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San Juan River NM

3K views 26 replies 23 participants last post by  BigJohnJohn 
#1 ·
Got back from fishing the San Juan about a week ago. First time at the river and it was an eye opener. We hired a guide (which I haven't had for at,least 20 years) for the first day and waded the next two days. By the way guide fee was $390 plus the tip. Guide rigged us up with 2 rods for nymphs and two rods for dries. When we booked I indicated that my preference would be dries. We put in at what they call the Texas hole,which happens to be where everyone starts out. In the water we go and go around the corner and lo and behold here are a dozen boats all sitting in the "HOLE". This hole is only about 15 yards wide and maybe 20 yards long. Down the nymph rods went. He warned us to cast close to boat. These boats weren't anymore than 15' apart. Not my kind of fishing. To the dries we went. He said it was only the 3rd time this year he had clients fish dries. Ant with white wing and a #22 griffin knat on the bottom. What turned out to be a start from hell actually turned into a great day. Between the wife and I we boated 20 fish from 15-20" Can't tell you how many we missed by trying to set the hook to fast. Besides the griffin I used double ant for a time and caught fish on those. The next two days we waded and didn't do well at all. River was packed with waders in all the holes we wanted to fish. Would I go back. Probably not. To damn crowded and the guide said it was a slow day!!!!!! No pics. Quit taking several years ago as they all look the same after awhile
 
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#7 ·
Sounds like the guide nailed it, with the dry ants & gnats. Every guide (& gent) would prefer lonely pristine trout water. One reason I don't do Montana. But, fish get caught.
Congrations.
Hell, I can show you water where nobody else fished. One place I fish I never see another angler. I don't like to fish around others. You catch something and they all crowd in. If I'm within a mile of anybody, they are to close.
 
#14 ·
Unfortunately I think it's to late. Fly fishing has become the new social outdoor sport. You can read articles in the New York Times and other major publications about FF, TV commercials have FF themes. There seems to be a trend where a group of 4 or 5 anglers/friends are all fishing a run big enough for 1 angler
Maybe it's just me, I like solitude when I fish..
 
#8 ·
I have some friends in the New Mexico game warden service. One was a biologist for the San Juan River program. He said that they once dove, snorkeled and electro shock surveyed the Texas Hole. They counted 5000 fish in less than 100 yards. I went down there with a friend late one fall, after the Alaska guiding season, to goof off camping and fishing for a week or two. At one point I realized that I was having the best day of dry fly fishing that I had ever had in my life. It was stupidly good. I was using a single #24 blue winged olive. We saw a lot of odd things going on there too. We only lasted a week. It felt like a theme park ride. The Disneyland of fly fishing.
 
#15 ·
Used to be- I could hike in a mile or so to an OP river before dawn and not have 5 guys waiting for me in a one-man hole. I could go to the Pope Resources land in Kitsap Co. and not have VANS FULL of SEA folks trudging around to cut every last chanterelle they can find. I could hike past a locked logging gate, hump up 5-6 miles for deer or elk and not have a 4-wheeler or electric bicycle go right past me like I was just another obstacle to avoid. Same with clamming beaches, you name it.

Now think of it 5-10 years from now. Time was, you had to either put in your time or were lucky enough to be related the an Old Man who could show you the ropes and cut years off of the learning curve. Now you have OnyxMaps on your phone, Langdon Cook on TV, etc. I know, I know, wah wah wah... but I agree with 1morecast- once your sport becomes trendy, the internet gives rookies just enough info to be dangerous/ nuisance. Rant over. for now.
 
#16 ·
Believe it or not the San Juan tailwater below Navajo Dam was hush hush when I was a young man in Colorado.
In 1975 I started with the USFS in Durango and drove down to the secret water after a short workday. I purchased a license at Abe's and asking where to fish. Near dusk I ended up catching a 7 lb. rainbow on an olive and brown streamer. It was by far my largest trout up to that point and you'd better believe I killed it to display my prowess. Kodachrome is around somewhere.
The weeds had been problematic so I tied a couple bucktails on Keel hooks which were considered hot stuff those days. The very next morning I drove back down, tied one of the new streamers to a new piece of heavy tippet, waded to the same run, and almost immediately pinged off a huge rainbow. It was the only fish I moved that day, the last time I ever fished (or likely ever will fish) the San Juan.
Shortly after the big fish experiences I moved to Dillon, Colorado and recent accounts of the crowding there sound disgusting.
 
#24 ·
I fished all day yesterday, covered a lot of water, and didn't see a single other fisherman.

There's more people now, and sure, it sucks. But that's not changing any time soon.

There's still plenty of low crowd fishing to be had out there.
Where I caught some huge smallmouth this summer the lake was virtually empty. This was followed by a few stillwater trout days hiking in, virtually empty and good fishing. Then I caught this on a virtually empty shore on a big ass lake....
Screenshot_20191016-145655.png


Maybe we are just lucky @Nick Clayton:D
 
#27 ·
I fished the San Juan a couple of summers ago and while I know it can certainly get pretty crowded there. I was pleasantly surprised that is was not as crowded as I thought it would be. The guide I hired decided to fish downstream in the morning and then come back up in the afternoon and hit the Texas hole. We only saw a couple other boats in the morning and had great action on dry flies and streamers. Then in the afternoon we hit the texas hole. There were probably 4 or 5 other boats in there and another 3-4 waders. It was busy for sure but we spent an hour or so in there caught a few fish and then moved on. Out guide commented on a couple of the other guides there that he couldn't believe that they would take clients and just sit in the Texas Hole the WHOLE day. There are plenty of fish in the San Jaun. I am glad that I fished the Texas hole for what it is but I was just as happy to fish downstream as well. I think we brought 20 or so fish to the boat and probably another dozen missed due to poor fishermen skill. :) It was a great experience, that I would absolutely do again.
 
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