Just five days at Navajo Lake State Park, New Mexico…
Navajo Lake is very pretty. The San Juan Mountains are to the distant north in Colorado (picture from April 2016)
Why we came…
To fly-fish the San Juan River.
The campground…
Navajo Lake State Park is beautiful, but the facilities need some help. The campground was likely laid out back in the 70s when RVs were much smaller. Most of the sites are a tight fit for today’s big rigs. The campground roads, sites, and utilities are in rough shape. The whole place needs renovation to be brought into the 21st century.
We had site C29 with water and electric. It’s one of the few back-in sites that’s easy to get into, has plenty of room, and a great view. There was also a big picnic table under an open-sided shelter. There is no wi-fi, but we had a reliable 4G Verizon data signal and good satellite TV reception. The bathroom and shower facilities were decent and kept fairly clean. We like the convenience to the pretty lake and famous San Juan River below the dam. We also like walking through the closed primitive campground loops. The walks are peaceful, have great views, and we usually spot critters.
We liked our spot
This is our third visit to Navajo Lake State Park. Each time the place was an obnoxious zoo on the weekends. Loud people, loud music, and barking dogs destroy any hopes of peace. We like the place and will likely return, but we’ll do it during the week when the “beer and bonfire” crowd is hard at work.
Nearby towns…
Farmington NM, elevation 5,395 feet and population 45,877, 40 miles to the southwest is the closest large town. It has plenty of places to shop, provides most services, and has a variety of restaurants.
Bloomfield NM, elevation 5,456 feet and population 8,112, has most of what we’d need, but we prefer Aztec NM, elevation 5,646 feet and population 6,763. Aztec is a deserted and pretty drive 25 miles west of the campground. It has a decent Safeway grocery store, a pleasant downtown, a selection of restaurants, and a new laundromat.
Adventures…
The San Juan River in New Mexico is one of the best trout streams in America
I learned to fly-fish on the San Juan River in the late 1980’s. It’s a special place to me and many other fly-fishers.
“Outflow from the dam is from the bottom of the lake, a situation that puts a constant flow of cold water into the river below, creating a marvelous trout stream.” In fact, the temperature stays consistently in the 40s all year long. This creates perfect conditions to produce billions of aquatic insects. Most of the insects are very very small, but there are so many of them that the trout feed nearly constantly. The food factory ensures the trout grow fast and live long. Add “catch and release” fishing regulations and you have a special river. The trout, mostly rainbows in the upper section with some browns mixed in lower, average 15-18 inches long with quite a few over 20 inches. There are a few other rivers that produce a similar quantity and quality of trout, but many fly-fishers would rate the San Juan as one of the three best.
The San Juan River is a tough place for inexperienced fly-fishers! The fish get caught multiple times and get smarter and more leery each time. Technique, tackle, and presentation have to be spot on to fool them. It would be wise for inexperienced fly-fishers or those new to the San Juan to splurge for a fishing guide. This accelerates the fly-fishers learning curve and will lead to a more enjoyable experience. It can be very frustrating seeing those big trout ignoring your fly repeatedly, but it’s also very rewarding when you hook your first one!
Because the trout fishing is so good, fly fishermen come from all over the country and the world to fish these quality waters. Arleen counted license plates from 15 states in the parking area including Oregon, Georgia, and Florida.
Fishing was steady this time. We fished a few hours each afternoon in nearly perfect weather. Fishing can be tough the second part of the day because the trout have been harassed pretty good by then.
We fished the Upper Flats and a few side channels below the Texas Hole. We did best with tiny sized 22-26 midge pupas and emergers dead-drifted along the bottom. For brief periods each afternoon, trout would come up to feed on or just under the surface. A grasshopper with a midge emerger trailed about 18 inches behind (no weight) worked pretty well then. I was pleasantly surprised to catch five or six big San Juan River trout on the grasshopper fly!
We like watching a wide variety of birds along the San Juan. Unfortunately, we learned that there are fewer birds during the fall. Spring appears to be the best time to see herons, ducks, geese, ospreys, red-winged blackbirds, turkey vultures, an occasional eagle, and a host of others.
Catch and release rules help make the San Juan River special
Two fishing routes along the San Juan River
Arleen fly-fishing a side channel of the San Juan River
Fighting a San Juan River trout / Arleen didn’t get skunked!
A typical, fat 19 inch long rainbow trout
At this time of the year the kokanee salmon season is open on Navajo Lake. The season runs from October 1 to December 31. “Kokanee are landlocked sockeye salmon that form schools, spawn and then die each fall. They cannot reproduce naturally in New Mexico’s lakes. Instead, each year department staff captures spawning fish and milks them of their eggs and sperm and raises the fertilized eggs at the department’s hatchery in Los Ojos. The fry are stocked out the following spring in Navajo, Heron, Eagle Nest, Abiquiu and El Vado lakes.”
The most popular way to fish for these salmon is snagging. “Snagging is a technique for harvesting soon-to-die spawning salmon. Anglers cast heavyweight treble hooks into schools of fish and then reel them in. Anglers are allowed to harvest 12 fish per day and have 24 in their possession.” We briefly watched at least 50 snaggers rapidly rip their hooks through the water hoping to hit a salmon. It’s quite the circus!
People line the banks of Navajo Lake every October and November to snag for Kokanee salmon
Next…
We had two adventure filled days in Monument Valley Utah and Arizona. We are currently playing at Lake Powell near Page, Arizona. Our next stops are Lees Ferry on the Colorado River, Arizona and then Virgin, Utah to play in Zion National Park for three weeks.
Parting shots…
Local wildlife: a praying mantis and tarantula
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