I first fished the San Juan River below Navajo Dam in 1972. There have been a lot of changes on the river since those days .Please enjoy this introduction slide show with more to follow including information on flies to use. This river as it is stocked with rainbows, hybrids that resemble rainbows and the presense of brown trout, is called a
"tail fishery" . That is what typically describes a river that begins below a dam that controls a reservoir. The San Juan begins it journey in the mountains of Colorado above Pagosa Springs , flows into Navajo Lake, out into the San Juan River and on to Lake Powell.

Sometimes I like to play amateur guide.

Those in the know say that 90% of the feeding that these trout do is subsurface. Fishing subsurface is called "nymphing". So most of the insect imitations I use are called midges. There are 3 basic stages of these insects who lay there eggs on the bottom of the river mostly on rock or other suitable place. There is the larva to pupa to adult . When the wings are fully formed , the midge rises to the surface of the river and , as this happens in the hundreds if not thousands, in that moment it is called a hatch. This would be a good time to "dry fly " fish. That means fishing on the surface with an imitaion of the adult version of a midge.  Otherwise you would fish below or subsurface of the river.

Fish in the San Juan for the first 3 and 1/2 miles (special waters - special rules) range in size from around 8" to 24" with the average around 16-18 ".
There are many fish that have been caught and releases that are reported to be 26 to 28 " usually in some of the deeper areas.

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