4th of July - High Flows - Sort of...

3,230 cfs, that's where we are right now. The ramp down that was originally scheduled for the 23rd, then changed to the 29th, actually happened on July 1st. But at least it happened, and now we are about 1,100 cfs below the peak that the BOR finally settled on, after much drama and angst. The goal is to have the water level back to 500 cfs by the 12th. This is just speculation on my part, but the big drop of 1,100 cfs on Friday was probably due to the fact that the ramp down began at the start of the Fourth of July weekend and no one was going to be around to gradually adjust the drop each day that would be necessary to nudge it back to 500 by the 12th. I don't imagine anyone is going to be around on Monday; either, so we're probably not going to see any further adjustments until everyone returns to work on Tuesday. Anyway, 3,230 opens up a little more water for waders, but not much. If you're planning on being out there during the first part of the week, be careful. Even at 2,000 which is about where it should be next weekend, wading is still a bit tricky in places, so keep that in mind. As far as flies go in the meantime, most of these fish should start adjusting back off the junk and start focusing more on the usual San Juan diet of midges and baetis nymphs, so larva, pupa, and emerger patterns should work just fine. We did have a good ant fall yesterday and there were some fish up on them, but with the water being high and fast, it didn't translate into the epic dry fly fishing we are accustomed to seeing with that event. It is my experience that you can still get some fish to eat ant imitations for a few days after the actual fall, but the issue now is finding water shallow enough to give them a good look at your offering, since they aren't coming up from six feet of water to eat a dry no matter how good it looks. If you can work some of the skinnier stuff or the banks, you will probably pull up some fish on ants and hoppers, though. What you are likely to see in this coming week are a lot of fish moving around adjusting to the change in flows as they drop. Already, there are some fish that are beginning to move off of the bottom feed more actively. From now and after the level reaches 500 cfs, you're going to find some really healthy fish that haven't seen a fly in a long time and it's going to be a good time to be on the Juan with some super clear water and a much prettier river than we've seen in the last four years. It's been a long time coming, but it is going to be well worth the wait. If you would like to book a guide trip or need more information, give us a call at 505-632-2194.