Fishing Reports

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.

Attractor dries and total solitude, that's what awaits you if you want to put a thirty minute drive up the Rancho, Olla, or Chiquito.  Valle Vidal should be like Justin Beiber with the right fly and a quick hook set (in other words, like, totally hot right now.  Ant or beetle type bugs should be lots of fun, small caddis, zebras, rainbow warriors, and heck, you want to fish a hopper where there's grass don't you? 

Same deal as usual, worms and turds, not worms on turds.  Pink and brown combo worms are nice, and I like fishing a dry drake this time of year to take advantage of the lingering prey image in the trouts' brains.  I like red annelids too, about size 16, to run behind my money nymphs.  Basically, I'd try it all, meaning all water, all flies, and all depths.  Then, if I score, well you know the deal.  One of my favorite Conejos searching patterns is the bugmeister, for what that's worth.  And I'd love it if somebody, me even, had the juevos to commit to streamers on a sink tip for the whole day of dredging the undercuts. 
Let me know.

I'd do the Sargent, my fantasy would be with an 8.5 foot five weight.  I'd limit myself to a streamer box and dedicate myself to losing them all in the bushes or to big brown trout.  Or I'd fish big dries and droppers and lose those too.

I there's any visibility at all, I would fish the Rio from the racecourse to the state line.  I would fish stoneflies, caddis pupae, and the hatch du jour in the evening.  Down lower the water can get pretty warm, but I've had regular hookups recently in the racecourse with temps of 75 degrees. 
Remember the smallies and pike and carp if that will float your boat.  Personally, I'm psyched to get into the gorge and try to hang a big trout on a streamer.  Hopefully there won't be too much rain to mess things up, but if there's enough to put a nice stain in things, I'd say the fishing should be a bit more than insanely pleasant.

As elsewhere, the Cimarron has benefited greatly from this spate of rain.  Sure, there's some water staining, nothing that a brown San Juan worm won't take care of.  Times like these, I like using a very small gold beadhead larvae, with a red or bright green body, and run it straight or underneath the floatiest caddis (could pass as a spruce moth) in my box.  Don't forget how deep some of those holes can be in spite of the low water; they'll hold more fish than you think they will.  And remember that the Cimarron has lots of great structure, so go ahead and risk a few bugs on some possible big fish.