The plan was to arrive at Cottonwood Campground on April 20 and depart April 25. That almost happened. Nearly all of us (myself, Rick Allen, Jeff Martin, and Mark Merrill) left early. The diehards were Bill and Teri Bendt.
Why, you may ask, did we leave a perfectly good trout river? In short, too many people. It started out a little busy, but by the weekend, it was total madness. Oh, did I mention that it was kinda windy - all the time!
I think that once the New Mexico State Parks started allowing non-New Mexican residents onto the river and into the campgrounds, lots of fisher people headed to the Juan - and I’ll be giving the river a wide berth for a few years, or until this crush of humanity goes elsewhere.
OK, so how was the fishing? Well, it was pretty slow. We all caught fish, nice fish, just not a lot of them. And, since the wind was blowing almost constantly, there was virtually no dry fly activity. Most of the fish were caught on small midge larvae imitations, although I did manage to land a couple of nice fish on a floating midge adult fly on a day when I was able to locate a a small pod of risers in one of the river’s side channels. My best fish was a Rainbow on the Lower Flats in about a foot of water on a size 24 Disco Midge. This fish went about 23”.
So, my advise is to steer clear of the San Juan River in New Mexico for awhile. My next trip is in June to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon River up in Idaho and will be stopping off in Nevada to fish for a few days. Other than that, Phoenix canal carp will have to do.
By the way, if you’re at all familiar with the San Juan in New Mexico, you know that Abe’s Motel and Fly Shop has been an institution there since the dam was completed in 1958. Abe Chavez died this past winter and with this pandemic severely curtaiing business, the place is closed and for sale. It’s the end of an era. Hopefully, some well heeled fly fishing fanatic will buy the place, install upgrades, and begin a new era.
Speaking of a new era, a new fly shop has opened in Phoenix. The AZ Fly Shop had its grand opening on April 24 to rousing success. Let’s hope that continues. I had a small hand in getting the shop open in that I built the custom rod display racks for the shop. The shop is located on the NW corner of Cactus Road and State Route 51. Go check it out!