IA Born Report post Posted July 2, 2019 My son and I have been planning a fly fishing trip back to the San Juan ever since our first trip together back in October. We were supposed to have a family trip, but life happened. My wife and daughter took off to El Paso this past weekend to help her sister move into her new house, so Jacob and I took off to the San Juan. I convinced my wife to let us get a half-day guide to help Jacob with his casting, even though I'd gotten him a casting lesson a couple of weeks ago. What I didn't realize was how much the guide would teach me. I'm not an expert flyfisherman, but I'm no slouch, either. I was able to improve my technical skills 10-fold. The guide service was definitely worth the money. The river has been flowing high ( 1200+ cfs) all winter and spring due to the runoff; however, the flows were dropped back to 500 cfs two weeks ago. The fishing was listed as back to normal and I had high hopes, especially for the evening hatch, but the fishing was slow all weekend. The fish weren't stacked in our usual spot like they normally are and everyone we talked to, including our guide, said the fishing was slow and rough all weekend. Its still better than sitting at home all weekend, though. We only caught two fish each all weekend, one each on Friday and one each Saturday morning. I hooked three nice trout Saturday morning, but lost them, but I landed a smallish brown. I'd rather catch a small brown than a big rainbow just for the fight, and its been a few years since I landed a brown. Friday afternoon, I landed a fat 17" bow in Texas hole, setting a pb on my new(ish) 4wt. This is its second time being used, and I love it more and more every time. My favorite part about Jacob was that he set up his own rods, rigged the line and leaders, tied on his own flies, and rigged his own indicators before we left for the river Friday. The 15" bow he caught Friday afternoon was 100% solo as he netted it himself on the rod he rigged himself. He is growing so much as a young man and an outdoorsman. His confidence is growing so much and I love it. His favorite part was finally breaking in the new 5wt TFO that Santa brought him this past Christmas. Fishing with me was his second favorite part! 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHT_MTNMAN Report post Posted July 2, 2019 That is awesome, the older I get the more important times like these really are. Great job on including your son in your love for the outdoors and it is awesome seeing them accomplish things on their own. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Browns Report post Posted July 2, 2019 Freaking Awesome!!!! Congrats to you for getting your son outdoors! I wish my kids had an interest in the outdoors! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heat Report post Posted July 3, 2019 Way cool guys! Love these threads. Might have to try to get there someday and try it myself. First things first though, Lee's Ferry for me! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IA Born Report post Posted July 6, 2019 On 7/2/2019 at 5:08 PM, Heat said: Way cool guys! Love these threads. Might have to try to get there someday and try it myself. First things first though, Lee's Ferry for me! Maybe we can work a swap: Lee's Ferry for the San Juan! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heat Report post Posted July 6, 2019 Most I can offer is my presence. Never been to either place. I've driven by Lee's Ferry but that's it. I'm just saying I need to cross the Ferry off my list first. Would love to get up there this coming winter though. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites