Fishing in the San Juans
Capt. Scott Taylor
June 20, 2015
Pagosa Springs - Freshwater Fishing Report
Summer is here in the High Country!
With the incredible late season snow pack, we are still having a good run-off. It is great to see how green Pagosa is in the valleys, and up in the high country there is still snow hanging out on the high peaks surrounding Pagosa. It makes you think that is spring time in the Rockies, but it's not, its summer. With all the rain and late snow it has made some of the fishing tough in our area. On the plus side, this should help us have a great fall and help some of the fish populations on streams that have been affected by several years of the drought. The other thing that is amazing, is to see how quickly Navajo Reservoir is filling up. Areas of ground and rock that we have been looking at for several years are now gone, spots I have been fishing are now under 20 to 30 feet of water. My favorite pike flats now have water….
With all the water in the reservoir, the BOR will hopefully flush the Lower San Juan with flows up to 5,000 cfs for at least 3 days. This is not only good for the whole river, but the last mile of the Quality Waters if full of sediment from a huge blow out at Simon Canyon. If you end up fishing the Quality Waters during the high water, be very careful. There are limited spots to wade fish, and I would recommend wearing a life jacket.
The fishing below the dam has been very good the last few weeks, and the bass fishing on Navajo has also been good. Last week we had several fish eat poppers and the top water fishing will be on fire in another week or so. The local streams are starting to clear and drop. Looking at the flow chart today the San Juan was at 1,280 cfs and showing a definite dropping trend. The weather also shows 5 days of sun and no rain. This looks like this will be the last week of the big run-off and most streams should be fishable by July 4th.
Make sure to visit the Laid Up Charters web site (http://www.laidupcharters.com).
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Scott Taylor
http://highcountrycharters.com
970-946-5229
While you are in town make sure that you visit the following businesses!
Need Fly Fishing gear? See Pop's
Let it Fly
Downtown Pagosa Springs, across from Kip's
970-264-3189
http://www.flyfishpagosa.com
Hungry for Adventure?
Pagosa Outside Adventures - Rafting, Biking, Kayaking, Tubing
Downtown Pagosa Springs
970-264-4202
http://www.pagosaoutside.com
Need Ski Rentals?
Pagosa Ski Rental (PSR)
Downtown Pagosa Springs
970-264-2866
http://www.skipagosa.com
Pagosa Springs Fishing Forecast:
Water flows dropping, best fishing of the year to come.
Target Species:
Trout
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