San Juan River

[jdixon]

Just looking for a little advise on the san juan river. A couple of buddies and I are driving to Tempe and thought we would leave a day early so we could fish the san juan. We will only have one day to fish so trying to get as much info as possible before we leave. I have done a little internet researce but thought I would post on here to see if anyone has been and any advise you could give so we could be a little more prepared once we got there. It seems like a great river and I am really excited to fish it.

[timsfly]

The San Juan is very easy to fish, you can fish it just like any river, there are many many places where the trout stack

up. I guess the easiest place to start would be the kiddy hole, just above the texas hole, the braids in this area are full of fish

and are usually pretty easy to locate, the water in this area will rarly be above your knees, but there are lots of slick rocks

and mud. I find for a dry I can usually pull fish up on a #18-#24 adams, or griffiths gnats of the same sizes.

I use a lot of zebra midge type flies, I use two #24's in the riffles when the fish aren't rising, I tie them about

18" apart, and fish them just like you would at taney or R.R. just have to keep adjusting for water depth.

I use a lot of chocolate emergers out there, #18's-#24's and RS2's in olive and brown are both pretty effective.

I use a lot of 6X flourocarbon. for dries I use a lot of 6X standard tippet.

Small egg patterns work sometimes this time of year, #20's and smaller are good.

[dgames]

I will qualify my response by saying I haven't been there in about 12 years or so. I went a number of times in the 90s. I used to like to fish the lower flats area. Very small flies were always the ticket back then -size 20 & 22 midges, 18 or 20 beatis emergers. Also agree on the advice on the kiddie hole.

[jdixon]

thanks for the response. I am in the process of tying a bunch of #22 midges, everything I have read talks about tiny #22-#26 flies. I do think we will start at the kiddie hole looks like alot of good water. I hope it is easy to fish, all the talk about tiny flies has me worried they are super picky fish.

[Al Agnew]

I've only fished it once and that was a number of years ago. But I have a suggestion, based upon some similar western rivers I've fished...

By all means, try the stuff that the websites and others here recommend. BUT, if you have any kind of a windy or low light situation, cloudy or rainy weather, early morning/late evening, or heavy chop on the water, go just the opposite of the usual stuff and put on a good sized streamer like a woolybugger and fish it in the slower water areas, especially some of the shallow flats. Stay with light tippet but you can go heavier than 7x when the conditions are right...4x or 5x flourocarbon is about right for streamer fishing in very clear water and supposedly sophisticated fish. Because hardly anybody does this on heavily pressured rivers like the San Juan, and because big trout are still big trout and didn't get that way by eating only microscopic bugs, you might be pleasantly surprised by what you'll catch!

[flytyer57]

I am surprised nobody suggested using a San Juan worm.

[Gavin]

Havent been there in years....typical tailwater/trout park fishing for the most part......The best thing about the trip....The Green Chili Cheeseburgers at Sportsman's...Cheers.

[Phil Lilley]

I stripped a big streamer in the big, fast water and did real well. The bigger the riffle the better. It amazing how big trout will hold in that fast water.

If you get tired of watching rainbows refuse your dries in the slack water... try the big, fast water.

I love the SJ... you should do well this time of year. The fish should be well rested.

[timsfly]

Havent been there in years....typical tailwater/trout park fishing for the most part......The best thing about the trip....The Green Chili Cheeseburgers at Sportsman's...Cheers.

You haven't been there in awhile have you, the Sportsman's restaurant & bar really sucks now, food is

nothing like it was 15 or 20 years ago. We used to really love the onion rings and all the burgers, but

not hardly worth the time now.

[Gavin]

Thats a shame....no reason to go back now !