tk863
12-01-2010, 03:55 PM
OK, reporting back from my holiday trip to Santa Fe, NM!
Ended up heading up to Navajo Dam area for a guided day of drifting.
Woke up at 3:30AM (boy, was my son irritated), quickly dressed and headed out on the 3.5 hour drive from Santa Fe. Pitch black, driving through reservation after reservation kept my foot mighty still on the gas pedal the entire way given they tend toward a zero tolerance attitude on speeding, but some good C&W on the radio made it really peaceful. Ended up in Bloomfield just as my boy was waking up around 7:15, and stopped at a local joint for some b'fast on the drive - hot cocoa and breakfast burritos - the stuff of legend (as long as you keep the windows rolled down!)
Got to hook up with our guide at just a shade past 8AM, provisioned ourselves, and up the river to get settled in the driftboat - water was about 41 degrees. Andrew, our guide, was great working with my lad who was only on his second trip out with a flyrod (his first being Tuesday earlier in that same week), and he settled in to some nice casts and drifting. We were using a size 20ish egg tuft led by 2 grapeshot, followed about 18" by a size 26 or so midge, down about 5 feet off the indicator. San Juan trout are sneaky li'l buggers, and rarely take the indicator down it seems. So, we had to watch for any "peculiar indicator drifts" (good luck on that with my eyes) and set lightning fast. Morning started off very slow, my son having a fair amount of peculiar indicator movements if the number of sets he made was any indication, and I considerably fewer. An occasional and extremely brief LDR now and again, but man was that water unforgiving (and decent fish were clearly visible in every direction). Finally, my boy hooked into a 15" cutbow and had a lot of fun bringing it to the boat - he was positively aglow after landing that fish (his PB on a flyrod), and it made my heart warm. Andrew was great on praise, too.
Just as we started to break for lunch, we ran across a spot where a lot of risers were showing, and I decided my sandwich could wait a spell. After about 10 minutes, hooked into a couple of LDRs, then got one to take and brought in a nice 18" brownie (PB for me on a fly rod). Man, that was a blast as he certainly put up a great fight!
The activity took a decent turn, and there was considerably more action on the water for the next coupla' hours. Many more LDRs including a few exciting ones, and my son landed his second, a 10" or so of the same variety. Andrew really took is over some great spots, but my son’s and my relative lack of experience definitely limited his considerable abilities (which he was very gracious about, I felt).
Finished out the drift of about 3 miles with 2 each to hand (my second being a 5” brown that took both flies!), some incredible LDRs (I really need to figure out how to set the hook better, especially those tiny hooks we were using – argggh!), scenery that just continued to take my breath away, and a great time on the water for my son and I with our guide.
Drove back to Santa Fe that evening, stopped at a roadside diner for dinner (great neon sign, marginal grub), and shared our pics on the camera at breakfast with friends and family the next morning.
Gotta get back in high season and try to improve my score! :nod:
Ended up heading up to Navajo Dam area for a guided day of drifting.
Woke up at 3:30AM (boy, was my son irritated), quickly dressed and headed out on the 3.5 hour drive from Santa Fe. Pitch black, driving through reservation after reservation kept my foot mighty still on the gas pedal the entire way given they tend toward a zero tolerance attitude on speeding, but some good C&W on the radio made it really peaceful. Ended up in Bloomfield just as my boy was waking up around 7:15, and stopped at a local joint for some b'fast on the drive - hot cocoa and breakfast burritos - the stuff of legend (as long as you keep the windows rolled down!)
Got to hook up with our guide at just a shade past 8AM, provisioned ourselves, and up the river to get settled in the driftboat - water was about 41 degrees. Andrew, our guide, was great working with my lad who was only on his second trip out with a flyrod (his first being Tuesday earlier in that same week), and he settled in to some nice casts and drifting. We were using a size 20ish egg tuft led by 2 grapeshot, followed about 18" by a size 26 or so midge, down about 5 feet off the indicator. San Juan trout are sneaky li'l buggers, and rarely take the indicator down it seems. So, we had to watch for any "peculiar indicator drifts" (good luck on that with my eyes) and set lightning fast. Morning started off very slow, my son having a fair amount of peculiar indicator movements if the number of sets he made was any indication, and I considerably fewer. An occasional and extremely brief LDR now and again, but man was that water unforgiving (and decent fish were clearly visible in every direction). Finally, my boy hooked into a 15" cutbow and had a lot of fun bringing it to the boat - he was positively aglow after landing that fish (his PB on a flyrod), and it made my heart warm. Andrew was great on praise, too.
Just as we started to break for lunch, we ran across a spot where a lot of risers were showing, and I decided my sandwich could wait a spell. After about 10 minutes, hooked into a couple of LDRs, then got one to take and brought in a nice 18" brownie (PB for me on a fly rod). Man, that was a blast as he certainly put up a great fight!
The activity took a decent turn, and there was considerably more action on the water for the next coupla' hours. Many more LDRs including a few exciting ones, and my son landed his second, a 10" or so of the same variety. Andrew really took is over some great spots, but my son’s and my relative lack of experience definitely limited his considerable abilities (which he was very gracious about, I felt).
Finished out the drift of about 3 miles with 2 each to hand (my second being a 5” brown that took both flies!), some incredible LDRs (I really need to figure out how to set the hook better, especially those tiny hooks we were using – argggh!), scenery that just continued to take my breath away, and a great time on the water for my son and I with our guide.
Drove back to Santa Fe that evening, stopped at a roadside diner for dinner (great neon sign, marginal grub), and shared our pics on the camera at breakfast with friends and family the next morning.
Gotta get back in high season and try to improve my score! :nod: