motroutbum

tim, there arent really any places to fish for brookies around pagosa. there might be some in williams creek. closer to durango there are a couple places such as la plata creek west of durango or the east fork of hermosa creek north of durango. if you have any other questions just let me know tight lines motroutbum

If you chose a college based on how good the fishing was close by....or if your waders and boots are not completely dry between fishing outings you could very well be a trout bum

the stuff that La fontaine used was the actual yarn. like the stuff you can go and get at the yarn store or in the fabrics section in walmart or anyother craft store. it was 3 stranded antron yarn. Aunt Lydia's soarkle antron yarn is the closest thing you can get to tying the original sparkle and emergent pupae. and not it is not exactly the same as the stuff in the wapsi antron dubbing now. it carries many of the same properties. it all depends on what you want...do you want the original or the newest version.

you can take a float tube anywhere. that guy doesnt know what hes talking about. i have used my float tube there many times and had no problems. its not even posted anywhere that you cant use a float tube.

when and where are you gonna be fishing out here....?

i fishd it alot when i was in college before i moved to CO. I fished it the day before i left and caught some real nice crappie and 5 channels that would have gone 5 lbs. and this was in march.

sometimes those small bugs are all that they will take...especially down here on the san juan. some days you have to throw size 28-32 bugs just to get a look. in japan and china, they have competitions to see who can catch the smallest fish....those hooks get down to size 40

i use the Davy knot because it is small and probably the strongest knot out there. It is close to 100% strength because the line wraps around itself only one time creating less friction and less weakining of the line itself. unless you lubricate the clinch or improved clinch knot liberally, then with the wrapping of at least 5 turns of line around itself, the line weakens considerably. save the improved clinch for everything but trout. and use smaller stronger knots. i also tie my own leaders and use blood knots to tie my leader sections together and even my leader to tippet. i have a super fast way of tying them and they turn out perfect every time. and i do not use a tool.

a moustache or beard comb as well

The ant "hatch" really starts after the first monsoons of the year down there. after those hard rains, the carpenter ants come out of their holes to escape drowning and most of them end up in the river. i just got done tying probably 100 suspended ant patterns in anticipation for them. it could happen any time from now till july, just depends on when they get hammered with rain...kind of like you guys back home are getting it now....at least it is well needed

keep in touch with me im working at the caddis company in durango and we do most of our trips down there as well as on the animas. try to get ahold of me when you are coming out. i could at least make a trip down to fish with ya and help you out

if you are so sure that they are hatchery escapees, then what is your explanation to how they got from the rearing tanks inside of the actual hatchery to the lake!!!! no one person would beable to just walk in there and take them out with their hands! with the numbers of these things in the lake and the fact of 0 generation makes perfect sense. the reason that there is natural reproduction in other sreams, and especially in the west and in pretty much any natural stream that holds fish that are not stocked is because there is a pretty much regulated flow. with the tail water there is no set schedule to when there will be high water flows. it could happen at any time and with the high flows, the power of the water completely wipes out the beds. with no generation for at least a month when the rainbows came up to spawn, there was more than enough time for the eggs on the beds to be fertilized. the gestation period of the eggs is a few days to no more than a week. so depending on exactly what day the eggs were fertilized, there was more than enough time to become fry. and now since there are hundreds of these things swimmin around, there was more than just one set of eggs that made it. no, those fry probably wont survive long if at all, but maybe a handful will survive. where as on a free stone stream, the fish spawn before the high water hits. it could be as early as feburary to as late as april, in any case, there is time for the eggs to be fertilized and in turn into fry. then the run off hits. and the little fry that are left after the high water are then left to fend for themselvs. there is only one time of high water that lasts from 1-3 months depending on the snow pack for that particular year. in an average year, the runoff starts in late april and lasts till the middle of june. and i know not all streams are exactly the same. in many years, there will be more naturally reproduced fish in general than others. but after the blow out happens and ends in june, then there wont be any more extremely high flows for the rest of the year until the next spring when the run off happens again. as for the corps regluating the flow to support natrual reproduction....that is very unlikely to happen because there intrest is in maintaining the dam and producing electricity. they dont have anything to do with the fish in the water. as for the rainbow trout pattern the browns and the trout fry....there is most likely not any relation. you can go down just about any day or night, throw a rainbow trout pattern, and catch browns and rainbows on it. they are such opportunistic feeders that they could think it was anything as long as it pissed them off enough to eat it. before i left to come to colorado, i was catching rainbows on a gray and white clouser fished on the bottom like a sculpin. so its not necessarily a correlation that the browns were eating that rainbow trout pattern because of the rainbow fry in the lake. just my thoughts motroutbum

those little rainbows you caught in the fly zone are naturally reproduced rainbows. I worked for the conservation department last year and i asked mr dean the hatchery manager about them and he confirmed that those were infact naturally produced fish. for one they dont stock fish that small, and they certainly arent hatchery escapee's. because they are kept inside untill they are large enough to eat pellets and not the dried fish meal. as for the ones in taney they are most certainly naturally produced rainobws as well. and the drought is the answer. like phil said, the fish that small are also kept inside un till they reach the right age to be moved outside to the holding raceways. if you dont belive any of us then you should go and take a hatchery tour. the hatchery does not draw its water from the tailwater itself, it is taken from the same place that taney gets it water....the bottom of the dam. i know which streams you are talking about and i would prefer to keep it a secret if there are people who dont know because i dont want a lot of people coming and thrashing the place. i wouldnt consider the current river southwest. its more south central although it too has naturally reproducing populations

who's dad?

Im in Durango, so im only about 45 min - 1hr drive on 550 straight south of silverton. There is some awesome fishing in this area. There is the Animas which starts up in silverton, but it is very poor water up there because of all the mine tailings that are up there. The Animas doesnt get good untill you get into Durango and when i say good i mean really good. the caddis will be hatching along with some awesome hopper fishing while you are out here. Shoot me a Pm and ill send you my info if you are interested so maybe i can take you and your wife out while you are here. besides the Animas, there are probably about 50 rivers within an hours drive of durango including the san juan below Navajo dam. there are also many lakes to fish also. keep in touch motroutbum

i would suggest for you to not to break the bank, to get a pair of simms freestones, or orvis clearwater both retail for around $129 a pair. you dont have to get a bigger boot if you buy stocking foot waders the size of the neoprene is pre determined when they make the boot. i currently have a pair of orvis clearwaters, and they have treated me excellent untill the feet blew out on me so i am in the process of getting them back from orvis. my brother has a pair of simms freestones and he loves them. as long as you take good care of your waders, they will last for a long time. now for the boots, unless you know you are going to be fishing someplace where there is really slick rocks, felt soles should suffice just fine. the only place that i have fished where i felt that my safety was going to be an issue with just plain felts, is on the san juan river below navajo dam. there is so much didymo down there that you can even bust your behind standing on the packed mud. but for the trout parks and fishing Taney or other tailwaters in the white river chain, the felts should do fine. but next, ask yourself if you want comfort or stability i have a pair of Korkers and they are awesome for both comfort and stability. they serve me well here in colorado because of all the hiking i have to do to not tear up my felts. they also have studs, studded felt, aquastealth, boat soles, and lug soles so it turns into a hiking boot. If its comfort you want go with something like orvis' Henry's fork II retail $129-$149, or the clearwater retail $59-$79. If you want stability, go with simms freestone boot. but it comes down to just what works for you.... everybody has a different opinion on brand stuff that they like. but remember, most of the time you get what you pay for. tight lines a motrtoubum in colorado

think about it though.....if you dont have the right size fly, then you wont even get a look from the fish. all you guys need to read Dave Whitlocks guide to Aquatic Trout Foods......also you are more apt to catch fish if you throw a smaller size than a bigger size. shape not even a close second. i mean yeah dano...fish are gonna see all different sizes of scuds come by, they arent gonna necessarily gonna eat every scud that they see. its like in a baetis hatch....if the baetis that are coming off are a size 20, and you throw a size 16 adams or other BWO pattern, you may catch an opportunistic fish, but you will catch more fish with a size 20 because its the size that matters...

Yeah thats GREAT!!!! Bragging about a snagged fish and then holding it out of the water to take pictures....makes me glad that i moved to colorado to fish. he shouldnt have worried about landing it after he knew it was foul hooked and just broke it off. and then to hold it up by the gills also...learn some ethics. that fish is no where near 30 inches....i say 25 and about 8 lbs.....hope that fish survived

that would be great cant wait to hear from you....

So i finally made it to colorado and am working for the caddis company/Durango Orvis. The baetis have been c oming off for the last 2 weeks and the trouties have been gorging themselvs. if anyone has any helpful suggestions for me on the San Juan please feel free to help me out cause im sure gonna need it especially with flies, areas to fish. i have only fished the braids up to the cable. sand hole always has too many people...(reminds me of home on taney most days). but please feel free to help me out cause most of my guide trips will be wade trips on the san juan. ps, if you are gonna head out this way and want a partner to fish with, look me up in Durango or pm me and let me know you are coming tight lines randy

when i fished the San Juan a month ago in the fly shop there they had midges on size 30 hooks with 10x

1. John Barr's meat whistle the mating scud is out of the orvis catalog and its a new fly for 2006 so i dont think many people would have fished it already....personally i think it was designed to catch fisherman not fish.

ILLEGAL

Im pretty sure that this is clear enough....To disturb or dislodge the stream bottom for the purpose of attracting fish is illegal. fishbork the reason the fish have "learned" to get the free meal is because of shufflers. also, the species of gammarus aka scuds are native.

well figuring that gravity pulls objects to the center of the earth at a rate of 9.8m/sec/sec....i didnt do too hot in physics 1 cause thats the only thing i remember...haha if someone else wants to help out please do so.....