Littleton's Cutthroat Chapter

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CUTTHROAT CHAPTER
SAN JUAN RIVER FISHING TRIP
OCTOBER 21-24, 2010

The annual expedition to fish the San Juan River will be held from Thursday, October 21 to Sunday, October 24, 2010. Most of the expeditioners will drive to the river on Thursday, fish Thursday afternoon through Sunday noon and then return home. The trip from Denver takes 6-8 hours. Family attendance is encouraged and if all family members don’t fish, the Four Corners area has many sites of interest that involve Native American culture.  Also on the local scene is a winery (Wines of the San Juan) located just a few miles from Abe’s; the winery is located in Turley, NM..

Plans and Accommodations: Rooms ($74 for 2 people) will be available at Abe’s Motel and Fly Shop located near the Navajo Dam and the fishing locations on the San Juan River. Some of the rooms have small refrigerators and stove tops for cooking, if you are so inclined. Plan on bringing your own utensils, cooking pots, and dishes. Dinner arrangements at this time are TBD so bring your own food or plan on eating at the two restaurants in the area including one at Abe’s. It is about a 20-30 minute drive into Aztec and 40 to 50 minutes into Farmington to other eating facilities. The rooms have two double beds and a bathroom with a shower.  Telephones are in centrally located areas. Abe’s is located just downstream from Navajo Dam. The rooms rent for about $55-$89. The staff at Abe’s is friendly, very accommodating and gives accurate information on flies to use and places to fish. New Mexico fishing licenses ($24 for 5-days) are required and may be purchased at Abe’s.  Also, NM Parks passes ($5 per day; a season pass for $40 is available at the ranger station at Navajo Dam) are necessary and may be purchased at the entrances to the parking areas on the San Juan River.  Gasoline, ice and a limited stock of groceries are available at Abe’s. A large Safeway is located in Aztec, if you need other provisions. Several fly-shops are located in the area. There are campgrounds nearby. The days are usually warm and the nights cool, but be prepared for Rocky Mountain fall.  In the past, no snow has been encountered during the fishing days.

The Fishing: The San Juan River below Navajo Dam is a tailwater fishery. The water comes from the bottom of Navajo Reservoir and is cold (about 42-45 F) and clear; the flow rate in the fall is usually about 500-700 cfs. Fishing is primarily with small nymphs (size 22-26) below a  dropper. In mid-day in the fall, a blue winged olive hatch and/or midge hatch often comes off and the dry fly fishing can be excellent. Nymph patterns to consider are black beauties, WD-40’s, disco midges, midge larvae, midge pupae, emerger patterns and others. You will frequently be fishing to 18-22 inch rainbows that are easily seen. Occasional browns and cutthroats will be caught. Bring waders and felt-soled wading boots with cleats.  Wading staffs are recommended since the river bottom is often slippery sandstone with grooves cut into it by the current. Basically, the wading is not difficult. However, one to three fisherpersons baptize themselves every year on this trip. Many members have fished this river for many years and will make sure that first timers on the San Juan are directed to good spots to fish (if you need assistance in choosing a location to fish or with fly selection, come to Room #20 any morning about 9:00 AM and we will help you). Four to seven weight rods with floating lines will suffice. Many people on the San Juan use colored-yarn strike indicators and veteran fishermen on the river or in the local fly shops (there are several) will show you how to rig your line.  Many excellent guides are available in the area including John Tavenner (888-339-9789). In fact, John gave an excellent presentation on fish the San Juan to the general meeting of the Cutthroat Chapter on Tuesday, April 18, 2006.  A good web site to check on fishing conditions and techniques for the San Juan is “Ifly4trout”.  Another is John's own site, “sandstoneanglers.com”.

Transportation: The drive to the San Juan is an easy 6-8 hour trip from the Denver area. Alternative routes are (1) I-25S to Walsenburg, Hwy 160 to Alamosa and over Wolf Creek Pass to Pagosa Springs, Hwy 160 to Bayfield, Bayfield (left at Conoco gas station) to Ignacio, Hwy 511 to Navajo State Park, across the face of the dam and downstream to Hwy 173, turn right, Abe’s is .25 miles on the left. The second route is Hwy 285 from Denver to Center, Hwy 112 to Del Norte, Hwy 160 to South Fork and across Wolf Creek Pass (see directions above). A third route that avoids Wolf Creek pass is I-25S to Walsenburg, Hwy 160 to Alamosa, Hwy 285 to Antonito, CO, CO 17 to Chama, NM, Hwy 64 to Dulce, NM, Hwy 64 toward Bloomfield, and NM 511 to Navajo Lake. Jo and Tom Evans and Anna and I took this latter route in October, 2003 and enjoyed the drive very much. From the Aspen-Glenwood Springs area, take Hwy  550 south from Montrose to Durango, 172 to Ignacio, and 511 to Navajo State Park. Air transportation is available to Farmington, NM. Rental cars are available at the airport in Farmington.

Arrangements: Contact Ken McClatchy, Trip Coordinator, (303-972-0079) for additional information.  Call Abe’s at 505-632-2194 to make a room reservation; six rooms are reserved for the 2010 trip (ask for one of the Cutthroat Chapter rooms). If you need cooking facilities, ask for a fully-equipped room. Call Abe’s prior to October 2nd to reserve one of the rooms and then call Ken and let him know of your plans for the trip. This is a great opportunity for beginning and novice fishermen to learn how to see, hook, play and land big fish.  All members and friends of Trout Unlimited are invited to attend.

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