May

At a time of such great political ugliness and divisiveness as a whole, it's great to know that there is at least one thing that everyone can agree on. And by ugly, I mean real ugly, things have gotten so bad that now even Superman and Batman are at war with each other. I mean, what's that all about? And apparently the rift has become so bad that now it's gone public and they've decided to make a movie about it. What's the world coming to? Well, at least we've still got the sport of fly-fishing, where outside of a few passive-aggressive overtures like occasionally crowding another fisherman's coveted spot, we still retain a good deal of gentlemanly decorum. I'm a firm believer that if only more folks would become practitioners of ''the quiet sport" the world, would; no doubt, become a better place in which to live. Hopefully if you read this, you'll realize that by fishing more, you're not only doing yourself a big favor—you're helping out humanity as a whole. As for a place to start and spread your benevolence, thereby making the planet an improved abode for us all, I can think of no better spot than the San Juan. If you haven't been here recently and done your part, I'm thinking this would be a great week to start. Presently we have flows here of around 400 cfs, which will likely stay in place until May 16th when the BOR will begin their high spring release of 5,000 cfs. Bear in mind that date is about as fluid as the water that they plan to release and is totally dependent on the weather. The goal is to time the peak of the release with the peak of runoff in the Animas river, so there's a possibility that if the weather stays cool and the runoff doesn't happen when they think it will, that date could get pushed forward to the 23rd of May, or possibly even later. Stay tuned for updates. Anyway, once it happens, we're looking at about 31 days of 5,000 cfs with a two week ramp down to normal levels. In the meantime, the water clarity is around two to two-and-a-half feet. The big news as of late, is the appearance of some BWOs in the lower section of the river with some pretty good dry fly fishing starting around 1:30 and lasting some days until around 3:00. The better news is that up until Friday of this coming week, it looks like we will have a much appreciated respite from the wind, which will definitely aide this type of fishing. As far as what else is happening, the midge hatches have been sporadic, occurring at the whim of Mother Nature on some days, and non-existent on others. When they are happening, they're coming off later (around noon) and a bit unpredictable on duration. The more consistent method of catch at this time seems to favor the nymphing method, with an eye out for an afternoon hatch and a chance to switch over to dries. As far as nymph choices go, stick with the tried and true larva patterns, especially red, and drop off a midge pupa pattern in size 24 and 26, or a midge emerger, as the conditions dictate. Outside of that, if you are fishing from the Texas Hole and below, you are going to need some BWO nymph patterns like rootbeers, RS2s, chocolate and gray foamwings, and fluff baetis. I'm liking fore and afts in 24 and olive comparaduns in size 22 for my dry fly choices right now. Well, hope you came make it out this week. The clock is ticking on time left for good wade access before the flow goes up. If you would like to book a guided trip or need more information, give us a call at 505-632-2194.