergers.

****Washing gear – Probably the most important thing I did was done at home and after the trip. Wash, clean, and sterilize your gear. This should be a no-brainer if you are fishing multiple bodies of water but specifically for the San Juan River. The San Juan River Rainbows are plagued with  whirling disease and therefore special percautions must be taken unless you want to destroy your home waters. Clean boots, waders, fly line, and your net.

The San Juan River is a fun and unique fishery and I recommend getting out there to chase those big fish. This was my first time to the River and I am by no means an expert on everything there. Feel free to add something to the list.

The post Fly Fishing the San Juan River: Tips and Lessons Learned appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

On the last morning of my trip I woke to colder temperatures and ice on the tent. The temperatures had noticeably dropped and as quickly fumbled in the dark to pack up the tent, I felt a twinge of sadness knowing this was going to be my last day on the water. My goal at this point was to get into a couple of fish in the morning and be off the water by noon to make it home to see my lovely wife.

I stopped by the Back Cast Cafe and had myself one more breakfast and a half a pot of coffee before pulling on my wet waders and half frozen boots. After thanking Peggy and the staff for their hospitality while I was there, I drove to the Texas Hole parking lot. I waded into the water and with only a couple of cars in the parking lot, I had the river mostly to myself. My original goal and thought of the morning was that I would catch a couple of good fish and then take off, but lady luck had other things in mind.

Throughout the morning, I hooked 10 or 11 fish and a few of them were of very good size. Many I lost through a poor hook set, but there were a few that I had almost to the net that decided to pull some acrobatic move and taunt me as they swam slowly away. It was extremely frustrating and I quickly became discouraged thinking that I was going to have to drive 7 hours home having gotten skunked on my last day. Finally, I saw the indicator dip and I set the line only to feel the small head shake of a fresh stocker. Game and Fish had stopped by as I was leaving the night before and supposedly had emptied thousands of freshly stocked rainbows into the river.

I continued to work the areas that I had fished the days before and made a loop to find myself in the main channel of the river. Drifting my rig through a slow spot on the side, the unmistakable flash of a feeding fish instinctively caused me to raise the rod tip and fish on. With great care, I played the fish to some shallow water and ultimately the net. Kneeling in the water, cradling the fish in my hands I was ecstatic having seen my hard work through the morning finally pay off. I reveled in the moment and said a quick thank you prayer as I watched the powerful fish fin its way back into the strong current of the San Juan River.

With the heaviness gone from my shoulders and the crushing thought of getting skunked now out of my mind, I headed for the truck. Storing gear away safely, I fueled up on PB and huckleberry jam along with a spicy elk jerky that one of my students had gifted me on the last day of school. The weather was perfect and I rolled the windows down as I pointed to truck south and then ultimately west.

Taxes, yardwork, and other miscillensous spring break projects had been put off long enough and the closer I got to home the more my thoughts turned to these chores. The time that I spent on the San Juan River was definitely a different style of fly fishing then my normal small stream outings, but at the same time extremely rewarding and enlightening. With 3/4 of a school year under my belt, this trip was much needed in order compose myself and offer a bit of relaxation before the final quarter and general madness.

Thanks to everyone who gave me insight and helpful tips for my trip. It would not have been possible without you. Here’s to the next time I can get back to the San Juan.

The post San Juan River: Day 4 appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

I started the morning as usual, dragging my weary bones out of the tent into the cold morning air. The truck heater had mostly thawed me out by the time I pulled into Fisheads and the Back Cast Cafe for a warm breakfast and a steaming cup of coffee. As I cleaned the plate free of any morsel of food and burned my mouth gulping coffee, I realized that I was going to need to replenish my box before I got back on the water. I had originally tied up 4 of every bug (two #24s and two #22s), not really knowing what was going to work or what I was going to need. A Red Hot combined with either a zebra midge or a KF emerger was my go-to rig so far and had picked up most of my fish in the first two days on the water. Fisheads was all out of hooks so I headed over to Float and Fish and Ray, the gentleman behind the counter, was all kinds of helpful showing me hooks and talking about the river. I tied on the tailgate for a little while, but once my hands were too cold to work, I called it quits and hit the water.

Fish started coming to the net with regularity and I fished all the likely looking water I could find. The crowds from the weekend were gone and I was able to fish just about anywhere I wanted.

Ultimately these pictures do not do these fish justice as many of these rainbows show off some spectacular colors in the sun.

I continued walking and found myself in an area known as the Upper Flats which was being heavily fished at the time. I watched other fishermen cast for a while and as I turned to head back to the truck for lunch, I saw a nose and mouth come out of the water for dries in one of the side channels.  I clipped off my nymph rig and tied on a long line of tippet and a Griffiths Gnat and fished to rising trout. After several refusals, one rainbow did take my fly, but a poor hook set allowed him off without much of a fight. I fished to these risers for almost an hour and realized that the situation was hopeless.  I headed back to the truck to tie up some more midges and smaller Griffiths for the afternoon.

During my lunch tying session, I whipped up enough midges to last me the remainder of my trip as well as had myself another unbelievable peanut butter and huckleberry jam sandwich to make it through the rest of the day. I met some fellow Arizonians who actually were friends of guys in my regular fly tying group. (Pleasure to meet you Tom and Paul.)Small world.

I got back on the water as the parking lot started to fill back up, and the Red Hot pattern continued to produce well into the evening. I was a little disappointed that I never made it back up to the Upper Flats to try out some of my smaller Griffiths, but that will give me a reason to go back.

The last fish to the net came out of the riffles above Kiddie Hole.  I had been slowly stalking back through the current trying to use the last bit of sun with my polarized glasses to locate feeding fish. I could not actually see anything in this particular riffle but knew there had been fish there the day before. I plunked the flies at the top of the fast water and watched them drift through several times. The next drift brought a fish up and I lifted the rod to find the shaking head of a rainbow trout. After a good little run, the rainbow begrudgingly came to the net for a quick photo. As we both sat their looking at each other, I could not help but smile and thank God that I had the opportunity to fish and enjoy this wonderful creation.

I fished for another half an hour but was exhausted from the workout the few days of fishing had given me. Throughout the day, I had brought over a dozen fish to the net and had lost way more than that. I headed back to camp for dinner and heated up a tasty venison stew that I had made up just for my trip.

The Navajo State Park that I stayed in was a fantastic campground. For 10 bucks a night I had a campsite and a shower.  It is pretty nice to clean up after a day of sweating in waders and handling fish. With one more day to fish, I passed out in the tent dreaming of big San Juan rainbow trout.

The post San Juan River: Day 3 appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

I slept well after the long drive and few hours of fishing the day before, but I woke to the sound of a rumbling stomach that could only be satisfied by a hot breakfast. Breakfast is one of the most crucial meals of the day for me and trying to create an honorable meal in the cold morning darkness is not one of my strong suits. So I threw on some clothes and of course, my tie from https://johnhenric.com/uk/tie (checkout these linen loungewear for men & women) and headed down to the Back Cast Cafe for their “Good Morning Breakfast” special. I was not disappointed and would spend every morning of my trip their guzzling coffee and trying to thaw out my cold extremities while talking fishing with Peggy. On this particular morning I was headed to meet up with Mike, the author of one of my favorite blogs, Of Dry Flies and Fat Tires. Mike lives in Albuquerque and has spent considerable time combing the banks and braids of the San Juan and was going to show me some of his tactics and favorite spots.

We met around 9 o’clock at the Texas Hole parking lot and from the get-go, Mike and I hit it off. Mike likes to fish like I do, constantly moving, stalking, and ambushing feeding trout. Within minutes of stepping into the cold water of the San Juan River, we hooked a double and were both fighting fish. This was the story most of the rest of the day although I seemed to lose most of my fish, while Mike showed his valuable experience at landing these hard fighting fish.

Mike was an extremely gracious host and guide, allowing me to fish all the good water. We spent most of our day combing the braids and pockets above Texas and Kiddie Holes searching for fish that had not been touched yet that day and they were in abundance. I picked up one of the nicer fish I landed on my trip, a gorgeous San Juan trout in the 17-18 inch range. Luckily Mike was there with the net or it would have been a disaster for me as this fish continued to run time and again.

Mike’s talent and wisdom was evident as he consistently hooked large fish and landed them with seemingly little trouble. Even the “smaller” fish in this river have the propensity to fight and put a serious bend in the rod. It never ceases to amaze me that the hair-thin 6x line can stand up to the workout of landing one of these big shouldered fish.

We had success all morning and into the afternoon, taking turns fishing different runs and riffles. The rainbows were out to eat and continued to play all morning long.

One of the most memorable fish of the day was the beautiful pastel colored rainbow below. Mike and I saw her holding on the bottom of a short run of the river. After several great drifts through the area, Mike set the hook on this handsome fish and made short work of landing the beauty.

After ending up back in the parking lot around 2 o’clock for some lunch, we headed back out into the currents to chase some more fish. Although their were a few hookups early, the bite seemed to turn slow and nothing we were offering seemed productive.

After a wonderful day on the water with many fish brought to hand, Mike and I parted ways. I cannot say enough how great it was meeting up with a quality gentlemen and fisherman like Mike, and I can only hope it is not the last time we get to fish together. His knowledge and insight kept me into fish for the next couple of days and brought my “big river” game to a whole new level. Thanks Mike for a great time on the water.

The post San Juan River: Day 2 appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

The sun crested the mountaintops as my trucked roared northward on the I-17 towards Flagstaff. Through the bug splattered windshield I could see the desert around me change as I climbed in altitude until the desert was swallowed up by the tall ponderosa pines. I made the turn onto I-40 heading east to the New Mexico state line and with a quart of coffee in my system, I was finally able to think through the next few days. I was headed for the blue ribbon trout fishery of the San Juan River.

The San Juan River is a tailwater that flows out of Navajo Dam right outside of Farmington, New Mexico. The ice cold water that runs out of the dam provides quality habitat for a few miles and sustains an amazing fishery that boasts ginormous rainbows and some beefy browns. The river is a destination fishery that pulls fisherman mainly from the “Four Corner” states (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah), but also from around the United States. Because of its consistent flows it is said to fish very well all year round which means fisherman flock to it’s banks when the rivers back home are running high and muddy.

I pulled into the small cluster of buildings known as the community of Aztec right around 1:30 and stopped by Fishheads, a fly shop that had been recommended to me by some other Arizona fly fishermen. Peggy, the shop manager/guide sat down with me and went over maps, rigs, flies, and local camping accommodations with me. I was extremely happy with the level of service that the shop offered. I noticed the restaurant in the back and made a mental note of their hours of operations. I bought my New Mexico fishing license and made my way up to the campground to get my base of operations up and running.

With the tent set and ready to go, I rumbled my way down to the “Texas Hole” parking lot and could not find a spot. Trucks were there from every Southwestern state and beyond. Finally I found a spot, rigged up a two fly rig under an indicator (ironic, I know) and waded into the water. There were so many fisherman lined up at the Texas Hole and right above that run in what is known as the Kiddie Hole. Literally, it was shoulder to shoulder fisherman. I was amazed that they could actually cast while standing so close together.

I wandered around trying to find likely looking runs but everywhere I went there were other fisherman steadily flogging the water. I finally found a likely looking spot and positioned myself for the remaining few hours of daylight. While drifting my two #24 fly rig my indicator paused and I lifted the rod to find life on the other end. Awestruck that I had actually tricked one of these finicky rainbows, I fumbled to get the fish on the reel and safely brought the strong trout to the net.

As I released the fish back into the icy water, I was grinning ear to ear. I continued to fish until dark and surprisingly fishermen continued to leave as the fish started to porpoise and eat midge emergers near the surface. I left the river at dark with two more fish brought to the net and the satisfaction that I sort of knew what I was doing.

The post San Juan River: Day 1 appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.