Sunday, June 17, 2012

June Fly Fishing in Pagosa Springs, CO


The fishing has been very good on all of the local waters and on the Lower San Juan. The Private Property trip on Sunset Ranch has been fishing extremely well. The fish have been hungry and aggressive to rise for a well-placed fly. Best patterns on the Ranch have been a Slow Water CDC Caddis (a pattern I found in the UK), Pop’s Hare & Copper Caddis Larva, and my HCPT (High Country Pheasant Tail). For the HCPT recipe go to my January blog, http://highcountrycharters.blogspot.com/2012/01/hcpt.html.  Some of the best fishing has been mid-day, with adult caddis activity around the overhanging bushes. As the water continues to drop, conditions will change as the water temperature goes up. The fishing should remain consistent until at least the 1st week of July. By then we will hopefully have some rain to help the San Juan River drainage and give some relief to the hundreds of fire fighters in SW Colorado and New Mexico.



The Blanco, Turkey Creek, and numerous other small streams all have fish that want to eat dry flies. The fish have not been very selective; they just want a good drag free float. Hoppers, ants, caddis, and grasshopper patterns all have been effective at making the fish look up. We haven’t noticed any big hatches on the small streams lately, just enough activity to keep the fish feeding throughout the day.


Jeff Carr and Dyani with her first trout.

A young angler with his first fish on the fly!
Steve P with a cutthroat from a small stream in the San Juan National Forest. 

Scott Taylor
http://highcountrycharters.com
970-946-5229

While you are in town make sure that you visit the following businesses!


Need Fly Fishing gear? See Pop's
Let it Fly
Located on Put hill, just West of Downtown Pagosa Springs.
970-264-3189
http://www.flyfishpagosa.com



Hungry for Adventure?
Pagosa Outside Adventures - Rafting, Biking, Kayaking, Tubing
Downtown Pagosa Springs
970-264-4202
http://www.pagosaoutside.com




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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Run-off is over, and some FL pictures!


I just got back from 6 weeks in the FL Everglades, fishing every day except for 4 days. One day was to pick up my wife, one day engine repair and oil change, and 2 days for nasty weather. Our phone and internet service was horrible, I wasn’t able to post reports and most of the time had to drive outside of town to get my hot spot! It was so much easier when you could just check the answering machine. Besides the technological glitches (we were in the Everglades after all), this was our best FL trip since I was running charters here in 2002.



The guides were fishing lots more water during May, than a typical year. Low snowfall and an early melt, means that run off is over. While this may be good for fishing in May and early June, let’s hope for a wet summer to keep the water levels in check come October, and not let Navajo Lake run too low. Looking at the summer forecast we are on the border of a Hot and Dry cycle, and the typical Mid – Late summer thunderstorms cycle. Let’s hope for the thunderstorms.



The fishing below the dam, on the Tailwater section of the San Juan River is very good. The river is in great shape. The flows were just lowered from 5,000 cfs to about 500 and the river bed is looking clean. After the river has been blown out, we often have some of the best fishing with very hungry fish. Midges up high, and bigger dry’s in the back channels, and hopefully soon we will see the ant fall if we get some rain.



The Blanco, Turkey, Piedra, and our Private property on the San Juan are all fishing very well. Most of the other streams on our permit need the water to drop just a bit. They will all be fishing fine in another week or two. Pop’s at Let it Fly, reported that the Stonefly’s and Caddis are going good, and both Jeff and Steve have already been doing well on grasshoppers. Now I have to go to the river and re-learn how to tie knots with 6x, after spending a month tying 60lb shock to Tarpon fly’s. I hope I have that problem again next year...


STEVE WITH A BIG BACKCOUNTRY SNOOK.
STEVE WITH ONE OF MANY BIG BLACK DRUM.
SARAH WITH ONE OF HER BLACK DRUM'S.
SARAH WITH HER BIGGEST SNOOK ON THE FLY!
SCOTT WITH A TARPON, 14 MINUTES TO THE BOAT!


Scott Taylor
http://highcountrycharters.com
970-946-5229

While you are in town make sure that you visit the following businesses!


Need Fly Fishing gear? See Pop's
Let it Fly
Located on Put hill, just West of Downtown Pagosa Springs.
970-264-3189
http://www.flyfishpagosa.com



Hungry for Adventure?
Pagosa Outside Adventures - Rafting, Biking, Kayaking, Tubing
Downtown Pagosa Springs
970-264-4202
http://www.pagosaoutside.com
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