This San Juan River fishing report will help explain the when, where, how and why of catching fish on the Juan. The San Juan River has dropped to 250 CFS and will remain that way for the near future. The water is still off color but the fish have started to key in on bug activity. With how low the water is, there is not a bad option on where to fish. Find drop off points or short buckets and you’ll be sure to find feeding fish. Although the water is dirty, going 5x to your first fly and 6x to your second fly is recommended. We have seen a big difference in hook up ratio when changing the second fly to 6x. Most of the bugs we are throwing are in the size 18-22 range and we are keeping it simple. This is not a one all be all rig but when in doubt, go four feet from your weight (size 7-9 depending on where you’re at) to your indicator for depth. Our guides like to throw their weight about 12-24 inches above their first fly and have their flies separated by about 14-20 inches. Anytime after 10:00 a size 18-20 flashback pheasant tail to a 22 foam back will get the job done. This is a good rig to fall back on (or start with) if you’re having trouble finding consistency. Flies that have been the most consistent:
Size 16-18 small orange worms. Our guides will tie a san juan worm that’s about a quarter to a half inch long and hit it with a lighter to shrink its diameter. You can always just cut a store bought worm and take the lighter to it for roughly the same pattern.
It is closing in on the rainbows spawning so there is going to be an influx of eggs in the river system. Keep an eye on redds and do not target the fish actively spawning. The chutes and fast water below the redds can be a productive zone to fish an egg pattern down to a baetis. Our guides have been seeing more and more BWO’s (Blue Wing Olive’s) starting in lower flats all the way through Duranglers corner. These bugs will hatch primarily out of shallow riffle water so anglers can focus their time just downstream of this type of water. Fish will start to push more and more into the fast water and stack in the head of runs to target these bugs. Hopefully this helps some of you find consistency on the water through the coming weeks. The fishing is only going to get better with warm weather and more bug hatches. Good luck and always feel free to shoot us a call for more specific questions about the river!
