Fly Fishing the San Juan River, New Mexico

About the San Juan River

The San Juan River, located in Northwestern New Mexico, is one of the most famous tail-water trout fisheries in the world. Gushing out of Navajo Dam, the San Juan's most productive trout stretches are from the dam downriver 3 plus miles to the NM Highway 173 Bridge. The San Juan averages approximately 140 feet in width. Trout thrive further downriver; However, public land access is very limited, fishing via drift boat is the best way to access the lower stretches. Rainbows consistently in 15-20 inch range are stacked throughout the upper 3 plus miles that are designated as Special Trout Waters.

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The river flows through a broad sandstone canyon, the floor and riverbanks are scattered with willows and cottonwoods. Navajo Dam is a bottom-releasing dam; the outflow is approximately 200 feet below the surface of Navajo Lake.
 
The San Juan maintains a constant year round water temperature between 42-46 degrees, making this a fabulous winter fishery. The constant temperature provides a year round insect population and growing season for the rainbow fingerlings stocked throughout the year. New Mexico Game and Fish estimates the fingerlings grow 4-6 inches per year. Flows on the San Juan are not prone to sudden fluctuations. May and June usually have the highest flows often-reaching 5,000 cfs. By late summer flows often drop to 600 cfs with winter flows as low as 250 cfs.

 

Trout are everywhere on this river and they don't spook easily perhaps so use to the thousands of anglers that fish here each year. The heaviest populations are often found in the long deep runs below fast riffles found in Texas Hole. The deep holes in the Upper and Lower Flats, the many channels, sloughs, large eddies and low velocity lenses all hold healthy populations of rainbows.

Midges. The one constant food source for the rainbows abound throughout the river and anglers should have a box dedicated to midges with every possible pattern and size representing the various life-stages. Anglers should also be aware of other foods: mayflies, caddisflies and annelids. Blue Winged Olives (Baetis) hatch twice a year, in the spring and then again in the late fall. The BWO hatch provides wonderful dry fly fishing especially on cloudy days. The trout in the Juan are beyond picky they define selectivity. Proper presentation is a must. These fish have seen just about every fly invented.

Proper gear is essential here. Rods should be 9 foot 4-6 weights to help with mending and heaving lots of weight. 9-12 foot leaders with 5X-7X tippets are required. Wading the San Juan can be exhilarating; the rocks are rounded and covered with a film of algae. Chest waders with felt soled wading boots are vital.

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