Fly Fishing

River: Pecos River, Pecos NM

Date: 2010-01-31

Conditions: Sunny but cold, still a lot of ice on the river with some small openings. Look for any slow moving water and deep pools.

Today I finally landed a fish on one of the flies I had tied. The fly was one I planned on using later in the year but since I was having luck with the San Juan Worms I figured I would give a go. The fly is a Green Rock Worm. This is a Caddis larva (Rhyacophila).

Green Rock Worm (Rhyacophila)

So the first rig of the day is Green Rock Worm with a small red San Juan Worm dropper. I did a bit of hiking from the Willow Creek day use area and found a really nice pool flowing up against a large boulder. It looked good, the best spot I had seen so far this winter given the limited access.

So I hiked down river a bit and made my approach upstream. First cast into the pool just at the trail of the riffle leading into it. I float it right through the heart of the pool and BAM! First cast and I had a fish on the line but not for long. He wiggled off fairly quickly.

After that I had a few more indications of bites but nothing then I hooked a really nice fish. He was a lot larger than any fish I had on my line all winter. I fought him for a few seconds and got him close to my legs right then he wiggled off. Damn, he was nice sized. I know it was a brown, I got him that close.

I figure I have spooked this pool now but I try a few more times and I got another on the line. This time I got him on the snow.

After that I hiked up the river hitting what slow water I came across but I would have no more action on this day, well, sort of. One thing about fishing this river this time of year is the ice along the sides. I was really careful the first few times walking out to the river but after a while I got a bit complacent. As I walked out to get to another section of the river I strolled on out towards the edge and planned on just jumping in.

Well, the ice almost took me down. The ice broke off before I expected it to. Luckily I have good reflexes.

I surfed ice for a second…

River: Pecos River, Pecos NM

Date: 2010-01-31

Conditions: Sunny but cold, still a lot of ice on the river with some small openings. Look for any slow moving water and deep pools.

Well, another day on the water.

I thought I would start a little earlier today. I don’t think it made that much of a difference.

I started out using your basic GR Hare’s Ear and a small black Midge dropper. I didn’t have a lot of luck with that so I just added another dropper off the midge. This was a small red San Juan Worm.

At least one fish seemed to like it:

He looks worried but he has nothing to fear from me. I like my eatin’ fish a bit larger and of the salt water variety. I am, for the most part, strictly a catch, scare the **** out of, and release dude when it comes to trout.

So he goes back home to the same slow moving section I took him from:

Another good day hunting La Gran Trucha…

I went out again today with some more newly tied flies. I didn’t get anything but can you beat being on the river with a box of flies you tied on a day like this?

__________________

Time for a new approach on the river. Remembering back to the last time when the fish were striking my orange thingamabobber I thought I would go with a large orange salmon egg and an orange San Juan Worm after a discussion with the gents at the Reel Life in Santa Fe.

I Honestly don’t know why I did not do this before but I was too focused on bugs and not bait. It makes sense now that I think about it. I would have never put on the worm in the Pecos but as you will see, it was the only thing that produced on this day.

I hit the usual hole first above the Tererro bridge:

I worked this area well. It took a long time playing around with depth. I started shallow and went lower. Once I got near the bottom I pulled a little guy out on the Worm.

After that I moved to a new section of river I had spied a while back but never hiked to.

There were a couple nice slow pools but I did not get any interest in the Worm or the Egg. This was a quick trip and that was all I brought with me so that ended this day on the Pecos…

If you have Google Earth this is the location of that bridge …