A SUPER TRIP TO SAN JUAN RIVER.Byline: Bennett J. Mintz Special to the Daily News It came down to a decision between a coach-potato Super Bowl weekend of endless announcer babble about the relative strengths of one 300-pound man versus another, or a quick, midwinter mid·win·ter n. 1. The middle of the winter. 2. The period of the winter solstice, about December 22. midwinter Noun 1. the middle or depth of winter 2. fly-fishing fix on the super San Juan River San Juan River River and outlet of Lake Nicaragua, southern Nicaragua. It flows from the lake's southeastern end, forms the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and empties into the Caribbean Sea; it is 124 mi (199 km) long. in northwest New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). . No contest. Our rental van was waiting at the Albuquerque airport. In just three hours or so, we'd be on the banks of the San Juan. Or so we thought. In reality, we made it as far as homemade tamales in Cuba (yes, there is such a town in New Mexico), where we encountered whiteout conditions from the snowstorm of the year. Much of the remaining drive was accompanied by New Mexico Highway Patrol officers leading a caravan of cars through the snow, over the ice and beyond the Continental Divide. At midnight, we were red-eyed and dog-tired, and motel rooms never looked better. Our three-hour tour had nearly doubled. On Friday morning we awoke to frigid temperatures and a San Juan River running at about 500 cubic feet per second A cubic foot per second (also cfs, cusec and ft³/s) is an Imperial unit / U.S. customary unit volumetric flow rate, which is equivalent to a volume of 1 cubic foot flowing every second. . Ideal conditions. Meandering from its source in the San Juan Mountains San Juan Mountains Segment of the southern Rocky Mountains, southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico, U.S. The mountains extend from southwestern Colorado along the course of the Rio Grande to the Chama River in northern New Mexico. in southern Colorado, the river is the definitive tailwater
It is the five-mile stretch below Navajo Reservoir, east of Farmington, N.M., where waters always run cold and insects always multiply, providing ample food to grow rainbow trout rainbow trout Species (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae) noted for spectacular leaps and hard fighting when hooked. It has been introduced from western North America to many other countries. thick as footballs with tails as broad as whisk brooms. The clearly defined black spots and red bands of courage that set the rainbow apart from other trout are truly remarkable. They are a breed apart. The guides launched their drift boats at 9 a.m.; by 9:30 the chill had set in. It was just 10 degrees when we awoke - not unusual for the dead of winter. But instead of climbing to a tolerable 30 or 35, the thermometer never rose above 20. When the breezes started in earnest around 11, reports of the wind chill factor wind chill factor Wilderness medicine An index used to adjust the actual air temperature to express the intensity of cooling expected from a cold environment as a function of the ambient temperature and wind speed; the WCF is a measure of the effect of air had us at minus-17. But while other anglers packed it in, called it a day and headed for the warmth and security of their motel, the participating Moosehead Fly Fishers - hardened by life in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and the Westside - choose to fish on. Generally, San Juan River fly-rodding is done with a 4-, 5- or 6-weight rod, floating line, an indicator to detect gentle strikes and two flies. Most of the guides like using a worm, leech or egg imitation in conjunction with a baetis or midge midge, name for any of numerous minute, fragile flies in several families. The family Chironomidae consists of about 2,000 species, most of which are widely distributed. The herbivorous larvae are found in all freshwaters; the larvae of some species live in saltwater. nymph nymph, in Greek mythology nymph (nĭmf), in Greek mythology, female divinity associated with various natural objects. It is uncertain whether they were immortal or merely long-lived. There was an infinite variety of nymphs. . It requires a dead drift (the leech can be twitched), and the take can be as soft as cotton. How an 18-inch, 2-1/2-pound fish can even see a size 20 fly, then mouth it and scram scram Slang intr.v. scrammed, scram·ming, scrams 1. To leave a scene at once; go abruptly. 2. To shut down automatically. Used of a nuclear reactor. n. undetected, is a mystery. But indeed they do. When the indicator bobs and dips, you set the hook. Generally it's a rock or bit of moss. But when it is a fish, the fun really begins. They are heavy, smart trout, and they move quickly into the heavy water and riffles. As guides typically point out, "They didn't get big by being slow and stupid." One angler took a 9-pounder. Dave Hardacre, a Woodland Hills attorney and leader of the Mooseheads, fooled 4- and 6-pounders. The rest of us were content with anything over 18 inches. Fly-fishing on the San Juan is catch and release, another reason there are so many large trout. As the late Lee Wulff, for which the Royal Wulff fly is named, wrote, "A trout is too valuable to catch only once." New Mexico's conservation regulations bring thousands of anglers to the state, all hopeful of putting a barbless hook to a trout weighing in at 10 pounds or more. Outside of Argentina or Alaska, it's one of the few places the feat can be accomplished. On the day before the Super Bowl, the weather warmed a bit - 35 degrees can seem almost balmy here in late January - when lo and behold there were hatches of baetis (imitated by the blue-wing olive) and midge (Griffith's gnat) in early afternoon. Switching to the dry fly rod and casting into the swirls of trout noses, fly reels hummed as the fish felt the point and departed rapidly, to be fought cleanly, brought to net and then set free. It was idyllic. On Super Bowl Sunday, we fished until 2:30 p.m. and, as we drove back to Albuquerque, we talked trout and listened to the big game. But it was difficult for us to follow as the radio station was broadcasting in Navajo. At least we didn't have to hear why one 300-pound guy was better than the other 300-pound guy. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (color) Bennett J. Mintz holds up a fish caught on San Juan River in northwest New Mexico. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion