Ed's Fly Fishing Report for Satursday July 9, 2011
Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! Learn more at http://www.tu.org/science/aquatic-invasive-species-ais
Even though we've seen the clouds build over the mountains every afternoon, there just hasn't been enough rain and widespread enough at that to lift the forest closures due to extreme fire danger. Please see our announcements page for a list of what's closed and what is open. Think outside the box and be willing to try something different. Lot's of stuff just into Colorado is fishing very well and is a short drive north. I've had great reports from the Conejos River Anglers on the Conejos and it's tribs. I just floated the upper Rio Grande from Creede to Del Norte over three days and had excellent fishing. It was tough to breathe with all of the stoneflies and caddis flying about! Get out to Abiquiu Lake at the crack of dawn and cast poppers for smallmouth bass. Carp are taking flies on the surface at El Vado. So don't dismay if your usual go to fishing can't happen. You might just be delighted you went someplace else!
For the most current fire information go to http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com/
Click on Public Lands Information Center from our links page for a list of fire restrictions or closures.
San Juan River 504 cfs below Navajo Dam; Good
The high release is over. Fishing is good but fly choices have become smaller with the lower and clear water. Black and grey bodied midge larvae and pupa are still working. Red midges like a disco midge above Texas Hole in the mornings is a good producer. For the beatis, try the ususal, chocolate foam wings in #22, chocolate johnny flash, gray loop wing emergers, and gray RS2's. Fish start eating midges once the baetis are done from then until dusk. The caddis hatch on the lower river is waning but, PMD's are starting to show up. From Rainbow Lodge on down all river access is private. If you can, a stay at Soaring Eagle or a float from one of the guide services can put you in the middle of the hatch. You can sometimes find bugs all the way up to the Gravel Pit take out. The Special Trout Water section is all catch and release and has a two fly only rule. If you see someone in violation, turn them into Game and Fish at 1-800-432-4263. Officers have been checking people for licenses, barbless flies, and the number of flies on your rig! File those barbs or go barbless, as the fines are steep!
Pecos River 28 cfs below Terrero; Fair to Good:
PECOS CANYON CAMPGROUNDS, DAY USE AREAS, HIKING TRAILS, AND FISHING ACCESSES ARE CLOSED.
The Department of Game and Fish imposed strict fire closures on State Game Commission properties in Pecos Canyon beginning Thursday, June 30th banning all camping and fishing. All forest lands surrounding the Pecos River are also closed. Please respect the landowners along the Pecos and don't trespass or poach. See our Announcements Page for more details. The Pecos National Historical Park is also closed to fishing. They will let anyone with a reservation on the river throught the 4th. Currently there is no walk on fishing at the park. Please see their website for the details at http://www.nps.gov/peco/index.htm and click on "2011 Fishing Program". Monastery Lake is also closed.
Rio Grande 448 cfs at Cerro; Slow: 595 cfs at Pilar; Slow for pike, Fair to Good for trout, Fair for smallmouth bass
The Rio Grande and it's tributaies like The Pueblo de Taos, Rio Hondo, and the lower Red River accessed through the Wild and Scenic Rivers area are open. The Red River Fish Hatchery campgrounds and parking area are closed, with no fishing access. The best fishing is on the lower Red or the Hondo. Not much for hatching bugs on the Rio right now. The flows have come up enough to the delight of the boaters, but the water is quite murky. I do best fishing the pockets when nothing is going on hatch wise. Fish big bugs like golden stonefly nymphs, cranefly larvae, or buggers. Remember to finish your drift off with a swing! Hold you rod tip over the lane of your drift and let you flies swing upwards as your line tightens. If you feel a take, coach yourself into waiting just a second before you set the hook otherwise you'll just pull it away from them. Try a slow retrieved streamer in some of the slower eddies for smallies. Pike hunt by feel. Large streamers that moves water will still get a pikes attention. Vary your retrieves and change up the color of your flies to see which ones trigger a bite.
The Rio Costilla within the Valle Vidal as well as the lower portion in the RCCLA Park is closed. Due to extreme fire danger the RCCLA and the Rio Costilla Park, including Latir Creek and Latir Lakes are closed until further notice. Please contact the office for more information at 575-586-0542.
Jemez Mountain Streams 10 cfs above Jemez Pueblo; Fair to Good
ALL FISHING ACCESS IN THE JEMEZ MOUNTAINS INCLUDING FENTON LAKE STATE PARK ARE CLOSED. New Mexico Highway 4 from Los Alamos to La Cueva and all forest roads are closed, even FR 376 along the Guadalupe and up to the San Antonio Hot Springs. For more details on fire restrictions and closures go to http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com. The Valles Caldera has cancelled all fishing reservations until further notice. Please call the Valles Caldera or visit their website at www.vallescaldera.gov for more information.
Cimarron River 49 cfs below Eagle Nest Dam; Good: 39 cfs at Cimarron THE CIMARRON CANYON STATE PARK IS CLOSED. ALL SURROUNDING CARSON NATIONAL FOREST LANDS ARE ALSO CLOSED AS IS COYOTE CREEK STATE PARK. See the Carson NF website at www.fs.fed.us/r3/carson/ for more info. Nearby over Bobcat Pass, the upper Red River all the way to Questa is closed. Eagle Nest State Park is open to camping and fishing at this time under stage 2 fire restrictions.
The Chama River above the village of Chama; Slow: 94 cfs below the town of Tierrra Amarilla; Fair: 897 cfs below El Vado Dam; Slow: and 937 cfs below Abiquiu Dam; Slow
THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH HAS ANNOUNCED SOME CLOSURES AFFECTING THE CHAMA RIVER. The Rio Chama Wildlife Area is closed to fishing, camping, hiking and horseback-riding. All accesses off of NM Highway 112 are closed to public entry. The Sargent Wildlife Area will be open to fishing, hiking and horseback-riding area near Chama beginning July 1 under Stage 2 fire restrictions. The other fire closures affecting the Chama is through the Chama Canyon Wilderness below El Vado Reservoir to Christ of the Desert Monastery. This affects the river rafters more than the fisherman. The upper Chama stretch flowing into El Vado is getting low and warmer every day. Don't delay fishing this especially while we are experiencing restrictions where we can fish around Santa Fe. The river below El Vado is open within Cooper's El Vado Ranch. The stretch below Abiquiu Dam within the Santa Fe NF is closed. Typically it won't really fish well until autumn when irrigators aren't calling for water. The Chama River above El Vado and below Abiquiu are Special Trout Waters with reduced bag limits. The density of fish is very low there and is not stocked. Please report anyone over harvesting here to New Mexico Game and Fish at 1-800-432-4263.
Be aware that the Rio de los Pinos Fishing Area northwest of Tres Piedras is closed to public entry as well as the Carson National Forest stretch.
In Southern Colorado:
Conejos River 360 cfs below Platoro Reservoir; Fair: 649 cfs at Magote; Fair
July 7, 2011. "I just took a few moments to look over Devan’s blog (button on the home page) and he is doing a great job. It made me realize how much better we could share with you some fun parts of our days on the water. Me and the rest of the guides have had some people landing really nice fish but yesterday Devan captured the image in seconds and minutes later is was “live” online! We will try and continue to use photography to share life here in Conejos County. If the rivershed here was a ski area we would post in our ski report 15” new, powder/packed powder conditions and 90% open! Perfect weather on the way! The only streams that are still a little high right now are the ones above 10,000 feet. The others are good and all but the Pinnacles section (to high to safely fish) of the Conejos is fishing really good. In a week I switched from catching 99% of the fish on nymphs to 70% of the fish on dries. Very buggy with Drakes, pmd’s, Mahoganies, Caddis, and some Golden’s up higher. I am sure there are hatches going on on every stream in the whole county and to be honest we don’t know what they all are but armed with a nice box of flies you should have a chance to see fish feed on the surface or near on about 200 miles of water. The water level on the lower river is around 600 cfs and the fish are loving the lower water for feeding on the surface. Seems like some days we have had some very selective fish on the surface and other days like today Troy said they ate several different dries. Josh had a 1 person half day today and hooked 40 fish (browns) on dries this morning about 2 miles from the shop. I had a good morning yesterday with two of the Sherwood’s and we had some really big fish eating early and landed some nice fish had others straighten hooks and then landed a really nice brown in the 21 to 22” range. Devan posted the photo on the blog. My best flies have been the Meaty Drake, Oops, Salvations, Superfly, Caddis emergers, Frenchies, and a #14 red bodied attractor fly when the hatches are sparse. We have not been on the tribs as much the last few days but last week guided some of them and they were pretty special." The preceeding report was provided by Jon Harp of the Conejos River Anglers.
Rio Grande 463 cfs at Thirty Mile bridge in Creede; Good: 713 cfs at Wagon Wheel Gap; Good
Dropping flows and a lower release may have made the upper river from Creede to South Fork unfloatable. Still good reports of stoneflies and caddis on this section. Green and gray drakes are showing up from South Fork to Del Norte. The water is fairly clear and fishing is good and the wading is even easier. Stoneflies and caddis are also down low and are the name of the game pretty much river wide.
Animas River 2080 at Durango; Slow to Fair
Still some fairly big water on the Animas! The flows are on there way down, it's just taking awhile. If you can find a pocket that's not blown out; stoneflies and baetis. Watch out for the river runners.
Piedra River 161 cfs at Arboles; Good
The lower Piedra is finally more fishable. The upper river all the way into the forks is fishing very well. I've had great reports from Williams Creek below the reservoir. Lot's of options have just opened up around Pagosa.
San Juan River 324 cfs in Pagosa Springs; Good
The San Juan is another river taking it's sweet time in coming down. Caddis are showing up on the main stem San Juan. The South Fork of the Rio Grande over Wolf Creek Pass is down and fishing well. Check out Turkey, or Four Mile for easier wading and dry fly fishing. Just like everywhere in southern Colorado, else, the peak flows seemd to have occurred and flows are trending downward. It's all about stones and caddis at this time of year.
Arkansas River 2620 cfs at Granite; Slow: 3620 cfs at Salida; Slow
High water pretty much river wide from melting snowpack and an increased release from Twin Lakes. Blue winged olive hatches, some caddis and stonelies are the nymphs to choose. Fish the edge water where the fish have moved to get out of the current. Much of the river is difficult to fish at these levels. Good fishing nearby is Antero Reservoir and the Dream Stream.
Please see our announcements page for more news and upcoming events!
Call us at the shop for conditions on waters not listed here. 888-988-7688 out of Santa Fe or 988-7688 in Santa Fe.
It's summer in New Mexico and water and fishing condtitions can change with the weather! Please CALL the fly shop for the latest in stream flows and water conditions.
For the most current stream flows, see our links page and click on New Mexico Stream Flows.
Even though we've seen the clouds build over the mountains every afternoon, there just hasn't been enough rain and widespread enough at that to lift the forest closures due to extreme fire danger. Please see our announcements page for a list of what's closed and what is open. Think outside the box and be willing to try something different. Lot's of stuff just into Colorado is fishing very well and is a short drive north. I've had great reports from the Conejos River Anglers on the Conejos and it's tribs. I just floated the upper Rio Grande from Creede to Del Norte over three days and had excellent fishing. It was tough to breathe with all of the stoneflies and caddis flying about! Get out to Abiquiu Lake at the crack of dawn and cast poppers for smallmouth bass. Carp are taking flies on the surface at El Vado. So don't dismay if your usual go to fishing can't happen. You might just be delighted you went someplace else!
For the most current fire information go to http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com/
Click on Public Lands Information Center from our links page for a list of fire restrictions or closures.
San Juan River 504 cfs below Navajo Dam; Good
The high release is over. Fishing is good but fly choices have become smaller with the lower and clear water. Black and grey bodied midge larvae and pupa are still working. Red midges like a disco midge above Texas Hole in the mornings is a good producer. For the beatis, try the ususal, chocolate foam wings in #22, chocolate johnny flash, gray loop wing emergers, and gray RS2's. Fish start eating midges once the baetis are done from then until dusk. The caddis hatch on the lower river is waning but, PMD's are starting to show up. From Rainbow Lodge on down all river access is private. If you can, a stay at Soaring Eagle or a float from one of the guide services can put you in the middle of the hatch. You can sometimes find bugs all the way up to the Gravel Pit take out. The Special Trout Water section is all catch and release and has a two fly only rule. If you see someone in violation, turn them into Game and Fish at 1-800-432-4263. Officers have been checking people for licenses, barbless flies, and the number of flies on your rig! File those barbs or go barbless, as the fines are steep!
Pecos River 28 cfs below Terrero; Fair to Good:
PECOS CANYON CAMPGROUNDS, DAY USE AREAS, HIKING TRAILS, AND FISHING ACCESSES ARE CLOSED.
The Department of Game and Fish imposed strict fire closures on State Game Commission properties in Pecos Canyon beginning Thursday, June 30th banning all camping and fishing. All forest lands surrounding the Pecos River are also closed. Please respect the landowners along the Pecos and don't trespass or poach. See our Announcements Page for more details. The Pecos National Historical Park is also closed to fishing. They will let anyone with a reservation on the river throught the 4th. Currently there is no walk on fishing at the park. Please see their website for the details at http://www.nps.gov/peco/index.htm and click on "2011 Fishing Program". Monastery Lake is also closed.
Rio Grande 448 cfs at Cerro; Slow: 595 cfs at Pilar; Slow for pike, Fair to Good for trout, Fair for smallmouth bass
The Rio Grande and it's tributaies like The Pueblo de Taos, Rio Hondo, and the lower Red River accessed through the Wild and Scenic Rivers area are open. The Red River Fish Hatchery campgrounds and parking area are closed, with no fishing access. The best fishing is on the lower Red or the Hondo. Not much for hatching bugs on the Rio right now. The flows have come up enough to the delight of the boaters, but the water is quite murky. I do best fishing the pockets when nothing is going on hatch wise. Fish big bugs like golden stonefly nymphs, cranefly larvae, or buggers. Remember to finish your drift off with a swing! Hold you rod tip over the lane of your drift and let you flies swing upwards as your line tightens. If you feel a take, coach yourself into waiting just a second before you set the hook otherwise you'll just pull it away from them. Try a slow retrieved streamer in some of the slower eddies for smallies. Pike hunt by feel. Large streamers that moves water will still get a pikes attention. Vary your retrieves and change up the color of your flies to see which ones trigger a bite.
The Rio Costilla within the Valle Vidal as well as the lower portion in the RCCLA Park is closed. Due to extreme fire danger the RCCLA and the Rio Costilla Park, including Latir Creek and Latir Lakes are closed until further notice. Please contact the office for more information at 575-586-0542.
Jemez Mountain Streams 10 cfs above Jemez Pueblo; Fair to Good
ALL FISHING ACCESS IN THE JEMEZ MOUNTAINS INCLUDING FENTON LAKE STATE PARK ARE CLOSED. New Mexico Highway 4 from Los Alamos to La Cueva and all forest roads are closed, even FR 376 along the Guadalupe and up to the San Antonio Hot Springs. For more details on fire restrictions and closures go to http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com. The Valles Caldera has cancelled all fishing reservations until further notice. Please call the Valles Caldera or visit their website at www.vallescaldera.gov for more information.
Cimarron River 49 cfs below Eagle Nest Dam; Good: 39 cfs at Cimarron THE CIMARRON CANYON STATE PARK IS CLOSED. ALL SURROUNDING CARSON NATIONAL FOREST LANDS ARE ALSO CLOSED AS IS COYOTE CREEK STATE PARK. See the Carson NF website at www.fs.fed.us/r3/carson/ for more info. Nearby over Bobcat Pass, the upper Red River all the way to Questa is closed. Eagle Nest State Park is open to camping and fishing at this time under stage 2 fire restrictions.
The Chama River above the village of Chama; Slow: 94 cfs below the town of Tierrra Amarilla; Fair: 897 cfs below El Vado Dam; Slow: and 937 cfs below Abiquiu Dam; Slow
THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH HAS ANNOUNCED SOME CLOSURES AFFECTING THE CHAMA RIVER. The Rio Chama Wildlife Area is closed to fishing, camping, hiking and horseback-riding. All accesses off of NM Highway 112 are closed to public entry. The Sargent Wildlife Area will be open to fishing, hiking and horseback-riding area near Chama beginning July 1 under Stage 2 fire restrictions. The other fire closures affecting the Chama is through the Chama Canyon Wilderness below El Vado Reservoir to Christ of the Desert Monastery. This affects the river rafters more than the fisherman. The upper Chama stretch flowing into El Vado is getting low and warmer every day. Don't delay fishing this especially while we are experiencing restrictions where we can fish around Santa Fe. The river below El Vado is open within Cooper's El Vado Ranch. The stretch below Abiquiu Dam within the Santa Fe NF is closed. Typically it won't really fish well until autumn when irrigators aren't calling for water. The Chama River above El Vado and below Abiquiu are Special Trout Waters with reduced bag limits. The density of fish is very low there and is not stocked. Please report anyone over harvesting here to New Mexico Game and Fish at 1-800-432-4263.
Be aware that the Rio de los Pinos Fishing Area northwest of Tres Piedras is closed to public entry as well as the Carson National Forest stretch.
In Southern Colorado:
Conejos River 360 cfs below Platoro Reservoir; Fair: 649 cfs at Magote; Fair
July 7, 2011. "I just took a few moments to look over Devan’s blog (button on the home page) and he is doing a great job. It made me realize how much better we could share with you some fun parts of our days on the water. Me and the rest of the guides have had some people landing really nice fish but yesterday Devan captured the image in seconds and minutes later is was “live” online! We will try and continue to use photography to share life here in Conejos County. If the rivershed here was a ski area we would post in our ski report 15” new, powder/packed powder conditions and 90% open! Perfect weather on the way! The only streams that are still a little high right now are the ones above 10,000 feet. The others are good and all but the Pinnacles section (to high to safely fish) of the Conejos is fishing really good. In a week I switched from catching 99% of the fish on nymphs to 70% of the fish on dries. Very buggy with Drakes, pmd’s, Mahoganies, Caddis, and some Golden’s up higher. I am sure there are hatches going on on every stream in the whole county and to be honest we don’t know what they all are but armed with a nice box of flies you should have a chance to see fish feed on the surface or near on about 200 miles of water. The water level on the lower river is around 600 cfs and the fish are loving the lower water for feeding on the surface. Seems like some days we have had some very selective fish on the surface and other days like today Troy said they ate several different dries. Josh had a 1 person half day today and hooked 40 fish (browns) on dries this morning about 2 miles from the shop. I had a good morning yesterday with two of the Sherwood’s and we had some really big fish eating early and landed some nice fish had others straighten hooks and then landed a really nice brown in the 21 to 22” range. Devan posted the photo on the blog. My best flies have been the Meaty Drake, Oops, Salvations, Superfly, Caddis emergers, Frenchies, and a #14 red bodied attractor fly when the hatches are sparse. We have not been on the tribs as much the last few days but last week guided some of them and they were pretty special." The preceeding report was provided by Jon Harp of the Conejos River Anglers.
Rio Grande 463 cfs at Thirty Mile bridge in Creede; Good: 713 cfs at Wagon Wheel Gap; Good
Dropping flows and a lower release may have made the upper river from Creede to South Fork unfloatable. Still good reports of stoneflies and caddis on this section. Green and gray drakes are showing up from South Fork to Del Norte. The water is fairly clear and fishing is good and the wading is even easier. Stoneflies and caddis are also down low and are the name of the game pretty much river wide.
Animas River 2080 at Durango; Slow to Fair
Still some fairly big water on the Animas! The flows are on there way down, it's just taking awhile. If you can find a pocket that's not blown out; stoneflies and baetis. Watch out for the river runners.
Piedra River 161 cfs at Arboles; Good
The lower Piedra is finally more fishable. The upper river all the way into the forks is fishing very well. I've had great reports from Williams Creek below the reservoir. Lot's of options have just opened up around Pagosa.
San Juan River 324 cfs in Pagosa Springs; Good
The San Juan is another river taking it's sweet time in coming down. Caddis are showing up on the main stem San Juan. The South Fork of the Rio Grande over Wolf Creek Pass is down and fishing well. Check out Turkey, or Four Mile for easier wading and dry fly fishing. Just like everywhere in southern Colorado, else, the peak flows seemd to have occurred and flows are trending downward. It's all about stones and caddis at this time of year.
Arkansas River 2620 cfs at Granite; Slow: 3620 cfs at Salida; Slow
High water pretty much river wide from melting snowpack and an increased release from Twin Lakes. Blue winged olive hatches, some caddis and stonelies are the nymphs to choose. Fish the edge water where the fish have moved to get out of the current. Much of the river is difficult to fish at these levels. Good fishing nearby is Antero Reservoir and the Dream Stream.
Please see our announcements page for more news and upcoming events!
Call us at the shop for conditions on waters not listed here. 888-988-7688 out of Santa Fe or 988-7688 in Santa Fe.
It's summer in New Mexico and water and fishing condtitions can change with the weather! Please CALL the fly shop for the latest in stream flows and water conditions.
For the most current stream flows, see our links page and click on New Mexico Stream Flows.
posted by High Desert Angler at Saturday, July 09, 2011
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