Planning a Trip to the San Juan?
Our lodge offers guided fishing and comfy rooms right on the river.
Quick Fishing Overview
- Flows: 285 CFS
- Water Temp: 40s (℉)
- Clarity: 5ft visibility
- Nymphing: Great
- Dry Fly: Great
- Streamer: Great
- Weather: Lots of cloudy days. AM: 30s/40s. PM: 50s/60s.
- Lower River Guide Trips: Not running these. Flows too low.
Summary: We're having some cold starts to the day this week, but the afternoons are still really nice. Continued cloud cover means more dry fly action, plus streamer fishing is heating up. The water has returned to its 2026 levels of clarity, and the fish are back on bugs.
Flows and Weather
Detailed Report by River Section
The Quality Waters
Overview: The big thing to note this week is that our guides are reporting solid success with streamers. Fall, winter, and spring are best for streamers. Right now, the brown trout are getting more aggressive as they enter spawning season. Woolly Buggers, Sculpzillas, and jig-head streamers have all worked well. As long as the fly is the size of a baitfish, the exact hook isn't critical like it is with our midge and mayfly patterns. We expect more hatches to come off with the cloudy days, so be ready with sizes 18–22 of Comparaduns, Griffith's Gnats, and Parachute Adams. For nymphing, we're off the flashy, high-vis patterns and fishing normal midge and mayfly patterns like Big Macs and Mono Midges in gray, dark brown, and dark green variations. Fluff Baetis, RS2s, and Chocolate Foam Wings have done well for mayfly patterns. All of these bugs should be fished in sizes 20 to 24.
Tips/Technique: For streamers, we don't really fish any sort of line that sinks. A 9-foot leader works fine; just be sure the fly gets plenty of time to sink so that it gets down right near the bottom. With each cast, alternate your stripping motions between long and slow, then short and fast.
The Lower River
Overview: The flows are too low for this section. We tend to fish it May–September, when the dam releases higher flows for irrigation during the summer growing season.
Tips/Technique: N/A
The Village
Overview: The water color here is back to normal. Not much change to mention. Still fish San Juan Worms or bunny leeches to a smaller fly like a size 16 or 18 Pheasant Tail. Like in the Quality Waters, less visible flies like a Fluff Baetis for the dropper fly are also a good choice. 18 to 20 is about the right size. We're seeing similar hatches here as in the Quality Waters, so bring the flies we list in the "Quality Waters" section of this report. It's a great place to fish dries since the fish can be less skittish and picky here.
Tips/Technique: Also keep an eye out for and avoid the weed beds. There are more fish and less hassle away from them.
Current Fly Recs
You can purchase flies and licenses at our fly shop. Many are hand-tied by our own guides.
Sub-Surface Flies
| Name | Colors | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Bunny Leeches | Olive, Gray, Natural | 8 and 10 |
| San Juan Worm | Brown, Red, Burnt Orange, Natural | 10 to 14 |
| Midge Larvae | Red | 16 to 22 |
| Rojo Midge | Gray, Olive, Brown | 20 to 22 |
| Mono Midge | Black, Olive, Slate, Brown | 20 to 22 |
| Zebra Midge | Black, Slate, Brown | 20 to 22 |
| Big Mac | Black, Slate | 20 to 22 |
| Foam Wing RS2 | Brown, Black, Gray | 18 to 22 |
| Fluff Baetis | Gray, Brown | 20 to 22 |
| Scintilla Midge | Black, Gray | 20 to 22 |
Streamers
| Name | Colors | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Sculpzilla | Olive, Gray, Black | 8 and 10 |
| Wooly Bugger | Dark Brown, Olive | 10 to 12 |
| Jig Heads Streamers | Black, Chartreuse | 8 to 10 |
Dry Flies
| Name | Colors | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Parachute Adams | Standard | 18 to 22 |
| Comparadun | Standard | 18 to 22 |
| Ants | Black | 16 to 18 |
| Hoppers | Gray, Tan, Yellow Variations | 16 to 18 |
Planning a Trip to the San Juan?
Our lodge offers guided fishing and comfy rooms right on the river.