Streamflows:
Alamosa
River Whitman Fork near Jasper |
 |
La
Jara Creek at Gallegos Ranch |
|
Los
Pinos at Ortiz |
|
Conejos
at Platoro Reservoir |
|
Conejos
at Mogote |
|
Rio
Grande at Wagon Wheel Gap |
|
Rio
Grande at Del Norte |
|
Fishing Reports
January 4,
2012 Happy New Year fellow anglers. It
is that time of year when I begin to get a little cabin fever and miss standing
in a river. I get fixes occasionally on the tailwaters but nothing like spring
when the ice goes away and we get to do what we love again. Warmer air, clear
water, fish that have not seen a fly in months, and the river to yourself most
of the time. For now I will be looking
forward to some fishing with Bill Long on the 21st and 22nd
on the San Juan and maybe a few rounds of golf.
For those planners out there the dates for this year’s Conejos Superfly
will be April 13 – 15. There will be only one event this year and so there may
be an issue with getting everyone in that wants in but the two event deal was a
tough money losing proposition. I will
announce the exact details, format, cost and an entry in the next month or so
but block that weekend if you can.
We will
begin taking reservations for this next year soon and looking forward to
getting a chance to fish with all of you again soon. I am working on a guide system that I have
never seen before but on a long run last weekend enough endorphins hit my brain
at the same time to pop out a new idea. When I fish with someone there are so
many things to teach and so much to absorb that it obviously does not happen in
a day. When I leave a client for a day I
know that many of them go away with “wow, learned a lot, got to fish with a
real fly fishing guide, check that off of my bucket list!” I would like to create a system where there
might be 4 or 5 levels of teaching. Today for example you are taking a level 1
guide. That includes the following 7 principles such as 1. Basic fly casting 2.
Rigging / basic knots 3. Basic
entymology 4. Proper landing/handling/releasing fish 5. Reading
water/presentation 6. Basic principles and strategies for success. 7. Roll
Casting/mending/line control. I am just making this up but I think it would
make us better guides to have a better more organized process and I think it
would also make fisherman realize that if they choose to they can fish/be
guided thru the different levels to become more proficient, more knowledgeable and better anglers. I know this
is not a sport/hobby that we have to keep score and being competitive with it
is not required in any way but most of us want to learn and get better. It
deepens the enjoyment of our passion. Would love to hear your thoughts out
there if you think this is something that has merit. At the beginning of each
guide I try and get an idea of what you want out of your day and some days
people want to just spend the day with their son or get out of the office and
breathe. Totally understand, but some days you really want to be a sponge and
soak it all up. That is when I think we could use this method of teaching. Some
levels would have to be done a few times possibly because mastering some of
these principles takes time and coaching.
On a
different note I will be selling some rods, reels, waders, and misc. Some new
some used. Ross has a very Limited Edition reel that is finished to look like a
brown trout and is quite stunning. The finish also makes it more durable than
the typical anodized finish. Here is a link to those reels. I only have a few
of them so if you want one let me know. http://www.rossreels.com/brown-evolution/index.html
Here is a list of rods/reels that are now for sale. I had a client buy a
bunch of them and then get an injury and so I have them for sale again:
Sage ONE, Lightly used 5 weight with factory tube and sock. $450
Sage Z-Axis 6 weight 9’ Used Good Condition w/ factory tube/sock $345
Sage Z-Axis 5 weight 9’6” Used Good Condiont w/ factory tube/sock $325
Sage Z-Axis 4 weight 9’ Used Good Condition w/ factory tube/sock $325
Sage Z-Axis 3 weight 9’ Used Good Condition w/ non matching rod tube,
factory sock $300
Scott S4S 6 weight 9’ Like new. Factory tube/sock. Fighting butt.
Incredible rod. $365
Redington CPS 8wt 9’6” Like new Retails for $300 sell for $115.
Lamson Litespeed 2.0 2012 model. New $250 Fits 4-6wt
Lamson ULA FORCE 2SL Reel 2012 model. Retails for $459 sell for $360
Fits 4-6wt
October 31,
2011 So a little Conejos scoop today. We have been guiding and fishing all this
last week. Fishing has been good and both browns and bows eating egg, stonefly,
baetis and some attractor nymph
patterns. Had a group of 6 guys in the last several days and they just were a
blast to guide and hang out with. They brought a suitcase full of fine cigars
and I think that it went home empty! Came home the other night and noticed that
the tv in cabin 4 was sticking in the window facing out! Looking closer were 6
guys sitting outside sipping whisky and offering up giant plumes of cigar smoke
watching the World Series! For anyone else out there you need to either
find a group of guys like that, join a
group, create a group, or take the group
you have and start some fun like these guys were into. It must have been 35 degrees and they watched
the whole game outside! Tonight the guides leave for the San Juan and we will
be doing our best to get in some of the same laughs! Our cigars will be much
cheaper but fun and fishing none the less!
The flows
and weather have stayed perfect. Much more water than normal in the river and
that has kept the fishing less spooky than normal. I am still booking guide trips thru the
middle of November and if the weather holds up the fishing should be very good. If you get a chance to
come would love to fish with you. Troy
and I are still here working. The shop will not have any regular hours for November.
If you have some fishing needs we will still be blowing out some items in the
shop. Give me a call and I will see if I can help.
Some sad
news to let you know about today. Some of you may already know but Devan and
Jasmine are going to Montrose, Co. to start a new fly shop. At this time they
do not have a guide service but will be attempting to make there first million
doing retail! They hope to start in January. Devan and Jasmine are both gifted
anglers, guides and great people. They will be missed.
I have
already begun looking to add 2 more people to our “Core” group. If you or
anyone you know think they have what it takes to do that I want to hear
from you. You can call the shop number
or send a resume via snail or email to the shop. Looking forward to talking to
you.
One other
thing. I must say that I am blow away and humbled by the support of all of you.
Somehow me and our family and the guides have created a life here in Mogote,
Co. When I looked at our shop last week it hit me all the things that we did
not offer you. I can tell you that the
shop next year will have more of what you need and are looking for. I could
make a huge list of what we did not have but (diversity of weights, more nets,
high quality forceps, more tools, nick nacks, tee shirts, cigars, snacks,
better lighting, more comprehensive lines from Simms, Fishpond, etc. More
selection of rods, etc etc) suffice it to say that the shop will have much more
of all of those things. We will not suddenly turn into a grocery store, liquor
store, or gift shop. We are and will continue to be a hard core fly fishing store
with fantastic hard working guides but we will offer you more.
I also want
to start a trade in program. Any older fly rods you have that are still
functional I want you to trade in! Here is the catch. The rods will go to
younger, under-priveledged kids that would love to get a start in fly
fishing. You will be able to get
yourself the new rod you want and help make a kids world better. I also want
you to start letting me know of young people that could use a fresh start and
some new equipment. I sell these kids .10 flies and give them free gear. I have
some new Sage One’s in that you could trade gear in on and I also just opened
Redington for next year. Am on the fence with Scott. If you have an opinion
about Scott let me know. Happy Halloween!
I
October 17,
2011 I just wanted to let you know that
the shop will be closed tomorrow. I am sorry for this but the guides are going
fishing. We will be bringing video and digital cameras and looking for some big
fish. If we are successful we will post a few. Don’t be surprised if they are
not trout! I did have the chance to fish a few hours today and caught some
beautiful fat browns and a couple large bows. Buckskin Cone, Barr’s Emergers,
and a small Golden seemed to be the best bugs for me. For more detailed info
please read the previous post.
October 12,
2011 I know it is the end of the season but a lot to say. I may not be able to
post it all now but everything from some end of year blow outs and deals to a
trip to S. Patagonia to some great fall fishing.
Did I say
Fall already! Yes it is. And it was cold
and snowy last week. This week! Sixties and perfect. I have seen and heard
reports of the fishing from outrageous to difficult . Some of the higher tribs
seems like the Browns are almost done with the spawn, on the Conejos, they are
thinking about it, staging, or spawning. We have had a very nice boost of water
from the snows up high and the increase in flows out of Platoro. I have seen
the fish eat a variety of bugs but small baetis and nymph patterns have been
consistent. At times and in certain sections of the river more fish are looking
for eggs, worms, and even some big stonefly patterns. I have not seen them in
numbers but the October Caddis is out. It is a large bug with an orange body,
about a #12. There are also some very large midge hatches especially up high as
well as some sparse baetis. Last week I had a guy that was more of a dry fly
purist and I was shocked to see that of all the bugs we tried that day the old
Jim Fulton #12 House and Lots were the best! He must have been watching and
laughing! I did try them the next day thinking hmm maybe we got something here
but the Conejos gave a simple NO!
This winter
we are looking at going back to see my friend
Luis Antunez at Salmo Patagonia Lodge in Chile. We are looking at
January and I will forward the info to all of you and if you have ever thought
about going it is special and since I have been there a couple of years ago
they have added a small lodge/cabins an hour or so away from the main lodge in
the middle of another trout and salmon mecca so there are more options. The
prices have dropped dramatically from the time I started going there ($4950 4
years ago). Anyway, look for some info soon, I would love to have a couple of
groups go down and I will plan on going with to make sure we are all having a
good time.
Each year I
buy a lot of rods. At the end of the year I sell them. Here are some of the
rods I have that I will sell starting now.
They are all in good condition, have tubes and socks, and are 4 piece
rods.
Sage Z Axis
5 wt 9’6” $370
Sage Z Axis
6 wt 9’ $370
Scott S4S 6
wt 9’ $400 Like new
Sage Z Axis
3 wt 9’ $350
Sage TXL-F 3
wt 7’10” As new $335
Misc Ross
Rods
We are still
guiding almost every day and would love it if you can make a trip with us this
fall. Jon, Troy, Devan, Paul, and Jasmine are still working. The shop will be
closed towards the end of the month for “official hours” but we will continue
to guide as long as the weather allows. Hope you can make another trip. Like a
buddy I guided last week in one of the ugliest
blizzards I have ever fished in said. “The single most memorable day of
fishing I have ever had”! Most days are gorgeous but even the ugly ones make
great stories and good fishing!
September
27, 2011 Fall and all of the beauty that goes with it is here in force. Cool
nights, colors on fire, clear cold water, and fish with all sorts of thoughts.
Yesterday I had a guide trip that did half a day on the upper sections of
Mogote CG and the other half at Rainbow Trout Ranch. (Yes if you want to fish
it you can this fall with one of our guides) We caught a lot of fish and the
fish at Mogote wanted stonefly nymphs and up higher most of the fish wanted a
pink G String. There were a lot of fish
in some of the deeper slower water up high down low seemed like there were fish
hanging in some fast water. The other guides have had a chance to fish some and have all had
stories of some pretty incredible days on the water. I took the family up to
Kerr Lake this weekend for a family camping trip and got to fish some with my
kids and had a great time. Felt for a while when the fish got on miniscule
midges on the surface that I needed 8x tippet.
I could see the 6x tippet sitting on the glassy water from 40’! The kids
spent hours digging thru the rocks on the lakes edges catching tons of scuds
and a very strange looking Tiger Salamander. Looked in my box for some scuds
and of course nothing but the scuds were thick and olive in about a size #12.
We will be
tweaking our shop hours soon, October 1,
closing at 5:30 and opening at 8:00. Sundays 8:00 to 12:00. The flows
and weather seem to be more consistent now and
each of the trips I have been going out on lately I have really looked
forward to. Love the fall fishing and we seem to bring out a lot of good
anglers to fish with in the fall and we get a chance to see some of the fish
that spend the year under cutbanks but now have “other” things in mind and so I
hope you get a chance to come out a few more times to get in some fishing. I
also want to thank all of you for helping us in Mogote to Colorado to somehow
have another great year. Thank you from all of us!
September 7,
2011 Where do I start? Lots of little tidbits of trivia, rumors, and have had
some interesting days on the water. One
of the rumors floating around is from Platoro. There was a husband wife fishing
the lake and the wife notice something drift in while they were fishing. After
the sub conscience told her that out of the corner of her eye was something
quite extraordinary! A 44” Brown Trout had died of old age! There were pictures
taken and I have stopped at Skyline Lodge to find them but I have not been able
to track them down. They vouched that the rumors where true but I will go to
Gold Pan Acres and the other spots up there to see if I can find it. Another
Brown was killed that was 31” in Ponderosa CG by someone with a more primitive
mindset to it all but I have been hearing plenty of monster fish stories which
are fun but of course take a lot of luck and skill and and and to have those
run ins. The river now is low the water cooling with the nights of September
feeling like fall. We seemed to have been able to skip hot weather almost
completely this summer and now it is in the high 40’s low 50’s at night and highs
from the 70 to 80. Still getting some rain and the valley is green and
beautiful now. Some of the Aspens are showing little patches of color but the big change will hopefully wait 2 or 3
more weeks. The browns are definitely beginning to show a change and I think
with the cool nights here early may get to work sooner than we think. Some of
the browns already look like they have been scraped up and tired from spawn.
Maybe the with lower water now they will start sooner? I will be guiding for
the next 5 days and will be keeping a keen eye to there behavior. I will say
that through some sections the bigger browns seem to have left completely.
Hmmmm. Maybe I need to be picking water differently and instead of looking for
riffles with a very rugged substrate I should be looking for spawning habitat
to find them???? Working in the shop today brought a whole bunch of tidbits
like a fish killer comes in and starts looking for stonefly nymphs that he was
finding in the stomachs of the fish he had been killing. (I did berate him at
the archaic nature of coming here to kill wild fish and let him know that I
would rather give up the $12.35 fly sale and be honest than smile at the bs
stories) Anyway I did get a free lesson in digested trout food and a hint for
tomorrow. Another group of really cool guys came in and said that the S. Fork
had been good to them for some larger fish as well as several other groups that
had been fishing some tribs and had caught a lot of beautiful fish up high.
This morning early a couple guys from Wyoming showed up and began to announce
to the shop what terrible fishing Colorado has and a great day in Co is 10
fish, in Wyoming 100 fish day is standard! They complained ruthlessly about
licenses, access, size, social sec #’s, privacy, the way it used to be etc. I was quite amused
and asked them to come in when they were done to tell me how it was! They did!
Said is was the same bs he said it was going to be – 23 fish! Oh cant wait to
get back to guiding tomorrow!
The fishing
has been all over the place. Some stretches like the Pinnacles upriver right
now seem great and the lower river has been good but not good all day. And like
I said it seems like the browns have begun to move. If you are not into fish
then move. I try and use the definition of insanity to help me constantly
change and be willing to listen to people, the river, and my own intuition to
find fish. The tribs up high are great. Even the lower water is not keeping the
fish that have a very limited growth season from eating hard.
We have the
second shipment of the new Sage One! The first order sold out in 10 days and so
if you are thinking of a rod this rod is truly awesome. Come in and have a look see!
Devon Fooks
of Portland, OR found a camera up high on the river and was honest enough to
turn it in so if you are the one please call us to identify.
August 22,
2011 Oohh! Sorry for being away from the computer for so long (must admit I
don’t miss it this time of year) but have gotten to enjoy a most enjoyable cool
wet August. I was up high on one of the tribs a few days ago and it began to
rain and then some hail and it felt like 48 degrees or so and I was wet wading
and it hit me that for those of you in the middle of the drought and intense
heat that might sound good despite the shivering! It has been beautiful with
plenty of clouds, cool afternoons, and showers. The last few weeks I have been
split between the tribs, upper Conejos, and the lower river. Would love to throw some Pike in there but that will come soon. With
all the rain there have been times that are really wormy and others like
yesterday that after a few hours we figured out they wanted to go small and we
fished an #18 and #20 FB Pheasant Tail with no bead and caught some really nice
browns and a few huge bows. Consistent fishing throughout the day until 5 or 6
when a front moved in and seamed to knock the fish off for a while or maybe a
different bug?! It had rained the night
and day before I guided yesterday and I was even hoping to get to the river and
see it a little off but crystal clear. No problem I think lets feed em’ worms
anyway! No. Hoppers…………….Maybe! Stonefly nymphs………..no. Blonde Stontefly
nymphs………no…..Salvations…….no. Jujubee midge…………no. Frenchies………….maybe………….ok
so after 10 different fly changes I
think there are some Rainbow’s around lets put on a #14 Lightning bug and see
if we can catch a bow. A few casts later we are hooked up! Jumps into the
air………………….Brown Trout 17”?????????????? Ok we are going small! #18 PT Wham!
The rest of the afternoon fish ( or trees) ate all of my 6 PT’s and a few of
the clients. One of the fish we caught in the afternoon was obscene. Probably
only 20” but the girthiest pig rainbow I have ever seen. I will post those
photos to the blog when we get the pics emailed. A fun day with the Blankenship
brothers. Pat made sure we got some behind the scenes education about cigars,
Cuba, wrappers and the current tobacco crop!
Right now
the river is a bit lower than average but the fish seem to really love the
cooler temps and we have been into fish all day when we are doing a good job at
shifting quickly with the change in holding water and bugs. Sometimes it is a
little frustrating when you are fruitlessly attempting to figure out what mood
the fish just went into but I suppose that is the reason I love the river so
much and why we sell so many bugs!!! These flows have opened up the Pinnacles
water up to the meadow in a way that makes it much easier to get around and
concentrates the fish more. You could find fish anywhere up there right. On the
edges in the slower water, hiding I the pockets, or in the faster riffles. It
will change all day but the water is clear and you should be able to dial in
the water they are holding in pretty
quickly. We will hope that the moisture continues and keeps rivers like the La
Jara, Los Pinos, Lake Fork etc. healthy.
The rest of the year looks like we will have enough water even if it will be
less than average. The fish look good and are healthy. The huge push of anglers
in July in the drainage has now gone and seems like life back to normal on the
Conejos. Seems like the fish like the withdrawal of the human occupation
that happened this in July. The other interesting thing and I will just have to
keep an eye on the catch rate this fall but seems like the shoulder seasons to
summer are much better fishing. I remember last November doing my last guide of
the year with Bill Long and just killing it. This March Wayne Suggs came and
fished with me for the first time and put a hurtin’ on the Conejos. I can tell you it was not 74 degrees and we
were not surrounded by flowers but the fishing early and late here is way
better then I had ever thought it would be. For some reason these fish don’t
seem to have feeding patterns that mimick the water temps like I do at other
rivers. I have seen the fish feed like mad at 34 degrees and last week the temp
was in the upper 60’s and I thought I am finally going to be able to go home
but the the fish just kept eating. (missed dinner!) Anyway good to write for a
moment and I hope you all get a chance to see the colors this fall and make
some casts. We appreciate all of your support!
August 10, 2011 Troy and I had both guided a group of 4 today (All
Californian’s, I love them, they are gregarious, fun, I can spot them from from
a great distance!) and decided to stay low and fish the lower river and see
what we could figure out. A great day. I netted about 40 fish and saw 60 or so
fish hooked. Fun to watch. The flows are
down just under 200 which makes it very easy to get around but still plenty of
water to not have to sneak around to much. Troy’s group did about the same and
both of us had fish eat a fly called a Robin really hard early. I don’t fish it much but Josh Curtis told me
this am that I should have one (or 6)! Thank you! By 11:00 they were off of it
and we took a while to find some other flies that worked. The worm,
chironocone, and a golden Jimmy Leg was good in the afternoon as well as 6 or 8
fish eating a hopper. By 6:00 pm the water was about 69 degrees and the bright
sun was in the fishes eyes and I thought we were done but we hooked another 10
fish in the last run of the day. Devan
went up to watch some friends fish the on the upper river just below the
Pinnacles fish a couple of evenings ago
and saw an incredible caddis hatch the last hour of light and the fish were up
on them and fed like mad into the dark. Maybe we get need to sell a day and a
half guide trip and start at 5:00 am and end at 9:00 pm! I think we would see some amazing stuff.
I think the fish know when we humans like to drink coffee and cocktails! Those
beverages might be costing us some fish! Anyway the Conejos has some huge
stoneflies coming out and leaving huge cases on the rocks at night and some
caddis late and during the day hoppers and some huge stones have worked well as
dries. The tribs right now are low and the ones up high (at 10,000’ elevation)
are very good right now while tribs like the La Jara and Los Pinos and can be
tough. When landing fish right now in
the afternoons please be additionally careful and don’t take them out of the
water because they can get pretty stressed. A couple of days ago I guide on one
of the higher tribs and it was fantastic. There were some mayflies coming off
and when they were out the fish seemed very interested but for most of the day
we caught most of the fish on droppers. Because of the consistent rains we have
had the worm has been back on the menu and I don’t fish a day on any river here
without it on for a part of the day. The number of people here has dropped
dramatically and the pressure on the river has let up. Nice to see the fish get
a break and I would suspect that that should stay that way from here on out.
Thank you all for your support!
August 5, 2011 All the guides have worked every day for many weeks
and we all thank you. The Conejos in the last several weeks has changed from a
diverse and prolific bug factory to summer with a more mixed bag of fishing. We
have spent a lot of time on the tributaries lately and they have been good to
great. The Conejos has been tricky on some days and some days just fantastic.
When the browns come out it can be really really good right now and when they
don’t it can be more tricky than you were hoping for. Both Jasmine and I guided
the Hamilton several times in the last week and it has been very good for
larger fish. Many on the dry some on a streamer some on Jimmy Legs, tan
chenille worms, Salvation’s, and some small stuff! Meadow has had some great
hatches and the flows still perfect but very complex some days trying to figure
out which but they want. Pocket water below the meadows more predictable with a
lot of good days. I will post more later but wanted to check in. The guides
schedules now have some slots open so for those of you wanting to spend a day
with us we would love to see you! We will be posting some of the pics from the
last week on the blog soon!
July 17, 2011 Forgive us right now for being slow to get some info
out for all of you, we have been under the gun and all of us working 7 days a
week. For those of you waiting for the water to look tamer how about 160 cfs
out of Platoro and 312 down here at the shop!
I had a chance to guide Brett Weinstein yesterday and Dr. Snyder and his
son today. What a pleasurable couple of days with no brainstrain and a real
Cohiba with some ridiculous ring gauge did not hurt either. Doc started out the day immediately with a
pair of nice browns then a 20” bow from under some willows in a braid! His son
was hooked up on a #16 Iron Lotus dropper on a nice brown that blew up the hole
and we headed for the main braid. The fishing was slow for an hour or so in the
main channel and we tried dredging and caught some smaller fish but slow. 11:30
hit and we started to see mayflies and we had a several hours of great fishing.
Jamie ran thru 8 nice fish on one side while dad on the other was giggling at
every trout. I told Jamie to move up and try and get some flies under the root
wad/willow upriver 100 yds and within a couple of casts was chasing a fish
downriver in heavy water. Landed a 19” brown and went back in with some more casts
and hooked a huge brown on a CDC Red Quill. Spit the hook. Dad was fishing a
bamboo 4 wt and so I tied on a Quill Gordon which seemed only fitting. Fish
liked the sparse cdc and old school flies. Had lunch and they were about 8 fish
into the afternoon in 20 minutes. Today
we got clouds and the fishing seemed to stay good for a lot longer. We saw
stones, drakes, and some red quills and caught most of our fish on the dry.
Again finding the magic dropper that they just love has seemed elusive to me
the last couple of weeks. Maybe I am paying back some of the nymph JuJu I had
going on in June?! This is a rumor but some guy was parading around a 28” brown
caught in Mogote CG yesterday and today some kid came into the shop with a
photo of a 27” female brown caught on a blue Copper John!!!!!!!!!!!!! Devan
said it was an easy 10 to 12 pounds and I don’t know what is going on but in
all the years I have guided and fished here I have not heard or seen so many
legit big brown trout. Again on the trip today we hooked one that was between
22 and 23” I hope that whatever the magic is going on right now that it keeps
up. Last week alone every guide had clients land fish 20 or bigger and if you
check out Devan’s blog you can see a few. I would say that when I started guiding
here that never happened and I cant remember a client landing a 20” brown in
the Conejos. This year I bet we have landed 3 dozen fish that size and hooked
many more. I know that for some of you the Conejos has been tough and I would
say that it has been tough on all of us at times but let it make you better and
go deeper rather than write this river off as
“ _____________ “ Today we
had a good day and hooked about 45 fish but there was public water that we
could have fished today and doubled that I think and there is public water that
we could have fished today and did maybe half that well or worse. I told the
guys I fished with today and I think it is a good thought that on the Conejos
“Everything Matters”! Tippet size,
leader length, rod wt, presentation, bad habits, timing of hookset, depth,
timing, fly selection, color, clothing/hat color, fluorocarbon, drift, drift,
drift, drag, drag, drag, confidence, maybe even clean living JuJu! Do these
things matter on other rivers? Of course they do but sometimes here I think it
matters more. Anyway you get my point. On a guide all of us try to be as polite
as control freaks as we can because we know how important it is. I watch casts
all day but most I am in some way watching but not really because in some way
it is highly unlikely to produce interest.
One fly lands perfect, drifts perfect, over the right water and all of a sudden I am glued to
the drift knowing that I am likely about to see the some magic. I am totally
rambling but just trying to not let you get down on yourself or the river but
to be challenged!
I was told today that the new John Gierach book has a
chapter on the Conejos based on the time that he came and spent with us and
stayed in the cabins. I have not read it but he has always been my literary
hero and after reading his books for years will be surreal to read about this
hole in the wall place in Mogote, CO. If you have not had a chance to read his
stuff give it a try. My wife and I used to read them on long trips and have
belly laughed many times.
For those of you thinking about booking guide trips please
if you know the date call us. We have a lot of dates already full.
Well its late and I have another 2 person full day tomorrow
at 8:00 and looking forward to fishing some new water and sipping a good cup of
coffee on the drive!
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.
June 29, 2011 ***A couple of things for those concerned with the
fire in New Mexico and smoke here. As of yesterday at midnight from what I
understand all of the National Forest areas in New Mexico are closed. I only
hope the people fighting the fire in NM got the rain we got today. I also hope
that for the sake of the fisheries there that they get a wet summer and the
fires go away and the fish have plenty of water to swim in. We have not had
smoke issues here although occasionally if the wind is wrong we will see
some but has not been an issue here. In
this area we would love some more rain but are not in any fire ban or are any
of the public properties here closed in any way. I fished one of the tribs
today with Dr. Tom and had a wonderful day. Amazed at the health of the
fish. Very buggy with PMD’s, Caddis,
Stones, and a few Drakes. The easiest two guide days on record so far. Number
of birds nest untangled in two days – 0! Fun! Most of our guides were not on
the Conejos today but from what I heard when I got in it was very buggy. It
depends on where you are on the river but everything from PMD’s, to
Mahogonies,to Goldens, to Drakes. Clarity is good and flows have dropped to
around 900.
A couple of months ago everyone was lamenting the pitiful snowpack
and what a short season it will be with no water. Tonight I had dinner with the
guides and the conversation was the opposite. Where did all the water come
from? We did get a chance to talk to someone from the water board here and they
said we were at 95%. May was wet and cold and postponed the runoff so that
seems to be what has made the flows higher than we guessed. I think it will
make the Conejos have a normal season of water and if we can get some rain to
keep the fire hazard down it should be a great year. Here are some thoughts
about the week to come as well as some of the scoop from being on the water
this week!
This week we have all been on the water a lot and I wish I could
write a report just for those of you curious, interested, looking for info or
whatever and be specific as far as flies and all of the details but we have
realized that now there are 7 guide services advertising trips on the Conejos.
One of them has access to guide on 2 small stretches of water for stocked
Rainbows but the rest as far as we know have no guiding permits or licenses in
Colorado. We have also talked about ridiculous sounding numbers in places like
the meadows below Platoro and I understand that if you have fished it and
walked away frustrated like almost every single group does right now it seems
like a chest puffing bunch of bs! I am sure those other guide services are
thinking the same thing! They have been fishing some of the same water! I wish
in hind sight that I would have the clients write blogs. I try to be as
objective as I can in letting you all know what is going on. We are here to
help you enjoy and learn and help in any way we can and I hope you all have
found us helpful in some large or small way. I can say that almost every
ridiculous sounding number of fish we have caught this month has not been to
stocked fed daily rainbows or on private never fished ranches (except today, we
did fish a private property for wild brown trout!) and that they have been wild
fish in big water. I would also say that if I had guided the meadow section 10
years ago at 632 cfs that I would run the gamut from a total skunk to a couple
of fish. This last month the average 2 person trip with zero to moderate
expertise has hooked 30 to 60 fish a day in the meadow. I may see if I can get
some clients to be able to give their perspective and that would be an
interesting angle on what is going on. I
can tell you that we do sometimes have slower days and that sometimes we do not
figure it out as fast as we would like or the fishing is off due to
whatever. I had a day today that we
hooked about 35 fish but it seemed like a brutal day. We never got into a
groove. Never felt like the big fish came out and there were bugs everywhere.
Nice Drake hatch for the first time, Mahogony’s like mad, golden stones,
caddis, yellow sallies and hardly a fish rise to them anywhere. Troy was on a half
day one mile upriver from me and they destroyed it! Fish blowing holes in the
surface for several hours and and one guy caught almost 40 fish! Big Browns! He
gets back and has that SIG on his face and assumes I had the same day. Asks “So
how many fish were on Sandovals?” I had that blood sugar starved mosquito bit
not much of a grin on my face and said it was tough! He of course thought I was
joking, and proceeded to fill me in. Jasmine fished the Hamilton and fished in
swarms of Golden’s and did great. What happened on my stretch that no fish were
rising???????? All I can say is it is a very intimidating river at times and a
tough one to figure out. All the JuJu I felt I had up high seemed to be hard to
recreate! We did land a big 20” fish in a tough back eddy and some other nice
fish but most of our fish were smaller. Troy up river lands 6 or 8 wild browns
18” or bigger on dries in a morning and
an extra 30 to throw in! Fun! I think as this lower river continues to drop it
will become an awesome bug factory! Tomorrow morning I will be on a different
stretch of water trying to figure it out all over again but I know that in my
box will be some Drakes, Golden’s, Mahogonies, Caddis, and maybe a GString or
two! Hope you get a chance to make some
casts soon!
June 21, 2011 A quick report tonight. Brain not coherent enough to
get to creative but I have been guiding a lot lately and for the most part just
incredible fishing up high, the La Jara, and some of the tribs. Today I caught
the Meadow on a descending flow and that always seems to make things more
tricky. Did a morning and afternoon guide and both caught nice fish but not the
ridiculous fishing I was spoiled with earlier. It was hard this morning driving
up the canyon to fish up high with the lower river looking so good. Tonight it
dropped below 1000 cfs and should begin the start of some incredible fishing
down lower on the river. Looking forward to see what she has to offer this
week. Salmon fly adults should finally be tied to the end of your leader. Goldens
should start soon and caddis are going crazy. Drakes today the lower La Jara
and who knows what happened today on the Los Pinos but I know is was good!
Wondered for a while if the Conejos would ever loose the full head of steam she
had going for a while. Los Pinos hit 199 when I checked and so a lot of options
and miles of river back on the option table. Seems only right to give the
Meadow fish a break for a while! Hope to see you in the shop. For some more
info and the scoop on some local stuff read the last couple of reports if you
have time.
June 14, 2011 It has been fun lately for me and the rest of the
guides because we have been able to spend a lot of time on the water.
(guiding). If you just were looking at numbers right now on a computer and started
assuming what was going on you might miss what was actually going on. The water
up high in the meadow has been above 600 cfs for a while and in the past that
was unfishable. Amazing when you challenge all of the numbers you have in your
head as to what should fish good and then go and see if you were right. Well
today Jasmine guided the Hamilton Property and she did great and I would have
told you that it was to big. Wrong. Sunday I got a chance to fish with Bill
Long and a friend of his and it was amazing to see the fish eat so hard. In the
ripping fast water we caught fish after fish eating little stuff in the #18
size range. Did not think it could fish better and then Monday a father son
from Midland and it got better. At the end of the day we asked ourselves how
many fish did we just hook? Not sure and it does not matter but unbelievable.
Dozens. Tom Rossing fished the tribs the last couple of days and he did as good
or better. Lower Conejos Troy has been fishing and he is doing well. The water clarity
on the lower river finally looked like it is getting better so we may get to
use some of these enormous dry flies yet! The planets should be conspiring
against us with a full moon and big water but somehow not the case.
The Salmon flies continue to emerge each night and they seem
restricted to the lower river below Ponderosa but to be honest I wont be under
the 17 bridge tonight in the middle of a
15 in a row run looking for bugs crawling out at midnight! The Los Pinos looks
like it is finally loosing some steam and the clarity is good. South Fork today
was a little big but Jasmine caught fish
in it on the guide trip so soon. For those of you looking for guide trips the
sooner you can get on the books the better. We are running just the very core
group of guides and those days are filling up quickly. If you get a chance check out Devan’s blog.
The icon is on the home page and is a fun and totally different angle. I think
he put up some info on the guides but for those that know nothing about some of
the guides but I thought I would put up some stuff of what is going on lately
with the guides. Would also want to
congratulate one of our guides Josh Curtis who just made the U.S. Fly Fishing
Team! He is a gifted angler and a great guy. Jasmine Ence won the Best of the
West Fly Casting Championship in Salt Lake, Devan was 5th. Devan and
Jasmine were also asked to be on the Pro Staff for SA and Ross. Jon Harp was
invited by Simms to be one of the Simms Pro Ambassador Guides. World Records
Jon Harp and Devan Ence. Troy is one of the guys that should be on everyone’s
test team, pro staff and US Fly Fishing Team but seem much more
June 9, 2011
This is a little add to the post on June 7. Last night the Conejos
River spit out its first big adult Salmonflies down here by the shop. We
thought the over under date would be the 13th! Well what do we know.
The big bugs should start pouring out of the river over the next week and be
around for a while. The temps are supposed to be in the mid 70’s for the next
week and I would guess that the Conejos will start to run out of steam and the
clarity will come back. As soon as that happens expect the fish to start
looking up especially on the edges. For those thinking about hiring a guide
June is filling up quickly so give us a call.
*Sidenote: I know I am going to be crucified by some for this but
every once in a while I get the buzz of a property or house that is for sale on
the river before it ever goes to the Real Estate agents and I always have
people I fish with asking me if I know of anything. Well I do! 28 acres with
house and outbuildings and .5 miles of the Conejos River. Ballpark price is
$320,000! The house is not any big place and there is nothing fancy about the
buildings but a great property with river in a perfect location. If I was not
on a fishing guide wages these days I would love to have it but not going to
happen right now. It is on the lower river. If you are interested call me.
(719) 250 7122. Jon
As I watched the Conejos get big I thought to myself I knew it. I
knew that the Conejos would come up. All the talk that there would be no runoff
was not true. That the cool May we had had pushed the water back. Etc. Etc. But
I must admit I was more than a little surprised to see 1600cfs! Today they are
releasing 600 out of the dam! Wow! Yesterday Devan, Jasmine, Troy, and myself
went and fished the meadow at 511. I hope that somehow the world will continue
to let those fish live because they are getting big and fat. The stomachs were
distended and I don’t know how the fish could fit anything else in. Just
amazing how hard they have been eating and how fat they are so early in the
year. We caught most of the fish on annelids, cream flashbangs, ruby’s, and red
juju bees. It took a while to figure it out and all of us had been catching
some fish and then I saw Troy walking downriver towards me and I knew that was
good news! “What are they eating T-Roy?” “Annelids!” he says. Off course the
bug I had not been able to find in my box that morning and the box that Devan
had a client end up with so of course Troy coffed up 2 for me and I was off and
running. Jasmine showed up and I took a red g-string worm and cut the ends off
burned the tips and gave it to her. Wammo! We were into fish hard for a while
and got a little video but you almost have to break your rod and have nothing
to do to get motivated to film instead of fish when you get a chance like we
had. Anyway the La Jara and Lake Fork are clear and beautiful right now and
fishing really well. The lower Conejos I think is off the grid for a week or so
as well as the Los Pinos. If you get a chance Devan has a very cool blog
started right now and the button is on the home page. It has pics and should be
getting videos as well and it another perspective of life from the middle of
nowhere! Tomorrow I am heading to one of the most remote sections of the La
Jara. A section I only know of one other person ever fishing and I will be
loaded for bear and ears on and really looking forward to some silly 3 wt
stream fishing. The last 3 times I have been there I have seen bears and there
are cat tracks everywhere but I am headed down deep into the canyon below where
I normally fish. The stoneflies are coming off over there the last few days and
hopefully will get to throw dries all day long.
A couple of days ago I guided a group in the meadow up high that
had fished it the day before. When they found out they were going to fish the
same water again they were not excited at all. I understand and I asked them
how they did and out of a group of 6 most did not touch a fish. At the end of
the day I think all of them realized how important a good guide is. For years
many had been struggling with “habits” that were making fishing hard and
unproductive. By the end of the day they looked like totally different anglers
and were all tired and beaming! They hooked and caught big wild brown trout on
the Conejos River which does not give it up easy as many of you know. That
afternoon instead of being frustrated and having aching shoulders I heard
things like “DOUBLE!” “I learned more today than…..” “These are the biggest
brown trout I have ever seen” Etc. Etc. I am not saying this to poke my chest
out at all. All of our guides would have done the same thing. What I am saying
is simple. Most of you do not have the time we have or the years on a river
like this so if you can take advantage of that then do it. It is like trying to
teach yourself how to golf. Teach yourself how to rock climb. I also here so
many groups come here to fish the Conejos a couple of days then the Arkansas
then the San Juan or wherever. Most hire guides other places but not here. I
can tell you I can give you 4 patterns and tell you to get to the Kiddie Hole
or the Cable Hole early and start fishing by yourself and you will catch some
fish. ( I am not saying the SJ is easy or to not hire a guide) If you get sent
to the meadow below Platoro? What a tough place at times and that is where you
can learn so much catch some beautiful fish and send your fishing to the next
level. Fun!
Another thought here and if you are offended I am sorry but I
encourage you if you are one of those that loves the outdoors and wild fish
then be an advocate not a simple minded user. Plug in the mind and if you are
hungry for fish then take them from an ecosystem asking you to do so. If you
are fishing a place where you realize how special a 19” fat wild brown is then
give it a nod and a thank you and put it back. The world does not need one more
user. I have been blessed to wake up in an industry where fly fisher people
seem to truly be a special group. A bunch of people who on average I could
leave my wallet on the counter of the shop all season and have a really good
shot at being there when we locked the doors in November! Maybe some education
at times would be good but a bunch of great people. Here are a couple things I
see almost daily. Anglers will fight a fish, most of the time much longer then
necessary, and net the fish and carry the fish around out of the water in some
sort of primitive gesture of capture! No need to ever take the fish out of the
water except to take a picture. If you are one of those with that habit then
maybe its time to do a favor for the trout. The other daily occurrence is that
I see anglers on a stretch where there is almost no one fishing jump right in
front of another group. This is always puzzling. I can tell you that on the
Conejos or any of the streams here if you have been jumped by another group
your day is ruined. Please out of respect for your fellow anglers give them
atleast .75 mile. On a small stream
leave them a mile. Go to them if you meet up with them on the stream and have a
pow wow and divvy it up.
May 31, 2011 Well it was bound to happen and it did over this last
weekend. The river went from 400 to 800 to 1200 on this lower end. For those
fishing up high with the right stuff it that was good for the lower end not so
much. Warmer temps let the snowfields let go of some water and so some of the
rivers like the Los Pinos and lower Conejos will be off the grid for a few
days. The upper river of the Conejos and streams like the La Jara and the Lake
Fork should be fantastic. I was out with Bill Long on Saturday and started on
the lower end and it was already dark and caught some fish. Moved up river a
bit and watched the river darken throughout the day. We still caught fish in
the middle of the junk but the 40mph wind in our face made it a little stout to
survive and get a drift. This morning after everyone went home I hate to report
that the wind is gone and looks like a perfect week to get in some fishing. Had
a chance with Bill Long to walk the new property we leased on the lower river
and wow! It is going to be really nice. We also have the 4 properties upriver
of that one to make one very large stretch of river. I have always heard the
big brown rumors from the lower river stretches and now I get to see why. It
has incredible habitat and a lot of natural structure as well as quite a bit of
rockwork that was done years ago. Look forward to throwing big flies on that
stretch soon. If I was guessing I would say with the lower flows we expect soon
that the bugs will be out a bit early this year. Maybe June 7 to the 12th?
From that point on the Conejos River should be a bug factory and the dry fly
fishing better than normal. The Los Pinos which has a pretty awesome June
stonefly normally comes a week before the Conejos River salmonfly but this year
with the cool May and now warm air has brought up the flows to the point that
they may come the same time as the Conejos? We will see but expect these rivers
to mellow soon. Today Devan is headed to U. La Jara with a photographer and
T-Roy is venturing to Lost Lake on his DRZ400 bike. Hope they all make it back!
Look forward to seeing you all soon!
May 25, 2011 Had a chance today to go out with Dr. Tom and fish
one of the tribs and what a great day. It was chilly but had a really nice
baetis hatch about noon and got to see some big healthy fish. Reminds me that I
dont get off the Conejos enough! Seems like every day I do and guide or fish
one of the tribs it reminds me of why I fell in love with this place. Today our
best fish was a taped 18.5" brown and there were plenty others that
were 15 to 17 on a little bitty stream in the middle of nowhere! The fish were
already fat and looked like they had a great winter. One day I am going to find
a way to get an underground camera under the water in the dead of winter and
find out how in the how those fish survive 30 below nights and minimal food for
months and come out of winter looking like the picture of health. Sometimes
when I think about the fish in winter I get scared for them. And then I walk
the river in the early spring after the ice is off and the water is crystal and
my heart skips often when I cannot see any fish. And then one day they are all
out and happy and eating and I wonder what kind of supernatural thing I am
watching but not seeing! If I could get someone to pay me to figure it out I
would indeed try! Anyway, we suspected that May would be good and the water
levels would stay fishable but I did not guess it would go down like it has. If
it looks like by looking at the graphs that runoff is over I dont think it has.
We have had a lot of clouds and cool temps that have kept the snow fields from
letting loose and so the river has stayed down for mostly that reason and not
because the snow pack is low. Although it is below average I think the first
warmer days we will see the river come up some. Nothing to scary but more water
soon. Of course that is my unscientific observation and nothing else but when I
see Elk, South, Middle, and Treasure streamflows as low and clear as they are
and a pile of snow higher up I just think most is yet to come which is I
suppose really good for extending the good water later into the year. If you
are coming to fish the Conejos soon expect some great conditions on most of the
water here and also expect to have some ammo in your box. What they are excited
about lately seems to change often. I can tell you that they may eat stones,
G'Strings, midge stuff, streamers, small baetis patterns etc. Some will depend
on if the water is going up or down. Up look for more worm water, down look for
smaller stuff. Consistent flows look for stones and trail a midge larvae or PT
or RS2 type bug. Snow/Rain fish have been eating steamers out of the boat
really good. Natural and White colored steamers seem to be the most effective.
Look forward to seeing all of you. We also are very excited to let you guys
know that we just picked up another mile of the Conejos River just downstream
of the shop. This is big brown trout water and some of the least fished water
on the river. It will be a guide only deal but many of you are going to get to
fish some pretty special wild brown trout water. We are working on another mile
as well but premature to make any announcement.
May 20, 2011 I think I said put away the coat to soon. Spent the
last couple of days guiding in the snow! Ouch. The fish did eat and the last
couple of days those guys were tough but they caught fish. Guided just below
Hamilton the first day and that was good. Fish seemed to be mostly keyed in on
the worm while yesterday with the flows descending fish went off the worm and
ended up eating small midge stuff. The #18 cream Flashbang and #18 cream
Miracle Nymph were by far the best bug in the meadow. 6 miles below me Troy was
guiding and the golden stone was the best pattern. Seems like we may have lift
off on some wild Rainbows back in the Conejos. They have been frequenting the
nets in the section from the Pinnacles to the dam mostly but they are gorgeous
and come in all sizes. With warmer temps coming expect the flows to bounce back
up some because right now they are very low for this time of year 420 in Mogote
and 128 in Platoro.
May 10,2011 Sorry or the absence the family went to Cozumel for 8
days and had a great time drinking mojitos, eating fresh seafood, catching
bonefish and playing golf with my son. As beautiful as it is there I was so
looking forward to being home. The temps are getting warmer and I think I may
be able to skip heavy jackets soon. Flows today out of Platoro are 117 cfs and
about 400 here in Mogote. All in all cant be a better flow for middle May.
I think we will continue to have these type of conditions for most or all
of May. The stonefly is a big deal on the lower river and as you go up the worm
is more on the menu as well as some other small stuff and red stuff below the
dam depending on the releases. We still have some slots in the cabins and the
guides are all very excited about being on the river again so if you get a
chance come and fish with us. May is truly a sleeper month and one of our
favorite times for big fish.
April 20, 2011 The Superfly Am Edition wrap is below but just
wanted give a brief fishing report. Devan guided the past two days and Monday
was decent and yesterday really good. The water color is a little off and we
are fishing an assortment of bugs including the Salvation, Jimmy, GString,
Tungstone, and a Sculzilla. Flows are 270 or so here in Mogote and 57 out of
Platoro. Perfect flows to fish the entire river system. You will run into some
snow drifts around Platoro but nice to know there are still some snow drifts
out there! Hope to see you all here.
April 20, 2011 After watching the Conejos Superfly this year my
reaction was, "You cant make this stuff up!" We had Chamber of
Commerce weather and flows and it was alot of fun to watch and not have to
fish. There were plenty of moments of head scratching and moments that were so
good they videotaped it in realtime just in case no one believed them! The team
of Coontz and Drinnen came from 10 pts back and racked an incredible 95.5 pts
the final day for a 2 day total of 160. The second highest ever one day score.
The bugs that the fish seemed to love on the lower river were totally different
than up high. The team of Pauly/Buchanan had the seins out and had identified
what they found was the bug the first day and put themselves in second after
day one primed for another win and they restocked for the last day. Only
problem. Fish seemed to change meals and they had to scramble to figure it out
again. Last years winner took a tough beat the first day and did well enough to
stay close to the lead and drew RMAC the last day. We thought they might be in
the drivers seat but as we watched they caught fish but we feared not fast
enough. Up really high by Rocky Mt. Lodgea beat that scored a meager 33
pts the first day Drinnen and Coontz were starting the day with cheap domestic
beer and a #20 Yong Special. Why??? But they did and they caught brown after
brown and were quickly turning the tournament on its ear. Down low on the river
the team that were the leaders after the first day, Beasley and McVay,
and had turned our Upper Hamilton into a very impressive 75.5 pts were struggling
to find the fish. At about 3:00 they were only 4 fish into the day and it all
looked like both of the top 2 teams after the first day had been overcome.
Meanwhile on RMAC the team of Troudt/Moran were rolling fish. Alot of them. The
team father son team of miles and miles were steadily landing browns and turned
Conejos C.G./Lower Rocky Mt. Lodge into a very nice 63 pts. By the end of the
day when we were waiting for everyone alot of strong scores were coming in when
Coontz/Drinnen walked into Conejos Ranch they were about 2
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