Finally!!! No more stupid summer!

Call me grumpy, call me antisocial, hell, you can call me Susan if it makes you feel better, but I'm happy that summer is sort of officially done. The warm water temps, the crowds, the jetskis, the jackasses, allllllll gone now. Fishing returns slowly to what it should be, solitude, peace and quiet, and pulling in tons of fish.

I've been a bit negligent latey when it comes to documenting every single cast, but I've had some fun on the rivers. I played a gig (if you've never checked out my music, tune in at obleemusic.com) at Wines of the San Juan in Turley, New Mexico last weekend. There's no sense in being a few hundred yards from a river like the Juan without doing some fishing. Since virtually all of the land this far down is private, (10 miles from the dam) I met up with Travis from Fly Fish The San Juans and we checked out Majestic Enchantment, a beautiful section of private land along about 1/2 mile of river. With modest rod fees and gorgeous access, we really enjoyed this place. The owner, Jake, showed us his favorite spots and we shared laughs, casts, and stories while Travis spent his time with seine in hand looking at bugs. The flow was 1100 cfs, very high all the sudden, so the bug life was a bit beaten down, but we found some neat worms, skinnier than your average "San Juan Worm." While the rest of us lollygagged and slapped the water like a herd of unstable hippos, Travis quietly matched what he saw in the water, got deep using weight and a damn long leader, and fished us all under the table. He caught at least 10 really nice Browns and Rainbows. The fish in this area are not caught dozens of times a day, so they fight. Oh not the slow, dishrag like fight of fish in the quality water section, but the unpredictable, reel screaming freakout of a fish who isn't used to being caught. A lot of people say Browns don't jump. I beg to sniffer. These pigs were making huge leaps and when they'd hit it sounded like a fat girl doing a belly flop. Great times. It was also the only time I've ever spent 6 hours on the San Juan without seeing another soul (apart from the people with whom I was fishing.) It was well worth it and I'd recommend the place to anyone. Call Jake at (505) 801-9163 or hit up his website at www.majesticenchantment.com for a sweet day of uncrowded fishing on the San Juan catching wild and crazy fish. Once the flows drop a bit you can bet I'll be right back there.


Funky Lil Lightner Rainbow


The reason he catches more fish than us.. well.. one of the reasons...


Beautiful Majestic Enchantment

In other news, I tried a little Lightner Creek again during a bike ride. Great thing about Durango, go for a ride, pull over, tie on a dry and slap a few fish. Feisty little Rainbows but no signs of the big (well, 16 inches) Brown that I've heard inhabits the upper sections. We'll head out today to try our luck with some Crappie or Bass. I don't want to be sitting around in the winter wishing I'd done more warm water fishing while I see nothing but Trout for 6 months. Get out there while you can! Ice fishing is fun, but nothing beats a crisp September day on the water.

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