San Juan River, NM, Feb 10 – 11, 2017

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The ‘Juan’ as my fishing buddies call it ‘is the place to fly fish in New Mexico’.  The San Juan is unlike any NM river I have fished to this point.  My usual fishing ‘rivers’ or ‘streams’ generally don’t qualify as rivers back in the Midwest.  Most of the rivers or streams in the Jemez Mountains and Pecos Wilderness can be forded with ease; many times without even getting feet wet.  The San Juan is different.  Even though it is somewhat cloudy from runoff, the two days we were there I could tell from the color of the water; deep blue/green in places, the river is big and deep.

Initially we planned this trip two weeks ago.  The weather forecast was for highs in the mid 20’s; lows in the single digits.  Even though I was raised in WI I have been away too long.  I remember cold weather and try to avoid it; especially if I don’t have to go out in it.  This weekend has forecast highs in the 60’s with cloud cover.  Possible bad weather moving in on Sunday, but we will be home Saturday night with two days of fishing under our belts.

For fun, I Googled San Juan fly fishing; the first 12 websites were: how to fish, where to stay, guides, fishing reports and the proper San Juan flies to use.  I am going with two experienced fly fishing buddies from work; Tom and Byron.  Both of them have fished this river, along with many others, many times.  Unfortunately our other fishing buddy, Mark, is not able to make this trip.

Tom is bringing his boat, so he and Byron will select a spot, drop anchor and we will fish.  If that spot doesn’t work we will find another.  Going on Friday means the ratio of fly fishers to fish should be down when compared to Saturday.

Tom texts us to be at his place at 0630.  This is my usual start time for work so no problem.  Byron is not such an early riser but with the prospect of more time on the river he is eager to make the appointed hour.

At 0620 we arrive at Tom’s house; immediately filling the truck with all our essentials; fishing gear, clothing, food, beer and for me, camera equipment.  It’s about a three hour drive from Albuquerque to the ‘Juan’.  As we make our way to the river we hit the usual topics; work and fish stories; not necessarily in that order.  Both Tom and Byron tie flies, between their four or five fly boxes I see almost as many nymphs as at Sportsman’s warehouse.  There must be 10 of each type of fly in several different sizes.  They are ready to fish!  I immediately have fly envy with my little 3” x 4” fly box.

We arrive at the Texas Hole parking lot around 0930.  We start uncovering the boat; putting together fishing gear, loading up the cooler, donning waders and warm windproof jackets because of the breeze blowing along the river.  Already there are about a half dozen empty boat trailers in the parking lot.  Fortunately the Texas Hole is big; swallowing up the half dozen boats with room for many more.

By 1000 we are on the river.  In addition to the boats there must be a dozen or so fly fishers wading along the bank.  Etiquette on Tom’s boat for the three of us is to announce “coming up” whenever we raise our rod to cast.  It works, through the two days of casting we only tangle with each other twice.

I have not been out fishing since late last summer so I set my usual level of successful fishing at one trout for each day.  If I can’t make that it will be a long two days.  I see several fly fishers around us pulling in trout; not big, or on every cast but enough that I know the Juan has trout looking for something to eat.

Once situated in the river each of us gets down to business.  Directions include; casting into the foam line, cast into the seams between the fast and slow moving water, keep your line tight, watch the indicator for ANY movement then jerk back on the rod to set the hook, then keep the rod tip up.  Any movement on the indicator can be a trout sampling your offering.  Everyone starts out a bit slow but within 10 minutes we are landing trout.  I finally pull one in so my day is made, anything else is a bonus.

At home, in the comfort of my computer/photography/fishing room, I have practiced tying knots: joining leader to tippet, tying flies on lines, attaching slip shot to the line.  It all went well.  I became quite proficient at doing each; or so I thought, watching YouTube does greatly help.  Once I was out in the open with lots of sun, a bit of a breeze and a slightly rocking boat I couldn’t make my fingers work to tie a knot if my life depended on it.  I was cautioned to put on my best knots, these fish will break flies off with little effort.  From time to time I would pull my line back in for inspection finding that some or all of my flies were missing.  Time to start with new flies and knots, after several tries, many minutes and a bit of mumbling I am able to get back to fishing.

Unplanned knots are another issue.  As Tom says a nanosecond is all it takes to make a knot in the small, invisible line we use to catch trout.  I had many nanosecond episodes this weekend.  I do have to admit that by the end of our expedition I became proficient at both untangling knots; recognizing when I should cut out the knots starting over and even tying everything together as planned.

We didn’t stop for anything once we hit the water.  We ate, drank, fished and compared notes as to what was working and at what depths so we could all share in a successful day.  I was very happy with my catches; there were enough that I stayed engaged all day.  There were also enough that I didn’t track how many I caught.  Every once in a while I stopped to shoot a few photos of the river valley and all the activity of fly fishing.

We stayed at the Ocatgon Inn, a few miles down the road from our fishing spot.  We were in the Cabin, with three beds, a stocked kitchen, television and other essentials.  My green chile stew, the main meal, went into a kettle as we sorted through all our stuff and turned on the TV.  I was reminded again that more television channels do not necessarily make for good television.  After a few adult beverages and stew we dove into Robin’s carrot cake.  I could have eaten more but my stomach was full; besides we need something for breakfast tomorrow morning.  As I took my shower before going to bed I had this strange sensation when I would close my eyes.  I haven’t felt this way after having only two beers before.  If I was moving around I was fine, stopping and closing my eyes had put me back on the rocking boat.

We are all up sometime after 0600 Saturday morning readying our fishing equipment, having carrot cake and packing.  Seeing other boats in the Inn parking lot gives us incentive to be on the river before the others. 

We are on the river by 0845.  There is only one other boat on this part of the river so Tom immediately rows us up to one of the prime spots.  He does all the work of positioning us on the river before he can attend to his own fishing.

Even though it’s a Saturday, the river is sparsely populated by fly fishers.  I can only attribute it to being February.  60 degree days are not the norm for February so not many people planned to be out this early in the year. 

Tom’s day starts out bad with nanosecond knots and trout breaking off flies.  While the day starts out bad for Tom it shows me that even experienced fishermen have occasional bad episodes.  For me, this is a real learning experience.  I am not the only one that wrestles with knots, breakoffs, and other challenges.

Early on I catch my one trout, then hit a long dry spell.  I become a bit frustrated seeing many others around us pulling in multiple trout.  I stop fishing, deciding to shoot images for a while to reset my mind.  Taking suggestions from Tom and Byron and changing flies changes my fortune.  For some period of time I am catching trout like I know what I am doing.  I’m getting an idea of what to do but I certainly don’t entirely know what I am doing.

Today we spend 6 hours on the river.  Time speeds by with all the activity; pulling in fish, trying a new fly, adjusting the depth, adjusting the weight of the shot and any of a dozen other things we consider to catch an elusive trout.

We quit early today so we can visit recently retired coworkers, Mike and Vonnie, who have a home on the ‘Juan’ a couple miles downstream from where we have been fishing.  They show us their place telling is stories of being up there on and off over the past 10+ years.  Tom has been looking for property in the area and is energized when he hears about local properties on the river.  Vonnie doesn’t let us go until she packs each of us bags of homemade chipotle beef jerky.  That is reason enough for me to go back.

The three hour drive back goes quickly.  We are all tired from the long days of standing in the boat and fishing.  Prior to this trip I didn’t think about all the work involved having a good time fishing.

This successful fishing trip has renewed my urge to get out fishing.  I will still do my regular photo hikes but fishing moves high on my list when getting out.

These past two days have been outstanding.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark