I Learned something last week

Today I went out to the Roaring Fork river in Glenwood Springs, to test myself and to see if I learned anything last weekend The water was clearing up from the rain we had last week, just clear enough to try to fish. I missed a major caddis hatch while I was in Durango last week, so today I was hoping to get the tail end of the hatch and some good dry fly action. I got to the river and I did not see any caddis, so I tied on a "rubber leg stone fly" as my lead fly followed by a "San Juan worm" in the middle and a "caddis larva" as the trailer, if I could fish more than 3 fly's I would, (Colorado parks and wildlife Regs state no more than 3 fly's on a line)

After making some depth adjustments to my rig I found where the fish were holding and the fishing became catching. I caught a rainbow, a cut-bow, a mountain whitefish, and several sucker fish. I had a couple of fish break off the line during the fight, those might have been nice fish but I will never know. If I had a dollar for every time a fish broke my line, I would have much better fishing gear.

I think I learned a thing or two last week. I was able to get nice long drifts on most of my casts. I was able to notice the slightest movement in my strike indicator which led to more fish in my net. Like I said in my last post, a good guide trip will leave you a better fisherman at the end of the day. I am feeling better about my angling skills after today's success

San Juan slay fest

Hi Everybody,

I just got back from a trip on the San Juan River in New Mexico. The fishing was great. I went down to visit my friend Jesse. I got 2 days of fishing on one of the greatest rivers in the world.

loading up the boat before the river

Jesse booked a guide for a float trip on Friday. we woke up late and had to get breakfast at a gas station on the way (we drank way too much Peach Street Bourbon the night before.). we made it in time to get our gear  together before our guide Tom from Duranglers pulled up with his boat. We got on the river at 8:30 am. the guide built our rigs with small midge nymphs, weight and set our strike indicators to the proper depth. Tom gave Jesse and me some pointers on how to mend the line as we drift along the river and some other useful tips,

We spent most of the day floating "Texas hole". we would float down and tom would row the boat back up to the top of the run and we would drift along and catch fish each time we drifted through the run. we spent half of the day fishing "Texas hole" 

Jesse and our guide Tom

After a lunch of a turkey sandwich and a beer, we headed down river fishing as we drifted through the runs, catching fish the whole time on the way down the river. We caught so many trout I lost count. my arm was beginning to get tired by the time we got close to the take out

one of the hogs I caught. 

.I recommend everyone should fish with a guide at least once. I have done it twice now. A good guide trip will leave you with more fishing knowledge and a better angler for the next time you go out.  the next day we went back to the river and I caught fish right away. we moved up to the upper flats and I caught fish. we went back to "Texas hole" and I caught fish. This trip has made me a much better fisherman and I cant wait to get back on my local rivers and test myself and what I learned.