| To book a Motel Room, Boat Storage or Born "N" Raised Guide Trip call 505-632-2194 |
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Fishing Report May 19, 2013 |
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 The NM 2013-2014 fishing season
begins April 1, 2013 and new fishing licenses are required.
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Spring
High Flow Bureau of Reclamation San Juan Flow Info |
At the public meeting in Farmington on
4/23/13 the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) announced that it is very
unlikely that a Spring High Flow will take place for 2013. The
current low status of the reservoir and the immediate weather
forcast indicate a probability of a Spring High Release to only be
about 10%. Info from the meeting is at the BOR website below: http://www.usbr.gov/uc/wcao/water/rsvrs/mtgs/nmcurrnt.html |
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Restaurant - El Pescador Closed for the Winter Season |
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The San Juan features year round consistent temperatures out of Navajo Dam providing a fabulous Four Season Fishery! Water temps are in the low 40's near the dam providing a consistent environment for insect growth and development. Fish have access to midges and annelids year round in addition to more seasonal mayfly, caddis, terrestrials and golden stonefly nymphs and adults. |
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NM Free Fishing
Days: You may fish without a license on two scheduled
Saturdays/year as part of National Fishing Day & National
Hunting & Fishing Day -- generally the first Saturday in June &
the last Saturday in September. Please consult the NM Fishing
Proclamation for exact dates &/or changes.
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BOR Stream Improvement
Project - Project Completed Jan 2012
Beginning Oct. 10, 2011 the
BOR will begin a $300,000 habitat improvement project on the “
Braids” section of the San Juan River. The first phase of the
project will encompass changes to the Rex Smith Wash and address
the silting problems associated with that area. During this
time, the trail to the upper reaches of the river will be
inaccessible from the berm area of the Texas Hole parking lot.
In order to reach those areas of the river, you will have to
access them by wading upriver from the Kiddie Hole Area, or from
the BOR parking lot, located near the dam. The second phase of
the project will begin sometime in November and the “Braids”
area will be closed to fishing for about 30 days, until early
December. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by
January 8, 2012. There will still be plenty of water to fish
during this time and upon completion, this project will add more
fishable water and improved habitat for the trout in that area.
We will be posting further information via our weekly fishing
reports on our website.
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As always, we truly value our faithful customers and look forward to meeting new fishers daily to the San Juan -- Please stop in for a visit and share your fishin' stories. We'll be scoutin' and fishin' the river to provide you with the most current river info. |
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2013 and 2008-2012 Historical Flow Data for the San Juan River  The San Juan Flow Graph data above are provided by Abe's Motel and Fly Shop and Aspire Computer Solutions, LLC as information to fishermen/women and other interested parties. The data are drawn from the USGS public records, some of the data are provisional and may be subject to change. In some cases CFS values were missing and estimated CFS Average values were substituted based on available Gauge readings. The flows in the San Juan river below Navajo Dam are controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) in compliance with existing law and authorized purposes. As is the case with many other western waters, some flows are influenced by system wide efforts to protect endangered species. Water is naturally limited and always in high demand in the Southwest, many competing entities are present staking claims to San Juan water and by complying with previous agreements/laws, the BOR has limited flexibility in how flows are maintained. The reservoir at Navajo Dam was constructed from 1958 to 1962 as part of the Colorado River Storage Project. There were two important provisions to the congressional authorization to build the dam, one included a substantial diversion of water from the San Juan Basin through the continental divide to the Chama river in northern New Mexico to supply additional waters to New Mexico cities along the Rio Grande. These flows are not shown on the graph as the San Juan Chama Project water is drawn from the system before it enters Navajo Reservoir. The second provision set aside a substantial amount of San Juan water to provide for the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP). The NIIP project is intended to irrigate approximately 110,600 acres of Navajo farmland south of the San Juan River. The water for the NIIP project is drawn from the reservoir through a diversion headworks near the south side of the dam and moves water to the NIIP Project through approximately 60 miles of tunnels and canals south of the river, bypassing the river. As a result of the San Juan Chama Project and the NIIP Project waters no longer being present in the main river channel, the San Juan has been a smaller river since the dam was constructed. In recent years flows on the San Juan have been significantly influenced by the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (SJRIP) which recommends minimum flows (500 - 1000 cfs) in a targeted critical habitat downstream for two endangered species, the Colorado Pikeminnow and the Razorback Sucker. The critical habitat area is between Farmington and Lake Powell. When sufficient water is available a short period of high water (5,000 CFS) is delivered to the river in spring to mimic historical flows in the interest of improving downstream habitat for the Endangered Species. The main contributors to flow in the Endangered Species Habitat area are the San Juan and the Animas rivers. As the Animas is a free flowing river, flows from the San Juan are adjusted up and down to try to meet the recommended flows in the Critical Habitat Area. For fishermen/women the lower flows of 2013 provide access to more of the river. For those on Guided Trips, the river still fishes well in drift boats. The BOR provides information on the current status of the reservoir at Navajo Dam at the following link: http://www.usbr.gov/uc/water/crsp/cs/nvd.html |
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Abe's Motel & Fly
Shop has been an Orvis Authorized Dealer since the 1980's |
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| Copyright © 2010 Abe's Motel & Fly Shop All Rights Reserved Phone: 505-632-2194 Highway 173 Navajo Dam, NM 87419 | |||||||||
"If
you done it, it aint' braggin.' “I’ve seen that quote and others
very similar to it, attributed to a number of people that run the
gamut from Bear Bryant, Dizzy Dean, and of all people, Walt Whitman.
While it may be difficult to pin down the true origin of such words
of wisdom, one cannot doubt its inherent profundity. However, even
with the backing of such colloquy, it's still a risky venture when
you begin to pepper your comments with such phrases as "The best
fishing I've seen here in years.", or "I just don't see how the
fishing here could be any better right now.”, especially when you
throw those words out there for the perusing and scrutiny of
everyone with access to the world wide web. To go out on a limb with
such statements, definitely could put one at risk at having to eat
the proverbial "crow', which for any writer, is a bitter dish and as
Mark Twain one said "It's not what you don't know that will get you
into trouble, it's what you know for sure." So now with all the
caveats and disclaimers befitting a Philadelphia layer, I am
prepared to climb out on that limb with the utterance of such a
grandiose declaration that myself and others have bandied about for
the past couple of weeks and say that the quality of fishing on the
San Juan is about as good as I have seen it, since I started fishing
here, many years ago. There, I said it and I'm not even going to
water it down with some of those admonitions from guides and
seasoned fishermen that I've been hearing, that say this just can't
last, or that these fish are going to wise up any day now and get
lockjaw, which I am sure is just their attempt to not jinx the good
ju-ju we've all got going right now. Of course it's human nature
when things start going really well, to keep glancing over your
shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop and who among us hasn't
whistled as we passed the graveyard, but honestly, I think we're
pretty safe on this windfall, at least for the short term, until the
runoff from the Animas drops and the BOR changes the San Juan Flow,
which is likely to be at least a few more weeks out. So let's enjoy
it while we can and my advice is to get out there as much as
possible while we're so blessed. As for what works--if you're out
early, dark olive or black midge pupae and red and cream larva. Just
before the midge hatch gets going around 11:00, midge emerger
imitations such as, ju-jus, crystal flash, and scintillas. If you're
below the Texas Hole, I'm going to suggest some RS2s, fluff baetis,
and rootbeer patterns. The lower river section has been experiencing
some baetis hatches that range from prolific to just a smattering of
bugs on some days, but my experience has been that once the fish
start to rise, most will take a good BWO dry imitation, because
they've been used to eating them over the past few weeks. If you're
in for a more challenging dry fly experience, you'll have all the
fish you can handle on a size 24 Fore and Aft on size 7x tippet. Oh
yeah, and don't forget foam ants--yeah that's right--I said foam
ants--in size 16. Not every fish you cast to is going to eat it, but
you'll get enough to keep you busy. I've been too selfish to push
the envelope, especially when I'm taking a bunch of fish on flies
that are working, but I bet you can get a fair number of these fish
to eat a hopper pattern right now when they're looking up. The flow
is around 300 cfs and the water clarity is what I would call pretty
good, but still not up to its crystal clear potential. There's some
junk in the water, depending on where you fish--dead and dying
didymo--breaking loose from winter kill and it's likely to be with
us for a while since we won't see a high spring release to clear it
all out, as in years past. It's a minor inconvenience, at best, just
remember to check and clean your flies often. There we go. Perhaps
you can come out this week and see for yourself, my limited command
of the English language and my lack of adroitness with the written
word just won't do it justice. If you would like to book a guided
trip or need more info, give us a call at 505-632-2194. 
