For the PMD’s, a nice bright sunshiny day with a tiny breeze is the best. Add a little drizzle and things could be perfect. The best days to fish midges and Baetis on the surface are the windless and overcast ones. Even though these midge and/or mayfly hatches can be enormous at times, the fish prefer to feed on the nymph rather than the dry, unless conditions are perfect. Hatches are normally midday usually between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. The Hatchesĭaily hatches occur on the San Juan River however, the species are dependent on the time of year. 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. The heaviest populations are often found in the long deep runs below fast riffles found in Texas Hole. 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.
Fish heads navajo dam plus#
Rainbows consistently in 15-20 inch range are stacked throughout the upper 3 plus miles that are designated as Special Trout Waters. By late summer flows often drop to 600 cfs with winter flows as low as 250 cfs. May and June usually have the highest flows often-reaching 5,000 cfs. Flows on the San Juan are not prone to sudden fluctuations. New Mexico Game and Fish estimates the fingerlings grow 4-6 inches per year. The constant temperature provides a year round insect population and growing season for the rainbow fingerlings stocked throughout the year. The San Juan maintains a constant year round water temperature between 42-46 degrees, making this a fabulous winter fishery. Navajo Dam is a bottom-releasing dam the outflow is approximately 200 feet below the surface of Navajo Lake. The river flows through a broad sandstone canyon, the floor and riverbanks are scattered with willows and cottonwoods. Trout thrive further downriver However, public land access is very limited, fishing via drift boat is the best way to access the lower stretches. The San Juan averages approximately 140 feet in width. 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 River, located in Northwestern New Mexico, is one of the most famous tail-water trout fisheries in the world.