SAN JUAN RIVER FISHING REPORTS & CURRENT CONDITIONS

Fishing Report for March 15, 2008

The river is flowing high (4000 cfs) and dirty (visibility of about 1 foot), but the fish don't seem to care. Nice sized trout have been feeding just out of the fast current everywhere there are indentations in the bank that allow water to slow down. Eddy currents and inside bends are fishing well too.

We have been doing most of our guiding between Texas Hole and the gravel pit, fishing out of drift boats, and using egg patterns, San Juan worms, leeches, wooly buggers, and red hots. The best rig seems to be a brown bunny leech above a size 20 red hot with a BB shot about 6 feet below the indicator. We have also been picking up fish with a 4 1/2 to 5 foot, heavier rig (BB and a 4) using a chamois leech above a size 18 red larva. Bead head and flash back pheasant tails in sizes 18 to 22 have been working well in the afternoons. (I have been fishing them below red San Juan worms on a 5 foot rig with a BB and a 6.)

With the fast water you want your rig to get down quickly to take advantage of as long a drift as possible. That's why we are using heavy weights. If you are hanging up on the bottom, try adjusting your length first (shorten it up a little). If you are still hanging up, then lighten your weight.

If I were going to fish on foot, I would fish a bunny leech or a wooly bugger on 3x tippet with a weight heavy enough to get the fly down to the bottom very quickly. I would cast close to the flooded brush, let it settle for a second or two, then strip it back. I had a client using this method the other day while we had the boat anchored up, and he caught several fish in a matter of minutes. Boats are the way to go right now as wadeable water is somewhat limited. Some of the braids are wadeable, as are the side channels. I like to wade the back channels during high water, especially the ones near the Cable Hole. Big trout often hold just inside the side channel and feed on the aquatic life that gets pushed in from the main flow. The slews often hold trout during high flows that cause a current to flow through them. I like to fish a size 10 black wooly bugger with a BB weight in the slews.

Good luck out there, and be very careful in the high water.

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