The San Juan
Navajo Dam was constructed between 1958 and 1962. It was built to provide water storage for irrigation, flood control, and recreation in the Four Corners area. The dam created Navajo Lake and the world famous San Juan tailwater. The water consistently comes out of the bottom of the dam around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, creating a year round bug factory capable of supporting the 12,000-15,000 fish per mile that inhabit the quality waters of the San Juan. The first four miles of river below the dam are known as the "quality waters" where the fishing is strictly catch and release. This allows our average trout to be around 14"-18" inches with fish over 20" regularly landed. While nymphing, (indicator and euro ) is the most popular way to fish the river, the San Juan is an incredible dry fly fishery and an equally impressive streamer river. You will not have to ask any About Trout guide twice about mixing up the nymphing with dry fly and or streamer fishing. The consistency of weather and water conditions coupled with the numbers of large trout that inhabit the San Juan make it a must fish destination for any angler. Whether floating or wading fishing the San Juan is an experience unlike any other.
Float Fishing
Float trips are by far our most popular offering at About Trout. Float trips are a great way to experience the San Juan for your first or hundred and first time. While the quality waters are our primary focus, we also fish the middle section of the river aka "the quantity waters" as well as the lower 9 miles outside of Navajo Lake State Park. Each section of river is unique and mixing and matching floats on your trip out here makes sure you're always doing something fresh.
Wade Fishing
Wade fishing the San Juan allows anglers to get out and access water that you otherwise couldn't fish out of a boat. The water above the Texas Hole put in to the base of the dam is wade only. If you truly want to develop a skill set and learn the river this is the trip for you.
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We love to euro nymph this river. The consistency of this fishery and the various water types creates the ultimate class room for those looking to beef up their euro nymphing skill sets. We are fortunate enough to work with former National Champion, Norm Maktima. We can't recommend a trip with him enough if you want to take your game to the next level.
Gear List
Whether you want to fish our gear, your own equipment, or plan to DIY the San Juan, here is a recommend list of gear for the river.
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Waders: The San Juan is COLD. Even in the hottest summer days you can risk hypothermia wading around the Quality Waters, especially if you are in the BOR section close to the dam. Waders are a must.
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Rods: For general fly fishing on the San Juan you'll be covered with your standard 9ft 5wt or 9ft wt. We generally like softer rods to protect the lighter tippet we typically fish. For floating we personally use a lot of 10ft 4wts as it makes mending for our guests from the boat a lot easier. For streamer fishing we are big fans of 7wts as we tend to fish larger patterns and sink tip fly lines. For euro nymphing 3wts in 10 - 11 ft are preferred. We really like the 10.5 and 11ft rods as it makes it easier to get drifts in some of the wider sections of the river where wading can be difficult.
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Reels: This is probably one of the few rivers where a smooth drag is crucial. Playing large fish on small flies is common place on the San Juan. Having your drag sputter during a fight can torque a small hook or break 6x tippet.
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Getting There
The San Juan River is located in Navajo Dam, NM. The two closest air ports are Durango (DRO) 50 minutes and Albuquerque (ABQ) 3.5 Hours. Albuquerque is the closest large airport to the San Juan and the drive is almost all highway. Flying into Durango is a great option but be warned that during the Winter and Spring months weather delays can impede your travel.
Above is the map of the San Juan River, both quality water and bait water. For best use be sure to change it to "Satellite View" in the upper right hand corner. Everything upriver of "Crusher Hole" to the dam is quality water. Please remember to check you New Mexico proclamation for rules and regulations. This map is for reference only and not to be used as definitive markers. The green out line, visible in satellite view marks the quality water (catch and release boundary). No fishing upriver of the buoys below the dam. ​For a full screen map click here