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

June 30, 2009 Ok were back online here in Conejos County! Flows cut in half on the upper river and water clarity and bug life is pointing towards what we were  hoping for. Almost all of the tribs look great and fishing from Elk to the La Jara has been very good this week. Alot of fish on the dry on the tribs. Reports of big Cutts and Browns  hooked and sometimes landed on the tribs the past few days. Expect to see Drakes on the lower river very soon, the caddis and Goldens are already in full swing.

June 29, 2009 The last week here was one of the wettest in the high country we have had in a long time. It looks like we are finally in a drying out trend and they just dropped the releases from 750 to 394 this morning. By tomorrow the lower river will be back to a more reasonable and clear level. Lots of Goldens on the lower river. Water clarity has already returned and we should expect to see some dry fly fishing when the flow adjustment hits the lower river. Clouds of caddis and a few PMD's out. The tribs are already seeing Green Drakes and a host of other bug activity and most of the fish are being caught on dries. Fish are fat and some large fish being caught in the smaller water. Seems like some of the fish in the Pinnacles area have taken refuge in the feeder streams so expect to catch some larger than average fish in smaller water. The streams up around 10,000 feet and above are still to big so fish the lower tributaries. I have never seen releases as high as they were last week and amazingly if you fish extremely early below the dam the fish are eating hard, the problem is that there stomachs are so gorged by 10:00 or 11:00 that it ends early.  The fish are in amazing condition and as fat a brown trout as you will catch in moving water (meadow fish). Fish a 6 weight with plenty of weight. If you catch it on a descending release it might be tough. On a level or rising release very good. I was just told this morning that the flows will be left high for a while and 30 minutes later I check the releases and they drop it 350 cfs so it is impossible to know even if they told us.

June 19, 2009 The big bugs have sputtered seemingly haphazardly on the lower river and the fishing reports have varied wildly the last few days. The exception is the tribs which have been good to fantastic. Very good dry fly fishing on most of the tributaries and the Conejos has had a couple of days that have been very good on top but today was not one of those for some bizzare Conejos type reason. The outrageous caddis hatch has begun alongside the big bugs and fish have suprisingly been eating some small stuff alongside the Salmon/Willow/Pteronarcys. Golden Stones and caddis emergers have been some of the best nymphs.  The Salmonfly the best dry. Expect it to get buggier and buggier each day and the fish will begin to look up more and more each day. Great time to be here. Still nymphing in the meadow but our guide trips up there have been good to great.

June 10, 2009 The mass exodus of Pteronarcys (GIANT BUGS) began last  night and we now have big orange bugs flying around and should really change how we fish on the Conejos and births the beginning of the end for the Thingamabobber for a while. The other tribs are experiencing a more active bug life as well and should open up alot of water for us to fish. The flows continue to dip right now and with storage at Platoro as high as I have ever seen it expect flows out of Platoro to be in the 200 to 400 range for a while which will make the meadow a great place to fish and the lower river with all the stoneflies  the place to be for throwing dries. Releases today Platoro 220, Lower River 800, Los Pinos 200, La Jara perfect! Expect the next couple of weeks to be stellar in alot of areas. Guides still have availality and the cabins still have some slots. Hope you can make it to throw one of the biggest dries of all! 

*We just posted a couple of new blogs on the CRA Blogspot, check those out.

*We still have a couple of memberships available for the private ranches. $1050 and includes a guide trip and no additonal rod fees for yourself or guests! No Brainer if you fish here much.

June 7, 2009 Plenty of changing conditions to try and keep up with here in Conejos County.  Some good some not. The flows have been increased out of Platoro to about 350 cfs which bodes well for fishing up really high but the Pinnacles and canyon sections are off the grid for a while. The Lower River is high but we should see adult salmonfies  beginning in about a week and that should change everything. Hopefully the lower river willl continue to taper down and we will be able to fish the adult salmonflies for the first time in a while. Los Pinos is now back on (284 CFS) and the La Jara (48), Elk Creek, Lake Fork, and alot of other smaller tribs are now looking good and are loaded with fish. I am heading out now to drive alot and take  a look myself at the different rivers to see if we have big bugs flying around anywhere. I suspect La Jara and the Los Pinos have adult stones flying around. For those looking for solitude this is going to be a fantastic couple of weeks. We have room in the cabins and there will be very few people here.

May 28, 2009 Wow the lower Conejos is now under 900 with excellent water clarity by the end of May?! Not sure what to take of that but for now it is good. No longer neccesary to drive all the way up unless you want a gorgeous drive. Flows out of the dam continue to be around 50 cfs and fishing on the entire upper river system is good. Stoneflies on the lower river with a #16 Hares ear or SJ Worm are a great option. The upper river sllightly different but fish some midge / annelid patterns close to the dam. The La Jara and Lake Fork are perfect right now and expect the Los Pinos to look good very soon. We still have 2 memberships available for the private ranches. If you are interested give us a call. Sanchez, Trujillo Meadows, and La Jara Reservoir as well as the hike in lakes are great right now. Try something different and check them out.

May 19, 2009 With the Rio Grande at 5000 cfs and other rivers cookin' the Conejos is plodding along at 40 cfs out of Platoro Reservoir and creating some incredible fishing in the first 10 miles downstream. We have hooked alot of fish this last week and it should continue to stay good all May. Even if the water releases are raised dramatically it will only make the Meadow that much better. Right now it is on the spooky side and those fishing downriver are doing better. One of our good customers landed a 24" brown a few days ago along with alot of other smaller fish. There are fish beginning to look up in the flat water sections of the Meadow and those looking for a challenge give it a shot. The La Jara right now is very good and the gate to the lower section will open the thursday before Memorial Day which I guess is in a few days. 5x and 6x with long leaders in the meadow. The pocket water below atleast 4x flouro. I have been doing will on the tungsten worm, the @&%# fly, #16 RL Hares ear, #10 Pats, big red annelids, and some bigger dark Copper Johns. I also think that the Los Pinos will be back on the grid in a few weeks. The Lake Fork will also be open for good fishing very soon. Most of the high mountain lakes will be good, now.  This next 8 or 10 days have some cooler weather and expect the lower river to gain some clarity and give a chance for those fishine edges to catch fish consistently. Early June for you planners should be good on the Conejos, Los Pinos, La Jara, Elk, and the Lake Fork. No crowds and the chance at bigger fish should make it worth the trip.

May 12, 2009 Looks like summer is here early on the Conejos and water today  is almost 2000 cfs of runoff in the lower river. The upper river, well, God knows how epic the fishing has been for those lonely fish up high. Releases have continued at 39 cfs below the dam of crystal clear water and I can tell you that the fish are stuffed up in the meadow and the canyon just below it. Rumor has it that today, tomorrow, the next day or the next day the gate will open up and give us another option for fishing.  Again  with the wind, bigger water, and bigger fish those waving a  6  weight will have a more enjoyable day. So when it opens fish the canyon with 4x flouro a Tunsten Worm with some red in it and assorted stonefly nymphs. For those wanting the challenge of the meadow you may have to go to 5x and 6x if it stays at 39 and be very stealthy in your approach. we will have to experiiment a little to see what are the most effective bugs. Last may red was a big deal, we'll see. But if you are wanting to plan some fishing during runoff it does not get alot better than May up high. The La Jara and Los Pinos will also mellow by the end of the month and should start to get good. The CDOW should have the La Jara State Wildlife area open soon and that will be very good early. For those wanting their fishing expericence to be transformed there are a couple of options. There are still 2 private lease memberships available for $1050 and include a guided fishing trip. The other is the Conejos Cart Blanche. Everything we do cabins, guides, food,shuttles,  leases, flies, discounts is free to the members. Price $4950. Call and talk to Jon for more details. The Conejos Habitat Project got a couple more friends this last week and got large contributions from Jerry Arnold and the Conejos County Tourism Board. Thank You!

April 30, 2009 Well the dust has settled from this years Superfly and we are looking forward to the next chapter. We have been fishing and exploring some different sections of the river and for the most part fishing has been very good. The lower river right now is pretty big (750 cfs) and off color. The higher you go the clearer the water and we hope to see the upper gate open soon. Releases are still very low, about 15 cfs so I can only imagine how good the upper river is at this time. Fish eating Stonefly nymphs and alot of SJ worms for us. Streamers have also moved a nice number of fish. The tungsten 2 tone red/tan worm has been a hero alot of days. At this time I have 2 spots left for the private fishing memberships to the private ranches. Please call us for info.

Superfly/Conejos Habitat Project Mini Update: First of all whether you like it or not but all these goverment billions flying in every direction may be headed for Conejos County and the CHP! A $250,000 grant has been written and if funded will go directly to the project! We will not know for a month or two but if that happens the timeline will most likely be moved up and the size and scope of the project will exponentially change. Additionally Jerry Arnold who fished with Mike Sexton (Finishing 2nd) of the US Fly Fishing team has written a check for $5000 for the project! The Superfly raised about $3500. A grant from Patagonia adds $1000. The Conejos County Tourism Board is voting to see how much of a commitment they will make but expect a nice contribution from them. The CDOW has purchased and stockpiled rocks. TU is still heavily on board and will be a critical partner in this whole process. There are many others and alot more going on but not enough time to put it all down.

Reid and Brian Darnell two brothers won the 2009 Superfly. These are great guys and I have had the priveledge of fishing with both of them and they are alot of fun and obviously can flat fish! Congratulations to them! We will post the rest of the results and photos in future posts. We are also working on a blog page that will have alot more snippets and photos.

The trip I took last November for Potamoi Media Group may have resulted in two line class IGFA World Records for Brown trout. Both fish were filmed from start to finish and will be on the movie to be released this fall. One for myself and one for Devan. This morning Devan showed up with more photos from a day of fishing holding fish of a lifetime fish one after the other! He spent a day on the Taylor and landed fish in the 5 to 14 lb range to about 28"! Outrageous! I would not believe it if I had not flipped through them myself. Expect some fantastic fishing in May up high on the river!

April 15, 2008 It looks as if the fish and not the Chamber of Commerce have ordered up the weather for the weekend. Be sure to bring some fleece for the weekend especially friday and saturday. Several things regarding the Superfly that are very important. Please read the next several paragraphs below carefully. If you or a teamate has a bad leg, heart or other please let us know. We will pre-draw those beats so that you will  not be forced to have to walk very far. Some of the beats such as RMAC require 1.5 miles of walking to get to the beat so please if  you have  an issue at all please call us. Registration is from 7:30 to 8:00 each morning. You will draw beats, pick up some swag, get shirts or jackets, and be given some instructions for the morning. A film crew will be here this year and will probobly wire you up for a part of your day and be on the river filming.  Fishing starts at 9:00 am ends at 4:30 each day. We have tweaked a couple of teams as far as their starting day. Please check the names over and 1. Make sure you are there. 2. Make sure that works. 3. Be prepared to on your off day to fish elsewhere if you are going to fish.

April 14, 2008 New computer here so maybe we are back on plane! Beautiful day melting alot of snow today flows at 158 cfs. Warmest water temps of the year today hitting 52.8 degrees and should tell the fish and bugs it is time to wake up even harder. I have edited the teams below so feel free to check those out. There may be some more minor changes but we will qualify 12 teams daily. Because of FS #250 being soaked today and closing the hole upper river we are working hard to get some extra private ranches in the game for the event. Fish have still not spread out evenly so should be an interesting event. We are doing our best to make every beat a beat that could win a rod or win the tournament.  But it is to big a puzzle to put together perfectly. We look forward to having you all here.

April 8, 2009 Well since this is a fishing report I will give it a run. Although writing a fishing report for the Conejos  feels like predicting what might catch my wifes eye at the mall tomorrow! I will say that we are seeing Skala nymphs getting ready to become flying insects and with any luck that will happen for the Superfly. Dry fly fishing at the FLY?! Anyway cool nights have kept the flows low and mostly very clear and fishing has been good to really good at times. Fish are  healthy and are eating alot of stonefly nymphs. Still there will be times of the day that they are definately looking for the midge. Forest Service Road #250 is still closed and could open up in the next couple of weeks. The shop is open from 8:00 to 4:30 tues thru sat. 8:00 to 1:00 on sundays thru May. Cabins open this weekend. We also have 2 spots left on the private leases available. These ranches offer incredible fishing, larger fish and solitude. No rod fees for you or your guests. Call us for info.

Superfly Info: Today there are about 50 teams We have had a couple of cancellations so we have room for 2 teams.   Alot of private water again this year and alot of Sage rods, reels, waders, clothing and stuff to give away. This year there will be a casting competition at Conejos Ranch at 6:00 on Saturday. Entry is $10 which goes towards the Habitat Project. Accuracy rings from 20', 35', and 50'. Rods provided. If you are in the tournament you are not allowed to fish the river except on the day or days you are designated to fish. If you want to fish go pike fishing or walk or Mt Bike upriver of the event.

Here are your start dates for the qualifying round:

Friday :                                                                                                        

1. Joe Haak 2. Eric Pauly 3. Joe Karefky 4. Reid Darnell 5. Paul Downey 6. Bob Silver 7. Jon Harp 8. Mike Marcos 9. Ross Long 10. Dan Pass 11. Rod Ruybalid 12. Mike Sexton 13. Tom Loftus 14. Steve Carrol 15. Steve Stone 16. Sam Lambie 17. John Taylor 18. Rick Mai 19. Bill DeCamp 20. Isaac Dean 21. Brad Shuster 22. Rob Scott 23. Pat Blankenship 24. Bo Herrerra   25. Leo Sanchez

Saturday:

1. Kyle Beasle  2. Ben Caserez  3. Rob Childerston  4. Molly Childerston  5. Brad Lingbeck 6. Devan Ence   Bob Howell 8. Johnny Caldwell  9. Chad Snow  10. Reed Gillis  11. Bill Long  12. Matt Peralta 13. Kay Watkins (fri/sat start?) 14. Matt Vander Neut 15. Troy Smith 16. Jesse Haller 17. Conor Feeney 18. Jarrett Sasser 19. Rob Alshie  20. Brooks Gentry  21. Tim Thiesson  22. Ed L'Heureux 23. Marcos Silva 24. FlyWater 25. Dan Snow

*if these days wont work for you call me I will do my best

March 23, 2009 The flows this past week have come up nicely and there is a little bit of slate color to the water making fishing much easier. Fish are eating hard and stonefly patterns seem to be on the top of the list. It is still early and it should just get better over the next several weeks but just know that the fish are eating hard now and if you have to get a fix early its happening now. Bring a 6 weight because there has been some days with wind.  Fish are also eating earlier in the day then you would expect.  So far we have not gotten to the river to early and as much as that does not make sense dont be afraid to put on a jacket and go earlier in the day. Please be very carefull with the fish. After a long winter you should land them quickly (use heavy tippet in the off color water), pinch the barb, and do not keep them out of the water for more then a few seconds.

Superfly - Today we had 3 teams cancel and so we have not added back 2 there is room for 1 more team. If you are interested please call. We will open the cabins April 1 as well as the shop.

March 9, 2009 Just a quick update here. Please read the post on the 5th for more info. Rob Scott of Albuq talked me into fishing  in a blizzard on saturday and with heavy snow and 23 degrees not even a good dominacan could  make my fingers stop stinging and wondering what golf weather in Sante Fe was like that day!!! Anyway we caught fish but icing and frozen body parts kept our venture short. All nymphing with longish leaders 5x flouro and just a Pat's for me. Rob caught some fish on some smaller PT's as well. For those of you that would like a link to a great webcam Garth Olsen has one I hope he does not mind me giving it out but it will give you a great picture of what the river is like "now". http://www.gartholson.net/horca/conejoswebcam.php 

We have 3 more memberships available for the private ranches. Please call me for more details on that. Shop opens in a few weeks and the cabins late march so we look forward to seeing you all again soon. The river is fishable in places but still to early to be good just yet. Late March should see a dramatic improvement. Anyone who would like to sponsor some prizes for the Superfly please contact me. For those that already have I thank you.

Conejos Habitat Project Update: I spent a day with the guys at FlyWater in Pueblo this last week and they are going to come alongside us and provide some expertise, leadership and manpower.  They have spent years dealing with all of the agencies and helping coordinate projects like this.  Depending on the final commitment of the local TU chapter we hope to have raised around 20 to 30k after this years Superfly. These funds will exponentially increase when the matching grants and other entities add there dollars to ours. Many 4 to 1. So your donations will go along way. If you want to write a check that is tax deductable you can send it to us but write it to TU- Conejos Habitat Project. By helping us with the prizes for the Superfly you can furthur increase what we are able to raise during the Superfly.

March 5, 2009 Well I cant say its the first fish caught in the Conejos this year but it most probobly was! A few days ago I could not take it anymore so with all the open water here behind the shop I loaded up the dogs (yes we added a new black lab pup!) and headed upriver. A few miles up river and suddenly many sections of the river were still frozen over and the further I drove the more ice I saw. My spirits were being chilled with each mile till I came to the Fly Water and saw open water by the corrals.  I wadered up and waded thru 2 to 3 feet of soft snow to get to the river and 10 casts later my first fish was an 18" Male Brown in beautiful shape! Very nice and of course he ate a Pat's! Bodi (the pup) entralled with his first view of the river came over to see the fish and stood on a piece of overhanging ice and of course it broke off and he took his first official 34 degree swim! No complaining though so I guess the breeder actually sold us a lab! Well see if he can come close to the bar set by his 12 year old brother Luke.

For those wanting to fish expect to nymph. I would double nymph with 5x flouro longish leaders and go a stonefly to a small midge or baetis pattern. Find a section of clear water and realize they are spooky. The first fish I saw was in 3' of water and still spooked from 30'. The better fishing will still be a few weeks away but if you have to get a fix you can do it. Devan Ence has spent the winter tying for the shop so we will be introducing some of his creative patterns for the first time this summer.

For those curious about the Superfly please do not send in an entry unless you call me first. We are now hovering around full. It will depend what the USFS does with the upper gate but if they open it prior we will open the tournament up for 10 more teams. We will not know this until the week or so before the tournament so if you are flexible at all we will probobly get you in this way. Looking forward to warmer and fishier days and having all of you back. The shop will begin official hours April 1. 8:00 to 4:30 for April and May Tuesday thru Sunday. *Sunday close at 12:00. Closed Mondays. Cabins will open the end of March. Feel free to call us for reservatons. For those looking for a new pair of waders for the upcoming year we still have some Patagonia waders at 40% off mostly Medium and XL.

February 12, 2009 The Conejos River at this time has a thin ribbon of moving water down its center and that reminds me that spring is close. Gets me fired up and also some courage to survive a bit more winter. Snowpack is about 118% which bodes well for another year of growing big trout and another great fall with water to wave a stick in. Nightime temps have been very mild this winter compared to last (only around 0 at night!) and so the icepack on the river is much thinner and with normal temps in early March we should see ice off the river in early to mid March. Expect some decent fishing by the end of March and lasting all spring. Thats right even during runoff we had some  incredible days for large fish (the biggest of the year on average) up close to the dam. My best days last year were when they were releasing an incredible amount of water and the big fish stacked up in the flat water of the meadow below Platoro and gorged.

Superfly has about 40 teams in so if you are expecting to get in this years version please dont wait. We have 3 more spots for the membership to the private fishing access. Please call for the details on that. Anyone need help with lodging or anything else for the FLY please call us.

We also have a few Sage rods leftover from the fall. Until we open I will give you a premium fly reel with fly line and backing if  you purchase one at retail. Sage ZXL and Z-Axis in 4 weights 9' or 8'6". Saves you about $275.

January 22, 2009 Well you asked for it, its here! Registration for the 4th Annual Superfly is open. I have put an info sheet on the home page as well as a downloadable entry form. Price is about the same as last year (we added some more swag). I will also be sending an email out to all of you  later today with some more detailed information as to what is happening here. Winter so far has been beautiful and have had the time to hike and snowshoe amongst the "big" animals here. There is a decent snowpack but it is Jan. so I am not going to get to amped about that just yet! Looking forward to smelling spring again and enjoying some longer warmer days as I'm sure all of you are. We are only able to take 50 teams for the Fly so if you are interested please get the entry in soon. I will not do a press release for several weeks which will give all you "insiders" a fair chance to reserve your spot. There are about 3 memberships still available for the private water here  on the Conejos.

January 7, 2009 Happy New Year to all of you! I know that Devan and I and the rest of our team miss the pulse that all of you help create around here when fish are eating. We so appreciate all of you and for helping us despite a weird economy to have a great 2008. The pulse here is different now! The shop is now an indoor golf driving range and weight lifting room!!!  Devan is trying to finish a 634 dozen fly order for us this winter so if he comes back with a hunch in his back and his eyes buggy you know why!

Snowpack looks good! Superfly April 17-19 I will send out an email with entry forms in 2 weeks. Fished the San Juan last week and that was fun, cold, and some good fishing. There are 4 memberships left. Details below or call me. Looks like with this economy the fish will have another chance for more solitude. Especially the backcountry fish. Oh how I would love to be hiking up one of the drainages here with a 3 weight in hand and a handful of dries right now! Spring will come I can almost smell it already and we will be ready. I love winter fishing but after fishing for a couple of hours with no feeling in your fingers or toes a little warmth sounds pretty good. Oh I love and hate the snowshoes!

I hope that all of you this year make a real conscious effort with where you spend your money. If we dont the businesses we want to stick around will be gone! There are so many local businesses here in the valley that are creative, customer service oriented, and fun to have here that are hurting. We need these types of businesses to survive. The gift shop, microbrewery/rest. , burrito stop, fly shop, etc add such color to our world and help make  our lives rich. I know most of us have budgets but fear and hording will only make our world get worse. And we will wake up from this mess and realize what we lost. Just my 2 cents only here but something to think about.

December 8, 2008 Enjoying a very mild early winter here and have had a chance to fish a little. Mostly the Rio Grande but there have been several days that the Conejos was "calling" but I did not respond!  The last couple of nights have had cloud cover and very mild timps and much of the ice is gone. Tempting to get back out there!. Lots of little tidbits here so you may have to wade throught the ones that matter to you.

First of all Andreas Novak has come on board and is helping create a hornets nest about the streamflow issue.  This could be a long drawn out project but we are going to do our best to get the right people working on it for the long term health of the river.

 Secondly I would like to thank those of you who have given so generously to the Conejos Habitat Project. That means alot to me and energizes me to continue my work here!!! Please for the rest of you I ask for your help on behalf of the fish and the next generation of kids that will reap the fruits of your investment. Send checks to Trout Unlimited c/o Conejos Habitat Project, P.O. Box 503, Alamosa, CO 81101.  

Thirdly, I have had people asking me about the dates of this years Superfly. April 17-19! We hope to have another great event and want you there. We will not be accepting applications til the end of January. If you want in and have not gotten emails from us before please send me an email and I will be sure you get sent all the details. 

 Fourthly, we have some demos and inventory we are closing out at pretty crazy prices. TFO Rods 1/2 price, Galvan Torque T-5 reel demo w/5 line $200,  Ross Evolution 1.5 Copper with brand new 5 Sharkskin demo $260, Sage 2540 and 2550 limited edition green reels with like newlines demos $200, Scott S4 4 piece rod fished once $385, Scott Rods new 35% off, Ross Rhythm 1 reel new (3 and 4 weight) 35%off,  Lamson Litespeed 1.5 w/ 5 line $185, for those of you looking at new rods I will give you a premium reel with the purchase of any new Sage ZXL, Z-Axis, or VT-2, Patagonia waders new 40% off, Sage 2550 and 2540 reels new 30% off. Call me with any of your questions. We will ship it immediately and have it there by Christmas.

5.  We will be selling 8 memberships to the private leases for around $850. The existing members will be given first swing at those but there will probobly be a few left and if you are interested please call us. Members have access to these private waters with no additional charge per visit or any charges for your guests. New membership cost is $1050 and includes a full day guided fishing trip on the leases to help you get to know the water, boundaries, and get the inside scoop on the fishing.

6. John Blanchard  who is an artist from Sante Fe and has a gift with fish and water color has donated about 10 paintings to help raise money for the Conejos Habitat Project. You can choose between Brook, Brown and Cutthroat trout. Price is $75 per painting. Size is about 14" x 10".  Thank you John, I am having one of yours being framed as we speak.  

7.  I will be making a presentation tomorrow to the Conejos County Tourism Board to ask for a large donation to the Project and I think they will be very supportive. I will keep you all posted.

Here is the link to the Potamoi website if you would like to see a few of the fish we photographed on the trip. I warn you they are obscene!!! www.potamoimediagroup.com Scroll to the bottom of the Photo gallery page.

November 15, 2008 Back from New York and PA had a good trip. We will post some photos on the Potomoi Media Group website soon and I think we will do some here as well. Without getting carried away talking about it I caught several Browns in the 16 lb range as well as Steelhead in the same ballpark. We also fished some rivers that made "home" seem like heaven! The number of people fishing some of these rivers is enough to fritz your mind. Anyway very warm week ahead here and there should be some good fishing here on the Conejos, maybe the Los Pinos  in New Mexico and the Pike and Brown trout fishing on the Rio is still very good. Thank you to those that have made very gererous donations to the Conejos Habitat Project. For those that have not done so yet on behalf of the fish please do so. Still alot of browns are trapped and will die without rescue in some side channels. Had some freinds while we were gone out saving some more but if you have the time please give me a call and I can send you in the right direction. We will be out again this weekend. Some of the fish are really nice 20" ;lus fish most are around 16".  

Ocotber 22, 2008 Lots of fun to walk up the river right now ans see some very large fish. They are catchable and I had a couple guys today that hooked some really large fish. Rainbow Warriors, Cones, and KF midges were the best flies. Light tippets, longish leaders, and good presentations help. Nicer weather on the way so expect some good fishing in the days to come. We are still catching somre large to very large Pik,e in the Rio as well as some carp and browns.Shop will stop regular hours October 29.

Some Crazy Deals on rods, reels , waders, and boots. Simms L2 Goretex Rental waders $120, Simms Freestone Rental boots $20,  Lamson Radius 2.0 Reel new $100.00, new Scott S4 9'4 wt $250 off, Scott S4 as new 9'5 weight $400, Patagonia Guide model waders rentals$150,  TFO Rods Half off! Lamson Litespeed 1.5 lightly used with Rio Gold 5 line $210, Patagonia vests and jackets 40% off!  Call for details on glasses and other items. Flies Buy three dozen get 2 dozen free!

Please I ask each of you that fish this river and care about its future, make a donation to the Conejos Habitat Project!It is tax deductable and will make a huge difference in the future of the river. Details and address  below.We spent  saturday and sunday  (Troy Smith, Rob Scott, Kari and my kids chasing big browns that had been trapped by the sudden drop in flows in little side channels.  There are many more to be saved if any of you have the time. you will need a cooler and some nets. Call me and I can help youwith where they are trapped.

October 18, 2008 Water low clear and beautiful. Fish eating as many dries as they are nymphs for us and due to the water levels the water heats much quicker now than it was when the levels were up. Lots of fish on the reds on the lower river upper river if you ever want to walk up the river and see how many big fish are really in this river it is alot of fun. Griffiths gnats, red quills, BWO's and small midge patterns are the tick 

October 10, 2008 A few updatates and tidbits of info. The account with Trout Unlimited is set up for tax deductable dontations. I will be doing a presentation in Alamosa October 28 regarding the project and asking for there time, influence, expertise and money. I ask each of you to make a dontation to something worthwhile and in the end each of you will be able to enjoy. Send checks to Trout Unlimited c/o Conejos Habitat Project, P.O. Box 503, Alamosa, CO 81101.

This late fall Devan Ence, Paul Nogueira, and myself will begin filming a fly fishing movie that will be produced in the summer of 09' and entered in the film festival at the trade show in  Denver in August. Devan already has his first monster landed last night. A 22 lb 10 oz. I will be flying out to Pennsylvania at the end of the month to join the filming. We will start again in the spring in Utah. If you would like to see some photos of the pike we caught last week and the brown Devan landed last night google Potamoi Media Group and scroll to the bottom of the photo gallery.

Shop deals: 30% off all glasses, Patagonia waders and boots, clothing, TFO rods, Sage 2500 reels, Sage Fli rods, Scott rods (we have the new Scott S4 rods in stock). Also we have a few demo items for sale. Sage Xi2 8 wt 9' - Retail $675 Cost $400. (like new), Scott S4 9' 6 wt 4 pc Retail $675 Cost $395 Scott S4 9' 5 wt. Fished once Retail $675 $400. Lamson Litespeed 1.5 w/ Rio Gold 5 wt line $210, Sage 2550 Reel in Limited Edition  Green w/ new 6 weight line $260, Sage 2540 green w/ Rio gold WF4 fly line $240.

 September 30, 2008 I know this is supposed to be a fishing reportbut the fall colors are nothing short of breathtaking, with that said we are catching fish on on streamers, nymphs, and dries. Water releases out of Platoro are supposed to be up until the 15th of October and at that time they will be lowered to do some repairs to the dam. The Browns are definately in the pre spawn mode and some of the bigger browns are in the small tribs looking like whales caught in the wrong bay. Fish seem to be eating alot of small nymphs and smaller adult mayflies. Hoppers are moving fish especially on the edges and along cutbanks and structure. Dark streamers medium to large have at times been great and moving big fish. Water is low and clear and so that opens the door to fish being more surface conscious and I think that throwing small BWO adults should move some fish even large fish will move for the adults. The Hofer Rainbows were stocked last week. Say a prayer for the little guys that they would be able to survive predation, 30 below 0 winters, and that theire brains would kick in sooner than later.

Conejos Habitat Project Update: The Trout Unlimited Chapter in Alamosa has set up a special account for the project that is a tax deductable donation. I will post the details and address in the next day or so. I ask all of you to make a big swing at this. The Superfly, CRA, TU, USFS are all involved. I would like to see us raise 80 to 100K to do this. There is a very large matching funds grant thru the Fishing is Fun grant so the more we raise it exponentially increases our leverage. I have also talked to Rod Ruybalid of the CCOW and he is woking on getting a similar but smaller project done on the Flywater below Menkhaven. This project will not require private fund raising but will make a big difference in the future fishing on that stretch of river. What CRA would like to do is take $100 of every premium rod we sell and donate it to the TU account. (Actually you would write 2 checks, one for TU for 100.00 and the balance to CRA. This deal will be good thru the 09' Superfly.) What better excuse do you need to buy a fun new toy, get a little write off and help make a river you love a better place.

Year end Closeouts: We will starting immediately be blowing out all of our demo rods, rental rods, rental waders, boots, etc. As most of you know we get rid of all rental and demo gear each year so that we fish and rent only the newest gear so this gear is lightly used and is priced at blowout prices. Shipping is $10 per shipment. Example some of the deals, Patagonia Guide Model waders Retail $350 sale for $160. TFO Rod/Reel/Line outfits $75, Demo Sage Z-Axis rods $395, Simms L2 Waders used $125. There are alot of items so please call with your interest. These will go very quickly so please use the phone to call.

September 5, 2008 The river now feels like a stadium that was full and now is empty. Very few of us out there and I'm sure the fish appreciate it after the "long" weekend! River fished ok for us today but not great, still caught most fish in truly fast water. Devan  guided 25 miles below myself today and had the same luck in the big water. We did see some nice fish in some soft water and got some fish to eat some adult stonefly patterns. We aslo fished some braids with dry flies and as long as you could make a good long cast fish ate a variety of offerings. Water levels back up a bit both on the Conejos and most of the tributaries. Yesterday we fished for Cutts and Brookies and that was off the charts almost all dries with the exception of the plunge pools where we went deep. I have always heard from many that the Conejos fish and trout in general will eat alot of different patterns if you hit them in the head with it and for the most part I have agreed with that but for me there is no question that when a 20" trout in fast water skips the first fly (in a double nymph rig) and eats the #20 black midge larvae or emerger 90% of the time something is up. They either just taste better which is not my theory but John Gierach's or they are really dealed in at times. I also think that when they get tuned into stonefly nymphs (and at times they have been) that they eat more like rooting ant eaters. We landed a 17" Bow today that had his snout raw and bloody. I have seen several browns that look similar like they have been rooting thru the shallows for stones. The number of casings on the rocks on the lease this week has been incredible. Not an adult to be seen, I believe that this batch of stones is nocturnal but they are big, atleast a #10. The adults hide in the foliage of the streambanks during the day so it does not seem to be a big deal with the dries but fish are eating the nymph. Picked up a log out the river today and it must of had 1000 midges on it, all very dark in about a #20! See the report below for a great rod deal for those of you thinking about a quality new tool. 5x to dries. 4x Flouro to nymphs. If you are nymphing and are not catching fish, GET THE SPLIT SHOT OUT! Before you go to alot of other theories make sure you are hitting them in the head. Another thought is go out with Troy Smith or  Devan Ence, these guys are great nymphers and if you want to learn it and see a trout stream from a different perspective theres my 2 cents. They in many ways are part of totally rewriting how the Conejos is fished. With that said of course some of the old ways will always catch fish but I have permanently changed how I fish and guide just by trying to take cues from the bait dunkers, the spin casters, stomach contents of trout, and these young trout bums.

August 26, 2008 Just thought I would point out to you if you have not noticed that "summer" never really arrived here. Yesterday I was wearing fleece and a rain coat for part of the day and the fish have truly enjoyed the cool weather with some  clouds. Fishing on the Conejos my last several trips has been really good. BWO's and assorted other mayflies seem to sputter off daily and in enough numbers for the fish to key in on some adults in the right water. The fish are still in some very fast water and at the head of shelfs and deep runs. Red or red and tan worms have been great as well as small mayfly patterns and small midge larvae and emergers. Water levels out of the dam seem to be holding under 100 and the lower river about 200 so for all that thought the flows ealier looked to high if you saw it now you would drooool! Also the lower the water goes the better the fishing on the surface will get. I saw in the last few days several fish that would have been measured in pounds taking adults in slack water. Gorgeous rainbows seem to continue there happy existence in the area anywhere close to the Pinnacles even rumors of bows up in the Flats which is the first time I have ever heard of them in that area. The gas prices have continued to keep the river from being "busy" so it should be a great fall to be outside on the Conejos. Starting September 1 we will be giving a $175 dollar credit on a reel  with the purchase of any premium rod! So if you are looking for a  new rod for less it is a good opportunity to step up! I also saw the Sage prices for next year and they will all go up another $20! Shipping is free and no tax out of state. We have almost all the Lamson, Sage, Galvan, and Ross reels in stock.

August 20, 2008  Yes we have been on the water alot lately and I'm sorry for not giving regular reports for all. Yesterday I guided just upriver from the Pinnacles and had an incredible day. Mostly nymphing with green Chironocones #16 and Pats Rubber legs #10. We did see some BWO's coming off sporadically thru some spitting clouds and hooked some really nice Browns on #18 Ex Body BWO's. The Tribs continue to be good to great. The water levels are dropping and will make dry flies easier to feed on  so even if you are not seeing fish activlely surface feeding just believe that they will eat your offering. I would say mayflies and ants and beetles will be your best bet. If you can give bigger attractor patterns movement and really make them float well you can "trigger" them to eat. Use weight  and get your bugs down when nymphing. I see people all the time complaining about the tough fishing and then I see the rig they are using.  Shallow with no spit shot and a big indicator. Just not going to happen if you are trying to get to the big fish in the fast water. The crowds are almost non existent right now so I know the fish are cheering for the price of gas to go even higher.  60% of the fish hooked yesterday were wild rainbows of all sizes! Fun to see and they were brightly colored gorgeous fish. Dont let to many excuses keep you from standing in some clear cold water!

August 1, 2008 The Conejos is now in the process of giving up another great year of fishing. Of course each day is different but the upper river right now is producing alot of mayflies. Many fish over 20" continue almost every day to gorge on the adults and emergers. The lower river fishes well in the am and on cooler afternoons but on hot bluebird days is a bear. The tribs are on fire right now. Almost every one except the Los Pinos which is still fishing but has cooled off. Lower river fish terrestrials and double nymph rigs the Canyon above expect to see an  array of bugs including the Drake. Flows were dropped yesterday to 165 cfs and that makes all of that water up higher a great level to fish. 9' or 10' leaders to 5x in the Flats by Platoro will help and be prepared to fish some emergers and other creative stuff because alot of them have been stung by fake feathers a time or two. Another thought sure to cause many arguments and I will not engage in but I would say that if you are a catch and release fisherman which most of you claim to be then get a forceps and pinch the barbs! The damage done by barbs is totally uneccessary and if the fish of the Conejos will continue to look like perfect unmarked fish that we are all so happy to see then we as a group need to use fishing methods that will allow them long term health. One more thought about the Flats, everybody and their dog wants to fish it but if you dont fish alot it can be a very tough place to catch fish. You will do much better in pocket water and much better on some of the tributaries and will have a less frustrating and more productive day. I know the seduction of the wide open meadow with no trees etc but those big fish can be a pain. Also if you see a violation please do something about it! Get their license number, take a photo, call and report it to the CDOW Officer - Rod Ruybalid 719 580 6362.  In addition I always will go and tell them that they are breaking the rules and ask them nicely to stop. I also tell them that I am going to the payphone to report them. Lets face it the chance of the CDOW Officer being right there is not so high so if the river abusers know that thay are being watched it makes a huge difference. Here is the simple truth. There are to many of you and to  many of me  and to few of them for us to not shift from being users to stewards! My grandfather shot or killed every thing he could. That was the prevailing attitude of the day, well a couple of billion babies later mankind must change. This generation! 

July 21 Our small team of fisherman have been very busy so I apologize for the lack of reports. Flows on almost every tributary and the Conejos are almost perfect. Drakes continue to sputter off daily on the upper river and even the tribs. The lower river with the full moon and warmer days has been more moody but for those hitting the fish in the head with a good presentation fishing continues to be good. Expect the fishing to slow on hot sunny afternoons but the group that fished the lower river with us yesterday was into fish all day including nice fish. Caught an 18" Cutt on the upper river a few days ago that had shoulders and teeth, a very impressive fish. Yesterday guided one of the upper tributaries that had fewer fish but some very large fish, mostly browns but some larger rainbows as well . I spotted but we did not catch browns to 23" or so that were very very spooky but actively feeding. Lots of Drakes and stones of almost every variety. Hot sunny afternoon shut things down about 2:30 but alot of fun prior. Expect the fishing in the high country  to just get better on the high mountain water and the upper Conejos to continue to be a bug factory. Meadows below Platoro have been hit pretty hard and fish are tought most days. Fly water has fished really well the last few weeks, expect that to continue for certain parts of the day. I would fish it starting really early until it got hot or the bugs slowed down. PMD's, caddis, yellow sallies, and assorted mayflies. The old Chironocone is now heading back into all of the guides boxes and expect the fish to look more and more at small midge offerings.  

July 5, 2008 Sorry for the delay we have been on the water and fairly busy this week. The Conejos this am is right at 700 cfs and looks great. Drakes were sputtering off yesterday at around their usual time of just before high noon and we had a great couple of hours throwing a #10 Meaty Drake and they ate that with no hesitation. Green Drake nymphs before the hatch seemed to be the best bugs. Hatch was light but that should change day by day. Still alot of caddis in the air and the Goldens and Salmon flies are up higher Flows in the meadow are still perfect for nymph fishing but expect some bugs to pop up there very soon as well if not already. No good reports from there in 6 days. Still the flows up in the high country are very pushy and probobly not ready for a fly yet.  

June 25, 2008 All the flows on the river headed towards much better. Water  clarity good everywhere. Large caddis hatches, salmon flies, and goldens starting on the lower river. Upper river very good nymphing with occasional fish taking the dry, expect all that to change very soon. Just seems like the river is about to burst with bug life and expect the fish to match the activity level of the bugs. Still mostly nymph fishing below the dam on very small midge and mayfly insects. Water flows at this time are 140 cfs at Platoro and about 900 at Mogote. The nymph fishing has been very predictable and very good on the lower with mostly stonefly nymphs. The dry fly fishing has been sporadic but we are seeing more and more fish each day looking up. Great week of weather on tap with mild daytime temps (80 or so) should continue to cook up more bugs.

June 21, 2008 Upper river has been dropped dramatically the last 2 days and expect it to stay lower for a while. Lower has gone from 1830 to 1200 in three days so expect it to clear up some and begin to fish much better. Salmonflies seem to be just on the lower river at this point and expect with the lower flows for fish to begin looking to the surface. A very nice caddis hatch around Sheep Creek today was the first real hatch of the year, expect the caddis to get very heavy over the next 10 days or so. Goldens should be out very soon. The next story if told to me I probobly would not believe so feel free to do the same, however it is true. I was fishing the upper river today around the Pinnacles in some beautiful water and only a couple of small fish were digging my chile so I put on a #16 Rainbow Warrior to just see if that might help. I immediately ran into some nicer fish, one was very heavy and after some help with a 6 weight and some heavy tippet I threw my rod on the bank and netted the fish. 23" and about 5 lbs! A beautiful unmarked perfect female Rainbow. She was tired and so I found  some still water next to a deep undercut bank and very slowly put her in it. She was motionless and so I decided how long it would take for her to go back to the current. After 10 minutes I decided it might be a nice time to burn a nice Dominican and I waited. After another 5 minutes she swam away. I decided to not be in a hurry and just relax.  I did not relax long, to my astonishment my rod was slowly being pulled off the bank. My flies had been dangling in the water and there was something very large  on the end, it was the same Bow! Landed twice on the same fly!  

June 19,2008 I guess all that was heard from the last report was the lower river was "big and angry"! There is knowone here! Today had the opportunity of fishing with Bill DeCamp of Kansas and we fished up high for a half day and spent 2 hours trying to find where the fish were. The next 3 hours was mayhem in every way. I have never seen fish hold in a torrent but they were absolutely stuffed in the raging current. It was hard to get myself to even cast into the heavy heavy water but when we did it was magic. The big fish you dont often see had there nose to the raceway and were very aggressive. Lower river is still big but I think it will loose its mustard soon. There continue to be large Salmonflies crawling out at night and expect to see them around for 6 to 10 days. Goldens and caddis should start soon and hopefully the Drakes will take their time. The new report from the NRCS  says that the snowpack has been dramatically reduced with the dry warm weather so dont expect to see this monster runoff to last for that long. As soon as we get some clouds, cooler weather or the snowfields start to loose there steam the lower river will mellow out and should be really good and buggy. 

*For those of you that dont like our slant our views or our report dont send me an email! Please read someone elses reports, there is plenty of other stuff to read online! 

June 17, 2008 Salmon flies crawling out in droves, lower river big and angry, upper river clear and fishable, warm weather driving the higher water, expect it to stay bigger for a few days. Filmed and chased the emergence last night and Devan and Troy both hooked big fish on big streamers. Guided the lower river yesterday at 1700 cfs (cant believe I did that) still caught fish. Big stones. Guided on one of the tribs today and had a great day.  Bars emergers, sparkle RS2's, and Chironocones best bugs last 2 days up high. Expect to see some huge adult stones fliying around the next 10 days or so. The fish will still be taking some adults on the edges even in the big water. The river should begin working its way down but for those wanting to do something fun get some huge dries and go to work on the edges. 6 weight time! For those on guide trips we will have one for you, for those shopping rods just buy the 6! The 6 yesterday in the wind was the difference between having a good day and flailing!

June 11, 2008 No rant today just nuts and bolts. I have been guiding every day but one for a while and the water clarity on the Conejos has gotten very good on the lower river. Decided to guide lower instead of upper yesterday due to the fact that I had some first timers and the water clarity might mask some casting. Water level about 1280 cfs and slightly tea colored fished really well. Stonefly nymphs and wine/tan tungsten worms were the ticket. A nice brown took a #10 R.L.Royal stimmy. Upper river water levels are perfect and crystal clear. Time to tune up your presentation again in the clear water. I am seeing browns spook from 60' if approached to boldly. Saturday Rob Scott of Albuquerque landed and photod a Rainbow that was about 5 lbs maybe 22 or 23"! A male with a big kype and beautiful colors ate a #12 golden stone on the upper river. Rob also landed and hooked plenty other fish in the 17 to 20" range. A fun day from start to finish. Of  course bribing your guide with a couple of Macanudo's always helps him find an extra honey hole or two! Here is my tip for all of you regardless of your casting ability, Buy a 6 weight! It has been breezy here at atimes and we are also fishing heavy tippet in heavy water for heavy fish. All jobs that 4 and 5 weights do not do so well. Best Cheap 6 weight = TFO Professional ($150). Best pricey 6 = Sage Z-Axis. ($675) Almost every guide trip I do atleast one 6 comes along (on the main river) and it has made a big difference in casting, mending,  and landing fish. It looks like we are going to have the big stones crawling out soon. They are congrigating on the edges en mass at this time. Nymph fishing is excellent with stoneflies especially on the lower river.

June 6, 2008

*Simms sent us our preseason and oopsidentally embroidered them with the 08 Superfly logo. We are selling all of these for 50% off.  Shipping is $5.00. Superlfy Hats $7.00.  About 4000 new flies in yesterday that should be fun and give the fish something  they have not seen. We are also custom tying some more Conejos specific paterns in our shop. Devan Ence is quite the fly creator so if you want a little coaching at the vise he will be happy to help if he has the time.  

Flows way down today after a couple of cooler days. (2400 cfs at Mogote to 1400 or so. Platoro 585 to 260) Very fishable levels on the upper river. Water clarity very good. Lower river water clarity much improved but still off which of course to the fish does not matter. Troy Smith one of our young half crazed guides went into the Pinnacles today  and saw and caught some very large Rainbows. Where have those fish come from I have no idea but we are seeing Rainbows of all sizes some very large thru that area. One of them would have been 24" or so with an enormous girth. Still it seems like the browns own the meadow and the Bows hang out in the canyon below. For those planning some fishing expect to see this river at a very fishable level for the Stonefly hatch. The lower elevation streams will clear and fish first and then the Conejos. All the while the upper river should fish. Those of you waiting for it to get "good" in the middle of July I undererstand but just know that June is going to give up alot of big fish. One of our members took a first timer to our upper lease and landed 14 fish from 16" to 23".  The water was very  high  while he was here but these fish are gorging even in the big water. The only water that I think will be off the grid for a while longer is the high elevation streams.

Another small note. In the past I have gotten a little to specific about exactly where we are fishing on some of the smaller streams. Not only  do we now see multiple fisherman on the same waters (where in the past I had not seen a fisherman in 10years) we are doing guide trips on but the quality of the fishing has gone down. . For this reason I am not going to be describing exactly where we are as frequently. When I began guiding for Randy Keys many years ago I only knew that he was guiding some place differently then I. After a few years he began to show me some of the amazing gems that were here. Each was done with a whisper. We never talked openly about some of these places and I can honestly  say that I caught and watched many Cutthroats in high mountain streams over 20", some way over. Today I get calls all the time wanting coordinates and explicit directions to each of them. Guys with GPS units stuck in backpacks on guide trips go home and make blogs on some of the most special trout waters left and post them for the world to visit with nothing vested but a GPS unit.  Today I have not seen a Cutt over 20" for several years. Is that why I changed my whole life to live next to a wild country I love to give directions to every honey hole I have taken years to find?  To divulge information that I was entrusted with? It would be one thing if I was disclosing that info to like minded fisherman but there are over 400 people a day that read the page! I hope that you all will understand and those of you I have taken to some our honey holes I enjoyed showing them to you and helping you all learn and get better. I just have to find a balance between feeling like a steward and owning a business in this age of information. I also ask each of you to be a steward of such a special place. If you see violations you can confront them as I do and/or document it. License plates, digital photo etc can be sent to Rod Ruybalid the CDOW officer here. 719 588-6362. He will  mail citations to people if we have the info to do so. I will be writing more about the Conejos Habitat Project here and soon asking for your tax deductable donation. Last week we met with the different organizations involved and it went really well.

*Note to Self:  Pinch your barbs, if you net a fish leave the net (fish) in the water while you search for your camera, wet your hands, never drag a fish on the rocks or mud. Why do we see this all the time? At some point your paradigm of the outdoors and the resource has to change. It seems very simple: There are to many of me and to many  of you for us to continue the same kill everything mentality that was handed to us. It has been very encouraging to know that this younger generation is getting it. I dont know a fish killer under 35 years old. That is amazing to me. Of course I think there are streams that need a few Brookies whacked! ( I can think of several streams in this area that if I had a hankerin' for a trout I would not miss a beat) But at some point "MACHO" needs to morph from dragging the  carcass home to the little lady to prove your manhood to something with a little more wisdom and perspective.  My father was Cherokee and somehow he knew that all of these things were special and that taking a life was something that should involve much thougth and was a spiritual experience of sorts. Our relatoinship to energy, animals, people, and the ground must now take on a different dimension due to the fact of the exponential growth of man. I know that I want my grandkids  to be able to throw a line on one of Grandpa's  old Sage's and see a trout come up and eat.  

May 27, 2008  The Conejos even on the lower river looks great. Water clarity on the lower river is very good and the upper river is crystal clear water levels have dropped from 2100 cfs to 890 or so today.  Releases have dropped from 550 to 189 today and it could not be at a better level. On the decending water levels below the dam can make fishing togh at times. I like it when it is coming up or is somewhat steady. I would be suprised to see the water levels come down any furthur for a while but we should haved some more off the charts fishing up high in the next couple of weeks and there will be no fisherman here for about three weeks. Is runoff over? No! There is still plenty of snow up high but the recent cool nights and coolish days up high have slowed it down.  Just know that the next wave of warm air will get things cooking again but looks like we will fish right thru it  on the upper river. Expect the La Jara to get better and better and the Los Pinos should drop and clear early as well so we should be throwing stonefly patterns (dries) on boths streams in the next couple of weeks. High mountain lakes should get very very good.  Carp fishing, Pike fishing, Splake fishing, Trout fishing is all about to happen! Do yourself a favor and take out a great guide on your next fishing trip and take your fishing to the next level. Figuring this whole fly fishing thing out on your own can be tough. 

May 19, 2008 Well we had a little epic before it got hot this last couple of days but this morning the Conejos is cookin'! Expect the flows to head towards 2000 cfs soon. With the warm week ahead expect big water for a while. We had some guys up below the dam yesterday till late in the big water and I will be curious if those fish are stacked up on the edges or are uncatchable at this level. Today we are headed up to catch the Splake and Cutts at La Jara Reservoir with the fish finder. Flows on the La Jara are already headed towards fishable so expect a report on that stream soon. Also expect the Los Pinos to drop and clear early. The snowpack has plummeted the last 3 months from about 190 to 115 % so I dont think we will have the extended runoff thru June which puts the big stonefly hatch bag on the table. Two months ago I was cancelling fly orders for the big hatch today looks like we will need them. For those planning expect the flows on the La Jara to get good early, maybe a week or so for the La Jara and by  early June on the Los Pinos. The Conejos will fish well early up high but the lower river may be big until the 10th or 15th of June. The high country streams late June. We normally see a nice stonefly hatch on the Los Pinos and the Stones on the Conejos normally are out on the banks starting June 14th.

May 15, 2008 More incredible fishing on the upper river, today the flows were dropped again to 189 and it has been somewhere between good and incredible this week up higher. Wednesday we hiked up the Lake Fork which is home to pure Rio Grande Cutts. The fishing for brown trout and some to 16" was really good just below Rock Lake so we thought that by the time we got to the Cutthroat water above Rock it should be bordering easy! Not so. Tough fishing periiod in the meadow until we put a Pizza bet on it and 2 minutes later Devan was hooked up to a nice Rio Grande and won a SLV Pizza! He said "never make a food bet with a poor hungry fishiing guide"! We continued on to Big Lake and proceeded to hook over a 100 fish in about an hour and a half. All Rio Grande Cutts all incredible to see. They were fat and healthy. The fishing was so good no one would pick up the video camera. Our hands were so numb after the spree that we built a stick fire to warm up before the trek back but we had to leave Devan at the lake casting my 4 weight Scott G2 after we realized that when he said "Ok, this is my last fish" he was lying!  Just a great afternoon and alot of fun. Lake Fork is a gorgeous stream and looking forward to going back when the bugs are flying and the water warmer.

May 12, 2008 Flows have come down, water clarity much better on lower river, water clear coming out of dam, fishing is fair to good on the lower river, good to excellent on the upper. Fishing on our upper lease has been fantastic for big fish. Please read below for a more detailed report.

May 9, 2008 Possibly one of the most unlikely "epic" days happened yesterday! The water is off color and high but the fish just killed flies yesterday on the upper river. Devan Ence and Troy Smith got enough "big fish" photos to stack a fish diary for months. Multiple fish over 20" and about half bows and half browns and lots of wild rainbows in all sizes from 9" to 22". Two fish straightened out hooks fishing 3x flouro and were never seen. We will post some of them on the site next week. The visit to the Arkansas was less then epic and we arrived hoping for sputtering rain clouds and clear water but it was big and chocolatey! We stuck the tungsten worm (+chart. copper john) to em' and caught alot of fish but most fish were 6" to 12" which made us wish we had gone upriver on the Conejos. I will say that as far as a spring dry fly river it does not get much better. Later in the day we ran into 30 minutes of great BWO action and 30 minutes of caddis action on the surface which was alot of fun.  Been so long since I threw just one dry fly that it took some time to get rid of the rugged nymph/streamer cast.  As far as fishing here on the Conejos goes our upper Hamilton Ranch and the Meadows is the place to be. The lower river is big. If the releases will top out right now we will continue to have some great fishing. Not a soul fishing - amazing!

May 7, 2008 Short line to be added with May 6.  We were posting the Hamilton Property this afternoon just below the Pinnacles and it was running pretty hard  but we had snuck the rods in so we made a few casts. Hour and a half  later we had landed about 15 browns  "14 to "19" and were pretty amazed. The worm and Rainbow Warrior were the  ticket. Water was off color but in the right water the fish were stacked up and gorging. Water flow out of Platoro 168cfs. Headed to the Arkansa tomorrow to throw some dries. Weather looks just bad enough for BWO's!

May 6, 2008 Had a chance to fish with Troy Smith, one of our younger guides yesterday and we were both excited to fish the Tailwater section of the river below the dam for the first time this year. Always some aprehension as to how the big browns wintered, but after a few hours is was obvious that all is well.  The browns look good and some very fat already, water level was perfect at 138 cfs and not a car or person in site! A big nervous coyote watched us for a while with seeming envy while he watched Troy land several nice browns.  Midge patterns and worm clusters were the ticket. Alot of fish were in soft water and back eddies. Troy and I both reflected on our best days of in the meadow and both agreed that rising water and even high water were great times. Expect plenty of both in the weeks to come so if you are looking at the lower river thinking it is to high just realize that at this time the flows are perfect for fishing up high. We did a guide trip on saturday and both clients got into some large fish both browns and rainbows on the uper river. Pleae read the April 23 report for better advice on the lower river. With the lower river at 800 cfs we will be floating and throwing big streamers and doing some dredging but even at that level it should fish good. Once it gets over 1000 it will get tough for a while.

***We had two fisherman who had "reserved " a spot on our private water memberships and not actually follow thru so we still have 2 spots available. Please call for info. Price is $800 per year.

April 28, 2008 Water levels have come down a bit and are around 450CFS which is a good flow and fishing has stayed good on the lower river. Fishing up high at this point is still not very good. (Above RMAC). Atleast the reports I am getting have all been ugly. The lower river however is still fishing really well. Please read below for a more detailed description of flies and methods.

April 23, 2008 Water is creeping up but I have had the opportunity to fish a little almost every day this last week and it has been fair to very good. Water temps in the afternoon to about 48 degrees have been plenty good enough to get some fish active. Water level at Mogote is about 450cfs which is still a great fishing level. With the upcoming weather staying nice and around  60 degrees for daytime temps spring fishing weather will not get better and will keep the runoff from continuing to escalate to quickly. Expect flows to be stable for a while longer if the releases stay low from Platoro remain low. Of course the fish are spending a chunk of their day in some softish water I found almost all of my fish yesterday in some pretty heavy deep water. A dry dropper is a great way to fish the soft water now and you will have to switch to some heavy setups with big stoneflies and trailing a SJ Worm for the deeper pockets and runds. Best flies at this time are a tungsten Golden Stone, #6 Pat's Rubber Leg, SJ Tungsten Worm, and big dark streamers.  Expect the dirtier the water the better the worm and streamer  will fish. Use a little red or pink in the worms and the ones with a tungsten bead we have here make fishing a dropper worm really simple.  This is also a time when you can expect to see fish chase some streamers. The big fish love the off color water and they will come out from the cutbank and from underneath their rock to feed. The fish I have been catching have all been on the nice to "big" side.  Dont bring your San Juan tippet here I have been using 3x almost exclusively.  #4 to #8 Stoneflies. Big streamers (dark). Also remember a couple of things. Sheep Creek ( in the fly water) pumps alot of dirty water into the river so fish above it if you dont like the color. Also the Conejos is a tailwater and the further up the river you fish the clearer the water you will find.  The other thing I have learned the last several years here is that the off color water here can fish as good or better then clear water especially for most amateur fisherman.  Now if it is high and raging and muddy off course not but right now it is a brownish  green with plenty of visiblity. If you have not fished the river much - Use a guide! So many different experiences being had here this spring, plenty of complaining and plenty of fisherman saying wow! The wow's are from guide trips or very experienced fisherman.  Here is somthing that will make it easier for you to come. We will give away the lodging at half price for all fisherman coming with guide trips thru May.  ***Fished an hour in the evening after I wrote the report and the streamer was the ticket. Big  Black and Heavy! Also I am shocked that none of you are fishing. The river is empty, the guides are tying flies, fishing, fixing trucks, chasing girls and whatever else guides do  with time on their hands.  If you are within a quick shot of the river get in the car with  a buddy and come and have lodging, lunch, and a guide for $175 a day! 

April 17, 2008 Early morning cold and snow has given way to a gorgeous day close to 50 degrees. Water flows remain in the perfect range and the water color is tea colored. There are a few sporadic rising fish and with the warmer weather headed our way expect to see some adult Skwala stoneflies around in heavier numbers. Depending on the weather nymphing will continue to be the m ost productive methed. Heavier rods and tippets are a great choice right now. Dry dropper rigs are a great choice in the softer water and if the weather is bad enough big dark streamers have been great. Dont miss this window of good fishing before it gets bigger. Also for those of you wanting to make fishing plans during April, May and early June when water will be very large everywhere remember this. This year we will be guiding for Splake and Cutthroat trout on La Jara Reservoir which is a spectacular setting and large fish. Also we will be doing guide trips for Pike and large Carp on Sanchez Res. The other thing people forget is that the Conejos is a tailwater and so there is always clear water up high. If the lower river gets to big they will drop flows to make it safer downstream and make for some incredible fishing in May and June.

Superfly Update: Very brief update on the Fly. Great weekend, perfect flows, and over 25 fish over 20" landed. Josh Buchanan and Eric Pauly scored 75 points on the lower river and beat the Harps by a point. There were a couple of teams that decided that the rules did not apply to them and so the final standings will be ammended and they will not be allowed entry back in the event. As many pro teams as showed up the amateurs did great and had 4 of the top 10 spots! Good work. All in all a great time and fun parties highlighted by Christof Brownel playing with crazy style and passion. He had the pretty hopped up the whole night. Also Gary Oldham had his partner not make it so his wife filled in for him and caught her first fish ever on a fly rod on the first day and qualified for sunday with a first timer. Hats off to them

April 19, 2008 Still some great water flows on the river and some bigger fish landed. Mostly nymphing.

April 10, 2008 Well the Superfly starts in a few hours and good luck to all. We still have a couple of spots open due to some last minute cancellations. Please call the shop early or late to get in. The water board has agreed to leave the flows perfect for us for the weekend so we look forward to a great weekend of parties and fishing. Bad time to come this weekend for public fishing. All start days are posted below for participants.

***For fishing info please scan below for fishing reports

Superfly Update and Info:

Looking forward to having all of you here soon. Of course we are cheering the current conditions on but life is in a constant state of change so I would expect the river to elevate some by next week. Fishing has been good here for mostly nice to very large fish this past 10 days. Mostly nymphing some streamer fishing and we have recently seen sporadic rising later in the day. The Swala's that we have seen in the spring in past years could pop up soon and that could make the weekend interesting. The following are important times, info, and tips for the coming event.

April 10 9:00 - 12:00 Frank Smethurst will be giving an onstream presentation on "Tournament Fishing". He claims he will hold nothing back and have a handout for you as well as breakdown the river piece by piece and show you flies, techniques, and strategies that have made him one of the most successfull tournament fisherman alive. Cost is $30. Please call us to reserve a spot.

April 11 9:00 - 4:30 First wave. Checkin 7:30 to 8:00. Scoresheets to shop by 5:30. Most fisherman will be required to be "escorted" to their beat to prevent confusion. Top 13 or 14 teams will qualify. Draw beat. Pick up a tee shirt (Free), Pick up Simms fishing shirt (free), buy Superfly hats 1 = $15, 2 for $20. Pick up tape measure (free) Pick up scoresheet.

April 12 9:00 - 4:30 Second Wave. Same checkin and details as above

April 12 4:30 to 9:30 Cocktails, food, movies, prizes, and live music at Conejos River Anglers.

April 13 9:00 to 4:30 Championship Round. Check in 7:30 to 8:00. Deliver scoresheets to Conejos Ranch by 5:30. Cocktails, Food, and awards at Conejos Ranch starting at 4:45.

Michael White from Simms will be here for all three days giving away swag and answering any question you may have. He is a very talented fisherman and a very knowledgable guy. Take advantage of him being here.

Some thoughts for you as you plan.

1. There is snow on the ground on the upper river and if you have any health conditions that would make it tough walking thru some snow we need to know now so that we can pre draw a beat for you that will be less physically challenging.

2. It can be windy in the spring here so bring a 6 or 7 weight if you have one. This will make a huge difference in your enjoyment. If you need one call us.

3. A wading stick would be a great choice even for the younger guys.

4. Integrity is one thing we will insist on. Anyone that is fishing two at a time or not mashing barbs or fishing outside their beat will be disqualified immediately. No questions no admittance to future Superfly's etc. This event is a logistical mindbender and alot of work so your honesty and integrity will help make it special. There will be "marshals" out every day watching groups fish and we will do our best to help you and we will also be checking teams.

5. Every team is required to have a digital camera to document the biggest fish of each participant.

6. Please do not argue with landowners. We have done our best to contact every landowner on the river but there may be someone with a small stretch that we did not know about and if that landowner confronts you just find out where there boundary is and move.

7. Be prepared with your flies and your gear. It is the San Juan Mountains so the weather could do anything. The flows could change. The fish might want stonefly nymphs one day streamer the next eggs the next adult Swala's the next.

8. We have stocked the shop with alot of different (20) stonefly nymph patterns so just know that as you plan as well as two dozen different streamer patterns.

9. I have two professional guides that already have spots reserved that have had partners cancel on them and need an amateur partner. If you are interested please call us.

10. The party on saturday is outside and will get cool after sunset. Wear warmer clothes. We will have bonfires and cocktails but it may still be cool.

11. For your start day please see the list below.

If you are interested in signing up for the Frank Smethurst Clinic please call us to reserve a spot.

Thank You
Jon R. Harp

April 1, 2008 With the Colorado Rockies first win safely under their NLCS belt I can turn my head back to coaching fly fishing! Here is my thought for all of you - Buy a 6 weight rod! I used to not think that a real trout fisherman would use such a cumbersome heavy tool but after guiding and fishing for over a year alot with the new tool I must say that it is so much better for so many situations. For example- Every day for the next two months of big water! Your life will be made so much better and you will look like you know what you are doing more often. Wind, weight, streamers, mending, distance, etc. The new rods still have great tips to keep tippets safe and a bend in your rod but you will never get a better tip from me. And by the way the new Sage Z-Axis is as close to perfect as I have ever fished. I wanted so badly to fall in love with my new Scott S4 6 in Chile and I brought the Sage along for my guests but the Sage was so good I fished it every day I could! Good Luck! Please read reports below for fishing and Superfly updates.

OK I cant help myself, one more thought! All the talk and thought of doomsday flooding and high water think of this. The Conejos is a tailwater! If the lower river is dangerous they are not going release alot of water to make it more so. I think there is going to be some great fishing up high on the river in the meadow. We will either be fishing Pike or Carp at Sanchez Reservoir, Splake and Trout in La Jara Reservoir or fishing for big browns below the dam. So cheer up, lots of fishing before the lower river melows out in late June!

*For those interested in a taste of what our trip to Chilean Patagonia was like here is a link to just one set of photos for one guest for one week- Kasey Ratliff. I loved some of his shots and he did a great job on the fish. I had the opportunity to fish with he and his dad a few days and we had a great time. The last week we were there we saw an incredible number of large fish. I mean fishing by the pound!!! Our first few days at the lodge was warm windy and fish were spooky so it was not all gravy fishing but overall very special. I have some shots of the week that I will post later of some brown trout that are obsenely fat from a freestone river. http://www.flickr.com/gp/23095120@N06/k1FMb4

Here are the start days for the Superfly:

2008 Conejos Superfly Team List

April 11-13

Team # Name Qualifying Day

1. Bill Decamp / Shawn Hart S
2. Kyle Beasley / Lee Wellford S
3. Steve Carrol F
4. Jeff Banagas / Wayne Suggs F
5. Dough Unruh / Alan Buckman F
6. Eric Pauly / Josh Buchanan F
7. Pat Blakenship / David Blankenship F
8. Pins and Fins S
9. Micheal Carrol / Ben Casarez S
10. Gary Oldham / Scott Gaskill S
11. Bob Silver / Jeff Arterburn F
12. Bill Long / Dave Ballantin Team Lexus S
13. Rob Childerston / Brain English F
14. Doug Pinto / Rich Edgington S
15. Dustin Dean / Casey Dupuy S
16. August Delarrue / Jeff Porter S
17. Dave Spradlin / Mark McVay S
18. Dave Katalinas / Chris Webb S
19. Paul Downy / Jesse Downey F
20. Bo Herrerra / Leonard Sanchez F
21. Jerome Gallegos/ Leo Sanchez F
22. Sam Lambie / Jason Laut S
23. Jon Harp / Kari Harp F
24. Frank Smethurst / Dave Barkley S
25. Micheal White / Tyler Johnston S
26. Ed Adams F
27. Rita Adams F
28. Randy Keys Calen Keys S
29. Troy Smith / Marcos F
30. Kim Ratliff / Kasey Ratliff F
31. Devan Ence / Brain Turner S
32. Nick Williams / Ton Loftus S
33. Bob Childerston/ Molly Pass F
34. Rod Ruybalid / Ernie Ruybalid F
35. Jeremy Coe F
36. Reid Darnell S
37. Ed L’ heurex / JP Martinez F
38. Rob Scott / Richard Burrows F
39. Harper Simons / Rodney Simons F
40. Isaac Dean / Louie Gonzalez S
41. Mike Marcos / Mat Vander Nuet S
42. Steve Kirk F
43. Joe Kerefky F
44. Tim Theison F
45. Dean Spraracco S
46. Bob Velasco / Gary Knapp S
47. Mo Kirwan / Bill Bush S
48. Mo Kirwan Sr. / Henery Kirwan S
49. Ross Long 50. Colin Taylor / Ryan Herbert S
50. Lynn Willard

If you have any questions or need help with any changes call us. There are also several more teams entered that are not on the list. If you are Steven Kirk we do not have an entry for you and we need a call immediately if you want in.

March 31, 2008 Water clarity is off right now. Despite that the fish are eating. Daytime temps are in the 50's and 60's most days. I had a guy bang on the door yesterday for more big streamers. He was taking some of his last pants from a big fish that had broken him off on 3X tippet and he was going back looking for more. Dont expect to see gin clear water this spring unless we get a real cool streak. To much lower elevation snow slowly melting to let it get to clear. Please read below for more detail.

March 26, 2008 Well I am home from two and a half weeks of fishing in Southern Chile and it feels great to be home. More on that another time but it was many things. Sometimes fantastic sometimes dissappointing but all together unforgetable. I had my best day of fishing of my life and that day on the Rio Simpson will either make me find another hobby or continue to search for fish like that. I just took a short walk on the Conejos and the water clarity is good, not gin. Water flows are perfect for this time of year. Water temps are very low and I would imagine making the feeding window very short. The first rumors of landed fish are history and so I know that someone is catching fish. Deep nymphing techniques will be the norm for a while to come. If we get some normal weather expect a nice 3 to 4 week window of fishing before runoff. The snow pack since March 3 has come down about 20% with the mild dry weather so with a little luck the monster runoff everyone has been talking about will not be as severe, even now it is to early to really know what to expect. If I had a chance to fish this afternoon my first flies I would tie on in order would be a #8 Pat's Rubber Leg (brown), #16 Chironocone, #16 Pheasant tail, #18 Tungsten Zebra midge. Fishing two at a time. At this time there a couple of memberships still available for tow large ranches on the Conejos. We will only have 6 to 8 members so this is a very limited club. Please contact me for details. Call Jon at 719 376 5660. From now on the fishing reports will come much more regular and I will look forward to seeing each of you again this season. When I get caught up I plan on doing a little blog on the trip to Patagonia for those curious.

***Conejos Superfly Update - Yesterday we got access to another 5 miles of private water which will open up the tournament to another 8 teams. Already three of those are gone this morning but if you are interested please contact us immediately.

February 26, 2008 The Superfly is now full and then some. The snowpack after a few weeks of dryer weather has dropped about 17% and we hope to see that trend continue. There is now a section of exposed water on the Conejos that will begin to grow rapidly over the next couple of weeks. Expect to be catching fish toward the end of March. The shop will begin regular hours April 1 as well as the cabins will be open so expect a real nice window of fishing from late March well into April. For those that are interested in being a part of an annual membership to access 2 large ranches on the Conejos we have 4 memperships available. The annual cost is $800 which allows you unlimited access to the ranches with no rod fees for you or your guests. We will only have 8 members this year so it is a very small group. Call us for details.

February 5, 2008 We have now had what feels like a months worth of hard and heavy snow. There are drifts of snow close to us that are 12' high. There is atleast twice that further into the mountains. We are now faced with a tough decision for the Superfly. For those entered expect an email from me in the next 10 days. We are talking to the water board and studying historical data from similar years but we will likely move the event up one or two weeks and will not be able to take more than about 40 teams. We were so hoping to let more of you in but these incredible storms this early are putting a damper on that possibility. I know that moving this will mess up alot of plans but I do not want to be here trying to hold this event giving out life jackets.

January 31, 2008 There are 35 teams now registered for the Superfly. Please if you are wanting in move quickly. Alot of snow and very cold temps right now. Snowpack off the charts. Fished Pueblo with a couple of friends last weekend and truly enjoyed the town the lodging and food. Unfortunately the bait dunkers have made a potentially great place to fish a graveyard.

January 9, 2008 Happy New Year to all you trout bums! We are at 140% snowpack and looks like the trout get another year of great water. The past several weeks I have been bombed with emails and calls about the 2008 Superfly. I was not wanting to get started on that quite yet but with all the interest here are the details. If you would like to download an entry click on Superfly on the home page and download the printable entry on that page. The amount shown on that form is incorrect. Cost per entrant is $175. Only completed and paid entries will be accepted. If you dont have a partner no problem, plenty of time to deal with that. We have 2 spots left for Chile March 8 - 15.

Well, it could wait no longer. The 3rd. Annual Conejos Superfly is on the way. April 25 thru 27. Similar format to last year except we are giving the weekend
a purpose. I have been speaking with TU and other agencies about the need for some habitat work to be done on the Conejos. Well the Conejos Habitat Project was birthed and we at Conejos River Anglers will be spending alot of our time and focus on making the Conejos a better place for a trout to live.
A large part of your entry fee will go directly to the project. TU will also be contributing a large chunk of money towards the project. Basically what we will do each year is pick a one to two mile stretch of the Conejos (that is public) that needs additional homes for trout and improve that section. Each year you will be able to come and fish the "new" section and see it come to life. I know that this will sound expensive to many of you but it is the only way for us to get some real traction and dive into a project with some money to get it done. I have looked at the prices of similar events and we are a fraction of almost any other event out there. Please know that you are being involved in something special and unique the likes of which the Conejos has never seen. We would like to see about $40,000 raised this year thru the Superfly, donations, USFS, and TU.

A couple of other changes to level the playing field. No double professional teams allowed. Additionally any team with an industry professional or guide will not draw from the top 3 beats. We want to make this as fair as possible. Right now we are over 140% of average snowpack so it looks like the trout will have another great year to swim but it could impact the weekend depending on weather and releases. Do not register for this event if you are assuming all will be perfect. We schedule this event with alot of variables in mind and hope to get it right but there are no guarantees and it could be tough fishing. With the high snowpack we are only going to accept 40 teams. In April we will know if we are able to accept 20 additional teams. Only teams with paid completed entries will be put on the list. If you have questions you are welcome to call me if not fill out the attached entry and mail it. I think it is going to fill very very fast.

With your entry you will get the following. Access to some of the best and unfished ranches and properties of the Conejos. A choice of custom logod Simms shirts, Two catered parties, Movie night with beverages and live music, prizes from numerous manufacturers including custom Sage and Scott rods, swag, and the satisfaction that you donated $60 to $80 towards the Conejos Habitat Project. You will also have the choice of "off day" excursions including Pike, Carp, and Trout fishing.

Thank You, Jon Harp

Conejos River Anglers 34591 HWY 17 Mogote, CO 81120 719-376-5660 info@conejosriveranglers.com

December 6, 2007 Hello to all of you out there in this ever so shrinking world! The forecast here on the Conejos has snowflake icons for days and days and so the future of the fish brightens with each additional icon. About 20 percent of the river is frozen over now and I have not felt inclined to see if I could fool anymore fish this year. Sometimes you just know when you have caught your last fish of the year on a river. It was almost audible this year and I must say that I had a smile when I left the river. It was so good to us this year and I can only hope the trout have a good winter. While they are living in their semi frozen world I will be doing what I can to make sure that their future is brighter. So many issues need to be addressed here. I am not going to try and tackle all of them but chip away at the most obvious and the ones we stand to make the most traction. I will be contacting each of you to let you know how you can be involved. For starters wer are looking at the water around Conejos C.G. for a large habitat improvent project. The work will be done to look as naturally as possible but wil be designed to provide more wintering lies and create habitat that will offer more "homes" for trout of all sizes.

Spent a couple of days on the San Juan last week with Rod Ruybalid (the local CDOW officer here) and had a great albeit wet and cold time. I thought I had packed plenty of bugs that would be small enough but the first day the midges below the dam were about a size #28!!!! And the fish were not looking for my #24 offerings. Eventually I dug deep enough and found some miniscule midges and we were off to the races. The big fish straightened the hook or pulled the hook out. Rain the whole next day and we had a beautiful baetis hatch for a couple hours in the early afternoon. Of course we were ready to go back before the tent dried out. We thought the wives may not be up to 2 a week trips so expect to see us there in another week or so. Also the water below Pueblo Reservoir, the Arkansa is fishing really good right now and if you get a chance talk to the guys at Arkanglers in Pueblo and go fish it.

New Simms Boots remaining: Freestone Felt w/ studs 7,8,12,13. $60 Freestone Boots w/ felt size 7,8,9,10 $45, Guide Model Aquastealth w/studs size 8 Retail $160 on sale for $60! Used Simms Freestone boots $25, One pair of rental waders left. Simms L2 in XL $100. New L2 Goretex waders XL and MK Retail $250 on sale for $170.

November 14, 2007 Another outrageous week of weather on the way and expect to see the fish continue to take advantage of some bonus feed time. We are experiencing weather that we would normally see in late September and if I could find a way to skip work in every way right now I would because the big fish of the river have been forced from their snags and cutbanks and are holding in the deep pools. Some of the best guide trips I have had all year have been in the last couple weeks. Not a great time for beginners but alot of fun to sightcast to large fish. Please read the October 29th post for an update on future plans for the river here. We still have a few sizes left on waders and good selection for boots. Most rods will be discounted a few more weeks.

November 3, 2007 Seems like the mild weather just keeps coming our way and the fish continue to gorge. After watching casts all summer (some of them not so good!) I have been making some myself. Kari and I hiked the notch trail to Elk Creek and then hiked well into Second Meadows and the fish were as spooky as ever. 13' leader to 6x flouro and long casts brought about a dozen fish to hand in about 2 hours but I spooked alot of fish. Did not see the really big fish out but saw alot of fish in the 14 to 18" range. Back in the pocket water below the meadow there were alot of Rainbows some of them larger fish. I have no idea where these fish came from. Fished the Conejos on the 31st and it was realy good landed about 30 fish while spending some time with a friend getting him going. Amazingly Pat's Rubber Leg caught most of the fish. Water temps 37 to 43 degrees and I will say without question that it was much better at 37 degrees then when it had warmed up. Very strange. Fish were not on streamers but egg patterns, Barrs emerger's, and Pats Rubber Leg. Soft water almost every fish. If I had the time I know the La Jara is on right now as well as some sections of the Los Pinos. Please take a moment to read the info below.

October 29, 2007 I wanted to take a minute to share some thoughts and vision I have had for the Conejos and also pass along some more information about what is happening here.
First of all I want to thank all of you for a great year. The Superfly was alot of fun and a great time but the whole time I felt like it needed to be more than just about fun. This next
years event I would like to see morph into a more purposeful time and I will share some of my vision later. Of course we will do whatever we can to continue to throw some great parties
and make the fishing the best we can.

First of all a brief fishing report. The flows at the dam have been kept higher than normal and the fish have just been stacked in the flats. So many good guide trips and big fish it has been alot of fun. Regardless
of the weather the fish have been gorging themselves. Tan San Juan Worm, #18 Baetis patterns, and Midge nymphs have been the most effective. Just before dark a couple of days ago the fish went crazy for the worm and
it was a special time. Most fish 14" to 20". I fished downriver from there in the canyon a few days ago and caught some gorgeous fat fish. Weather has been incredible for the most part and the river has been deserted for weeks.
Down lower on the river a #10 Pat's Rubber leg to a #18 red zebra or red Chironocone has been deadly. Expect to see some great fishing in the Wild Rivers in N.M. and big Pike being caught on the Rio Grande.

Secondly, we have a few spots left for our trip to Chile. There is some room for the week of March 8 and the week of March 15th. We are taking a great group of people down and should be alot of fun. I will be there making
sure everyone is having the experience they dreamed of. . Cost is $4250 and if you need some more eye candy go to www.patagoniadream.com It is one of the premier lodges in Patagonia and I think I caught about 300
fish in a week last year most on a dry fly. I also caught salmon in the 50 lb range. The experience at the lodge is truly special, dont miss the chance to go.

Lastly, I have shifted my thoughts the last few months to finding a way to make the Conejos a better river. I will not be focusing on marketing, talks, travel etc. but to raising money to create habitat on the river.
After seeing the dramatic change in fish biomass and size of fish in the project Trout Unlimited did below the dam and seeing other projects make such a marked difference I would like to commit to choosing a 1 or so of
river each year and creating fish habitat. Habitat that provides wintering lies, better holding and feeding lanes, and habitat for large fish. I will be turning the Superfly into one avenue to raise this money. I will also be asking
each one of you for money as tax deductable contributions. Additionally I just met with the USFS and Trout Unlimited to ask for their money, support, and expertise. TU has promised us their 2008 Embrace a Stream money
which is around $20,000. The USFS has also promised to cut some red tape and provide some funds as well. Each year I would like for all of you to come and see a completed section. This will all be done on public lands and will
be available to all of you to fish. It will be a legacy we can leave to our kids and be able to enjoy ourselves for years. In 5 or 10 years when someone asks me where they should fish on the river I want to be able to say
"ANYWHERE, Its all good!" RIght now we are selecting which section and details. I will keep you all posted with the details. It looks like the 2008 Conejos Superfly will be the last weekend in April. A few small rules changes
but the format will remain the same. First of all no Double pro teams. Second, professional guides will not be allowed to fish 6 or 8 of the private beats. Industry professionals will be welcome just not allowed to fish together.

August 30, 2007 Yesterday was one of those days that remind you of why you fish. I actually got to fish all alone yesterday for a couple of hours in the afternoon. The cool smell of fall was in the air and the river just looked so beautiful. I took the luxury of a free pass that I had been offered of fishing some private water and the Sage Z Axis 4 weight with a Ross San Miguel seemed perfect.Some thunderheads boomed in the distance but it was 70 degrees and perfect as I staired into my fly boxes waiting for the right bug to look at me just right. None did so a Dave's Hopper, Peacock stone and a Chironocone ended up on the end of 12' of 5x leader. I began catching fish right away and landed 10 or so smaller fish in an hour or so and was being lulled in to some lax fishing when a large fish ate a nymph and within five seconds had screamed up the river and broken me off. I'm not sure if any profanities were audible but I heard them. I caught a nice big brown that was so old he was sitting in some real soft shallow water and was in plain veiw and took a #8 Royal Stimmy on the first cast. Last night Devan Ence and myself ended up talking fishing to long and decided we should throw mice patterns and away we went. Fished below RMAC and when we got to the river it looked like white chocolate, ouch. We fished anyway with the coyotes howling all around and elk barking in the trees but no fish landed, it was special nonetheless. For those planning trips just come and be ready to change where and how you fish but it has been pretty good. Lower river seems to be coming alive again.

***FYI For those of you mad at us for soliciting the article in American Angler, we didn't! We were given a call informing us that they were doing a feature article on he Conejos and called at various times for info. I have not read or seen the article but it is in the fall issue of American Angler if you are curious. I must warn you , I heard they got a little flowery on me so I apologixe in advance. They also came here and scoured the maps and fished themselves. We have never contacted a magazine for a story. This would boost our business but also bring more people here and so we have declined to go that route.

August 23, 2007 This past week we have seen some very mediocre days and today from nowhere some of the biggest browns we have seen all year are sitting in the feeding lanes gorging on assorted nymphs. Stonefly patterns seem to be the most effective but the Chironocone, Hares Ears and others caught fish. I had the opportunity to have John Gierach here with us this week and got a chance to fish with him a few days and throw some exotic bamboo rods and catch some Cutts, which is off course why he came to visit. Fished upper La Jara with him today and saw some very large browns and caught some nice fish. The monsters seemed to elude us but we did get several of them to open their mouths however no nice photos other than John and Luke! Water was extremely low. (4.9 cfs). All of the streams right now are low and clear but have enough water for some great fishing. I have sight casted to most of the fish we have cught this week and that gives an extra dimension of fun to be able to see your target and get instant feedback on you form. We have had highs in the upper 70's and some great weather this week and expect to see this pattern hold out for a little longer. The Conejos has a slight discoloration right now from the releases from Platoro. The water in the Res looks almost pea green so the releases of 111 cfs are adding a little color to the river. I can only expect that this gives the angler a little edge and allows us to get a litle closer to our quarry. We are catching some fish on attractors and twitching hoppers but most of the fish are being hooked on nymphs on the bottom. We are continuing to see large stonefly casings on the rocks and we have yet to see an adult. I can only surmise that the adults are nocturnal and we are missing out on skating large stimmy's at night. I have also seen fish move to streamers and so I think you should come and expect the best and be ready for having to dig into your box of tools and find one that works. 9 to 10" leaders to 4x for nymphing. 9' 3x for streamers, 9' to 11' leaders to 5x for dries on flat water. Rumor has it the new American Angler is out and has featured the Conejos in one of its articles, if you get a chance pick one up. I have not read it but I hope it does the river justice and does not bring in to many people. And for the record we had no idea that they were planning an article here until the editor called us and asked us for some help with the article.

August 14, 2007 Historically we are supposed to be in the hottest month of the year now and instead we have been having highs in the upper 70's and low 80's with afternoon showers and the lower river normally taboo in august has given us some great fishing. I got a chance to fish it for a few hours on saturday and it was borderiung fantastic. Fished with two other guides and caught two fish over 21", one on a streamer and one on a stonefly nymph. We should have pictures of them in the shop later this week. The upper river was a bit more difficult yesterday and most of our fish came on caddis adults or dredging fast runs with stonefly nymphs with a zebra midge trailer. Flows now are 143 from the dam at Platoro, 288 on the lower river, 18.3 Los Pinos, 6.8 La Jara, flows on the upper streams are perfect most days based on the weather. The other observation I have made before is that the incredible few hours I had on saturday was in murky water. I had someone leave cut their trip short last week because they saw the water did not look perfect. Well they missed some incredible fishing. I had one of the best hours of streamer fishing I have ever had in the water that was not "perfect". Brown #8 Tungsten Conehead Bugger was the best bet with alot of extra weight.

August 6, 2007 Well the longest Green Drake hatch in history is coming to a close and the start of beaut