San Juan River Fishing Report & News
April Fishing Report
Midges are hatching all day long. At the moment they are small, midge pupa and larvae, size 22 to 24, olive,gray, black, chocolate, cream and of course red have been my best. The hatch is strongest from 10:30 to 2:00. The midges are clustering so try fishing a cluster to a single dry midge. Black has been best.
Try fishing BWO’s from 1:00pm to about 5:00pm. The hatch is best on cloudy days. Dark or light gray, brown and olive have been the best colors in a size 20 and 22. Both dry and wet patterns.
Bunny leeches and woolly buggers are working well either dead drifted or stripping them. Black, olive or cream have been best.
Streamer fishing has been good. Small streamers size 10 or 12 in olive, black or brown.
Fish are hitting egg patterns, peach and yellow have been best.
The hatches have been heavy. The midges are small (size 24 and 26) and consistently hatching every morning and afternoon. The BWO hatch is still coming off below T-Hole. Start looking for them around noon. Foam wings and Johnny flash are working great below T-hole. Try midge larvae (olive, gray, black and brown) in the morning, fished with an attractor like a leech or an egg pattern. The afternoon has been good with fish looking for baetis below Texas Hole. Chocolate, olive or gray have been best. As always a large part of your success will be your in ability to move around to where the hatches are coming off the best. Fish near the dam in the best midging waters, the midge hatch is strong all day long. I have been doing well with a black larvae or pupa to a gray or olive larvae. Around 12:30 the baetis are hatching, anywhere from lower Texas hole down to the end of bait water. Watch out for moss on your flies, you have to keep them clean. The winds can be tough on us. The fish are still eating well in the afternoons but you can have some trouble getting a good drift. It is best to shorten up your length between the strike indicator and your weight and add some weight. This will help you get a better drift and see the indicator move when the fish takes. With lower flows the bites will be lighter and you will have to fish shallow rigs to avoid the bottom of the river.
Streamers are working at night. Make sure you fish streamers with hooks close to the end of the fly as the fish short strike streamers often.
With lots of fish spawning in the river and the salmon in the lake fish all over the river are eating egg patterns
Fishead (fish-head) n. A person who spends all their time thinking about, dreaming about, or in the pursuit of fish.
It has been like summer! Or late spring at least. Highs in the 60’s and 70’s every afternoon. It has been a great time to fish the San Juan.
The river is clearing up. We have about four feet of visibility. The fish are eating both midges and baetis well.
The river is at 490 cfs . The lake is in great shape with plenty of water coming in and filling it up!
Good luck to all the Fisheads out there, Chris