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

April 24, 2013 Another Superfly in the books and we managed to have a lot of fun and catch quite a few fish in some brutal spring winds. I want to thank all of you that came and supported the river and the event. You were an incredible bunch! Some of you gave above and beyond to TU! The TU Banquet/Auction is this Saturday and we will be able to go with a smile and a very nice donation to continue to support the projects of the Conejos. A lot of very good anglers showed up and caught more fish the last day of the Superfly than any other previous day. About 500! Water that was supposed to be fantastic was harder. Water in the middle of public lands fished better and two of our guides, Troy Smith and Isaac Dean took the cake! Landed 47 browns the last day! Even with their handicap they rolled a smooth 197.5 point total and had plenty people shaking their heads! I knew I had to net atleast 40 browns the last day and when we could only reach 26 fish knew it was over for me and Rob. We drew Mogote CG and were a little to slow in figuring out what the fish wanted and where not able to get on a big enough roll to make a run. The teams that qualified in the bottom six were sent to to fish up high above the Pinnacles and did so well almost went from last to first. Three came from bottom six to top six the last day. Some new faces did well and a local team that met the morning of did a great job of catching brown trout and came in second. (Hood – Steinzig) Rob and I were pretty psyched about our first days beat until we got to our beat and heavy equipment had been moved in for a habitat project and once the big machines started working in the river our day was done. There were several teams using the new Euro nymphing techniques and they took four of  the first 11 spots. A very deadly method, one in which I plan on learning, tweaking, and experimenting with this season. Troy, Isaac, and Josh (our Euro guides) are truly so on the cutting edge of these techniques and are doing a great job of teaching it on guide trips. Amazing how quickly people are catching onto the method.  

1.    Smith/Dean 197.5 Pts

2.    Hood/Steinzig 148.5

3.    Troudt/Troudt 147.0

4.    Snyder/Mitchell 144.5

5.    Drinnen/Armstrong 142.0

6.    Pauly/Buchanan 137.0

7.    Harp/Scott 132.5

8.    Silver/Widgren 132.0

9.    Florers/Lewis 131.0

10.  Banegas/Collins 121.5

For those that have considered a Conejos getaway I know of a condo that is not listed but will be this summer. I have seen it and it is super clean, great view, two bedroom. $82,500. Call me if you want some info. Jon Harp (719) 376-5660 or (719) 250-7122.

The River! It has been cool, especially the nights and we have gotten some snow up high this last few weeks and the river has remained very low for this time of year. The snowfields although on the low side have not broken loose of their spring bounty. The releases have been low as well and I am glad that the water we do have is being delayed. The lower river is 130 ish and up high 18 cfs makes every mile of the river fishable. Seems up high or down low are the better choices and the water from Spectacle Lake thru the base of the Pinnacles has not fished as well this spring as most years. My guess is that because of the lower than normal flows those fish are more exposed and have not shown themselves as much. The fish up high?! What can I say for them. They are happy! There is a code each day that one must break but when you do, this river has been giving it up! The last few days the mayfly nymph has been a bigger deal and we are seeing adult Skwala’s. I was hanging a couple nymphs off the back of a #12 Peacock Madam X and I had a fish take my breath away when it blitzed then rejected the dry. It was a fish in the 25” range and almost came out of the water and instead of inhaling the dry rejected it last minute. A couple deep breaths later I fished to that fish for 15 minutes with several patterns and not a single flash to anything else. Worms, midges, baetis nymphs, Skwala’s, and stonefly patterns should be a big deal the next few weeks. Just know that if you are making plans that we are spoiled here during runoff. The reservoir insures we don’t miss days on the water so look for some incredible times in May!

April 9, 2013 Hey hey my SuperFly friends! I just got in from marking all but the last beat and the river looks great.  Each year I get curve balled and this year is not exception. We will skip all of those but today there was a black wall of snow over the mountains which I thought certainly doomed any chance of the upper river opening. An hour later the USFS comes into the shop and told me they had just opened the upper gate!!! Wow! There was a foot of snow and plenty more coming and they opened it. Will that help us? I drove up the lower river tonight and no problem. Ground to warm but the melting from the upper river could put a twist to all of the fishing and fly selections so all I can say is just go armed for all trout moods. Could get wormy if it melts fast or they could stay on there midge/stonefly/assorted Conejos moody diet! I can say the fish from here to below the Pinnacles are healthy and on average bigger then last year. Excited to see all of you this weekend for some live music, fishing, food, some good stories and laughing, a calcutta saturday, and some great memories. This snow was badly needed and a couple more will put us right where we need to be. Here is a breakdown of the teams and there start days. 

FRIDAY: 1. Marrufo/Gomez 2. Moran/Troudt 3. Long/Davis 4. Harp/Scott 5. Troudt/Troudt 6. Lingbeck/Sequra 7. Stone/Cooper 8. Pauly/Buchanan 9. Silver/Widgren 10. Shuster/Arterburn 11. Gentry/Gentry 12. Sorenson/Mueller 13. Stutz/Nagle 14. Downey/Downey 15. Flores/Lewis 16. Flores/Lewis 17. Walton/Tolliver 18. Goldston/Goldston.

SATURDAY: 1. Quintana/Collins 2. Curtis/TBA 3. Steinzig/Hood 4. Johnston/McCormick 5. Banegas/Collins 6. Smith/Dean 7. Jones/Jones 8. Blankenship/Blankenship 9. Slover/Slover 10. Lewis/Foster 11. Snyder/TBA 12. Beasley/McVay 13. Wade/Caldwell 14. Wade/Davis 15. Drinnen/Armstrong 16. McCall/Stevens 17. Webb/Hanson.

If you have any questions about any of it please contact me. I will qualify approximately 13 teams from Friday. 12 from Saturday. The bottom two qualifiers from each of the first two days will be pre-drawn for Sunday. I could  explain but how about just trusting me on this. In order for it to be fair and give more teams the chance to fish on Sunday. I snuck a few casts in while marking beats and the fish depending on the time of day and who knows what else went from really fast riffles, hanging under lazy foam lines to half sleeping in the really slow water before dark. I can say that stoneflies were the biggest producer with several others that were good but deciding dark or yellow seemed to matter. Clouds helped most of the time and finding where the fish are can be tricky but trust yourself and begin to search with your eyes and creative casts. If you are not having success then make a change. If you watch our guides they will constantly adjust something. It could be water, depth, pattern, color, size, length of cast, etc. It all matters and sometimes it indeed may be better to take a break. The browns are not going to gorge all day so just know that it can go from a ghost town to a bustling foam line quickly!

March 20, 2013 Yes the trout are beginning to get their bite on! I would like to brag that I have caught the first fish on the river each year but reality this year says that I might have missed it by a few days! I had a chance to go out with one of our guides this last week and make a few casts. I thought I would let Rob do a few early recon casts while I slow played stringing a rod and getting some gear on and not a fish to be seen or hooked early. I procrastinated further till it was time for me to give it a swing and the same thing?! Hmm.  After both of us working over the bottom end of a gorgeous stretch it was clear the fish were still hiding under the ice ledges. “Time to burn our first cigar of the year Rob” I said. Twenty minutes later with the same flies same water same setup it was hard core fish gorging time. Several times I went 3 cast 3 fish and landed about 20 fish in that run alone. They were loving anything that was yellow  and looked like a stonefly! Fun to get the rod bent and see how the fish had wintered. Amazing they don’t starve to death under the ice but they looked good and were just happy! Troy had been out earlier and done really well and we are seeing a few other anglers around. I would say the window is short this time of year but the river looks great and the snowpack is up around 90%. I looked at the entries for the Superfly today and was surprised to see about 28 teams paid already and I know there are about 6 other teams committed with entries on the way not including the several teams from CRA that will be here. In other words if you want in this year please move soon because I will be cutting it off around 40 teams.

Here is a list of teams in for the 2013 Superfly:

1.Gomez/Marrufo  2. Moran/Troudt  3. Jones/Jones  4. Long/Davis  5. Smith/TBD 6.                     7. Harp/Scott  8. Blankenship 2X  9. Troudt 2X  10. Lingbeck/Segura  11. Slover 2X                       12. Lewis/Foster  13. Casarez/Snyder  14. Stone/Cooper  15. Pauly/Buchanan  16. Silver/Widgren                              17. Beasley/McVay  18. Shuster/Arterburn  19. Wade/Caldwell  20. Wade/Davis  21. Gentry 2X

22. Sorenson/Mueller  23. Drinnen/Armstrong  24. Stutz/Nagle  25. McCall/Stephens

26. Downey 2X  27. Quintana/Collins  28. Flores/Lewis  29. Walton/Tolliver  30. Goldston 2X

31. Webb/Hanson  32. Dean/TBD

As I look over the bunch what a fun bunch we will have back and some new faces and as usual some great anglers. Can’t help but notice how many husband/wife, brother, father son teams this year. Just how we were hoping this would work from the beginning. As far as start days we have 20 requests for Friday and 12 for Saturday. If you registered early you will get your requested Friday if not a few will be switched to Saturday and all entries forward will all be Saturday start days. I will have this info by the end of March. Normally the requests are very equal so no problem but hopefully we will get 8 more teams so as to not switch anyone.

Store opens on April 4 at 8:00 but we are already going to be doing guide trips in March. If you would like to book a day before the Superfly with us please call us and be happy to set something up. Troy Smith and myself will be doing most of the really early trips.

April Hours: 8:00 to 4:00 Tuesday thru Saturday. Sunday 8:00 to 12:00. Closed Monday.

February 8, 2013 I am sorry I have not connected with you for some time. I got a pretty bad curve ball in the fall but am on the mend and looking forward to getting back on the horse!  A lot to cover here so let’s get started.

First of all I am getting a lot of calls and emails about the 2013 Conejos Superfly. April 12-14. There will be no radical change in the format and so plan away and I assure you I am looking forward as you to warm air and casting a fly again. I will post entries on the home page within the week.

The store will open April 4. We will likely have cabins open earlier than that and will begin work in March to remodel some cabins and add carpet, fixtures, and some new furniture. We should have a new sign up, fences, store fixtures, new inventory, lighting, landscaping, entrance, and nick nack improvements.

You may have wondered where I had gone, I do not normally disappear for this long. Well I spent almost the entire winter on crutches, in a cast, or limping severly. On October 2 I tore almost every ligament I had in my ankle. October 30 a major back surgery and January 2 because the ankle would not respond to therapy had cables and plates inserted into my ankle to keep the bones in the ankle in place. I hope to be able to walk again normally by the time the store is open. Not exactly how I had planned the off season but I assure you that day wont be here soon enough.

The snowpack today is on the light side and I try to stay out of the daily drama of that this early in winter but am cheering on March and April to be nasty and white! Regardless we will begin guiding by April 1 and if you are wanting something sooner let me know. The website will get a facelift over the next six weeks and hope to make it more visual, add video, more user friendly and be more descriptive of what we do here. If you have suggestions would love to hear from you.

I would also like to put this out there. I am looking for two deserving people to add to our team. Most of the team will be back but Joe Montoya has taken a job with Chipotle in Denver and I am beginning to look for the right addition to our team. If you are interested please send a resume to the website and call me.

October 2, 2012 The Conejos Cup has come and gone but what a great weekend. We had great weather some incredible colors and caught a lot of fish and made some birdies and an eagle. I am asked frequently what is a good day on the Conejos. I tell people sometimes the guides regularly hook 50 or 100 fish a day and I get the eyes rolling. I do rarely anymore get to focus on fishing hard all day so I was interested to see how many fish Rob Scott and I would hook in a day. Well we fished up at the very bottom of the meadow and hooked over 150 fish in 7 hours. It was the highest ever one day total for a Superfly format. (only one angler fishing at a time) Kyle Beasley and Dave Spradlin chose Mogote CG and hooked 50 fish and netted 25! (A 77 point day in Mogote CG! Impressive!)So when I hear people come in the shop and tell me there are no fish in the river or they did not eat the flies I got from you I know that there is more to the story. At the end of the day my knees were sore ( from crawling on them) and my shoulder was exhausted (from sticking in straight in the air) but the presentation and drift have to be right. I know that if people watched us fish that day they would likely be surprised. Very little fancy River Runs Through It sort of casting but a lot of close up high stick very little line on the water sort of stalking. A lot of doing everything we could to get the right drift thru the right seam the right pocket the right depth etc. There are times to put some line on the water and show off a little but more often time to nail the right drift with some shorter presentations and extra effort to be in the right spot with a low profile to get it. Right now we still have colors blasting on the  lower river and some color left up high just starting  to fade a little. The fish for the most part do not seem to be on the reds yet. I would be curious to have time to go up rivers like the South and Middle and La Jara but most of the Conejos fish are not spawning yet. We had a beautiful Baetis hatch Saturday and caught a lot of fish in that window on  a #20 BWO patterns. Worms, eggs, Barr’s emergers,  annelids, and scud patterns have been good up high. On the lower river I would fish Jimmy legs, eggs, flashbangs, and then #12 orange stimmies and baetis patterns on top. We are starting to see the big October Caddis and should be able to throw dries in the form of BWO’s and the big Caddis for a while. Expect fishing to remain good for quite a while. We will continue to guide until early November. The shop will have regular hours thru October 18. After that we will be here with cabins open (thru October) and guiding but not regular hours in the store the last of October. I will be having back surgery October 31 so all guide trips after that will be Randy Keys or Troy Smith. For those of you wanting to have a river to yourself and see some active fish call us and set up a day with us. Would love to show you the river in the fall.

For those wanting to pick up some equipment we are closing out a lot of gear. I am also going to be selling my Sage One 9’ 5 wt rod with a Lamson Litespeed and a brand new  Rio Grande line on it. $700.00. The price for the new Sage One’s is $795 so this is a bangin’ deal for someone. The reel has a  scratch on it. The Simms boots that were rentals this year are $35 so for those that bought the waders you can call us and add a pair of boots if you like. They are the 2012 model Simms Freestone’s.

September 24, 2012 Yes the colors now are peaking and the weather and fish all seem to be happy. I had a chance to guide a lot the last few weeks and maybe the best run of trips I have had this year. If you look at the number that is coming out of Platoro it may seem daunting but the reality is the fish are stuffed in up there and have been very catchable. Small baetis, scuds, sowbugs, annelids, and even hoppers  and stimulators  moved a lot of fish. I would expect it to stay good for another month or 6 weeks based on the weather and flows. This next few days the guides schedules are full but we will have some slots for me and Troy and Joe in October. Hope you can join us for a day. This weekend is the Conejos Cup and we are one team short. Any of you that golf and fish call me. It is going to be a lot of fun. You do not have to have a handicap. It is a two person team event. Fishing on Saturday and Golf Sunday. Party/Dinner/Calcutta is Friday night. We will have the Ryder Cup recorded at the house for you die hard golf fans.

We will be having a pretty outrageous sale starting this weekend and will be closing out some great gear. If you have a need of something specific give Joe or I a call.

September 7, 2012  The cool air of spring is coming and the cool nights have begun to bring color to the Aspens and Cottonwoods. My favorite time of the year with low water and the feeling like the fish are living in an environment with very few of us disturbing their day. The  guides get to know each other again and catch up on  some days on the water together fishing laughing and exploring. Yes fall! So beautiful and so short! If you get a chance you should take the opportunity come and experience it . This journey we are on is full of have to’s and should’s but not enough of really experiencing it all. As far as the fishing right now? I have had the chance to fish recently more and have had a blast. Got the new Sage Circa in and fished it yesterday and what a gem. Much slower action than the ONE but so light, so responsive, and even though much slower it I was fishing 60 plus feet with a 12’ leader and 3 flies. Absolutely loved it. For those that thought the ONE was to fast and it is for many, you should cast this rod. The old Sage SLT was a great rod. This is just taking that thought and using the new technology and making it even better. We will have a few in the shop if you are interested. Simms and Sage will very soon be making large price increases so this fall might be a good time to add some fun gear. The fishing – Mostly terrestrials mayflies and attractors on the surface and small baetis and midge nymphs underneath. In the meadow below Platoro same stuff plus annelids.

For years we have talked about doing an informal fun weekend that included a day of golf and a day of fishing. Well this year we are doing it! The first annual Conejos Cup will be September 29,30. Two man teams, fish first day (Superfly Format), golf second (scramble), Calcutta Friday night . We will have a meal and beverages here Friday night and watch some Ryder Cup which we will record and have the Calcutta that night. Tee times at Cattails GC start at 9:30 Sunday. We have 3 slots left . If you are interested please call me. Jon Harp 719 376 5660. I know if this got out it would become huge but we do not want it to get big and we don’t want it just about winning. There is an incredible group of guys that are already in and so it is quite a bunch and should be a lot of fun which is all we are trying to have happen that weekend. If you are calling to ask how it will be handicapped then don’t. There are some great golfers coming, some great anglers, and some guys just coming to have fun. Having it all perfectly equal by adding and subtracting points based on how many fish we think someone could catch? To tricky.

We will be selling all of our Simms Rental waders which are G3 Guide waders with 5 to 20 days on each pair. The G3 next year will be around 500 so you can save a chunk on a great quality pair of waders. $125! We will ship at the end of the month as well as selling all of the rental and demo rods.

July 25, 2012 Seems very strange to look down read below and realize we are now seeing big bugs again on the river. There are stonefly cases everywhere on the rocks and the big stone that normally comes out in August is here now. So a weird variety of very large bugs with some itty bitty stuff. The river is low and we are either fishing up high on warmer days or going early and quitting early on the lower river. Very sorry for being delinquent in my writing but I hope you have enjoyed Joe’s blog. I have been on the river a lot and some in the store and have not been able to keep up with it all  but things are slowing down a bit so I will be able to be more transparent and be able to share what is happening on a more regular basis. We have spent some time guiding on some lakes for some large fish and that was a lot of fun. Troy went hunting for pike and found some normal pike and was cleaned off a few times by some very large pike and decided to make some casts to some of the larger carp in the Rio. Yes, they ate! The high mountain streams right now have been fantastic. I guided one last week and saw 108 fish netted in a day. With  some regular rain and afternoon clouds most days have been perfect but if we do get a few warm days please know that fishing the fish after the river hits 70 or so is hard on fish.

With the lower river level fish seem much more opportunistic to dry flies so we are seeing a lot of fish eat dries. Baetis, Ants, Hoppers, Stones, and some unique attractors have been consistent. The nymphs seem to be the same big spread between larger stoneflies and #20 and smaller Don Kings, Flashbangs, and Sparkle RS2’s.

We know that with the lower streamflows the amount of traffic here will be less so we so appreciate all of your support for this small business. Please if you have anything fly fishing related that you need call us and we will be  happy to walk thru your decision and help you make a good decision for you and everything ships free. Troy Smith, myself – Jon Harp, Jasmine Ence, Randy Keys, Joe Montoya, and Josh Curtis will be doing the guiding for most of the trips this fall and I can tell you it is the best collective staff we have ever had and I would put them up with any staff in the world of fly fishing. They are that good. Do yourself a favor and spend some time with them.

June 10, 2012 Yes more big bugs are flying now. At this point even the smaller ones are about! Yesterday we started on the lower river and we saw caddis and pmd's and went upriver in the pm and the Salmon flies were pretty thick. After watching some naturals float an entire run without a look I thought to myself we are #@$%^&! It was breezy but the guys I were fishing with were punching holes thru the wind so we started experimenting with patterns. After watching 100 drifts I was going back to my original thought. I put on a CDC Salmon fly and a nice fish ate. Another. Another. Another. Etc. Amazingly they were that selective but they were. Will that be the fly tomorrow? Maybe not but it is buggy and with the lower flows it is very efficient for the fish to feed on the surface. Expect to see Drakes early and the Salmon and Goldens to continue there movement upriver. If I was guessing and I am we will see the Salmon flies in the Canyon and pocket water next week. Huge caddis hatches should blanket the river as well as heavier pmd hatches. You need to have some variety in your box and be prepared for one of 5 hatches. Should be a very fun and rare thing to be able to fish these hatches at these flows. Expect to have to lengthen the casts soon and maybe the leaders as well. Our hours now are 7:30 to 5:30. 7:30 to 2:00 on Sundays. Hope to see you. 

May 29, 2012 Last night the big bugs of the Conejos began their annual trek to dry land and leave their exoskeletons on the rocks and become small egg dropping humming bird size fish food. We normally do not see this happen till June 8 or 10 but with the lower flows they are deciding that early is better. When we have been rolling rocks close to the banks we are seeing copious amounts of Goldens and Salmon flies. It should take a few days for more to emerge and the fish to figure it out but should be a rare event here to be able to fish this emergence with perfect flows. If you have any chance at all in the next few weeks to make a run you should. Most years with normal snowpack the flows range from 900 to 1800 right now but expect flows to be 400 to 580 during this next week or so. I have taken some pics from this last week of guiding and should have a fresh blog up on Thursday. Don’t be surprised if we see the Drakes, PMD’s, Caddis, and the other bugs to go early as well. Rivers like the Los Pinos and La Jara should be having the big bugs happening now. Fishing up higher from the Pinnacles up has been red hot and those fish are easier to fool than the fish in the meadow. I had a guide trip a few days ago where we were able to have some huge fish come up and eat mice patterns in the middle of the day as well as some large stonefly dries.  I have always wanted to try them more during the day but generally don’t but my client insisted we try. Sure enough, wham! Bugs like the Tungstone, Sextone, Goldens, Large Jimmy Legs, Hot Spot Squirrel, Iron Lotus, and some simple stuff like beadles black Hare’s Ears have been really good nymphs. Hopefully we will be putting them the nymphs away for a while.  Please call us with any questions or if you are wanting to spend a day with us on the river.

April 24, 2012 Wanted to take a moment to give a brief report and some perspective as to what is going on here in trout country.  Last week had to opportunity to be on the river and guide some and had a good day on the Hamilton. The following day we headed to the meadow and the river was about 97 cfs and clear. Fish were not happy, spooky and finicky,   after a couple of hours and only one bigger bow landed headed downriver only 6 miles and in the first run alone hooked about 16 fish. Amazing how different everything was and the mood of the fish was like we switched states and seasons in 6 miles! Hooked about 45 fish that afternoon! A fly very similar to the #16 Salvation under a GString was the best bug. We started to see fish pushed up on the edges and picked a lot of  those off. My client wanted to catch them on dries so we put on a smaller (16 ish ) mayfly pattern and I was curious. Fish loved it.  Shallow water fish were all over it, deeper fish not really interested in moving for it but it was fun to see fish eat some dries again. This week the warmer temps have sent the lower river into a runoff cycle again and the lower river is just over 700. Platoro is about 260 and is just perfect to go high. Some guests staying with us just got out of the La Jara SWA and said it was a great day. Troy has been chasing Pike and said he had a fish eat that could have swallowed a basketball! Maybe in the 50” range and landing fish from 30 to 45”! We are headed out tomorrow to try and find some of the bigger fish for some grins and to see if we can make the heart stop a few times. The snowpack is lower this year and you can plan on seeing some of the best early season dry fly action we have ever seen since I have been here. Expect even May for the river to be fishable almost the entire month. Streams like the Middle, Lake Fork, Los Pinos, La Jara, and the Chama to be ready now or very soon. With the warm weather the bugs will come early as well so just know that the fishing will be on earlier than your normal schedule says it should. There are 23 species of Stones on the river and we are already seeing a variety out right now. The meadow has had some incredible Baetis hatches and who knows what else will pop with the different conditions that to be honest none of us totally knows what to expect. I am half expecting to see a big caddis hatch early and for the fish to be more on them than normal with the lower water.  In June we get an enormous caddis hatch but it coincides with the big stones and bigger water normally but this year I think the flows will be tempting enough for these fish to change patterns. We ordered several new caddis dry patterns today in case the hunch is correct. Please if you have any questions or want to book a guide or cabin give us a call. We look forward to seeing all of you back soon.

 April 4, 2012 Closing stretch getting ready for the Superfly and some additions and tweaks below for the start days. Just took a moment with Joe and went down to the river and saw some of Jimmy Durans fish at lunch and really nice fish, just happy and fat. Flows have come down and got some recent snow up here so a few more drops of water for the fish this summer. Clarity is good and I would expect this spring fishing to be really good. I spoke with the USFS yesterday and we are hoping to have the first gate open soon and that will give the event the much needed space we want and also add Hamilton/Spectacle/Conejos CG/ and RMAC to the event.  With that extra water we will be able to qualify more teams for the final and hope to have 24 teams in the Sunday finale.  Excited to have you all on the way. The shop is slowly transforming from a driving range/storage facility to a fly shop. Fun new bugs out and we are anxious to experiment with the new patterns. For those of you that are golfers we will be having a fun skins game on Monday following the event at 9:30 so bring the clubs as well. We are planning on having a Calcutta Auction on Saturday for the final. We will also be hosting a casting competition the same night at Conejos Ranch. That will be 10.00 to enter and that will go to TU. 20% of the Calcutta money will go to TU as well so we are hoping to raise 3 to 4k for the TU Conejos Fund. For those that are just wanting to come and fish and get away expect some good conditions and nice temps on the way for the next 10 days. Again for the planners out there the May/early June slot which has us normally more concentrated expect more of the river and streams  like the Lake Fork, La Jara, and Los Pinos to get good early.

March 28, 2012 Warm air temps and higher flows with a little color to it has made for some incredible fishing this week. Guided Sunday and I assure you he wishes he would have been in the Superfly! He would have been a rock star that day! Netted over 50 fish and had a magical few hours in the afternoon. With the water color the way it has been I was thinking it would be more wormy but the low level snow is gone so not as much saturated ground close to the river to make it so I suppose. Fish really got keyed into a #12 Prince and also ate some Rainbow Warriors, a red Tailwater Tiny and some natural worms. For those of you that are planners I would say that there this May and June if the snowpack stays the way it is will be the best in years. Will September and October be? The water may get low late in the year so  if you were trying to sneak in an extra trip do it early. We may have perfect conditions for all of the Stoneflies that come off early even the Skwala in a few weeks. From what I hear the dam will have to release whatever comes in and they will not be allowed to store water so if that is true expect releases to be higher then normal by a bit in April and lower and more consistent later. Most of the fish on this lower river and almost all of the rainbows had a great winter. Seems like up higher the winters are harder on those fish so be extra careful with them.

The Shop will open April 2 and the cabins will open that week as well. Take advantage of the early season warmth, fishing, and good flows.

Superfly Info: We are looking forward to seeing all of you again and below are the start days and teams I have entered. If your name is not below or there is a problem with the start day you were assigned please call me I may be able to swap someone.

April 13 Starts: Team #3 Jason Tolliver/Barry Prahl, Team #4 Robert Lewis/Jimmy Flores Team #5 Al Lewis/Robert Garza Team #6 Jamie Marrufo/Dan Gomez #9 Pat Blankenship/David Blankenship Team #10 Paul Downey/Jesse Downey Team #14 Bill Adkison/Jim Wenger Team #15 Jeff Arterburn/Bob Silver Team #18 Eddie Jones/Joey Jones Team #19 Eric Pauly/Josh Buchanan Team #21 Brock Sherwood/Scott Sherwood Team #23 Brian Moran/Eric Troudt Team #24 Matt Cooper/ Steve Stone Team #27 Bill Long/ Dr. Don Duncan Team #26 Ed L’Heureux/Jarrett Sasser Team #33 Jon Harp/Rob Scott Team #17 Brooks Gentry/Josh McAffee

April 14 Starts: Team #1 Chris Webb/David Katalinas Team #2 Eric Wade/Tom Caldwell Team #7 Matt Rosett/Randy Rosett  Team #8 Dr. David Snyder/ Ben Caserez Team #11 Stan Quintana/John Collins Team #13 Mark Harenberg/Greg Wilkens Team #16 George Sanders/Brad Shuster Team  Team #20 Derik Drinnen/Chad Coontz Team #22 Gavin Sheets/TBA Team #25 Ivan Vigil/Kathy Vigil Team #28 David Allen/TBA Team #29 Troy Smith/Josh Curtis Team #30 Rod Ruybalid/Ernie Ruybalid Team #31 Joe Montoya/TBA Team #32 Steve Aldrich/ Dave Hayden #34 Vince Homer/TBA #35 Bill Lemon/ Shad Goldston #36 Brad Lengbeck/ Steve Segura

As I read thru the list of names it strikes me how many really great anglers come and how many great people show up. Please call me with any questions. We hope to add another 6 or 8 teams in the last few weeks but we’ll see.

February 23, 2012 Wow! It is even warmer in Mogote, Co. today! 47 degrees. Have not seen anything that warm for months. For all you guys and gals waiting for the Superfly details and entry to be out we have posted it on the home page. For those wanting a certain start day it will be first in on that so please get those in. Look forward to having all of you back and for those new, we welcome you. The snowpack is a little low which bodes well for the Superfly and all of the early fishing but a little to early to start making any snow predictions. We get a lot of moisture historically in March – May. I will be releasing more details on someone that I think all of you will really enjoy. Joseph Montoya. He is intelligent, articulate, and passionate about our sport and loves this area. He graduated from Colorado University with a degree in Economics and is very familiar with our river system here. He has been up in Aspen/Vail working with Gorsuch Outfitters there guiding and working in the store. He will be working with me in the shop and guiding. More details about him later.

For those interested in guiding, cabins, and getting to know us please feel free to call us at anytime. The shop will be open April 1.  We will be guiding a bit before that but we are excited to be adding some new products and Patagonia will be back in the store this year.

Another interesting aspect to our world here in Mogote this year is we will be opening a Real Estate office in the corner of the store. I am in the process now of getting my Real Estate license after years of people telling me I should have it. For years I have had clients ask if I could find them something on or close to the water. For years the people that have wanted to sell homes here have not had the connection to the real buyers – you! I will be offering the ability for the sellers of properties that would be of interest to fly fisherman and connecting them to you the angler. There will be more details for those of you wanting help getting something sold or for those of you that are looking for a property. I know this area well and I think I will be able to do a great job for you. Looking forward to that opportunity.

January 4, 2012  Happy New Year fellow anglers. It is that time of year when I begin to get a little cabin fever and miss standing in a river. I get fixes occasionally on the tailwaters but nothing like spring when the ice goes away and we get to do what we love again. Warmer air, clear water, fish that have not seen a fly in months, and the river to yourself most of the time.  For now I will be looking forward to some fishing with Bill Long on the 21^st and 22^nd on the San Juan and maybe a few rounds of golf.  For those planners out there the dates for this year’s Conejos Superfly will be April 13 – 15. There will be only one event this year and so there may be an issue with getting everyone in that wants in but the two event deal was a tough money losing proposition.  I will announce the exact details, format, cost and an entry in the next month or so but block that weekend if you can.

We will begin taking reservations for this next year soon and looking forward to getting a chance to fish with all of you again soon.  I am working on a guide system that I have never seen before but on a long run last weekend enough endorphins hit my brain at the same time to pop out a new idea. When I fish with someone there are so many things to teach and so much to absorb that it obviously does not happen in a day.  When I leave a client for a day I know that many of them go away with “wow, learned a lot, got to fish with a real fly fishing guide, check that off of my bucket list!”  I would like to create a system where there might be 4 or 5 levels of teaching. Today for example you are taking a level 1 guide. That includes the following 7 principles such as 1. Basic fly casting 2. Rigging / basic knots  3. Basic entymology 4. Proper landing/handling/releasing fish 5. Reading water/presentation 6. Basic principles and strategies for success. 7. Roll Casting/mending/line control. I am just making this up but I think it would make us better guides to have a better more organized process and I think it would also make fisherman realize that if they choose to they can fish/be guided thru the different levels to become more proficient, more  knowledgeable and better anglers. I know this is not a sport/hobby that we have to keep score and being competitive with it is not required in any way but most of us want to learn and get better. It deepens the enjoyment of our passion. Would love to hear your thoughts out there if you think this is something that has merit. At the beginning of each guide I try and get an idea of what you want out of your day and some days people want to just spend the day with their son or get out of the office and breathe. Totally understand, but some days you really want to be a sponge and soak it all up. That is when I think we could use this method of teaching. Some levels would have to be done a few times possibly because mastering some of these principles takes time and coaching.

On a different note I will be selling some rods, reels, waders, and misc. Some new some used. Ross has a very Limited Edition reel that is finished to look like a brown trout and is quite stunning. The finish also makes it more durable than the typical anodized finish. Here is a link to those reels. I only have a few of them so if you want one let me know. http://www.rossreels.com/brown-evolution/index.html 

Here is a list of rods/reels that are now for sale. I had a client buy a bunch of them and then get an injury and so I have them for sale again:

Sage ONE, Lightly used 5 weight with factory tube and sock. $450

Sage Z-Axis 6 weight 9’ Used Good Condition w/ factory tube/sock $345

Sage Z-Axis 5 weight 9’6” Used Good Condiont w/ factory tube/sock $325

Sage Z-Axis 4 weight 9’ Used Good Condition w/ factory tube/sock $325

Sage Z-Axis 3 weight 9’ Used Good Condition w/ non matching rod tube, factory sock $300

Scott S4S 6 weight 9’ Like new. Factory tube/sock. Fighting butt. Incredible rod. $365

Redington CPS 8wt 9’6” Like new Retails for $300 sell for $115.

Lamson Litespeed 2.0 2012 model. New $250 Fits 4-6wt

Lamson ULA FORCE 2SL Reel 2012 model. Retails for $459 sell for $360 Fits 4-6wt

October 31, 2011 So a little Conejos scoop today. We have been guiding and fishing all this last week. Fishing has been good and both browns and bows eating egg, stonefly, baetis  and some attractor nymph patterns. Had a group of 6 guys in the last several days and they just were a blast to guide and hang out with. They brought a suitcase full of fine cigars and I think that it went home empty! Came home the other night and noticed that the tv in cabin 4 was sticking in the window facing out! Looking closer were 6 guys sitting outside sipping whisky and offering up giant plumes of cigar smoke watching the World Series! For anyone else out there you need to either find  a group of guys like that, join a group,  create a group, or take the group you have and start some fun like these guys were into.  It must have been 35 degrees and they watched the whole game outside! Tonight the guides leave for the San Juan and we will be doing our best to get in some of the same laughs! Our cigars will be much cheaper but fun and fishing none the less!

The flows and weather have stayed perfect. Much more water than normal in the river and that has kept the fishing less spooky than normal.  I am still booking guide trips thru the middle of November and if the weather holds up the fishing  should be very good. If you get a chance to come would love to fish with you.  Troy and I are still here working. The shop will not have any regular hours for November. If you have some fishing needs we will still be blowing out some items in the shop. Give me a call and I will see if I can help.

Some sad news to let you know about today. Some of you may already know but Devan and Jasmine are going to Montrose, Co. to start a new fly shop. At this time they do not have a guide service but will be attempting to make there first million doing retail! They hope to start in January. Devan and Jasmine are both gifted anglers, guides and great people. They will be missed.

I have already begun looking to add 2 more people to our “Core” group. If you or anyone you know think they have what it takes to do that I want to hear from  you. You can call the shop number or send a resume via snail or email to the shop. Looking forward to talking to you.

One other thing. I must say that I am blow away and humbled by the support of all of you. Somehow me and our family and the guides have created a life here in Mogote, Co. When I looked at our shop last week it hit me all the things that we did not offer you.  I can tell you that the shop next year will have more of what you need and are looking for. I could make a huge list of what we did not have but (diversity of weights, more nets, high quality forceps, more tools, nick nacks, tee shirts, cigars, snacks, better lighting, more comprehensive lines from Simms, Fishpond, etc. More selection of rods, etc etc) suffice it to say that the shop will have much more of all of those things. We will not suddenly turn into a grocery store, liquor store, or gift shop. We are and will continue to be a hard core fly fishing store with fantastic hard working guides but we will offer you more.

I also want to start a trade in program. Any older fly rods you have that are still functional I want you to trade in! Here is the catch. The rods will go to younger, under-priveledged kids that would love to get a start in fly fishing.  You will be able to get yourself the new rod you want and help make a kids world better. I also want you to start letting me know of young people that could use a fresh start and some new equipment. I sell these kids .10 flies and give them free gear. I have some new Sage One’s in that you could trade gear in on and I also just opened Redington for next year. Am on the fence with Scott. If you have an opinion about Scott let me know. Happy Halloween!

I

October 17, 2011  I just wanted to let you know that the shop will be closed tomorrow. I am sorry for this but the guides are going fishing. We will be bringing video and digital cameras and looking for some big fish. If we are successful we will post a few. Don’t be surprised if they are not trout! I did have the chance to fish a few hours today and caught some beautiful fat browns and a couple large bows. Buckskin Cone, Barr’s Emergers, and a small Golden seemed to be the best bugs for me. For more detailed info please read the previous post.

October 12, 2011 I know it is the end of the season but a lot to say. I may not be able to post it all now but everything from some end of year blow outs and deals to a trip to S. Patagonia to some great fall fishing.

Did I say Fall already! Yes it is.  And it was cold and snowy last week. This week! Sixties and perfect. I have seen and heard reports of the fishing from outrageous to difficult . Some of the higher tribs seems like the Browns are almost done with the spawn, on the Conejos, they are thinking about it, staging, or spawning. We have had a very nice boost of water from the snows up high and the increase in flows out of Platoro. I have seen the fish eat a variety of bugs but small baetis and nymph patterns have been consistent. At times and in certain sections of the river more fish are looking for eggs, worms, and even some big stonefly patterns. I have not seen them in numbers but the October Caddis is out. It is a large bug with an orange body, about a #12. There are also some very large midge hatches especially up high as well as some sparse baetis. Last week I had a guy that was more of a dry fly purist and I was shocked to see that of all the bugs we tried that day the old Jim Fulton #12 House and Lots were the best! He must have been watching and laughing! I did try them the next day thinking hmm maybe we got something here but the Conejos gave a simple NO!

This winter we are looking at going back to see my friend  Luis Antunez at Salmo Patagonia Lodge in Chile. We are looking at January and I will forward the info to all of you and if you have ever thought about going it is special and since I have been there a couple of years ago they have added a small lodge/cabins an hour or so away from the main lodge in the middle of another trout and salmon mecca so there are more options. The prices have dropped dramatically from the time I started going there ($4950 4 years ago). Anyway, look for some info soon, I would love to have a couple of groups go down and I will plan on going with to make sure we are all having a good time.

Each year I buy a lot of rods. At the end of the year I sell them. Here are some of the rods I have that I will sell starting now.  They are all in good condition, have tubes and socks, and are 4 piece rods.

Sage Z Axis 5 wt 9’6” $370

Sage Z Axis 6 wt 9’ $370

Scott S4S 6 wt 9’ $400 Like new

Sage Z Axis 3 wt 9’ $350

Sage TXL-F 3 wt 7’10”  As new $335

Misc Ross Rods

We are still guiding almost every day and would love it if you can make a trip with us this fall. Jon, Troy, Devan, Paul, and Jasmine are still working. The shop will be closed towards the end of the month for “official hours” but we will continue to guide as long as the weather allows. Hope you can make another trip. Like a buddy I guided last week in one of the ugliest  blizzards I have ever fished in said. “The single most memorable day of fishing I have ever had”! Most days are gorgeous but even the ugly ones make great stories and good fishing!

September 27, 2011 Fall and all of the beauty that goes with it is here in force. Cool nights, colors on fire, clear cold water, and fish with all sorts of thoughts. Yesterday I had a guide trip that did half a day on the upper sections of Mogote CG and the other half at Rainbow Trout Ranch. (Yes if you want to fish it you can this fall with one of our guides) We caught a lot of fish and the fish at Mogote wanted stonefly nymphs and up higher most of the fish wanted a pink G String.  There were a lot of fish in some of the deeper slower water up high down low seemed like there were fish hanging in some fast water. The other guides have had  a chance to fish some and have all had stories of some pretty incredible days on the water. I took the family up to Kerr Lake this weekend for a family camping trip and got to fish some with my kids and had a great time. Felt for a while when the fish got on miniscule midges on the surface that I needed 8x tippet.  I could see the 6x tippet sitting on the glassy water from 40’! The kids spent hours digging thru the rocks on the lakes edges catching tons of scuds and a very strange looking Tiger Salamander. Looked in my box for some scuds and of course nothing but the scuds were thick and olive in about a size #12.

We will be tweaking our shop hours soon, October 1,  closing at 5:30 and opening at 8:00. Sundays 8:00 to 12:00. The flows and weather seem to be more consistent now and  each of the trips I have been going out on lately I have really looked forward to. Love the fall fishing and we seem to bring out a lot of good anglers to fish with in the fall and we get a chance to see some of the fish that spend the year under cutbanks but now have “other” things in mind and so I hope you get a chance to come out a few more times to get in some fishing. I also want to thank all of you for helping us in Mogote to Colorado to somehow have another great year. Thank you from all of us!

September 7, 2011 Where do I start? Lots of little tidbits of trivia, rumors, and have had some interesting days on the water.  One of the rumors floating around is from Platoro. There was a husband wife fishing the lake and the wife notice something drift in while they were fishing. After the sub conscience told her that out of the corner of her eye was something quite extraordinary! A 44” Brown Trout had died of old age! There were pictures taken and I have stopped at Skyline Lodge to find them but I have not been able to track them down. They vouched that the rumors where true but I will go to Gold Pan Acres and the other spots up there to see if I can findBrown was killed that was 31” in Ponderosa CG by someone with a more primitive mindset to it all but I have been hearing plenty of monster fish stories which are fun but of course take a lot of luck and skill and and and to have those run ins. The river now is low the water cooling with the nights of September feeling like fall. We seemed to have been able to skip hot weather almost completely this summer and now it is in the high 40’s low 50’s at night and highs from the 70 to 80. Still getting some rain and the valley is green and beautiful now. Some of the Aspens are showing little patches of color  but the big change will hopefully wait 2 or 3 more weeks. The browns are definitely beginning to show a change and I think with the cool nights here early may get to work sooner than we think. Some of the browns already look like they have been scraped up and tired from spawn. Maybe the with lower water now they will start sooner? I will be guiding for the next 5 days and will be keeping a keen eye to there behavior. I will say that through some sections the bigger browns seem to have left completely. Hmmmm. Maybe I need to be picking water differently and instead of looking for riffles with a very rugged substrate I should be looking for spawning habitat to find them???? Working in the shop today brought a whole bunch of tidbits like a fish killer comes in and starts looking for stonefly nymphs that he was finding in the stomachs of the fish he had been killing. (I did berate him at the archaic nature of coming here to kill wild fish and let him know that I would rather give up the $12.35 fly sale and be honest than smile at the bs stories) Anyway I did get a free lesson in digested trout food and a hint for tomorrow. Another group of really cool guys came in and said that the S. Fork had been good to them for some larger fish as well as several other groups that had been fishing some tribs and had caught a lot of beautiful fish up high. This morning early a couple guys from Wyoming showed up and began to announce to the shop what terrible fishing Colorado has and a great day in Co is 10 fish, in Wyoming 100 fish day is standard! They complained ruthlessly about licenses, access, size, social sec #’s, privacy,  the way it used to be etc. I was quite amused and asked them to come in when they were done to tell me how it was! They did! Said is was the same bs he said it was going to be – 23 fish! Oh cant wait to get back to guiding tomorrow!

The fishing has been all over the place. Some stretches like the Pinnacles upriver right now seem great and the lower river has been good but not good all day. And like I said it seems like the browns have begun to move. If you are not into fish then move. I try and use the definition of insanity to help me constantly change and be willing to listen to people, the river, and my own intuition to find fish. The tribs up high are great. Even the lower water is not keeping the fish that have a very limited growth season from eating hard.

We have the second shipment of the new Sage One! The first order sold out in 10 days and so if you are thinking of a rod this rod is truly awesome.  Come in and have a look see!

Devon Fooks of Portland, OR found a camera up high on the river and was honest enough to turn it in so if you are the one please call us to identify.

August 22, 2011 Oohh! Sorry for being away from the computer for so long (must admit I don’t miss it this time of year) but have gotten to enjoy a most enjoyable cool wet August. I was up high on one of the tribs a few days ago and it began to rain and then some hail and it felt like 48 degrees or so and I was wet wading and it hit me that for those of you in the middle of the drought and intense heat that might sound good despite the shivering! It has been beautiful with plenty of clouds, cool afternoons, and showers. The last few weeks I have been split between the tribs, upper Conejos, and the lower river.  Would love to throw some  Pike in there but that will come soon. With all the rain there have been times that are really wormy and others like yesterday that after a few hours we figured out they wanted to go small and we fished an #18 and #20 FB Pheasant Tail with no bead and caught some really nice browns and a few huge bows. Consistent fishing throughout the day until 5 or 6 when a front moved in and seamed to knock the fish off for a while or maybe a different bug?!  It had rained the night and day before I guided yesterday and I was even hoping to get to the river and see it a little off but crystal clear. No problem I think lets feed em’ worms anyway! No. Hoppers…………….Maybe! Stonefly nymphs………..no. Blonde Stontefly nymphs………no…..Salvations…….no. Jujubee midge…………no. Frenchies………….maybe………….ok so after  10 different fly changes I think there are some Rainbow’s around lets put on a #14 Lightning bug and see if we can catch a bow. A few casts later we are hooked up! Jumps into the air………………….Brown Trout 17”?????????????? Ok we are going small! #18 PT Wham! The rest of the afternoon fish ( or trees) ate all of my 6 PT’s and a few of the clients. One of the fish we caught in the afternoon was obscene. Probably only 20” but the girthiest pig rainbow I have ever seen. I will post those photos to the blog when we get the pics emailed. A fun day with the Blankenship brothers. Pat made sure we got some behind the scenes education about cigars, Cuba, wrappers and the current tobacco crop!

Right now the river is a bit lower than average but the fish seem to really love the cooler temps and we have been into fish all day when we are doing a good job at shifting quickly with the change in holding water and bugs. Sometimes it is a little frustrating when you are fruitlessly attempting to figure out what mood the fish just went into but I suppose that is the reason I love the river so much and why we sell so many bugs!!! These flows have opened up the Pinnacles water up to the meadow in a way that makes it much easier to get around and concentrates the fish more. You could find fish anywhere up there right. On the edges in the slower water, hiding I the pockets, or in the faster riffles. It will change all day but the water is clear and you should be able to dial in the water they are holding  in pretty quickly. We will hope that the moisture continues and keeps rivers like the La Jara, Los  Pinos, Lake Fork etc. healthy. The rest of the year looks like we will have enough water even if it will be less than average. The fish look good and are healthy. The huge push of anglers in July in the drainage has now gone and seems like life back to normal on the Conejos.  Seems like the fish  like the withdrawal of the human occupation that happened this in July. The other interesting thing and I will just have to keep an eye on the catch rate this fall but seems like the shoulder seasons to summer are much better fishing. I remember last November doing my last guide of the year with Bill Long and just killing it. This March Wayne Suggs came and fished with me for the first time and put a hurtin’ on the Conejos.  I can tell you it was not 74 degrees and we were not surrounded by flowers but the fishing early and late here is way better then I had ever thought it would be. For some reason these fish don’t seem to have feeding patterns that mimick the water temps like I do at other rivers. I have seen the fish feed like mad at 34 degrees and last week the temp was in the upper 60’s and I thought I am finally going to be able to go home but the the fish just kept eating. (missed dinner!) Anyway good to write for a moment and I hope you all get a chance to see the colors this fall and make some casts. We appreciate all of your support!

August 10, 2011 Troy and I had both guided a group of 4 today (All Californian’s, I love them, they are gregarious, fun, I can spot them from from a great distance!) and decided to stay low and fish the lower river and see what we could figure out. A great day. I netted about 40 fish and saw 60 or so fish hooked. Fun to watch.  The flows are down just under 200 which makes it very easy to get around but still plenty of water to not have to sneak around to much. Troy’s group did about the same and both of us had fish eat a fly called a Robin really hard early.  I don’t fish it much but Josh Curtis told me this am that I should have one (or 6)! Thank you! By 11:00 they were off of it and we took a while to find some other flies that worked. The worm, chironocone, and a golden Jimmy Leg was good in the afternoon as well as 6 or 8 fish eating a hopper. By 6:00 pm the water was about 69 degrees and the bright sun was in the fishes eyes and I thought we were done but we hooked another 10 fish in the last run of the day.  Devan went up to watch some friends fish the on the upper river just below the Pinnacles fish  a couple of evenings ago and saw an incredible caddis hatch the last hour of light and the fish were up on them and fed like mad into the dark. Maybe we get need to sell a day and a half guide trip and start at 5:00 am and end at 9:00  pm! I think we would see some amazing stuff. I think the fish know when we humans like to drink coffee and cocktails! Those beverages might be costing us some fish! Anyway the Conejos has some huge stoneflies coming out and leaving huge cases on the rocks at night and some caddis late and during the day hoppers and some huge stones have worked well as dries. The tribs right now are low and the ones up high (at 10,000’ elevation) are very good right now while tribs like the La Jara and Los Pinos and can be tough.  When landing fish right now in the afternoons please be additionally careful and don’t take them out of the water because they can get pretty stressed. A couple of days ago I guide on one of the higher tribs and it was fantastic. There were some mayflies coming off and when they were out the fish seemed very interested but for most of the day we caught most of the fish on droppers. Because of the consistent rains we have had the worm has been back on the menu and I don’t fish a day on any river here without it on for a part of the day. The number of people here has dropped dramatically and the pressure on the river has let up. Nice to see the fish get a break and I would suspect that that should stay that way from here on out. Thank you all for your support!

August 5, 2011 All the guides have worked every day for many weeks and we all thank you. The Conejos in the last several weeks has changed from a diverse and prolific bug factory to summer with a more mixed bag of fishing. We have spent a lot of time on the tributaries lately and they have been good to great. The Conejos has been tricky on some days and some days just fantastic. When the browns come out it can be really really good right now and when they don’t it can be more tricky than you were hoping for. Both Jasmine and I guided the Hamilton several times in the last week and it has been very good for larger fish. Many on the dry some on a streamer some on Jimmy Legs, tan chenille worms, Salvation’s, and some small stuff! Meadow has had some great hatches and the flows still perfect but very complex some days trying to figure out which but they want. Pocket water below the meadows more predictable with a lot of good days. I will post more later but wanted to check in. The guides schedules now have some slots open so for those of you wanting to spend a day with us we would love to see you! We will be posting some of the pics from the last week on the blog soon!

July 17, 2011 Forgive us right now for being slow to get some info out for all of you, we have been under the gun and all of us working 7 days a week. For those of you waiting for the water to look tamer how about 160 cfs out of Platoro and 312 down here at the shop!  I had a chance to guide Brett Weinstein yesterday and Dr. Snyder and his son today. What a pleasurable couple of days with no brainstrain and a real Cohiba with some ridiculous ring gauge did not hurt either.  Doc started out the day immediately with a pair of nice browns then a 20” bow from under some willows in a braid! His son was hooked up on a #16 Iron Lotus dropper on a nice brown that blew up the hole and we headed for the main braid. The fishing was slow for an hour or so in the main channel and we tried dredging and caught some smaller fish but slow. 11:30 hit and we started to see mayflies and we had a several hours of great fishing. Jamie ran thru 8 nice fish on one side while dad on the other was giggling at every trout. I told Jamie to move up and try and get some flies under the root wad/willow upriver 100 yds and within a couple of casts was chasing a fish downriver in heavy water. Landed a 19” brown and went back in with some more casts and hooked a huge brown on a CDC Red Quill. Spit the hook. Dad was fishing a bamboo 4 wt and so I tied on a Quill Gordon which seemed only fitting. Fish liked the sparse cdc and old school flies. Had lunch and they were about 8 fish into the afternoon in 20 minutes.   Today we got clouds and the fishing seemed to stay good for a lot longer. We saw stones, drakes, and some red quills and caught most of our fish on the dry. Again finding the magic dropper that they just love has seemed elusive to me the last couple of weeks. Maybe I am paying back some of the nymph JuJu I had going on in June?! This is a rumor but some guy was parading around a 28” brown caught in Mogote CG yesterday and today some kid came into the shop with a photo of a 27” female brown caught on a blue Copper John!!!!!!!!!!!!! Devan said it was an easy 10 to 12 pounds and I don’t know what is going on but in all the years I have guided and fished here I have not heard or seen so many legit big brown trout. Again on the trip today we hooked one that was between 22 and 23” I hope that whatever the magic is going on right now that it keeps up. Last week alone every guide had clients land fish 20 or bigger and if you check out Devan’s blog you can see a few. I would say that when I started guiding here that never happened and I cant remember a client landing a 20” brown in the Conejos. This year I bet we have landed 3 dozen fish that size and hooked many more. I know that for some of you the Conejos has been tough and I would say that it has been tough on all of us at times but let it make you better and go deeper rather than write this river off as  “ _____________  “ Today we had a good day and hooked about 45 fish but there was public water that we could have fished today and doubled that I think and there is public water that we could have fished today and did maybe half that well or worse. I told the guys I fished with today and I think it is a good thought that on the Conejos “Everything Matters”!  Tippet size, leader length, rod wt, presentation, bad habits, timing of hookset, depth, timing, fly selection, color, clothing/hat color, fluorocarbon, drift, drift, drift, drag, drag, drag, confidence, maybe even clean living JuJu! Do these things matter on other rivers? Of course they do but sometimes here I think it matters more. Anyway you get my point. On a guide all of us try to be as polite as control freaks as we can because we know how important it is. I watch casts all day but most I am in some way watching but not really because in some way it is highly unlikely to produce interest.  One fly lands perfect, drifts perfect, over the  right water and all of a sudden I am glued to the drift knowing that I am likely about to see the some magic. I am totally rambling but just trying to not let you get down on yourself or the river but to be challenged!

I was told today that the new John Gierach book has a chapter on the Conejos based on the time that he came and spent with us and stayed in the cabins. I have not read it but he has always been my literary hero and after reading his books for years will be surreal to read about this hole in the wall place in Mogote, CO. If you have not had a chance to read his stuff give it a try. My wife and I used to read them on long trips and have belly laughed many times.

For those of you thinking about booking guide trips please if you know the date call us. We have a lot of dates already full.

Well its late and I have another 2 person full day tomorrow at 8:00 and looking forward to fishing some new water and sipping a good cup of coffee on the drive!

July 7, 2011 I just took a few moments to look over Devan’s blog (button on the home page) and he is doing a great job. It made me realize how much better we could share with you some fun parts of our days on the water. Me and the rest of the guides have had some people landing really nice fish but yesterday Devan captured the image in seconds and minutes later is was “live” online! We will try and continue to use photography to share life here in Conejos County. If the rivershed here was a ski area we would post in our ski report  15” new, powder/packed powder conditions and 90% open! Perfect weather on the way! The only streams that are still a little high right now are the ones above 10,000 feet. The others are good and all but the Pinnacles section (to high to safely fish) of the Conejos is fishing really good. In a week I switched from catching 99% of the fish on nymphs to 70% of the fish on dries. Very buggy with Drakes, pmd’s, Mahoganies, Caddis, and some Golden’s up higher. I am sure there are hatches going on on every stream in the whole county and to be honest we don’t know what they all are but armed with a nice box of flies you should have a chance to see fish feed on the surface or near on about 200 miles of water. The water level on the lower river is around 600 cfs and the fish are loving the lower water for feeding on the surface. Seems like some days we have had some very selective fish on the surface and other days like today Troy said they ate several different dries. Josh had a 1 person half day today and hooked 40 fish (browns) on dries this morning about 2 miles from the shop. I had a good morning yesterday with two of the Sherwood’s and we had some really big fish eating early and landed some nice fish had others straighten hooks and then landed a really nice brown in the 21 to 22” range. Devan posted the photo on the blog. My best flies have been the Meaty Drake, Oops, Salvations, Superfly, Caddis emergers, Frenchies, and  a #14 red bodied attractor fly when the hatches are sparse. We have not been on the tribs as much the last few days but last week guided some of them and they were pretty special.

June 29, 2011 ***A couple of things for those concerned with the fire in New Mexico and smoke here. As of yesterday at midnight from what I understand all of the National Forest areas in New Mexico are closed. I only hope the people fighting the fire in NM got the rain we got today. I also hope that for the sake of the fisheries there that they get a wet summer and the fires go away and the fish have plenty of water to swim in. We have not had smoke issues here although occasionally if the wind is wrong we will see some  but has not been an issue here. In this area we would love some more rain but are not in any fire ban or are any of the public properties here closed in any way. I fished one of the tribs today with Dr. Tom and had a wonderful day. Amazed at the health of the fish.  Very buggy with PMD’s, Caddis, Stones, and a few Drakes. The easiest two guide days on record so far. Number of birds nest untangled in two days – 0! Fun! Most of our guides were not on the Conejos today but from what I heard when I got in it was very buggy. It depends on where you are on the river but everything from PMD’s, to Mahogonies,to Goldens, to Drakes. Clarity is good and flows have dropped to around 900.

A couple of months ago everyone was lamenting the pitiful snowpack and what a short season it will be with no water. Tonight I had dinner with the guides and the conversation was the opposite. Where did all the water come from? We did get a chance to talk to someone from the water board here and they said we were at 95%. May was wet and cold and postponed the runoff so that seems to be what has made the flows higher than we guessed. I think it will make the Conejos have a normal season of water and if we can get some rain to keep the fire hazard down it should be a great year. Here are some thoughts about the week to come as well as some of the scoop from being on the water this week!

This week we have all been on the water a lot and I wish I could write a report just for those of you curious, interested, looking for info or whatever and be specific as far as flies and all of the details but we have realized that now there are 7 guide services advertising trips on the Conejos. One of them has access to guide on 2 small stretches of water for stocked Rainbows but the rest as far as we know have no guiding permits or licenses in Colorado. We have also talked about ridiculous sounding numbers in places like the meadows below Platoro and I understand that if you have fished it and walked away frustrated like almost every single group does right now it seems like a chest puffing bunch of bs! I am sure those other guide services are thinking the same thing! They have been fishing some of the same water! I wish in hind sight that I would have the clients write blogs. I try to be as objective as I can in letting you all know what is going on. We are here to help you enjoy and learn and help in any way we can and I hope you all have found us helpful in some large or small way. I can say that almost every ridiculous sounding number of fish we have caught this month has not been to stocked fed daily rainbows or on private never fished ranches (except today, we did fish a private property for wild brown trout!) and that they have been wild fish in big water. I would also say that if I had guided the meadow section 10 years ago at 632 cfs that I would run the gamut from a total skunk to a couple of fish. This last month the average 2 person trip with zero to moderate expertise has hooked 30 to 60 fish a day in the meadow. I may see if I can get some clients to be able to give their perspective and that would be an interesting angle on what is going on.  I can tell you that we do sometimes have slower days and that sometimes we do not figure it out as fast as we would like or the fishing is off due to whatever.   I had a day today that we hooked about 35 fish but it seemed like a brutal day. We never got into a groove. Never felt like the big fish came out and there were bugs everywhere. Nice Drake hatch for the first time, Mahogony’s like mad, golden stones, caddis, yellow sallies and hardly a fish rise to them anywhere. Troy was on a half day one mile upriver from me and they destroyed it! Fish blowing holes in the surface for several hours and and one guy caught almost 40 fish! Big Browns! He gets back and has that SIG on his face and assumes I had the same day. Asks “So how many fish were on Sandovals?” I had that blood sugar starved mosquito bit not much of a grin on my face and said it was tough! He of course thought I was joking, and proceeded to fill me in. Jasmine fished the Hamilton and fished in swarms of Golden’s and did great. What happened on my stretch that no fish were rising???????? All I can say is it is a very intimidating river at times and a tough one to figure out. All the JuJu I felt I had up high seemed to be hard to recreate! We did land a big 20” fish in a tough back eddy and some other nice fish but most of our fish were smaller. Troy up river lands 6 or 8 wild browns 18” or  bigger on dries in a morning and an extra 30 to throw in! Fun! I think as this lower river continues to drop it will become an awesome bug factory! Tomorrow morning I will be on a different stretch of water trying to figure it out all over again but I know that in my box will be some Drakes, Golden’s, Mahogonies, Caddis, and maybe a GString or two!  Hope you get a chance to make some casts soon!

June 21, 2011 A quick report tonight. Brain not coherent enough to get to creative but I have been guiding a lot lately and for the most part just incredible fishing up high, the La Jara, and some of the tribs. Today I caught the Meadow on a descending flow and that always seems to make things more tricky. Did a morning and afternoon guide and both caught nice fish but not the ridiculous fishing I was spoiled with earlier. It was hard this morning driving up the canyon to fish up high with the lower river looking so good. Tonight it dropped below 1000 cfs and should begin the start of some incredible fishing down lower on the river. Looking forward to see what she has to offer this week. Salmon fly adults should finally be tied to the end of your leader. Goldens should start soon and caddis are going crazy. Drakes today the lower La Jara and who knows what happened today on the Los Pinos but I know is was good! Wondered for a while if the Conejos would ever loose the full head of steam she had going for a while. Los Pinos hit 199 when I checked and so a lot of options and miles of river back on the option table. Seems only right to give the Meadow fish a break for a while! Hope to see you in the shop. For some more info and the scoop on some local stuff read the last couple of reports if you have time.

June 14, 2011 It has been fun lately for me and the rest of the guides because we have been able to spend a lot of time on the water. (guiding). If you just were looking at numbers right now on a computer and started assuming what was going on you might miss what was actually going on. The water up high in the meadow has been above 600 cfs for a while and in the past that was unfishable. Amazing when you challenge all of the numbers you have in your head as to what should fish good and then go and see if you were right. Well today Jasmine guided the Hamilton Property and she did great and I would have told you that it was to big. Wrong. Sunday I got a chance to fish with Bill Long and a friend of his and it was amazing to see the fish eat so hard. In the ripping fast water we caught fish after fish eating little stuff in the #18 size range. Did not think it could fish better and then Monday a father son from Midland and it got better. At the end of the day we asked ourselves how many fish did we just hook? Not sure and it does not matter but unbelievable. Dozens. Tom Rossing fished the tribs the last couple of days and he did as good or better. Lower Conejos Troy has been fishing and he is doing well. The water clarity on the lower river finally looked like it is getting better so we may get to use some of these enormous dry flies yet! The planets should be conspiring against us with a full moon and big water but somehow not the case.

The Salmon flies continue to emerge each night and they seem restricted to the lower river below Ponderosa but to be honest I wont be under the 17 bridge tonight  in the middle of a 15 in a row run looking for bugs crawling out at midnight! The Los Pinos looks like it is finally loosing some steam and the clarity is good. South Fork today was  a little big but Jasmine caught fish in it on the guide trip so soon. For those of you looking for guide trips the sooner you can get on the books the better. We are running just the very core group of guides and those days are filling up quickly.  If you get a chance check out Devan’s blog. The icon is on the home page and is a fun and totally different angle. I think he put up some info on the guides but for those that know nothing about some of the guides but I thought I would put up some stuff of what is going on lately with the guides.  Would also want to congratulate one of our guides Josh Curtis who just made the U.S. Fly Fishing Team! He is a gifted angler and a great guy. Jasmine Ence won the Best of the West Fly Casting Championship in Salt Lake, Devan was 5^th. Devan and Jasmine were also asked to be on the Pro Staff for SA and Ross. Jon Harp was invited by Simms to be one of the Simms Pro Ambassador Guides. World Records Jon Harp and Devan Ence. Troy is one of the guys that should be on everyone’s test team, pro staff and US Fly Fishing Team but seem much more

June 9, 2011

This is a little add to the post on June 7. Last night the Conejos River spit out its first big adult Salmonflies down here by the shop. We thought the over under date would be the 13^th! Well what do we know. The big bugs should start pouring out of the river over the next week and be around for a while. The temps are supposed to be in the mid 70’s for the next week and I would guess that the Conejos will start to run out of steam and the clarity will come back. As soon as that happens expect the fish to start looking up especially on the edges. For those thinking about hiring a guide June is filling up quickly so give us a call.

*Sidenote: I know I am going to be crucified by some for this but every once in a while I get the buzz of a property or house that is for sale on the river before it ever goes to the Real Estate agents and I always have people I fish with asking me if I know of anything. Well I do! 28 acres with house and outbuildings and .5 miles of the Conejos River. Ballpark price is $320,000! The house is not any big place and there is nothing fancy about the buildings but a great property with river in a perfect location. If I was not on a fishing guide wages these days I would love to have it but not going to happen right now. It is on the lower river. If you are interested call me. (719) 250 7122.  Jon

As I watched the Conejos get big I thought to myself I knew it. I knew that the Conejos would come up. All the talk that there would be no runoff was not true. That the cool May we had had pushed the water back. Etc. Etc. But I must admit I was more than a little surprised to see 1600cfs! Today they are releasing 600 out of the dam! Wow! Yesterday Devan, Jasmine, Troy, and myself went and fished the meadow at 511. I hope that somehow the world will continue to let those fish live because they are getting big and fat. The stomachs were distended and I don’t know how the fish could fit anything else in. Just amazing how hard they have been eating and how fat they are so early in the year. We caught most of the fish on annelids, cream flashbangs, ruby’s, and red juju bees. It took a while to figure it out and all of us had been catching some fish and then I saw Troy walking downriver towards me and I knew that was good news! “What are they eating T-Roy?” “Annelids!” he says. Off course the bug I had not been able to find in my box that morning and the box that Devan had a client end up with so of course Troy coffed up 2 for me and I was off and running. Jasmine showed up and I took a red g-string worm and cut the ends off burned the tips and gave it to her. Wammo! We were into fish hard for a while and got a little video but you almost have to break your rod and have nothing to do to get motivated to film instead of fish when you get a chance like we had. Anyway the La Jara and Lake Fork are clear and beautiful right now and fishing really well. The lower Conejos I think is off the grid for a week or so as well as the Los Pinos. If you get a chance Devan has a very cool blog started right now and the button is on the home page. It has pics and should be getting videos as well and it another perspective of life from the middle of nowhere! Tomorrow I am heading to one of the most remote sections of the La Jara. A section I only know of one other person ever fishing and I will be loaded for bear and ears on and really looking forward to some silly 3 wt stream fishing. The last 3 times I have been there I have seen bears and there are cat tracks everywhere but I am headed down deep into the canyon below where I normally fish. The stoneflies are coming off over there the last few days and hopefully will get to throw dries all day long.

A couple of days ago I guided a group in the meadow up high that had fished it the day before. When they found out they were going to fish the same water again they were not excited at all. I understand and I asked them how they did and out of a group of 6 most did not touch a fish. At the end of the day I think all of them realized how important a good guide is. For years many had been struggling with “habits” that were making fishing hard and unproductive. By the end of the day they looked like totally different anglers and were all tired and beaming! They hooked and caught big wild brown trout on the Conejos River which does not give it up easy as many of you know. That afternoon instead of being frustrated and having aching shoulders I heard things like “DOUBLE!” “I learned more today than…..” “These are the biggest brown trout I have ever seen” Etc. Etc. I am not saying this to poke my chest out at all. All of our guides would have done the same thing. What I am saying is simple. Most of you do not have the time we have or the years on a river like this so if you can take advantage of that then do it. It is like trying to teach yourself how to golf. Teach yourself how to rock climb. I also here so many groups come here to fish the Conejos a couple of days then the Arkansas then the San Juan or wherever. Most hire guides other places but not here. I can tell you I can give you 4 patterns and tell you to get to the Kiddie Hole or the Cable Hole early and start fishing by yourself and you will catch some fish. ( I am not saying the SJ is easy or to not hire a guide) If you get sent to the meadow below Platoro? What a tough place at times and that is where you can learn so much catch some beautiful fish and send your fishing to the next level. Fun!

Another thought here and if you are offended I am sorry but I encourage you if you are one of those that loves the outdoors and wild fish then be an advocate not a simple minded user. Plug in the mind and if you are hungry for fish then take them from an ecosystem asking you to do so. If you are fishing a place where you realize how special a 19” fat wild brown is then give it a nod and a thank you and put it back. The world does not need one more user. I have been blessed to wake up in an industry where fly fisher people seem to truly be a special group. A bunch of people who on average I could leave my wallet on the counter of the shop all season and have a really good shot at being there when we locked the doors in November! Maybe some education at times would be good but a bunch of great people. Here are a couple things I see almost daily. Anglers will fight a fish, most of the time much longer then necessary, and net the fish and carry the fish around out of the water in some sort of primitive gesture of capture! No need to ever take the fish out of the water except to take a picture. If you are one of those with that habit then maybe its time to do a favor for the trout. The other daily occurrence is that I see anglers on a stretch where there is almost no one fishing jump right in front of another group. This is always puzzling. I can tell you that on the Conejos or any of the streams here if you have been jumped by another group your day is ruined. Please out of respect for your fellow anglers give them atleast .75 mile.  On a small stream leave them a mile. Go to them if you meet up with them on the stream and have a pow wow and divvy it up.

May 31, 2011 Well it was bound to happen and it did over this last weekend. The river went from 400 to 800 to 1200 on this lower end. For those fishing up high with the right stuff it that was good for the lower end not so much. Warmer temps let the snowfields let go of some water and so some of the rivers like the Los Pinos and lower Conejos will be off the grid for a few days. The upper river of the Conejos and streams like the La Jara and the Lake Fork should be fantastic. I was out with Bill Long on Saturday and started on the lower end and it was already dark and caught some fish. Moved up river a bit and watched the river darken throughout the day. We still caught fish in the middle of the junk but the 40mph wind in our face made it a little stout to survive and get a drift. This morning after everyone went home I hate to report that the wind is gone and looks like a perfect week to get in some fishing. Had a chance with Bill Long to walk the new property we leased on the lower river and wow! It is going to be really nice. We also have the 4 properties upriver of that one to make one very large stretch of river. I have always heard the big brown rumors from the lower river stretches and now I get to see why. It has incredible habitat and a lot of natural structure as well as quite a bit of rockwork that was done years ago. Look forward to throwing big flies on that stretch soon. If I was guessing I would say with the lower flows we expect soon that the bugs will be out a bit early this year. Maybe June 7 to the 12^th? From that point on the Conejos River should be a bug factory and the dry fly fishing better than normal. The Los Pinos which has a pretty awesome June stonefly normally comes a week before the Conejos River salmonfly but this year with the cool May and now warm air has brought up the flows to the point that they may come the same time as the Conejos? We will see but expect these rivers to mellow soon. Today Devan is headed to U. La Jara with a photographer and T-Roy is venturing to Lost Lake on his DRZ400 bike. Hope they all make it back! Look forward to seeing you all soon!

May 25, 2011 Had a chance today to go out with Dr. Tom and fish one of the tribs and what a great day. It was chilly but had a really nice baetis hatch about noon and got to see some big healthy fish. Reminds me that I dont get off the Conejos enough! Seems like every day I do and guide or fish one of the tribs it reminds me of why I fell in love with this place. Today our best fish was a taped 18.5" brown  and there were plenty others that were 15 to 17 on a little bitty stream in the middle of nowhere! The fish were already fat and looked like they had a great winter. One day I am going to find a way to get an underground camera under the water in the dead of winter and find out how in the how those fish survive 30 below nights and minimal food for months and come out of winter looking like the picture of health. Sometimes when I think about the fish in winter I get scared for them. And then I walk the river in the early spring after the ice is off and the water is crystal and my heart skips often when I cannot see any fish. And then one day they are all out and happy and eating and I wonder what kind of supernatural thing I am watching but not seeing! If I could get someone to pay me to figure it out I would indeed try! Anyway, we suspected that May would be good and the water levels would stay fishable but I did not guess it would go down like it has. If it looks like by looking at the graphs that runoff is over I dont think it has. We have had a lot of clouds and cool temps that have kept the snow fields from letting loose and so the river has stayed down for mostly that reason and not because the snow pack is low. Although it is below average I think the first warmer days we will see the river come up some. Nothing to scary but more water soon. Of course that is my unscientific observation and nothing else but when I see Elk, South, Middle, and Treasure streamflows as low and clear as they are and a pile of snow higher up I just think most is yet to come which is I suppose really good for extending the good water later into the year. If you are coming to fish the Conejos soon expect some great conditions on most of the water here and also expect to have some ammo in your box. What they are excited about lately seems to change often. I can tell you that they may eat stones, G'Strings, midge stuff, streamers, small baetis patterns etc. Some will depend on if the water is going up or down. Up look for more worm water, down look for smaller stuff. Consistent flows look for stones and trail a midge larvae or PT or RS2 type bug. Snow/Rain fish have been eating steamers out of the boat really good. Natural and White colored steamers seem to be the most effective. Look forward to seeing all of you. We also are very excited to let you guys know that we just picked up another mile of the Conejos River just downstream of the shop. This is big brown trout water and some of the least fished water on the river. It will be a guide only deal but many of you are going to get to fish some pretty special wild brown trout water. We are working on another mile as well but premature to make any announcement. 

May 20, 2011 I think I said put away the coat to soon. Spent the last couple of days guiding in the snow! Ouch. The fish did eat and the last couple of days those guys were tough but they caught fish. Guided just below Hamilton the first day and that was good. Fish seemed to be mostly keyed in on the worm while yesterday with the flows descending fish went off the worm and ended up eating small midge stuff. The #18 cream Flashbang and #18 cream Miracle Nymph were by far the best bug in the meadow. 6 miles below me Troy was guiding and the golden stone was the best pattern. Seems like we may have lift off on some wild Rainbows back in the Conejos. They have been frequenting the nets in the section from the Pinnacles to the dam mostly but they are gorgeous and come in all sizes. With warmer temps coming expect the flows to bounce back up some because right now they are very low for this time of year 420 in Mogote and 128 in Platoro. 

May 10,2011 Sorry or the absence the family went to Cozumel for 8 days and had a great time drinking mojitos, eating fresh seafood, catching bonefish and playing golf with my son. As beautiful as it is there I was so looking forward to being home. The temps are getting warmer and I think I may be able to skip heavy jackets soon. Flows today out of Platoro are 117 cfs and about 400 here in Mogote. All in all cant be a better flow for middle May.  I think we will continue to have these type of conditions for most or all of May. The stonefly is a big deal on the lower river and as you go up the worm is more on the menu as well as some other small stuff and red stuff below the dam depending on the releases. We still have some slots in the cabins and the guides are all very excited about being on the river again so if you get a chance come and fish with us. May is truly a sleeper month and one of our favorite times for big fish. 

April 20, 2011 The Superfly Am Edition wrap is below but just wanted give a brief fishing report. Devan guided the past two days and Monday was decent and yesterday really good. The water color is a little off and we are fishing an assortment of bugs including the Salvation, Jimmy, GString, Tungstone, and a Sculzilla. Flows are 270 or so here in Mogote and 57 out of Platoro. Perfect flows to fish the entire river system. You will run into some snow drifts around Platoro but nice to know there are still some snow drifts out there! Hope to see you all here.

April 20, 2011 After watching the Conejos Superfly this year my reaction was, "You cant make this stuff up!" We had Chamber of Commerce weather and flows and it was alot of fun to watch and not have to fish. There were plenty of moments of head scratching and moments that were so good they videotaped it in realtime just in case no one believed them! The team of Coontz and Drinnen came from 10 pts back and racked an incredible 95.5 pts the final day for a 2 day total of 160. The second highest ever one day score. The bugs that the fish seemed to love on the lower river were totally different than up high. The team of Pauly/Buchanan had the seins out and had identified what they found was the bug the first day and put themselves in second after day one primed for another win and they restocked for the last day. Only problem. Fish seemed to change meals and they had to scramble to figure it out again. Last years winner took a tough beat the first day and did well enough to stay close to the lead and drew RMAC the last day. We thought they might be in the drivers seat but as we watched they caught fish but we feared not fast enough. Up really high by Rocky Mt. Lodgea beat  that scored a meager 33 pts the first day Drinnen and Coontz were starting the day with cheap domestic beer and a #20 Yong Special. Why??? But they did and they caught brown after brown and were quickly turning the tournament on its ear. Down low on the river the team that were the leaders after the first day, Beasley and McVay,  and had turned our Upper Hamilton into a very impressive 75.5 pts were struggling to find the fish. At about 3:00 they were only 4 fish into the day and it all looked like both of the top 2 teams after the first day had been overcome. Meanwhile on RMAC the team of Troudt/Moran were rolling fish. Alot of them. The team father son team of miles and miles were steadily landing browns and turned Conejos C.G./Lower Rocky Mt. Lodge into a very nice 63 pts. By the end of the day when we were waiting for everyone alot of strong scores were coming in when Coontz/Drinnen walked into Conejos Ranch they were about 2