Conejos River B-36 : Log Book Entries


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31 entries found

Name: Brad Date Submitted: 9/13/2012
Email:
Date's Fished: Sept. 13, 2012

Commments:
Water was clear and had come up after recent rains. Only fished until 1 p.m. but great fishing with 20 plus fish to net which included 2 really big rainbows and 1 very large brown. The fish were deeper and a Zebra Midge with a small-bodied, red San Juan Worm were best. Took fish on both. Water temperatues were in the 40s. This was fishing that bordered on exceptional.



Name: Tim J Date Submitted: 8/15/2012
Email: mjtjjackson@comcast.net
Date's Fished: August 11, 2012

Commments:
Warmsunny day, but gusty at times. No luck with nymphs, but hitting on hoppers from 11:00 to 4:00 (parachute hopper and Joe's Hoppper). Fish were in the fast water. In the evening, when the wind died, good luck with size14 parachute blue winged olives, which were out and on the water. Fish were quietly feeding in the tail waters. As always on the Conejos, I had to work for my fish - Three Rainbows (one 19-inch) and 4 browns (up to 16-inch) caught and released. All fat and healthy. Great day.



Name: Russ Date Submitted: 6/24/2012
Email: williamlaurier@aol.com
Date's Fished: June 20-21, 2012

Commments:
Two wonderful days on the Conejos. Wednesday had light morning hatches and picked up a few nice fish on Adams and Green Drakes. The hatches subsided early so went down with Black and Black/Tan Pat's Rubber Legs fishing like a streamer and caught 20 to 30 fish in the 14 to 22" range--two browns and a Rainbow over three pounds. Most of the bows were broad/thick healthy fish. Thursday the morning hatch was prolific and caught most fish on a Green Drake with an Adams pulling up the rear. Winds came up heavy around
1230pm and forced to go deep again with Pat's Rubber Legs. Tried other nymphs: Golden Ribbed Hairs Ear, Prince, Pheasant Tails and Copper Johns but nothing worked as well as the Pat's Rubber Legs.
Did not see any Stoneflys or Caddis; some BWO and PMD seen but in very small numbers. My father used to take me on the Conejos when I was quit small and I loved it then with my five foot fly rod and things haven't changed much since--still a wonderful beautiful place to spend time on a great trout stream.



Name: CC Date Submitted: 6/14/2012
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
"Fabulous--No, Super Fabulous" I've been fishing the Conejos since 1979 and even though the flow was low it was absolutely the most unbelievable day of fly fishing that I have ever had. It was incredible catching so many large fish. Stoneflies of every variety were coming off--golden, brown & huge orange ones s8-s10. The stream was completely wadable. I netted about 40 fish with most of them 18 inches and above. The fish were really on the big bugs.



Name: John Date Submitted: 6/13/2012
Email: fosholt@aol.com
Date's Fished: June 13, 2012

Commments:
It's a long drive but it was dream fishing. I caught and released 8 browns and 9 rainbows, all 12 to 18 inches, plus an 8-inch brookie. Many others slipped the barbless hooks.
I tried some nymphs, but switched to elkhair caddis when the flies started hitting the water at 10am. At noon, adult stoneflies appeared and the fish hit on big stimulators. A few hours later big mayflies appeared, and the fish tore the feathers off some size-10 parachute Adams that I tied decades ago for unknown reasons.
The fish were everywhere, including a calm backwater that was llike fishing a spring creek. The water was clear and wadable, although I was glad to have new cleats on my boots for crossing the stream.
No mosquitoes!



Name: Dennis Date Submitted: 10/10/2011
Email:
Date's Fished: 10-8-11

Commments:
Drove though snow storm to get there but well worth the hassle. Sun came out around 10 o'clock, flows about 130, water off colored, Aspen leafs on the water, great scenery, fishing was fabulous. None stop action from 11.30 to 3.30 on various patterns. One off the best trips off the year. This water should stay good till winter really sets in. The conejos angler was a great help, worth the stop for flys and advice.



Name: Saratella Date Submitted: 10/9/2011
Email: saratella@aol.com
Date's Fished: Sept. 21 and 22

Commments:
This is a fantastically beautiful stretch of river. On Sept 21 I fished the upper section. It was very windy which impacted hatches and casting. The river was low and very clear. The fish were down. I saw one fish when I spooked him along the bank. Oh, did I say, the fish were very spooky? . This was extremely difficult fishing. Sept 22 was better. I fished the lower section and met a fellow member on the lease - nice guy from Colorado Springs. The wind was very manageable. The fish were still down and still very spooky and elusive. I saw some very nice fish, but they saw me first so there was no connection. I found a section where the river split and the right hand side ( looking up stream) split off and broke onto a long gravel bank that flowed perpenticular to river and pushed into a grassy bank. This riffle was about 50 feet long and up against the bank formed a deep trough about 8 feet wide. There was a hatch on with of some kind of May Fly ( maybe a PMD, maybe a Flav) not sure. So I put on a #18 or 20 Parachute Adams with 5 x Seagear flourocarbon tippet. I cast into the fast water as it broke off the gravel bank and let it float up to the edge of the grassy bank. BANG! From nowhere a fish came from the bottom and ate my fly. It was a very beautiful 18" Rainbow. I caught 5 more fish in the same 50 feet of riffle and bank, before the hatch supsided. Two fish were well over 20 inches - around 22-24. So there you have it. Good day.



Name: Gary W. Godden Date Submitted: 8/1/2011
Email: gwgodden@comcast.net
Date's Fished: July 27, 2011

Commments:
Upon visiting B-36 this time of year with my friend, we found the water flows & clarity to be about perfect. But unfortunately, the Green Drake hatch had already moved through & was now up in the upper meadows. We experienced no perceivable hatches, so I tried various hopper / dropper combos with mixed results. I rolled a very large brown three times on an Amy's Ant, but couldn't get him to hook up. I did however hook & land a 19" rainbow on the purple Salvation nymph dropper in the same run. My friend had pretty good success w/ an olive Slumpbuster fished tight to the banks. However, all in all, we felt it was slow fishing for such a wonderful stretch of water. My friend & I spent the rest of the week fishing various sections of the river from the upper meadows down to some private leases on the lower river near Mogote with mixed success. That said, this is my third visit to the Conejos, and although I have fished many trout streams throughout the Rocky Mountain West, Alaska & Argentina, I think that the Conejos is one of the prettiest, most captivating and fishable rivers I have ever experienced. No matter which section you pick, you will always find great water. It is one of the hidden gems of our state.



Name: Russ Date Submitted: 7/30/2011
Email: williamlaurier@aol.com
Date's Fished: 17, 18, 21, 24 July 2011

Commments:
Invited a friend (Adam Gayton) from Florida in for a week of fishing on RMAC properties. He is an avid salt water and fresh water bass fisherman but had little experience with trout. We started with the Conejos on the 17th & 18th. Water was at a perfect level, weather was superb and the fish were very active. The first day we netted 10 or 15 fish but he spent most of the day getting the feel for flyrod techniques with trout. Second day he had a banner day landing more big trout than he could count--many in the 20"+ range. We worked with nymphs, emergers and on top but the most productive fly was a black Pat's Rubber Legs. In fact 90% of the fish were caught on the Rubber Legs.
We were scheduled to fish B-22 on the 20th but the water was very high and we decided to take a float trip from the Willowfly Resort (confluence of the Taylor and East) 17 miles down the Gunnison. Good decision as we had a great guide and landed 40+ fish with the largest a 30" bow. I highly recommed the trip if you've not done it.
On the way to the Yampa (C57) we fished the Arkansas and Eagle with limited results as the water in both rivers was very high and off color.
We fished C57 on the 24th in very hot weather and high, off color water but had a good day landing pleanty of fish in the 20"+ range. Again all fish were caught on a Pat's Rubber Legs. Bottom line, if I had to put only one fly in my box it would be a Pat's Rubber Leg.
Thanks RMAC for providing a special experience for my good friend.



Name: Kathy Kanda Date Submitted: 7/16/2011
Email: kkanda@mcgeadysisneros.com
Date's Fished: July 5, 2011

Commments:
OMG -- braided oxbows and very bug you can imagine hatching for most of the day -- drakes, stones, caddis. Saw dozens of nice fish and actually caught a few. Surface feeding sporadic, but came up for drakes and caddis with sufficient regularity that I did not even try anything subsurface. Water was gin clear, so deceptively deep and fast -- crossed the river at a spot a bit deeper than I should have and spent most of the rest of my time trying to find an easier way to get back rather than fishing. Wish I'd planned on a second day. This is my favorite RMAC property so far and I hope to get back soon and often. Fishing Mogote camground access was also productive -- again, all dries. Less luck on public special reg water upstream. Stayed at cabins at Conejos River Anglers -- a good value.



Name: Jon Boren Date Submitted: 10/12/2010
Email:
Date's Fished: 10/04/2010

Commments:
Fished this lovely river for the second time this year -the last time in July when I landed some beautiful fish including 2 legitimate 20" ers, both in the largest and deepest bend hole (90 degree left turn which is located a straight drop down from the road of about 15 feet or so - don't try to access this hole from the road side when flow is up unless you want to fight with deep water, a lot of barbed wire and prickly-pear as a landing for your right arm) a bit below the upper parking for RMAC having worked my way up from the lower parking area.

Flow on October 4th was quite low and much fishable water in July was barren this time out. The best (?only) good fishing was directly parallel to the lower parking area at the very bottom of the property. I landed some nice fish early on at about 1 pm (should have signed up for p.m. fishing as I was tardy arriving from Santa Fe) - none as good as in July in the bend hole but nevertheless a couple at 17-18" and solid, strong fish which hit both the hopper and the dropper. Nice guy at the fly shop just west of Antonito on the right helped me repair my ripped 3 layer gortex Patagonia waders - big ones sustained while clinging to the right bank of aforementioned bend hole on July trip. Pretty good fix as no leaks; he also recommended some flies that were helpful in the early goings - sorry, I can't remember the names of these new-fangled flies. Worth a stop to help your local fly shops stay in business.

The upper water yielded nada except a couple smaller browns in the runs below the big bend hole. The flora was spectacular and damn near perfect I reckon. It's nice to hit the mother's day hatch on the Arkansas just right and it's nice to hit anything in Colorado in the mountains in the fall regardless of them finned critters and their emotional vicissitudes vis-a-vis your feathered offerings.



Name: Russ Date Submitted: 8/7/2010
Email: williamlaurier@aol.com
Date's Fished: 25-29 July

Commments:
Did a five day trip starting at the Conejos then B-22 Gunnison, A-3 Arkansaw, C-57 Yampa and A-8 Tarryall. Fantastic five day trip and learning your waters. Conejos was excellant fishing with Adams doing well in the morning and black and tan rubber legs killing the big ones later in the day. Almost ever other cast with the rubber legs contributed bows in the 17 to 22" range.
The Gunnison is superb large river with lots of browns in the 10 to 14" range. Hard fishing but productive for smaller fish.
Arkansaw pretty much same as Gunnison--lots of browns in the 10 to 14" range with occasional larger fish. Beautiful river and property.
Yampa--can't say enough. Dave has the quid essential property. Huge fish that just don't quit fighting. Most fish in the 18 to 23" range netted larger up to 25 inches. Fish in this stretch of the Yampa like the black and tan rubber legs retrived through fast water.
Tarryall (A-8) great as usual. Low water but still plenty of large fish, this day on the lower section in the faster water.
Can't say enough about RMAC and look forward to fishing many more excellant properties.



Name: Heath Date Submitted: 7/6/2010
Email: Hnaymd@gmail.com
Date's Fished: July 4,2010

Commments:
My dad and I fished thIs on the morning of the fourth. After fishing down river near Magote, we did not think it was going to be all that good fishing. There was another pair of guys fishing the property as well. We did not see them all day. There was a large caddis hatch that came off and the fish were rising. We caught 7 fish, I got 6 browns the largest 17+ inches. None less than 12 inches. My dad caught the only rainbow and it was a gorgeous one at 15+ inches. We only fished for 3 hours as i had to go back to Albuquerque for work. I would have loved to have stayed all day!



Name: slick fisherman Date Submitted: 7/6/2010
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Great day, big fish



Name: Chris Date Submitted: 7/3/2010
Email: cdbernard@msn.com
Date's Fished: July 1, 2010

Commments:
Started fishing at 8:30AM with a green drake pattern. Nothing by 10:30, so switched to a two nymph rig, 20 incher over a small flash back pheasant tail. Nothing by noon, so back to a different green drake pattern. At 12:30 the Fish Gods turned on the switch when a small fish rose six inches from my fly. I noticed a hatch of small mayflies starting so I tied in a size 16 parachute Adams and landed that small brown plus four browns and four 'bows all 16" to 19" in the next hour. Interestingly, that first rise at 12:30 was the only one of the day. At 1:30 the Fish Gods turned off the switch when the hatch stopped.



Fished dries and nymphs till 5:30 without a strike.

I stayed at The Conejos River Ranch. Decent enough, though a hundred years old. I talked to another guest who has been fishing the Conejos for many years and he said it was the best lodging in the area by far. Room and a nice breakfast for under a hundred bucks. Dinners were pretty good and not expensive at all.

Flow was 400 CFS at Mogote. I think the river will fish better at 200 CFS or so later in the month. I compared notes with several other fishermen back at the lodge and I had by far the best day.



Name: Gene & Kris Edwards Date Submitted: 6/11/2010
Email: genoedwards@comcast.net
Date's Fished: June 7th 2010

Commments:
It It was a beautiful day on the Conejos temp in the high 70's while Denver had 94 degrees. This really is one of the most scenic properties we have, if you haven't been there you're really missing out on a great property. We fished all day for 7 fish but they were all quality fish mostly browns but a couple of 20+ rainbows. The story was the flow which I estimate at least 1000cfs. I got a little confused when checking the flows on the Colorado Water site. The station that says under Platero Reservoir it turns out is 20 miles or so above the property and probably isn't relevant to B36 at least during runoff, even though it probably is at other times. The reading that morning was 250cfs which would have been ideal but there must be a lot of feeder water between the reservoir and the property. The next closest station which says Conejos near Mogote read 1400 cfs and when we drove through there that looked more like the water we fished. Being a chuck and ducker I tried every streamer color I own and only got a couple of bumps, while Kris was catching the majority of the fish on bright pink San Juan worms. Being no dummy, after 6 or 7 hours, I tied on a SJW myself and immediately caught a fat rainbow hen that went a little over 5 pounds. While she was in the net she regurgitated 6 or 8 earthworms that I'm sure the strong flow was kicking up down below. So all the fish we caught were on SJW and of course next to the bank as there were few spots you would want to or need to enter the water. It's a long way down there so a stay in Alamosa and two days on the river would make for a nice little get away. There is so much water you wouldn't fish the same water in 2 days.

Geno



Name: DT126 Date Submitted: 5/12/2010
Email: delthomas56@comcast.net
Date's Fished: May 1, 2010

Commments:
Cant find warm air, go south. Dropped in under the storm system temperature in mid 40's. Worked many streamers, big blonde coneheads trailed behind big black coneheads dead drifted, start twitchin, I mean stripping and hold on. Ran the deep pools with tungston worms and breadcrusts, worked very good. Went up with Mel Zeman landed many unreal fish.



Name: Mark Date Submitted: 7/17/2009
Email:
Date's Fished: July 11, 2009

Commments:
I tore them up. I only fished for two hours because my arm got so tired from catching fish. Just a Green Drake on top - NO dropper. I've gotta go back next weekend.



Name: Russ Lofquist Date Submitted: 8/26/2008
Email: rglofquist@hotmail.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Wow is the word for this property. Wow, its a long drive from Denver. Wow, the canyon is beautiful. Wow the fishing was amazing! I spent about six hours on the river starting at 8:30. I must have caught 10-12 fish. I hooked maybe six more than that but they never got close to the net. I was using a yellow stonefly nymph. I got two of them on a recommendation from the folks at Anglers All. I should have bought more because on this day on the Conejos the fish really loved them. I fished this nymph in combination with a glass bead pheasant tail. I did get one fish to take the pheasant tail but that was about it. They loved the yellow stonefly nymph. I landed four really nice rainbows each about 17-18 inches long. The fourth one fought hard. He jumped out of the water several times and got some pretty good hang time. I played a fifth rainbow for several minutes. It was a big fish and as big fish go smart enough to know not to get into the shallow water. He stayed out in deep water as we danced around each other. When the music ended he spit the hook. Had it not been for the other four I would have been more upset over this outcome. I caught all the fish in the faster moving water. Each bend in the river produced just the right amount of movement. The river seemed low to me. There were lots of exposed gravel beds. The wading was easy and the weather couldnt have been better. Around 2:30 the skies started to darken and roar of thunder reminded me that graphite is an excellent conductor of electricity. Getting lit up like a Christmas tree was no way to end a day like this so I headed back to the car for the long ride home.



Name: Joe Snoy Date Submitted: 9/11/2007
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fish 1/2 day on the upper part of this beautiful property. Started with Yellow Stimulators - nothing. Switched to dark hopper patterns and "bingo"! I landed 4 and missed a few more - my son trippled my numbers! He caught one large broad-shouldered brown about 18 inches, the rest were respectable 12-14 inchers- mostly rainbows. I want to go again.



Name: Lonnie Date Submitted: 7/9/2007
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished two days. The first day was slow and landed 3 fish on stimmy's. The second day was some of the best dry fly fishing ever. Lost count of how many nice 15"-19" rainbows and browns on a yellow stimmy. Good stone hatch.



Name: Fred Mady Date Submitted: 7/6/2007
Email: fmady@wesellortho.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
This was our second trip in a week to the conejos, last week was good, this week was great, and I imagine next week will be excellent. If you plan a trip to the conejos make sure to stop in to Conejos River Anglers. Unlike most destination flyshops these guys were very willing to help you find success on the river(probably not a fair generalization but have recieved less then a warm reception from other shops when you mention you will be fishing on the RMAC h2o). Drakes, Golden Stones, Caddis, Dry dropper combo. Water was up a bit I think around 250-350 would fish even better with a 200-250 flow. The second time we fished 7/6/07 we slowed down a bit and caught more fish. How many? A bunch! What Size? Big! Have fun and pleeeeeeeese do not leave trash. We picked up h20 bottles (3) Mountain dew can, slim jim wrapper etc. This is a real treat and thank you RMAC for securing this property.



Name: Mike Beatty Date Submitted: 9/19/2006
Email: rmbeatty@hotmail.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Nirvana - Hopper, dropper with most fish taken on dropper. Are there any small fish in this river?



Name: Ken Williams Date Submitted: 10/1/2005
Email: ken@arena-flow.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Bueatiful property, but the recent rain jumped flows from 80 cfs to 280! No luck.....



Name: Lee T. Scott Date Submitted: 7/27/2005
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Good day started late but the weather was perfect. The owners were moving livestock and crossed the river just below us. The water was running at about 250 to 300 cfs kinda high but water was clear. You might want to check the water flow history for the week before, they are releasing alot of water for a couple of days then bring it down 50cfs per day to around 150cfs. From what I saw over 8 days fishing up and down the river it makes hatchs erratic. On the property we had excellent fishing on Bitch Creek nymphs 10&8, also green and brown rubber leg wooly worms 8&6. Fished the cut banks and almost all strikes occured within a foot of the bank. A good 20 fish day the largest at 17", most of them browns and 12 to 15"



Name: Steve Sypher Date Submitted: 7/28/2004
Email:
Date's Fished: July 26-27 2004

Commments:
I hadn't fished the Conejos in years and had forgotten how good it can be. River conditions were variable. It rained heavily each afternoon causing the river to rise and turn color, which pretty much limited fishing to a few hours in the morning. The first morning the river was running very dirty. However streamers produced very well. The two of us caught between 15-20 fish, pretty much an equal mix of browns and rainbows . The next morning the river was running a little clearer so we started with a hopper / dropper combo. We caught another 15-20 fish in about three hours before a big storm moved in. Mostly browns on the hopper. The fish are in great shape. We didn't land anything less the 13 inches with a number pushing eithteen inches. In spite of the weather conditions, we had a great time.



Name: Chris schneider Date Submitted: 9/5/2003
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished for 5 hours and caught 10 Rainbows, some were pushing 20"! Used Hoppers, Parachute adams and Pheasant tail nymphs. These are the largest fish I've caught on any rmac property. The drive is worth it.



Name: Mark-RMAC Member Date Submitted: 7/31/2003
Email:
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished great. Dry dropper all day, with a caddis or royal wulff and a prince or a copper john. flows 60-75 cfs, a little low but is fishing well.



Name: Bruce Richardson Date Submitted: 6/21/2002
Email: bruceandjan5116@aol.com
Date's Fished:

Commments:
Fished from 10am until about 6pm. The sky was cloudless and bright. The wind would not stop. Caught twelve fish ranging in size from fourteen inches to eighteen inches,even mix of browns and rainbows. Caught two on Elkhair Caddis, the only fish we could find rising. Switched to a Stimulator with a Goldribbed Hares Ear dropper. About half hit the Stimulator and the other half taking the nymph. The largest fish was a rainbow that took the nymph. The river was low and clear. The fished spooked very easily, but when hooked were some of the strongest fighting fish for their size that I have caught in a very long time. We gave up on 6x very quickly.Water temp at 2pm was 70 degrees.



Name: Charles Karaian Date Submitted: 8/28/2001
Email:
Date's Fished: 8/26/01 and 8/28/01

Commments:
Two fish total for two days of fishing. Beautiful water but could get nothing to work. Another angler on property 8/28/01 with no better results. Very minimal hatches and few surface feeders. Both fish caught on nymphs. No action on variety of dry flies.



Name: Bob Kidwell Date Submitted: 8/29/2000
Email:
Date's Fished: August 1999 and 2000

Commments:
Have always loved this quiet stretch of the Conejos and my friend and I usually rent 2 or 3 days each August. Best flies have been Wulff Adams or Yellow Humpies (16/18) and just about any hopper and dropper rig. Usually 6 - 15 fish per day. All fish have been Browns from 8" to 16". Larger fish have risen, but I haven't gotten one of these to the net yet.