Jimbo
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I have been staying at the Wyndam, using my RCI Timeshare, here in Pagosa Springs for some 18 years now, and these condos are very nice. I have seen just about every level of flood and drought and the impacts they have on the rivers and streams I fish up here in Southern Colorado. I can remember years of high flows where fishing the San Juan in town was real good, but crossing from one side of the river to the other was an act of faith. This area has been experiencing drought for a number of years now. Years of low snowpack, or spring storms that brought big snow totals, but unseasonably warm weather followed, and melted it off quickly. This year was the worst. Not much snow in the San Juans until late spring and then big dumps that melted off quickly. I am seeing the San Juan River in town at historic low flows for this time of year. It’s usually at least 100-150cfs (and as high as 1000cfs) but it was 40cfs and dropping. There was hope as El Nino usually brings more consistent and heavy Monsoon Rains and they were starting to show up.
For my first day flyfishing I picked the East Fork of the San Juan in the Canyon Section. There still wasn’t much flow (about the same as in town, because many ranchers and home owners withdrawing water from the river between here and town) but cold enough to fish ethically.
I’m feeling no ill effect from the altitude, which is the first positive thing. I turn off at the East Fork Road and start the drive up and into the canyon. The road is it’s normal roughness, with lots of teeth rattling washboard around the campground and parking lot for the ATV crowd. I’m about 20 minutes into the Bounce House, when I find a stretch of the river with no vehicles parked there. I find a pull out and park the Bronco.
I’m here….. But I have not flyfished in 3 months. I have not tried to pull on all my gear and wade on slick rocks in moving water. Can I do this? I have selected a rather easy stretch to fish. I sit down on my stool, pull on my wading boots, put my Scott 9′ 4wt, Centric together (Thanks Chris, I Love this rod !!!!), strap on my wading belt and wading staff, and then sling my flyvest over my shoulders. I feel it’s weight bear down on me. It’s time to see how well I can handle this.
I lock up the Bronco and walk down the road a bit before looking for a place to get in. I find what I think is the perfect spot. Work my way through the willows to the water’s edge. I look downstream and I see a flyrod moving back and forth behind a big rock there.
$#!+….
There’s somebody not 20′ from me working their way upstream. I call out. He doesn’t hear me. I wait and notice it is a nice Bamboo Flyrod waving back and forth, shiny with bright red wraps, it looks almost new, and might be. Then the angler steps out from behind the rocks. He’s an older man like myself. Nothing but grey hair in his beard and poking out from under his hat.
“Howdy, I didn’t notice you at first fishing upstream. How far upstream do you want to fish?”
“Hi, I was just about to get out here.”
“Are you sure, I don’t want to just start fishing in front of you?”
” You’re fine, I need to go back to my vehicle and grab something to eat and drink.”
“Ok, thanks again, I’ll tie on a fly and start here. How’s the fishing been.”
“I haven’t caught a thing.”
“Nothing?”
“Not a Bite!”
Well, that was not good news. Nonetheless I am here, the water looks easy to wade, and I’m going to give it a go. I tie on some new tippet and a Small Chubby and a #16 Elk Hair Caddis for my double dry setup. The other angler had left the water and headed downstream.
It’s good to be back on the water flyrod in hand. I don’t see anything moving as I make those first casts. I fish methodically, starting by fishing the water right in from of my feet, you just never really know. Then gridding out the stream, covering all possible lies. It was about my 10th cast or so, I’m watching the fly drift back, then seeming out of nowhere, I see the Rainbow slash at the fly and I’m on !!!!
Yahooo !!!! And in seconds I scoop him up in the net.
He’s a little guy, but I don’t care !!!! It’s official, I’m in the mountains, I’m fishing Dry Flys, and I’m Catching Wild Trout !!!!
I can do this !!!!
The fish came out of the tail of this slick at the top of this picture.
I remove the hook and slip the little guy back into the water and he instantly disappears.
God I Love This !!!!
Time to work upstream.
.
Back into my rhythm. Carefully covering the water. Slack line casts, steeple casts, and just little flicks of the wrist, working upstream like a proper Dry Fly Fisherman.
Boom !….
Another Rainbow and a better one. Sometimes I really wonder about what other fishermen will tell you on the water? Did he really catch nothing, or was he catching and hoping that I would shrug my shoulders, leave, and look for somewhere else to fish?
I’ve been fishing 30 minutes and I look upstream….
There’s that same old man with the Bamboo Fly Rod and he’s fishing one of the deeper holes above me. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it ?…..
I keep fishing upstream. I am feeling some soreness work into my leg and knee. I catch 2 more, small Browns (one flipped out of my hand before I could take a photo).
I arrive where that other Flyfisherman was standing.
I have not been fishing that long, maybe 1 hour 15 minutes or so. My leg is sore. Fishing up through the water the other angler has just been through is rather pointless. I climb up the streamside bank, and walk back to the Bronco. I open the rear tailgate and pull off my heavy Flyvest. Boy does that feel good. I think a minute about going somewhere further upstream to fish, but no, I shouldn’t push it my first day. This would be enough. One thing that is a new reality is removing the boot and sock from my left leg. Even with 120 degrees of flexion, it is about the limit of my reach to pull the wet sock off. I still can not cross my left leg over my right knee to make it easier. I have to bend over at the waist and stretch out to work it down my calf, past my heal, and off entirely. I am hoping this gets better over time, maybe it will, maybe it won’t.
Rehab with a Rod…. Has Started !!!!
Jimbo
Leading up to my Knee Replacement Surgery, there were several appointments that are designed to weed out those unsure if they want the surgery. One is called “Joint Class” where they talked extensively about how the knee replacement surgery was performed, and what to expect with pain management, and the months of physical therapy to follow. I was one of about a dozen in the class, and I think there were 2 who indicated they didn’t want to proceed. Then there was the appointment with the surgeon Dr. Fox who showed me the actual fixations that could be used. He explained that only after opening the knee up and bones actually cut could the best size be selected for the ligament lengths and space in between. Then of course, he asked if I was prepared and ready to proceed…. Yes Sir !!!!
Again, the alarm went off at 4:30am on the morning of April 21, to be at the hospital at 5:30am. I was Dr. Fox’s first patient of the day and wheeled in about 8:30am. This time I was prepared for the spinal tap and it’s effects, then I was placed in position for the surgery, and full anesthesia. Again waking feeling no pain, to bad it wouldn’t stay that way. It wasn’t too bad in the hospital, as the anesthesia and medications still had their affect. Overnight I began to feel the swelling in my leg from the trauma of surgery. Physical therapy started early the next morning before breakfast. After everyone nodding in approval I was sent home at noon.
At home and just having oxycodone for pain, I could not get comfortable. I never slept more than 30 minutes at a time over the next couple of weeks. I could not sleep in my bed either as it was too difficult to get in and out of bed. I tried every chair and sofa in the house, and finally used a small upholstered chair, ottoman, and many pillows to use as my spot to try and sleep. I say try to sleep, because that is what it was, a series of short naps, that added up to little more than a couple of hours. Yeap, they were serious about the first couple of weeks post surgery.
Again, I had nurses and P.T. Therapists showing up every other day. The swelling and bruising were bad. The nurse suggested, I add Ibuprofen to the other drugs I was taking. I mentioned that Dr. Fox had me shooting Lovenox to prevent blood clots. I told her this and she said it wouldn’t be a problem. Well, I started taking the ibuprofen and the swelling was better initially. Then I started having problems with my stomach and digestion. After 2 1/2 days I googled these two drugs, and they definitely interacted and said not to take both at the same time. So, I quit the ibuprofen, but the damage had been done. I had ulsers in my stomach and intestines, and I could not eat hardly anything without problems. This went on for more than 2 weeks. I was loosing weight fast. I dropped 18 pounds.
All along I was doing physical therapy to build strength back in my leg and increasing motion in my knee. I had this hydraulic machine to develop motion in my knee. You set the extension and flexion in degrees and then turned it on. I was behind the curve on everything. I lost a bunch of muscle mass, and range of motion in my knee was sub-par. And I could not eat enough calories to start adding weight and strength again. It was week 4 before I started moving in the right direction. My sleeping patterns were still off and on, hoping to get 4 or 5 hours total per day. I am a side sleeper, and when I turned on my side my leg would start to hurt worse and wake me up.
Then week 5 Physical Therapy was now done at N E Baptist Hospital. Ed was my therapist. He told me I need to improve quickly. He said range of motion on the knee was pretty much fixed at 7 weeks and I was at 10/70 and my target was 0/120. I had difficulty increasing the range of motion with the hydraulic machine. Seems I would increase the range and then 1 hour later it was back to where I started. Now one of my favorite chairs is a wooden rocking chair I’ve had forever. I found that if I flexed my knee close to it’s max while leaning back, and then leaned forward with my body weight I could make better progress in my extension and flexion. Finally, I was headed in the right direction. Although the muscle mass in my left leg was poor and not coming back as fast as I would like. My monitored physical therapy lasted 8 weeks and I made it to 0/125.
Now I was on my own to continue exercising and building strength and stamina.
Jimbo
I was now about 1 month from leaving for Pagosa Springs and my summer flyfishing trip to the Rockies. To tell you the truth I was not sure I was capable of doing it this year. I still had problems sleeping. I was still using oxycodone or hydrocodone, and clonazepam to sleep. It seems that even if my leg didn’t hurt when I went to sleep, during the night it would begin hurting enough to wake me up and keep me awake unless I medicated myself.
I continued to exercise, doing some core exercises and walking around the block. One thing I added to my walks was there a set a stairs at the outdoor parking lot for a Office Building at the end of the street. So, I started going up and down the 20 steps that were the stairs. I started off slowly, going up and down 4 times, and each time I walked, I would added 1 or 2 sets. Towards the end of the month, I was walking around the block (about 1 mile) and 20 sets of stairs. I was feeling pretty good about flyfishing at altitude.
Still, I had not tested myself, with wading boots, my ~20lb flyfishing vest, wading belt, bear spray, and wading staff.
Then 5 days before, I was set to leave, I had a call from Wyndam in Pagosa….
“Mr. Roberts are you still planning to use your reservation?”
“Yes, I’ll be there Saturday afternoon.”
“What about the first week?”
Well my reservation is for July 18th through August 1st.”
Mr. Roberts, we have your reservation for July 11 through the 25th.”
Oops…. when I made the reservations with RCI some 9 months ago, I asked for 2 weeks in a row. And apparently the only time they could do that was starting July 11th. I missed that detail, and I usually print the confirmation, but I didn’t this year. So, my vacation was already burning through days that I could not get credit. I asked for and paid for another week July 25- August 1. Now I had to accelerate everything and leave in 36 hours.
So, the usual things needed to be finished tomorrow, change the oil in the Bronco, check all fluid levels, tire pressures, wash and clean the interior, then start packing. Go through my flyfishing gear. Organize my flyvest for Dryfly fishing, select the rods and reels I wanted to take, pack up my traveling fly tying stuff, figure out the additional flys I wanted to take, select all the cloths (prepared for 4 seasons), pack up everything I needed for cooking, and various stuff like that. And when I was through, the Bronco is about as full as it could be.
It’s July 15th and I am up early to load the last few things into the Bronco. It’s raining as I gas up and head west.
The rain stopped around Ozona. You know you’re in West Texas when you cross the Pecos.
Headed north from Ft. Stockton you enter some of the biggest oil fields in Texas. They are still drilling new wells.
Cheapest gas in the nation 09.9/gal for regular…. too bad the Bronco runs on premium….
The high plains of eastern New Mexico…..
First look at the mountains around Santa Fe….
I spend the night in Espanola. I wake early and head back to Santa Fe to visit High Desert Angler Fly Shop looking some some specific patterns.
I don’t find exactly what I am looking for but still spend $90 on odds and ends. From there I head north again for Pagosa.
The red desert of northern New Mexico
First look at the southern San Juans of Colorado
and as I close in on Pagosa I can see the Weminuche Wilderness
It’s a too early to check into the Wyndam, so I go straight to “Let It Fly” fly shop. I get my fishing license and some intel about area rivers and streams. It’s worse than I hoped for, The San Juan in town is flowing 40cfs. Most of the San Juan, the Rio Grande River, and the South Fork are so low and warm, that voluntary “Hoot Owl” fishing restrictions are in place. Now I don’t usually fish the San Juan in town much, but the South Fork and the Rio Grande are always on my list of places to fish. The good news is the drought is so bad, and the weather so warm, that most of the tourists are not here. It setting up to be a year of fishing nothing below 8500′ and that suits me just fine. I Love fishing the headwater creeks, plus they are generally easier to wade !!!!
Jimbo
February 16th
I arrive at the hospital at 5:30am. Dr Fox arrives about 8am and I am wheeled back into the prep room, where I am readied for the first operation. This operation will remove all the hardwear still in my left leg for the reconstructive surgery back in 1983. This is the first time I will have a spinal block. It is administered, and it comes as a shock to me, that not only can I not feel anything below my chest, I am temporarily paralyzed…. This freaks me out a little…. but shortly afterward, the lights go out.
I wake up in intensive care. I feel no pain, but again, I can not move anything below my chest. They tell me it will wear off in about 3 hours or more. I am visited by family and my sister stays through the evening. Feeling comes back slowly in my legs and I can slowly start to move my waist, then my thigh, then my lower leg and finally my feet. This is a very strange sensation. The Olympics are on and I watch them all through the night. They have those inflatable bags on my lower legs, that pressurize up every 5 minutes and then release the pressure. This keeps me awake and I finally convince the nurse to disconnect them about 3am so I can sleep a little. I wake just a few hours later and they want me up, first sitting in a chair, and then walking around. Dr Fox comes in about 8:30am, looks me over, and declares I’m fit to be released.
I head home. It’s always good to return home after being in the hospital. Of course, now the hard part starts. The Hydrocodone doesn’t eliminate the pain, it moderates it. Surprisingly there is more pain from my femur, than from my knee. Over the next few weeks, sleep comes sparingly. I am fatigued and in pain, Oh Boy !!! Of course, I have nurses visiting me at the house every other day and Rehab techs on the other days. These days slowly pass and I am getting better, stronger, and learn to deal with the sleep deprivation.
February passes into March. More rehab, nurse and doctor visits, and things are progressing towards my next operation, the knee replacement, April 21st. By the middle of March, I actually get in the Bronco, and drive again. It feels good…. or normal again…. driving.
April 8 rolls around, and I feel I may be able to fish. Just a little afternoon fishing. Things have really Greened up since I was last on the Guad.
I am again fishing with my Scott 10′ 4wt. my “go to” nymph rod now. I see a Great Blue Heron standing in the riffle above Barking Dog Pool. It’s always a good sign to see these birds fishing too.
I cross the river and get into position to fish the drop and ledge there. I am fishing a Dave’s Red Squirrel and P.T. Soft Hackle again. It takes just a few casts to hook and land the first Trout.
\Another LAP Member comes down to join me there and talk and fish together catching a few fish.
I wanted to get down to the Potts area again, so it was time to get moving.
I fished the lower Slot a little and Mountain Creek Pool and caught a couple.
Back to moving my boots downstream.
Catching was spotty, but steady. A couple in the Bench Pool, a couple at Happy Rock, a half dozen in the 6B riffle. Of course, starting late meant I was not going to spend much time in any one spot, but the Trout were there to be caught. Being late in the afternoon it was time to head back upstream and fish a few more spots.
Back up to Mountain Creek Pool, I landed a couple more.
In the tailout of the lower slot, another stranger….
As I started back for the Bronco, the Frogs started to sing….
Nothing says springtime, like the frogs singing at dusk. As I walked along the trail I heard another distinctive call of spring, Turkeys gobbling up the hill.
Now as the light faded and I walked back up to BDP, my friend was still there waiting for his dinner….
It hadn’t been a spectacular day, just another average day on the Guad, 18 Trout, and 1 Redhorse Sucker. But that was fine, that’s all I really wanted. Another day flyfishing the Guad, seeing and hearing the ordinary things you do, when you stop, look, and listen.
The next morning I woke up with a cold. I probably was developing it for a while and could not really blame it on fishing yesterday. It would have me miserable for a couple of days and eliminate any chance to fish again any the next week. My next Operation was on April 21 and the week leading up to it was full of the usual examinations, appointments, pre-op procedures and the like. This would turn out to be the last time I would fish till I arrived in Pagosa springs in July.
Jimbo
Feeding program is proceeding nicely this summer. We will have more holdovers than last year, because we stocked higher numbers (smaller fish) this past season, so all things being equal we should have more Trout, but smaller (shorter) fish. Now, we had a fairly warm spring again with low flows, so we lost a bunch of fish before July when they bumped the flows. With these increased flows, just about every Trout in the river right now, should make it through to the fall. We will also have more Trout further downstream this coming season before the stocking starts. Now I also expect to see fewer really Big Trout (>20″ and >4lbs) because that’s the way this season’s population started. Still, we should have a good season fishing for holdovers. As always watch your water temperatures, fish barbless, carry a net with a rubber bag, minimize the time these caught fish stay out of the water for pictures (less than 5 seconds), and release all the Trout.
Ron DeMeyer handles the feeding program. He is usually seeking volunteers in March and April for the next summer.
Jimbo
That is a possibility. It is also a possibility it is correct. The sensor at Little Ponderosa is really in deep water behind what used to be Bill Higdon’s house (the one with the floating barge/dock). It could be reading water that is not representative of the water temps in the riffles above the bridge. There are several springs that feed that long pool between the bridge and the Lazy L&L Office and it could be reading the spring water temps entering the river versus actual river temps. Most springs run about 55 degrees.
Jimbo
It seems that what is happening is the releases from the dam are in line with “The Flow Agreement” between GRTU and GBRA. Now the lake will continue to rise with the current inflows. If the lake goes above 910, I believe the ACOE will step in and match the releases from the dam to what the inflows to the lake to maintain that 910 level.
Jimbo
What will happen when the lake goes beyond 909 is complicated.
Technically the flows are managed by GBRA at 909 and below. Above 909 the ACOE has control of the releases from the dam. There is also an understanding to allow the lake to go to 910, to have that foot of water for recreational purposes, from the Flow Agreement. That being said, the primary function of Canyon Lake is to control downstream flooding from excessive rains in the upper basin. The ACOE must also consider the weather forecast in their release strategy. If big rains are forecast above the lake they may increase the flows, above inflows, to have the cushion to hold all the water coming down and not have it come over the spillway. Now if the flooding is occurring downstream of the dam, they may hold water, so as to not make downstream flooding any worse. Otherwise, they will consider releasing flows from the dam that are entering the lake so as to control lake levels. Like I said it’s complicated.
Then there is the Flow Agreement that is still in affect, that, if the lake ever reaches 909 during the defined period of the Flow Agreement, even if the lake drops below 909 there are certain minimum flows guaranteed to help support recreation and our Trout, different flows for the different months of that period.
So…. Keep watching the lake levels, the inflows to the lake, and the releases from Canyon Dam.
Jimbo
Well, it’s happening !!!! The lake is coming up pretty fast. Big flows are still coming down the Guadalupe and will continue for a couple of days. There is even a chance of rain on Friday. This Super El Nino is having a huge impact on Central Texas. The Lake is over 894 and will approach 900 before the flows start to drop towards normal. I am a betting man and I think we will get to 909 and even above this year.
Jimbo
JC has steadily been getting better finishes in these competitions. I have been watching him for years developing his concentration and technics. He has come a long way !!!!
JImbo
Ladies and Gentlemen
If you haven’t already noticed, the additional rains we have been getting here in Central and South Texas, it’s Official Now….
El Nino in the eastern Pacific has started !!!!!We should see more rain than is normal through the summer and fall. This could be great news for the fishery if rains come consistently and in volumes that are not so great that the lake is turned over and loses it’s cold water understory.
Jimbo
Ladies and Gentlemen
We have come through the spring and are now in the beginning of June, and all things being equal, we have decent flows and decent water temperatures. This is much better than last year where we saw water temperatures in the upper river in the 70s as early as the end of March. And we put in very high numbers of Trout, albeit smaller than we desire, so it is going to be very interesting to see what the Trout look like next fall with our summer feeding program (Big shout-out to Ron DeMeyer and his volunteers for doing the twice weekly feedings), Ron McAlpins release of Rainbow Trout Fingerlings from Trout in the Classroom, and of course our Whitlock/Vibert box program to establish long term Brown Trout in the Guadalupe River.
This El Nino weather pattern will also have an impact on the Guadalupe River, Canyon Lake levels, and the releases from the lake. We have already had a wetter spring than is normal, and we are just entering the neutral phase of El Nino. It is hard to predict the future, but it is shaping up to be fantastic season next year.
While temperatures are still favorable to fish the upper river in the mornings, if you go, watch your water temperatures, and quit fishing when they hit 68. Don’t forget to fish barbless, use a rubber basket net, keep’em wet, wet your hands before handling, if pictures are taken limit the time the Trout are out of the water to 5 seconds (you can do it!) and we will have healthy releases of those Trout back into the river.
Again, Thank You to all the sportsmen who have joined the Lease Access Program, which allows us to create this amazing fishery !!!!
Jimbo Roberts
GRTU V.P. of Fisheries
It’s starting to happen again. We are in a wet cycle now and for the next 10 days. First real flows in a long time are coming into Canyon Lake of 240cfs right now. Let’s wait and see how much rain falls in the upper basin from now to June and pray that the lake starts to rise again. This coming El Nino is all part of the cycle of drought and flood here in Texas. It would be nice to get the lake to pool again and see higher releases over extended periods of time and cooler water temperatures farther downstream to support our Trout Fishery.
Jimbo
We’ve had some good solid steady rains in the headwaters finally today. I have been looking at the gauges and some significant flows are headed downstream to the lake. There should be one more round tomorrow morning that should keep things going. We need these waters coming down and regular rains to start bringing the lake up again. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year where we get the rains we have been missing and get this lake back to pool. I hope so. It sure would be nice to see regular flows in the hundreds again.
Tom tom tom tom….
Tom tom tom tom….
Tom tom tom tom….Gp Spurs Go !!!!!
Jimbo
