Fishing Reports

Dry dropper all day, smaller nymphs being the best.  Crystal PTs, zebras, and the like should keep you busy in deep and shallow water.  Elk hair caddis is the right searching fly, or a bug meister, and a hard hell ant trailing behind.  Some big browns are being SEEN as opposed to caught near Windy and in the quality waters.

The dog days are officially upon us.  The sky is bright, the didymo all over, and the fish are a bit lip sore from their summer thus far.  You will still catch fish, just expect more than the usual false charges from fish.  "Get back to me with a real drift," they'll say, or "What do you take me for, a skinny little brown trout?"
No matter that the answer to the last question would be in the affirmative, these fish think they're living in the San Juan at times, and one of those times is now.  Respond by fishing San Juan style, a size or two smaller in flies and tippet, thinner dressings with less hackle, a slower approach.  Micro mayflies are good go to's, PTs, patch adams, or ants.  Fish a Griffith's in the pools and you should do well.
As for the Monument, you might want to get the earliest start possible.  Now is also the time to take your three weight up the small tribs to hone your small stream game, as the refinements you pursue there will have great applications on big rivers later.  The high lakes, Katherine, Baldy, Johnson, and Stewart, would be lots of fun now that the monsoons have mellowed out.

I don't know about you, but when I go camping, it's to get away from the crowded hustle bustle of everyday life.  Anyone who's visited the Pecos on the weekends lately knows that there are many who hold a different view.  They'll pull their RVs or pitch their tents within three feet of their neighbors and call it good; they'll even pitch a crapper tent (I learned that such things exist) in the space between.  Apparently privacy is in the unoffended ear or nose of the beholder.  Imagine taking a vacation to some unknown person's living room, rolling out a sleeping bag and going to the bathroom in their fireplace.  Again, not much fun to me.
So hit the Pecos during the week.  You'll find plenty of solitude and, in spite of the high and stained water, plenty of willing fish.  Keep in mind that with all this recent rain, earthworms are likely to be a major food item.  You indulge any purist leanings at your peril. 
Caddis are showing too, ants, hoppers and mayflies.  If the water's dirty, throw something red or golden in the mix. 
And one last word on crowds.  You can catch fish among them, lots of them, so if the weekend is all you've got, you'll do fine.  A good time to hike the tribs, where the fish are usually happy.

The Pecos is in good summer form, with caddis gobbling trout just about everywhere.  I'm sure you can tell me of the absolute hottest possible pattern to fish, but if you were starving to death and had one elk hair caddis on you, you would be fat in no time.  Not like you should kill and eat a billion fish, but you could if you wanted to.  Nymphers can use green pupae or larvae, or the standards.  If the crowds get too bad, and they haven't according to our guides, you can still catch plenty by pocket picking and hitting holding spots under bankside foliage. 
No reports on the park recently, but I'm expecting things to fish well there in the cooler hours.  Camo buggers.

General attractor dries are getting the job done.  If one of yours is a 14 or 16 yellow stimulator, you're possibly imitating caddis, sallies, or spruce moths.  There are some big goldens around, so a larger floater would work too.  If you're in a jam, I'd be willing to bet that it aint because of the fly.  Fish at this time of year will hug the banks for a variety of reasons, cover from the hoards of humanity descending on the Pecos, the occasional ant or beetle that will fall in, or just to get out of the sun.  If the midstream pockets or riffles aren't producing, fish from the middle to the outside.  Below Jamie Koch has great structure, especially farther down, and can offer some solitude on weekends.
If you fish the park, keep an eye out for rattlers.  With the winter we had, there are lots of mice around and so the story goes.  They don't always buzz you when you want them to either.  Use your eyes, especially in thick spots.

There'll be a crowd this weekend, great time to explore the creeks and put some miles on those tires.  Stimmies and beetles should knock them out.  Of course the big stonies are still coptering, and caddis are starting to produce.  Poopah a special fly.