May on the San Juan

After making the drive to Colorado from Utah, I posted up in Durango for a week or so and fished the San Juan a bunch while all the other rivers were at high runoff levels.

Sunset on the San Juan

Fish On!  Kyle made it out for a few days of fishing

But we couldn't make ourselves leave when the sun set

Delusional from too much time on the water?

Another San Juan Sunset

Rudolph

High kicks

One day there were about a thousand swallows flying around eating the millions of midges that were hatching.  This guy got tangled in some fishing line and let me untangle him

It took him a minute to realize he was free to fly away

Swallow hatch: All those dots above the water are tiny birds

The sunsets here are almost always amazing

Fishing the San Juan in the Fall

After helping close up the cabin for the winter and getting some time on the water, I went to the river that got me hooked on catching big fish: the San Juan River in New Mexico--just south of Durango.  The weather varied from cold and dreary with light rain to cool and sunny, but the weather was good to great each day.  I fished five days and landed at least one fish 20 inches or bigger every day except the last one.  That last day I hooked a fish so big I was convinced I was hung before he took off on a run and straightened my hook.  Maybe I'll get him next time.

Still some beautiful fall colors in Durango at the end of October

Pretty rainbow on a pretty day on the San Juan

20-inch 'bow...

...he was chubby

Fall colors on an overcast day on the San Juan

Smiling rainbow and me

21-incher, if not bigger

Sunset on the last day of my long summer of fly fishing

Back to Durango

After a long stretch in Lake City, I headed back over to Durango to fish the San Juan and do a little hiking.  Unfortunately, the water levels on the San Juan had been raised, meaning there were fewer hatches (and, therefore, slower fishing) than normal, but I kept heading back because it rained every afternoon, and the first big thunderstorm of the year is supposed to wash thousands of ants into the river and set off a crazy feeding frenzy.  Alas, the "ant hatch" never happened, and I had to really work to catch fish.

Sunset from Spring Creek Pass on my way to Durango

Spring Creek Pass

San Juan River

San Juan River

Nice San Juan Rainbow

Another nice San Juan Rainbow

Not my best camera work