Healing Waters: San Juan River 2012

Allie will start her hunting career with me in September.  For me, there always the excitement of getting a new dog on the field that I have trained.  It is a pleasure to hunt with a dog and I am looking forward to hunting with pointers (in the past I personally hunted with Labradors).  The first game on the board will be Dusky Grouse.  This hunt will get her more exposure to the actually hunt and I won't demand too much from her.  By the time that quail and pheasant season kicks in, I hope to see what she can do in the field for her young age.  This is going to be fun.

Rio Costilla

One of my favorite streams in the state is the Rio Costilla.  It is a tailwater fishery almost on the border with Colorado located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  I enjoy fishing it during the summer when the heat is on on Albuquerque; during the evenings on the river we had to put on light jackets and sweat pants.  The river was flowing well - at 40 CFS and mostly clear.  We all caught fish on nymphs with the going patterns being...  It is a Rio Grande Cutthroat stream with most of the fish being "Cutbows".   I will be going up to the river at least a couple of more times before autumn sets in; it fishes well during September and up to the time the water releases from the dam cease.  I highly reccomend a trip here to fish and to view the impressive Valle Vidal.

Chama, New Mexico

A family friend had offered us to stay at his house he has in Chama.  We took him up on the offer and headed up to the little town by the New Mexico/Colorado border.  The house sits right on the main drive (Hwy 17) just south of the train station.  We could almost walk to everything we needed and anything else was a short drive away.  I did manage to get a morning fishing on the Rio Chama at the easement area.  The fishing was okay; it reminded me of Rio de Los Pinos but the Los Pinos fishes much better.  I wanted to try the river  section bordering the Wildlife Management area but it seemed to be closed and I didn’t want to risk getting ticketed.  The house doesn’t have electricity which meant we had to find ways to keep ourselves entertained; the kids played games, read to each other or just sit around and talk.  Even the kids enjoyed the stay without any type of screen time.  It all came down to quality time with the family, dogs included.  Next time I would like to fish the river more and even plan an excursion to look for Dusky Grouse in the local mountains.

San Juan River Fly Fishing

It was last year when I last visited the Rio San Juan in northern New Mexico.  I was pleasantly surprised upon returning this year to fish the river.  Major river improvements have been done to the river to make better areas for the fish, and of course, the fishing.  There have been dams put in to divert flows, runs deepened and banks improved.  There was also a settling basin put in to pick up the silt from one of the major arroyos on the river; we will have to see how well that holds up when we get monsoons this summer.

The water was at 350 plus but because of the improvement projects, it flowed well.  The water was fairly clear with very little moss.  The insect activity was predominately midges with no beatis coming up - at least in the upper flats area.  The fish really cooperated on the days I fished it during the week; I had a fly fishing workshop at the weekend but the fishing was equally good.  The first day of fishing, I stopped counting fish and caught one trout over twenty inches.  The second day of fishing, I was well into the mid-twenties of fish caught with two fish over twenty inches long.  The photo is one of the fish I took out of the Texas Hole.  All our fish were caught using midge emergers in size 22.

I enjoyed this trip.  I fish the San Juan during the early spring and late autumn because there is no heat, no mosquitos and less crowds.

Here is my 74' Chalet hard sided popup trailer. I am in the process of getting her ready for the road for the upcoming season. Everything in the trailer works; fridge (three way), stove and heater. But, I am a chicken and don't use the stove up top because of the fumes. I am the third owner; the first two owners took her up and down the Pacific Coast from Washington to Baja. I have taken her all over the state for my fishing and hunting excursions. It has served as my dog house on occasions, the kid's play house and when a guest gets too drunk; a nice crash pad. Sometimes I like to have a quiet drink and read in it. Because of the good insulation; I have used it most of the year - I put a space heater in it (electrical) and it keeps me toasted warm.

While letting the Allie, my GSP air out. A robin flew into the yard and perched on the chain link fence. Allie saw it and ran over and locked on point about thirty feet away. I told her "whoa" once and by her body demeaner, it is obvious that she was getting the idea of whoa. She held the point long enough to get a few photos of her and stayed locked up until I released her. I think she may be more than ready for the upcoming upland season.

Infanta Alba

Now, Allie is getting the whoa down better. She will hold steady for quite awhile. Here she is pointing a planted birds in my yard.

Allie's whoa training

Tamales

Although to make tamales it is labor intensive, the results are well worth the time put in. I make traditional tamales and other types of fillings, too. The tamales in the steamer front are typical pork/red chile tamales, at the rear are butternut squash/green chile tamales that are amazingly good. The freezer are some turnip green/cheese/green chile tamales that are just as good.