Fishing AZ & NM

[Jwill]

Ok, vacation time. The wife and I will be visiting some friends in Phoenix and Albuquerque in the next week or so, I hope to work in a couple days of fishing on the trip. I think I'll try to fish at Lee's Ferry and the San Juan. From what I can tell the flows look good for both. I may do a boat trip at Lee's Ferry one day and hit the walk in area the next. I'll probably just wade the SJ.
Any recommendations - flies, good shops, good access locations, places to eat, places to stay? Thanks!

 

[sneakem]

I don't know much about Lee's Ferry but I've fished the San Juan numerous times below Navajo Res. They should be ramping the flows down to 500 cfs or so from 5000 on the 1st of June is what I heard a few weeks ago. Not sure what that will do to the hatches or feeding activity.. could be boom or bust. Low water will make the fish a lot more "spooky". So you are probably looking at dropping to 5x-7x tippet. Obviously the smallest you can land fish on the best. Midge patterns are pretty standard on a tailwater. I usually fish midge larva patterns in size 22 under a strike indicator with enough weight to keep it bouncing along the bottom. Color varies but usually grays, creams, olives, chocolate and red are pretty standard. have a variety. If you get some cloud cover usually there will most likely be a hatch whether it be adult midges or baetis (BWO's) so there is always a chance of fishing dries.... Abe's is a pretty good fly shop located nearby, they'll have flies and an idea of what the fish are taking. Don't be suprised to wade the river and see fish right underneath you. A lot of the time they feed off the aquatics that you stir up as your wade across. A fair number of anglers will lightly drag their feet across the bottom and fish directly below.. hence the saying "San Juan Shuffle"..

 

[Jwill]

Thanks! I've heard of the San Juan shuffle, never tried it though. Hopefully I'll have some good pics/stories to share when I get back.

 

[kansasdad]

Don't be suprised to wade the river and see fish right underneath you. A lot of the time they feed off the aquatics that you stir up as your wade across. A fair number of anglers will lightly drag their feet across the bottom and fish directly below.. hence the saying "San Juan Shuffle"..

At one point I believe there was a specific regulation defining the illegal activity of intentionally disturbing the riverbed, and "chumming" for fish. Tickets have been written for the obvious offenders. Probably not a good thing to be doing your best John Travolta disco moves in the middle of Texas hole.

 

[nmelktrout]

Jwill, have fun on the Juan and don't be afraid to the throw some big dries as indicators if you are going to swing nymphs. Check in at Abes or any of the other fly shops and the guys will let you know what is happening while you are there. Check out some of the braids above Texas hole as there has been a ton of new habitat work done and new holes created. Park at the upper lot and you can wade from the cable down quite a ways without having someone wade through you every 5 minutes. If you get bored pounding cookie-cutter 'bows I would head down river and hunt big browns. Feel free to drop me a pm and I can give you some more specifics. Have fun, stick some fish and share some pics.

-Cody

 

[Jwill]

Well the trip is in the books... One of the best vacations I've taken. We rolled into Phoenix on a Friday, it was 112 degrees. Stayed with friends there for a couple days, hit up some amateur bull riding, paid our respects at Waylon's grave, and generally relaxed. We hit the road on Sunday evening, cruised through Sedona full moon, top down and camped in Oak Creek canyon. I considered fishing there, but the water was low and we had a long way to go...

Paying respects.

Cave Creek.

Fajitas for breakfast over the open fire.

Oak Creek Canyon from the top

We crested out of the canyon, headed through Flagstaff and decided to skip the Grand Canyon. Instead we headed east, then north, going through Sunset Crater and Wupatki Natl Monuments, then making a beeline to Lee's Ferry. Seeing that much water after spending days a few days in the dust bowl was like a breath of fresh air. We were planning to camp, but wind was blowing about 35 and it was still 99 degrees...so we grabbed a motel for the evening. A good nights rest proved to be a wise choice, as the next day was a 9.5 hour tour on the Colorado River below Lake Powell, 35,000+ trout per mile.

Peaks outside of Flag

Lava Flows.

Ruins.

Oasis. Ice cold, trout rising. There was a constant stream of monster rafts loading for the trip down the Grand Canyon. Lee's Ferry, AZ.

​

To be continued...

 

[junior88]

great pics. and yes it is unreasonably hot right now. ever been to the canyon before? should not have skipped it. go to north rim. much less crowded than south rim and the scenery is so much better. the drive from jacob lake to the nat'l park is spectacular. seeing some kaibab bucks is a great bonus.

 

[Jwill]

great pics. and yes it is unreasonably hot right now. ever been to the canyon before? should not have skipped it. go to north rim. much less crowded than south rim and the scenery is so much better. the drive from jacob lake to the nat'l park is spectacular. seeing some kaibab bucks is a great bonus.

Yeah, we've both been to the south rim so that's why we skipped it this time, didn't have time for the trip around to the north rim.

 

[Jwill]

We nearly had the river to ourselves. The fishing was awesome, the scenery was incredible.

700' high

Some spots were a bit breezy....

Bighorns in the canyon

 

[Jwill]

So, yeah, the Colorado was sweet, I waded as much as I could and the wife fished out of the boat. Anyway, when we got off the water, we had to decide what to do next... After settling the tab at the fly shop and seeing Venus pass in front of the Sun, we cruised up to Page, AZ and checked out the dam from the top and saw Lake Powell, from there we stopped at the Safeway and made the call to press on to Navajo Dam, NM. I got on the smartphone to check out the campground we were headed to and get the gps route set, I splashed some water on my face in the bathroom, grabbed a redbull, a sub, we gassed up the car, and headed off into the night, destination Cottonwood Campground. It was a long desolate trip through the Navajo Nation…
Our Ride

Up Top

We rolled into the campground sometime in the middle of the night, I swear we saw 150 rabbits along the last 30 miles of road, maybe I was hallucinating by that point... So we found a spot and set up camp. I was up at 6, smores on the grill for breakfast. Ran into a guy from Utah on the way to the pisser, heard all about how he was floating with the godfather of the San Juan river that day, so I asked him where I could pick up a license....."probably walmart" he says, I'm thinking, walmart?, we're 50 damn miles from a walmart, I stopped listening to him ramble at that point. I rode into town and found Abe's open at 6:30, a novel idea, a fly shop open when you need them! Most Importantly I got some coffee, but I also picked up my license, a few flies, and some good advice, then it was back to the campground to break camp and hit the river.

You know, you hear a lot about the Juan, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw. The parking lot at the access point had a dozen cars there, on a Wednesday morning, the trail to the water was basically a small stream, worn into the ground by fishermen's shuffling feet. As I exited the tunnel of brush at the river, all I saw were fishermen, when I looked down at the River, all I saw were monster trout, pretty well oblivious to what was going on around them. I only had until early afternoon to fish, so no time to waste, I tied on a double midge rig, under an indicator, and looked for an open run. After a few minutes of no interest from the trout, I moved around a little bit and decided to fish a skinny braid of creek, but changed from the double midge to a dry and a midge dropper (thanks for the tip Cody!). I picked up a few small fish, both on the dry and dropper, with my confidence boosted a little bit, I made it back down to the slower water. The water was moving so slow that drifts literally took minutes, all but the best mend was worthless. I quickly missed a big fish, then connected on a couple. On my other trips out west if I’ve learned one thing, it’s to tie good knots, thankfully they held this day.

This one earned a photo-op

Until next time Juan

Only one more...

 

[Jwill]

Fishing AZ & NM - lots of photos added

Reluctantly we hit the road toward San Fidel and Albuquerque. Well, I was reluctant... We rounded out the trip by visiting a friend in San Fidel and hiking El Malpais National Monument, hiking Mt. Taylor, and catching a REK show. If you have a bucket list, put those two rivers on it.

Lava Tubes

Mt. Taylor

On Mt. Taylor. It was good to be in elk country and what better way to kick off training for hunting this fall than a hike up to 10,000'+! We actually saw a few elk, but they were down on the lower private ground.

Big kitty tracks!

​

And that's all folks.

 

[nmelktrout]

Thanks for the post-trip update. You won't believe, it but the back of my head is in the REK picture at Dirty Bourbons, just under the drink! My fisheries biologist buddy and I were right below you almost the entire show (I was wearing a trucker hat with a tarpon on it). Too funny.
-Cody

www.streamflies.com

 

[kansasdad]

Thanks for the post-trip update. You won't believe, it but the back of my head is in the REK picture at Dirty Bourbons, just under the drink! My fisheries biologist buddy and I were right below you almost the entire show (I was wearing a trucker hat with a tarpon on it). Too funny.
-Cody

www.streamflies.com

.....and thanks nmelktrout, now I can't get that Disney song out of my head...."its a small world afterall, its a small, small world....

 

[Jwill]

That is funny nmelktrout! There's a good chance you saw us... Of the two pregnant ladies that I noticed at the show, one of them was my wife. Also I had on a RMEF shirt. I'm pretty sure I saw a guy in a fish hat, though I can't remember if it was a tarpon or not, so that was probably you.

I thought REK put on a good show, the crowd seemed a little strange though. I got the feeling it was like, hey get off stage old man, we want to line dance.

 

[nmelktrout]

Congrats on the forthcoming baby! I think I did see you guys. Too funny and a shame we didn't share a drink. And sadly I think you are right, not many people there realized what they seeing or hearing. I dug the show and was happy to hear him play so many of the classics. Thanks again for the pics and story, I enjoyed it all.
-Cody

www.streamflies.com