Yearly Archives: 2009

Despite a change of state employee furlough dates Navajo Lake and the quality waters of the San Juan River will still be closed for five days in the next four months beginning with a shut down on Thursday, Christmas Eve Day and again on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010. Three other days furlough dates have since … Continue reading »

Anglers headed up to Navajo Lake State Park for a little fishing the day before Christmas might be surprised to find the river and lake closed to the public due to state employee furloughs imposed by Governor Bill Richardson. “This is ridiculous,” says Larry Johnson of the San Juan River Guides Association and owner of … Continue reading »

Photo Courtesy of Diane Gilmore It wasn’t the kind of story you might expect to hear upon walking into a biker bar like Silva’s in downtown Bernalillo, New Mexico on a Saturday afternoon. The lady behind the horseshoe shaped bar was running about, talking excitedly and offering up samples of the oryx she’d bagged just … Continue reading »

A habitat improvement project designed to reduce silt and sediment and improve fishing on the popular San Juan River has been put on hold in the wake of Governor Bill Richardson’s decision to freeze all capital outlay projects. “It’s on hold,” says Marty Frentzel, Chief of Public Information and Outreach for the state Department of … Continue reading »

State Game and Fish officials have decided to seek additional bids for engineering services before proceeding any further with long-awaited habitat improvement plans to the trophy-class trout fishery at Navajo Dam on the San Juan River. The department solicited and received proposals this summer from two firms to develop engineering plans for a runoff diversion … Continue reading »

As the fall approached I began having the dream again, sometimes in vivid color, sight and sound and other times just blurry images and a fast fading, foggy memory of it upon awakening. Then this morning I snapped awake feeling frantic and agitated. I lay in the dark listening through the bedroom door as my … Continue reading »

This summer I was invited up to the lake to do some fly fishing with some good ole boys I know from Missouri. But I balked at the thought of blowing out my arm trying to cast to rising fish just out of my reach. No, No, No, they told me. Forget the fly rod. … Continue reading »

They started out with a used rubber raft, a beat up station wagon and a hunger for some cash and kicks. Thirty years later river guides Steve and Kathy Miller of New Wave Rafting in Embudo are still going strong, providing passengers great whitewater adventure on the rivers of Northern New Mexico. And they aren’t … Continue reading »

It was one of those days that old time anglers of the San Juan’s quality waters like to talk about. A Baetis hatch that caused the river to roil with rising fish and anglers to howl with glee. The day began dark and drizzly with low, threatening clouds and a quiet calm that held the … Continue reading »

Editorial note: As a frequent angler of the San Juan River and a longtime New Mexico journalist I feel compelled to publish this article in the interest of fairness and to voice an often overlooked side of the story about this great fishery and the decent, hard working folks who live and work there. Oscar … Continue reading »