The Juan Report
- This topic has 10 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Nov 6, 2008 at 2:35 am by
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Spent the weekend fishing the San Juan with friends. Packed up Friday after work, drove seven hours straight through to Farmington/Aztec New Mexico from Phoenix. Grabbed a couple hours nap wrapped up in my sleeping bag parked outside the Enchanted hideaway (where my friends were staying) and hit it early Saturday morning. Joining the group just for the weekend, I had to turn around and repeat the seven hour drive home Sunday night, arriving early in the AM just in time to shower, shave , and shiz before rolling into the office for a 6am call. To my dismay we found the river in decline.
Although our party caught plenty of fish, I think that this maybe the worst-shape I’ve seen the river in the ten years or so I’ve been fishing it. Numbers are down and the fishery appears to be changing. Silt is prevalent throughout the entire system and an overall lack of gravel substrate seems to be showing its evil head. A change in direction for New Mexico’s Game and fish departments stocking strategy seems to be an additive to the decline. Apparently three inch fish are being stocked instead of the historical twelve inch bows dumped into the river in past years stockings. Cost is rumored to be the culprit, the smaller fish are just plan cheaper. If cost savings are the upside, the downside would be reduction in the number of fish reaching maturity due to predation from other fish. Long story short, the bigger fish are eating all the smaller ones being put into the system by New Mexico’s game and fish. There’s much more to this story, I got an earful from the local guide population while there, but better saved for a later time.
Single midges down to 24s and Loop wing Beatis emergers where the name of the game. A nine foot 5 weight would have been par for the course, but having several rods in a state of repair at SAGE I opted for a smaller lighter weight rig to go with for the weekend.
I had a bit of a swim when a twenty-something inch fish ate a six inch rainbow that had mistaken my imitation for a single midge on my seven foot three weight pencil of a rod. That little adventure cost two nets, a quarter mile swim down the main channel (by yours truly), and one tired fish. When all was said and done, we somehow managed to land both the eight inch lunch and the dining fish on 7(x), a half a mile down river and culminating immediately above the Texas hole.
Despite no sleep and the condition of the river, the weekend was spent with good people, catching some nice fish, and making some better memories. The San Juan is still a mighty river worthy of its reputation for big fish and big numbers, however she’s in need of stewardship and a little TLC by concerned anglers like TU. I look forward to my next trip; Let me know if you would like to come along.
I hope you enjoy the pictures, I’m happy with a couple of them, but overall not sure the photography did the scenic fall coloring and clean fish justice. Let me know what you think.
Damn nice work Aaron! Some really really nice stuff in there .. #10 (fisherman in black) really pops out .. Good stuff! The SJ is on my list of destinations next year … Despite the poor condition of the river, it seems like you guys did pretty well!
Dang, Aaron. They just keep getting better. They are all pretty nice, but some of those are fantastic pics, IMO. I really like #’s 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 & 13. The last brown, wow, love how the parr marks are just visible in that fish, and the fish’s colors are very nice. Well done on the pics. 😎 😎
Thanks guys – hopefully you will humor me with a few more shots;
Okay – I’ll stop puking pictures on you. Thanks for the feedback.
a
‘Humor ‘ us Aaron………… give me a break…it is more like lavishing your shots on us ..thanks …………. 🙂 🙂
We rarely get Autumn colours like that here..You make me want to jump on a plane and head back across the Pacific……… not that I could afford to with the exchange rate being as it is just now… >:(
so I will just check out your shots a bit more & dream some more until I can afford another ‘tour’……. I might have to get you to drag me around a bit next timeHey is that a can of clamato? good stuff
LC
You make me want to jump on a plane and head back across the Pacific……… not that I could afford to with the exchange rate being as it is just now… >:(
so I will just check out your shots a bit more & dream some more until I can afford another ‘tour’……. I might have to get you to drag me around a bit next time
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