01/20/13
While thinking about this week's topic for the fishing report, I was reminded of a story about a local guide that has a reputation for speaking his mind and telling everyone (including his clients) exactly--"how it is." The story goes, that after enduring his client's excessive false casting for about as long as he could take, he told the client to "put it in the water--there's no fish up there!" Kind of reminds me of another story about the time I was fishing here with a much more experienced fisherman than myself and he yelled downriver, inquiring as to whether I was catching any fish. After I replied "no", he asked if I could see any fish there. When I replied "no" once again, he asked me-- "then why are you fishing there?" That question's profound, simple wisdom, still sticks with me today and no doubt, has changed the way I fish and, I think, has made me a more effective fisherman. On tailwaters such as the San Juan, where the fish are plentiful and the water clarity generally very good, I'm a firm believer that you can increase your catch rates considerably, if you learn to sharpen your skills in "sight fishing." Sure, there's instances where the light may be bad, or the water may be off color, or there's a far bank you want to cover that you can't get close enough to observe fish, or the run may be too deep to see fish holding in deeper water; but for the most part, if you work a little bit on your ability to see fish, you can increase your chance in the "catching" part of the game, just by eliminating the part of the equation that has you fishing where there are no fish. For starters, it pays "to look before you leap" and take the time to really look at and "into" the water, before you start to wade. Stand still at the edge, or on the bank and thoroughly examine the water, allowing your eyes to adjust to the light and observe the contours of the bottom, the rocks, the sand, the vegetation, the swirls made by the current on the surface, concentrating on anything that has the outline, or part of an outline, that resembles a fish. Learn to look for movement--rocks and sticks generally don't swim--and train your eyes to spot just a fin, a tail, a shadow on the bottom, a spot of silver, a stripe of red, or for the white of the inside of a mouth, of a feeding trout. Invest in a good pair of polarized glasses--you'll be surprised at the difference in the number of fish you'll be able to spot, by the reduced glare from a quality pair of shades. Next, it won't do you a lot of good if you're spotting fish in water that makes for very difficult, or impossible presentation of your fly. Look around--can you make a backcast, here? Is there proper current to get a drift? My philosophy for the San Juan is that since there are so many fish in so many accessible places and they are generally easily approached, I won't waste my time looking for them in really tough spots, unless I happen to spot one that is truly remarkable, in such a place. Finally, work on positioning yourself in the most advantageous spot possible, to work your fish. Most fish here aren't that spooky and you can get pretty close to them and improve your odds, by putting yourself in a spot that requires a shorter cast, thus easier line management. Keep your eyes on the fish as you move into position. This is important because looking away for just a second may cause you to lose your fish, due to a change in your sight perspective caused by your repositioning and you want to get close, but not too close. Pick out that one fish and lock on the radar, observe his depth, the speed of the current, and any quirks of the drift, and adjust your weight and indicator, accordingly. Make your cast without taking your eyes off the fish and observe what happens. If he moves when your flies approach, or you see the tell-tell white of the inside of his mouth, lift the rod tip. Learn to watch the indicator at the same time as watching the fish, it won't always move, but a change in speed, or slight tick, may indicate a take. Often as not, the movement of the fish will be your guide, rather than the indicator. If nothing happens, cast a few more times before adjusting your weight, or indicator, and in the words of the great Lefty Kreh- "The last thing to change, is the fly." As for fishing conditions this week, expect some very cold weather, with water levels of about 350 cfs and visibility of about 2 feet or so. Effective fly choices include egg patterns, red and cream larva, and the usual assortment of midge pupa, emergers, and dries in sizes 24 to 28. Leeches and buggers are working; as well, and are especially effective when trailed with midge larva patterns. If you would like to book a guided trip, need accommodations, or more info, give us a call at 505-632-2194.
One of the guides here in the shop commented that my fishing reports always seem to reflect the good parts of fishing and seem to leave out those parts like falling in the river, or snagging your fly in the willows. In an effort to be fair to all, I must admit that I have and continue to have, my fair share of run-ins with Murphy's Laws Of The River. You know, those axioms of fly-fishing like: You've finally figured what they're taking, but you just broke off the last one in your box, on that last fish. No matter where you decide to cross the river, the last two steps to the far bank are always over your waders. Your worst tangle of the entire day will come when there are rising fish all around you and it's just a slight bit too dark to re-tie. That one final falsecast will always land in the top of the highest tree around. And always, no matter how calm it is, the wind will always, always start blowing, when the hatch starts and you tie on a dry fly. There are oh so many more, but due to the brevity of this article, I'll limit them to the few mentioned above. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about San Juan fishing for this up coming week. For starters, it's going to get cold, especially during the first part of the week. The kind of cold that calls for knocking ice out of your guides, cold. The kind of cold that makes you wonder if maybe there is something more important you need to take care of, rather than fish on that particular day. Fortunately for me, I have a Scots-Irish heritage, which means I am stubborn and probably won't come up with a reason not to go out. It also means I like to have a little drink now and then, but I'm just too cheap to buy it, for myself. Anyway, you can expect to see the midge activity pick up around 10:30 or so and you can have some good results on small midge dry patterns for a few hours. The late evening midge hatches we were seeing when the weather was a bit warmer, don't seem to be as prevalent as before and the fish that are rising during that time seem to be few and really spread out. The BWOs haven't really been out in numbers lately, but with the change in weather we are expecting that could possibly change, so bring some comparaduns, or sparkle duns it you decide to come out. When you are not seeing surface activity, red and cream larva are good choices for you nymph rigs and grey and chocolate foam wings are working, as well. I did have to work a little harder than I have been accustomed to for my fish this past week, but I would still rate the experience as good to very good, overall. The water level is still around the mid 300 cfs level and the clarity is still very good, with no lake turnover yet. This translates to some slow moving currents in lots of parts of the river and makes the fish somewhat picky eaters, due to the fact they have a long time to look at your offerings, so I've gone to 7x for my dries, and it seems to have helped. You do need to be on your game for the ones that you can coerce to eat, because just like a good soufflé, they won't rise twice. Well, looks like I need to go digging through the closet for some more layers, Monday will be here before you know it. Hope you can make it out and if you need to book a guided trip, room accommodations, or more info, give us a call at 505-632-2194. A special shout-out to Clayton Gist who was out again this week from Tennessee, it's always a pleasure swapping stories with you.
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