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Fishing Reports
San Juan River--NM
February 14, 2003
Posted by Jude Duran
Albuquerque, NM US
Email: customflys@msn.com
Current Report
For any of my fishing
buddies, the night before a
day off work is always fair
game for a last-minute
invitation to the Juan. For
me and my fishing buddy
Jack, that is especially
true because I don't think
there is anyone in our
fishing group who is more of
a fishing fanatic than we,
but when Jack showed up at
my door at 2:15 in the
morning (is it even called
morning if it's that early?)
to pick me up, I knew then
he had become the craziest
San Juan fanatic I've ever
known!
With half closed and
sleepy eyes, I put my fleece
on and hurried out the door.
The drive up there was harsh
because I couldn't shake my
sleepiness and I felt sick,
but with Jack's
encouragement, I was able to
fight it off and at 5:10am,
we pulled into the parking
lot of the Roadside Cafe in
Bloomfield for what Jack
calls, "the best hot cakes
in the world!" After a quick
breakfast, we rushed to the
river and arrived in the
Thole parking lot before the
sun had begun to rise. We
suited up. rigged out rods,
and tied our knots in the
dim light of the truck's
headlights ( I told you we
were fanatics! ).
The first hole we hit
was the fast riffle at the
head of the ESPN hole. Of
course, the
traditional "Lotacombo
Competition" was in full
swing, so I was working the
water hard with two size 22
midge patterns I designed
for the winter and Jack was
using his leech pattern
trailed by a red larva #22.
I had a fish on in the first
two minutes and I was sure I
was going to win when, with
a slap of its tail, the fish
got off. Jack had a fish on
his line only a few minutes
later that also managed to
spit the fly.
So, we were both
still in the running. Jack
struck another fish, but
this time with the size 12
leech, so there was no way
that one was getting off. I
knew I had to perform some
magic if I was going to win,
so I made a few false casts
and cast to the head of the
riffle. I was able to land
two fish in a row in the
next ten minutes and this
was enough to win me the
lotaburger.
After the competition
was over, we spent the next
hour catching fish after
fish, with each of us
trading off, until Jack
decided to take the weight
off his Leech and fish it
with a drift, swing, and
strip. For the next hour and
a half, Jack caught four
fish to my one on the leech.
At one point, he landed
three 15+ inch fish on three
consecutive casts! This is
when he managed to catch the
big fish in the photo. It
was a good 22 inches and
very healthy with good
colors.
I was still hooking
fish on my two "secret"
midge patterns, but the
action had slowed for me.
Then, at about 10:00, the
fish started to take
emerging midges and were
more active, so I began to
sight-fish to the pods. I
must have taken at least 20
fish in the next hour using
the same two flies. I
couldn't believe the
effectiveness of those
midges. In fact, I didn't
even switch to another set-
up until 1pm! I caught
around 28 fish on the same
two flies! Meanwhile, Jack
had moved down to the slower
water and took two fish on a
KF emerger.
Jack decided to move
to the main channel while
was still working the fish
in the ESPN hole. In the
afternoon, the action slowed
down (which has been the
pattern this winter). I
waded to the main channel to
find Jack, but he had
already moved down to the
Thole, so I decided to take
a break and collect some
insect samples. When I
seined the water, I saw
mostly scuds and midge lava.
The scuds were, as they are
most of the time, a very
light dun color, and the
midges were light
brown/olive, light cream,
and red.
I waded towards Jack
and switched to a size 28
midge adult pattern and took
3 small trout on it before
it was time to leave.
Overall, it was a fantastic
trip with both Jack and I
landing over 3 dozen fish
each. These are very high
numbers for the winter and I
wasn't expecting the fishing
to be that good!!
Best Flies:
Sparkle midge #22
Trojan midge #22
Jack's Leech #12
Red larva #22
The small number of flies we
used shows just how
effective the patterns were.
-Jude Duran
www.customflys.com
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