Printable View
I pretty new to fly fishing but have fished the Sierra several times and had some luck.
I have a few days off work right before Thanksgiving and wanted to try some place new.
My neighbor and I decided that we are gonna try Lee's Ferry.
I already have room reservations but I am looking for a guide for at least one day. (November 20th)
I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction and what to expect this time of year
https://leesferry.com/fly-shop/
They have guides and also rent jet boats.
Terry and Wendy Gunn own this famous fly shop.
I've fished there a handful of times in the late 80's and early 90's and it's an interesting fishery. The fishing and scenery are probably still the same. We fished with Dave Foster out of Marble Canyon Lodge. Dave Foster is still guiding there and he is excellent (Lee's Ferry on the Fly). Terry Gunn at Lee's Ferry Anglers was a new outfitter there when we started fishing there. Have heard good things about him and Wendy Gunn.Quote:
Originally Posted by geedavell
November will be on the chilly side as you probably figured. We fished mainly eggs and scuds but there are some good midge hatches the last time we were there. The fish are beautiful and the scenery is spectacular!
I fished there 15 years ago. Here is what I recall - There are more boats than there are spots to fish so you race upstream in the dark to get a spot before they are all taken. If you get one you stay on it until late morning when the power demand goes up and the river rises two feet and the the fish stop biting. If you don’t get a spot you go somewhere and don’t catch fish. We had a rental boat and the guides boats were all faster but one we out raced them and got a very good spot and caught lots of fish. The second day we got out raced and had to settle for bad water. The third day we had a guide and he made sure we got a spot. A guide will share a spot with a guide buddy if they need to. There was a system in place you had to figure out. The canyon is worth the trip. It is awesome.
I remember watching a TV show years ago about this place. The deal was that a bunch of shrimp would get left high and dry on the rocks every day with the fluctuating water levels. They would bake in the desert sun and once the water rose again the trout would feed on the floating baked shrimp. They used a bright orange clump of yarn on a hook to mimic this "hatch". They also fished minnow imitations below the dam. Seemed like a cool fishery at the time but it seems to have become a cluster today like most large tailwaters.
Like others here I fished Lee's ferry many years ago.
I went to college at NAU in Flagstaff and went to Lee's Ferry a few times.
The main thing I would point out is that the Colorado there is very large water
and it is primarily a boat fishery.
There is a short stretch of water you can fish at the launch ramp but for anything else you need a boat.
AFAIK there is very little water accessible by wading (maybe a mile or two).
my time on the water was well before it became known as a fly fishing destination.
you already have this trip set up so it is probably too late but I would consider the San Juan River below Navajo Dam as a much more wading friendly river but often very busy.
Here is a old guy story for you:
Back then (late 70's) the river at Lee's ferry had very large rainbow trout in it.
Fish in the 8-10 pound range were not uncommon but the total fish count was not large.
Then along came the flood in 1983 and all those fish were washed downstream.
The fishing eventually came back but I do not think the truly large fish ever made a good comeback but the total fish counts got much better.
I think it was the mid-90s when it became the well-known fishery it is now.
Second old guy story:
Keep in mind I was a poor college student back then, a group of us would go to Page right below Glen Canyon Dam, there was a spot there where there were steel cables that went down the steep canyon walls almost to the river (stopped about 6-10 feet short of the water where the walls went vertical).
We would take a raft and sling it down the canyon walls to the end of the cables and then throw it the last few feet to the water. We would then jump off the wall into the river, climb into the raft and spend the day floating down to the take out at the ferry.
Back then you needed a permit to float the river below the ferry but upstream no permit was needed.
The San Juan is definitely on my bucket list
We were planning to hire a guide for the day then maybe float tubing a couple of times?
I heard there is a service that charges $75 and the will take you upstream, (as far as the dam if you'd like) and drop you off.
They say the river flows at 2.5-4 mph. I figured if we went 5-7 miles upstream, that would give us plenty of fishing for the day