Snowy Rainbows of the San Juan

2/19/2012

After waking up early to find the excited troops already stirring, I was pumped.  Greg, Timmy and I were off fairly quickly, and out the door of the cabin by 7am.  Google maps told us it would take a little over 2.5 hours, so I must have been excited since we pulled up to Abe's Fly Shop around 9:05 (after pulling over to pull out a minivan from a snowdrift).  We got the licenses and were off, back up the road toward the tailwater.  

For my first time there, I was incredibly surprised by the size of the river.  I expected a large river, but did not expect to see one this large and relatively slow moving.  We pulled up to the top pullout, closest to the spillway to become the 7th car in the lot.  Greg and I rigged up quickly, and made out way down the zigzagging ice luge and then through the thick willows.  Timmy was moving like a snail, so we left him behind and told him to meet us on the river.  

First San Juan Rainbow into the net

Once we made it to the river, we could see Timmy still up at the truck.  Full of excitement, we trudged into the river hoping that we would have some in the net by the time Timmy made it on the river.  Not able to identify any particular seam or deep section, Greg and I made our way out into the middle of the river directly after it came back together from two braids around an island.  The water had an off-green color, that did not really allow you to know the depth.  I set up about 20 yards ahead of Greg, and began aimlessly casting upstream and to my sides as I watched intently for any signs of where the fish were hiding.  I knew my chances were good to hook up with the blind casting technique, since there are over 10,000 fish per mile in these sections.  Thankfully, I noticed a small bump in my small white indicator within five minutes, and pulled in a nice rainbow.  At about the same time, a small, I mean tiny, midge hatch started and the fish were paying attention to the adults floating on top.  

Beautiful colors and spots!

Healthy San Juan Rainbow

Since I did not have a robust arsenal of dries (after they all were stolen from my truck back in December), I tried various emergers paired with midge larva.  Within the first hour, I had nearly 10 hookups, with 5-6 to the net on various flies.  The day was looking great when things really shut off.  I switched between many #22-24 midge larva patterns in red, orange, green black and grey, trying to see what the ticket was.  I also tried various patterns with some flash, whether it was a flash wing, a bead, or a flashy body, but nothing seemed to be getting more love than the other.  The number of bent rods throughout the river was decreasing as well, making me feel slightly (only barely) better, that I too, was struggling to get any action.

San Juan Rainbow

As the action slowed down and the wind really picked up, I tried swinging streamers with no love whatsoever, and finally tried some of the dries that I had in my one remaining box of dries.  Thankfully I did have small flies, down to #22, but I still thought those would be seen as enormous compared to the tiny #26's floating by.  To add to the dilema, I did not have any midges, so I tried tying on a #22 spent trico after clipping the tails.  I also tied on a tiny black attractor with an olive green tail that I also trimmed down.  I could not help myself from targeting the risers that were coming up in all directions, sporadically, sometimes within 15' of me.  To my surprise, they did take notice, although the love came in more refusals than hook ups.  I was able to land 2 on the dries, and lose another 4 that I hooked into. Regardless, it was more fun to go down in flames trying than to have no love with the nymphs.  

The midge/larva box with flies from 20-24

The cold temps and heavy wind was slowly taking its toll on the fisherman.  We were trying our hardest to hang in there and not become a casualty for the day, as the river was slowly clearing out.  Thankfully, Greg packed a backpack full of beer that we drank in between our jumping jacks and jogging sessions on the shore to try and regain feeling in our lower extremities.  It appeared to work as we were in great spirits once the wind died down.  Just as the wind died, small dimples were appearing across the river, a nice gesture from the fishing gods to remind us why we brave the cold.  The three of us split up again, over about 150' to try our luck.  Together, we were able to hook into some fish on the dries, but could not get any to the net.  The wind started up again, this time from another direction, and did not seem to have any breaks in it like it did earlier.  I tied back on the nymphs in a final hail mary attempt, and was able to coax one nice rainbow to the net.  When the snowflakes were coming in sideways, and the size of quarters, we decided to hit the road back to the cabin.  

Now that I have experienced this river, I am excited to come back with an arsenal of small flies, and more layers to brave the cold and find the elusive San Juan Monster.  Hasta Pronto San Juan... 

Elevenmile means many more winter fish!

Driving out of Elevenmile Canyon

I finally made the trek down to the famous Elevenmile Canyon this past Sunday, 2/12/12, which turned out to be a great decision.  After talking with Dave and Greg over at Charlie's Fly Box for some advice, as well as pouring over as many (nearly) up to date fishing reports from various shops, guide services, and online forums, I thought I had it all dialed in for some success.

Rigging up next to the river

The weather was also going to be great, hovering in the mid-30's with occasional snow showers throughout the day.  The best part, wind was supposed to stay below 8-9 mph, making it ideal for sight fishing for these picky trout.  After the nice drive down there in the new truck, I drove into the canyon around 10am to find only one other car at the pullout closest to the spillway.  I stopped and talked to the gentleman as he was rigging up, and gathered a little more intel before I drove down to the next bridge and rigged up.

First fish!  Nice bow on a red midge larva

Using all of the info I was able to hear/read, I knew nymphing was going to be key early on, but if the sun opened up, there would be great chances with some dry adult midges.  I started using a small, size 20 beadhead pheasant tail, trailed by a size 24 red midge larva with a black head.  Within 5 minutes I missed one take, and landed one nice 14" rainbow on the midge larva.  I was in heaven, thinking to myself the day was going to be amazing, losing count of fish since I was off to a great start.  Rookie mistake.  Just as it seems to be bad luck when you hook into a fish at the boat launch, this little spur of action turned out to be just that, a little, random spike in activity.  For about an hour, I moved stealthily through the flats, attempting to send splash-less casts to the visible trout.  I continued to get attention, but the refusals were adding up so I continued to change my tactics.

Another nice bow

As I slowly moved upstream, I continued to change my flies and change the depth of my strike indicator (I was using the smallest white thingamabobber).  Finally I found some actively feeding fish which also enjoyed my flies.  Using a black/gray jujubee midge #22, with a small cream/tan colored midge larva with a clear glass bead, I was finally back on the fish.  Even though some adult midges were beginning to show us as the sun was coming over the canyon wall, the fish was actively feeding on the emerging insects and they were clearly interested in these flies.

Fishing the flat section

I was quickly reminded just how fun a tricky tail water can be when you finally figure out the right combo.  I meticulously worked my way up the run, casting in front of feeding fish.  The combo of their comfort with anglers in close proximity, as well as their current feeding frenzy, I was having a blast high-sticking to them merely 10 feet away from me.  It was difficult not to lose focus, and try casting further upstream as I was witnessing many fish zigzagging back and forth as they were gorging.  I needed to remind myself that I needed to pick the fish from the back first, and slowly work upstream, or I risk spooking all of the fish and losing out entirely.

Eager Cuttie

The highlight came when a nice 16" cutthroat moved out from the deep section, about 8 feet in front of me and was chasing food like crazy.  I watched him for a minute or two, to determine how exact my drift needed to be.  I cast about 5 feet ahead of him, and the single split dropped the flies right in front of him and started to take them about a foot to his side.  Right when I thought they had drifted past him, he turned abruptly and I saw the classic wink, his mouth open and shut.  Without feeling any tension, I set the hook and he bolted upstream.  Awesome!

This frenzy lasted for about an hour and a half, and slowly tapered off.  By this point, the sun had disappeared, and my feet were frozen so I walked back to the truck to eat some snacks and warm up a bit. Once I made it back on the water, I saw some nice sections of water, but could not see through the glare.  For the first time of the day, I tried blind casting into some nice looking runs, just as they spilled out from some larger boulders in the middle of the stream.  Second cast, I thought I hooked into a monster, as the indicator stopped in its tracks.  I set hard, only to find that I did hook a monster, a nice ~40lb boulder.  Snap went the 6x flouro, and I figured I would completely change up some flies.  I tied on a fly I had picked up last year at Cutthroat Anglers, a somewhat combination of a short/stout hares ear with a flashwing prince.  This thing is pretty heavy, so I removed the split shot and tied on a red sparkly midge larva.  First cast with the rig, the indicator stopped again, and I had hooked into a nice energetic rainbow.  For the next 40 or so minutes, I continued up the section, blind casting into the glare, and hooking into many fish between 13-16".

Overall a great day on the water!  I am now a big fan of Elevenmile Canyon and recommend you get out there if you can!  Visitors to the net included many rainbows, a few cutties, and one fat brown.

Fatty brown... Probably a larger circumference than length

Flies and Setups to Use: SMALL!  Size 22-24 midge larva, especially in grey, black, tan and cream tied onto 6x flouro.  Combos of those colors also worked really well!     When the adults were flying, and there were sporadic risers, I made sure my nymphs had small wing cases which worked out well.  In the late afternoon, the fish really liked the slightly more flashy beadhead options, size 18-20.

Leader, Strike Indicator and Split Shot: I had about 6' to the strike indicator, which was consistently above water as I high-sticked.    For my leader, I used a very long leader, which I typically do while fishing heavily pressured tail waters.  I tied on a 9' 5x leader, and attached about 4' of 6x flouro.  From there I tied my first fly, and trailed the second about 20" behind the first.  Water was not rushing, and the fish were in the slower water, so a beadhead was sufficient to get the nymphs down.  When I used two small midges, I pinched on a small splitshot about 16-20" above the lead fly.