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Fishing Reports
San Juan River from www.customflys.com
March 28, 2004
Posted by Jude Duran-San Juan River Guide
Email: customflies@msn.com
Current Report
Water Flow------244 cfs
The Bureau of
Reclamation has released a
memo stating they will be
raising the river's flow to
350 cfs on April 1st.
Chances are with the above
average snow pack in the San
Juan Mountains, the Animas
will be running higher
through the summer. This
means that the BOR won't
have to release high levels
of water from Navajo Dam to
compensate for the Animas
running low and threatening
an endangered Colorado Pike
Minnow down river. This
means that the San Juan will
probably flow 350cfs for
most of the summer, so we're
going to have to get used to
the low water.
There has been plenty
of discussion over the past
few weeks on how this will
affect the fishing, so I
have decided to talk a
little about it in this
report. While the lower
flows mean that the fish
will be holding in fewer
areas, and will be more
concentrated, generally, you
won't notice a big
difference from the 350-
600cfs flows we experienced
last summer. The less
fishable water just means
that we all need to be aware
and considerate of each
other when on the water. If
you're standing closer than
15ft from a person while
fishing, generally you're
too close. Spread out, and
give your self and other fly
fishers some room. With the
lower flows, I have seen
more and more people fish
too close to one another,
and the frustration and
anger that is attributed to
doing this is not why we go
fishing.
However, the prolonged
lower flows will have long-
term effects on the river.
The lower flows have dried
up some river bed on the
sides of the river, and this
has dried up some of the
insect habitat. The lower
flows have also increased
the growth of aquatic
plants, because more sun is
penetrating to the bottom of
the river. This has both
good and bad effects. The
negative aspect of more
vegetation is that the
ecology of the river is
changing and there is less
of the muddy, silty habitat
midges prefer. This is also
one of the main reasons
there are more scuds in the
river now. I think you can
see a difference in the
quality of fishing in the
lower river since the lower
flows began a couple of
years ago, but overall,
we'll just hold on and hope
for more snow in the next
two years. It will still
take at least 4 years to get
the lake back up to a level
where we'll see flows higher
than 800cfs.
The river is REALLY off
color, and the visibility is
only about 10 inches. The
fishing has been good for
some, but fair for most
people. I am not the type of
guide who will give you
glorified reports to get you
to book a trip. I try to
give you an honest report.
The fish are still in the
popular holes in large
numbers, but once those
holes are taken up, you'll
have to break habit and move
around the river to find
other pods of fish. Another
key is to use less weight.
I've been using size 9 and
10 weights most of the time.
The water is really slow in
most places, and in order to
get a good drift, you have
to use less weight, and mend
(even downriver sometimes).
My clients have been
catching most of their fish
on the Duran's Red Larva in
size 20. Bryon from Amarillo
caught a huge 22" Hen from
the Kiddy Pool on that fly!
It was as long as his arm!!
My scud pattern has also
been working well for most
of the morning.
The spring hatches of
baetis parvus, or Blue Wing
Olive hatches are here, but
not prevalent. From the
Texas Hole up river, I have
only seen small hatches that
aren't big enough to have
the fish keying in on
mayflies. There are hatches
below the Texas Hole that
are getting the fish to look
up in the afternoons Your
best chances for fishing
mayflies on top to go with
7x tippet and a size 22
sparkle dun. For those tough
fish, drop a midge emerger
behind your dry fly.
Top Producing Flies (in
order of importance):
#22 Duran's Red Larva
#22 Duran's Scud
#22 Brown Trojan Midge
#16 Dave's Chamois Leech
#12 Olive Bunny Leech/ #12
Natural Leech
Guide's Advice:
Now that the water flow is
slower, most of the riffles
you are used to fishing will
be moving much slower. This
means that your selection of
weight is even more crucial.
I rarely use anything larger
than a size 8 anymore unless
I'm in the main channel.
Most of the time, in the
ESPN, Upper Flats, Cable
Hole, and Catch & Release,
I'm using either one or two
size 8 weights. There are
times when having a size 9
weight on means the
difference between catching
5 or 10 fish that couple of
hours. Experiment until you
find that you are bumping
the bottom occasionally, but
not often, and move your
indicator so your flies
drift as close to right
below them as possible.
-Jude Duran
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