|
All trips include
FREE flies, most of your equipment and rigging materials.
No hidden extras!
Full day trips also include: a stream side lunch and liquids.
Not included in the price, New Mexico fishing
license, state tax (6.187%) and guide gratuity.
Hints for Your Drift Boat Trip
Here is a list of suggestions that will
help the angler to more fully understand
the basics of fishing from a drift boat
especially if it is their first
opportunity to fish from a drift boat.
Fishing from a drift boat is not like
when you are wading along the river
covering water with your feet planted in
one spot. In this case, the line and fly
are moving not the angler, the line and
fly drift downstream towards you or away
from you. When fishing from a drift boat
the angler, fly line and the fly are
moving at the same time. When you are
fishing from the boat depending on
current speed and how fast the oarsman
is back stroking your line and fly could
be drifting at the same speed as your
rate of drift or faster or slower
Things
to Think About
-
You will be casting in close quarters to
another angler in the boat with you
sometimes, so remember to cast out close
to parallel away from the drift boat
(this will avoid tangles).
If the boat is in slower currents and
the rower is holding the boat in one
place when backstroking if you cast
slightly upstream of the parallel line
you will get longer drag free floats.
If the boat is floating along in medium
to fast stream flows and the oarsman is
not stroking hard, try to cast slightly
downstream of that parallel line between
the boat and the stream bank. This will
assure you of a much longer drag free
float with your fly on the water for a
longer period and allow you to catch a
lot more fish. Not to mention it will
save you a lot of energy because it will
cut down on a lot of excess casting.
-
When
the boat is drifting along always focus
your attention on the water downstream
ahead of the boat for rising fish or
likely holding lies where the fish will
be. This will allow you to prepare ahead
of time to present the fly to the fish
at an excellent angle when you are
within effective casting range. Remember
the boat is moving downstream sometimes
at a fast pace so be prepared and look
ahead so when the time comes you can get
a good angle on the fish so the fly
won’t drag. Attention to detail will
allow you to cast effectively before the
boat and angler drift by the primary
target loosing your angle and chance for
a good accurate presentation.
- Remember to communicate with the your
guide and fellow angler in the boat by
vocally warning when you are going to
move about in the boat. Also communicate
wherever or whenever you are casting and
in what direction your front and back
cast will be directed at, especially if
you perceive a problem developing at
anytime. Remember any sudden physical
movement that takes place in the boat
that is directed away from the
centerline of a drift boat can cause the
guide or other angler to loose their
balance and potentially injure them or
even fall out of the boat. This little
bit of extra communication will
assuredly cut down on lines being
crossed up or tangled and any injuries
or soakings to other boat mates.
-
The angler in the back of the boat or
(stern) should key off the movements of
the angler casting up in the front of
the boat and cast accordingly. Remember
if you are the angler positioned in the
back of the boat, you can easily observe
every move the angler in the front of
the boat makes. The angler in the front
of the boat is looking downstream out
over the front of the boat and obviously
cannot see the movements of the angler
in the back or (stern) of the boat.
Therefore, the angler in the back of the
boat can adjust his casting by always
observing the anglers casting in the
front of the boat and really cut down on
the amount of line tangles between
anglers. This will really allow the
anglers to reduce frustration and really
enjoy their trip again attention to
small details.
-
When the angler goes to pick the fly
line up off the water when their drift
is done on the initial back cast
remember keep the rod tip down close to
the water surface and strip all the
slack out of the line. Begin the back
cast slowly, accelerate smoothly, speed
up, and stop sharply at the end of the
back cast. When your back cast is
finished, make sure your thumb on the
casting hand located on the rod grip is
pointing straight up. This will keep the
back cast elevated and away from the
heads of the other people in the boat.
Your back cast should therefore always
be moving on an upward incline
throughout the entire back cast.
-
If you are in the back or (stern) of the
boat, remember the oarsman or rower uses
a backstroke when rowing. This puts the
oar blades in the general proximity of
the anglers line in the back of the
boat. So when the fly and line are out
on the water the rear portion of the
line out past the rod tip can at times
drift under the oar and become tangled.
Keep this in mind and adjust for it and
you will not tangle with the oars and
everyone will enjoy the day a lot more.
We have also included a list of
essential items for you to look
through that will help you to ensure
you pack properly for your day on
the water. We hope this list is
helpful to you especially if you
have never been on a float trip.
Organizing Gear and Equipment for
Your Trip
The suggestions that appear here
have been learned through practical
experience, actual fishing trips,
guided trips and late night
recollections of past trips around
many fires with fellow anglers after
a long day out on the water. Our
company hopes these suggestions will
help take the frustration out of
organizing properly for your next
trip and help you more fully enjoy
yourself. We are always very
concerned with your safety, comfort,
and the level of success you
experience on your trip.
We feel that anglers should bring
their own fishing equipment and
fishing apparel if possible due to
the fact that they will be more
comfortable and familiar with tackle
they own and use regularly. Instead
of borrowing or renting tackle,
waders or boots that aren’t
practical or specifically sized to
fit you properly. This is a safety,
comfort, confidence, efficiency and
success concern that cannot be
underestimated or it will surely
affect the customers enjoyment level
over the period of a long day on the
water.
Owning your own waders and boots
that fit properly will ensure a
comfortable fit and regular
maintenance of waders will ensure
they remain dry and warm throughout
your trip. If you borrow or rent
these items, you can never be sure
if fit and maintenance can be
guaranteed. Remember wading boots
with worn felt soles on the bottoms
and waders that leak or don’t fit
properly are both a safety and
comfort issue. Wading in streams
that contain slippery wading
conditions with worn or poorly
maintained wading boots is a safety
concern and on cold damp days,
problem waders can be a real comfort
problem. Waders can be rented at
Navajo Dam.
These points may not seem important
when your relaxing at home prior to
your trip but they will increase
your safety, comfort, efficiency and
success on your hard earned
vacation. Properly balancing your
rod, reel and line combination to
fit the type of fishing conditions
you will encounter on your trip is
crucial to success. Most guests
visiting this region prefer to use
an 8½’ or 9’ fly rod that is a four, five
or six weight to properly deal with
the various fishing situations they
will experience in this region.
Another consideration to think about
when borrowing or renting a reel for
any trip is confirming that the reel
will be set to your specific hand
wind direction. If the reel isn’t
setup for your dominant hand, you
will have to reel or retrieve line
in backwards, which is inefficient
and very awkward. Having the proper
hand wind on a reel so you wind line
in with a forward hand motion is
critical when using fine tippets and
small flies.
Having a reel setup properly is
crucial during the give and take
situations that occur when fighting
big strong fish off the reel during
long hard runs. Especially those
long hard fast runs that can peel
off every bit of fly line off the
reel and eventually end up taking
the angler way into the backing. Why
take the chance of having to take
time out on the morning of your
float trip to correct this
oversight. When you can own your own
reel that is properly set to the
hand you feel the most competent and
comfortable using.
Large trout should always be fought
off the reel in combination with the
fly rod by applying smooth even
pressure on the fish. This is
accomplished by the correct drag
adjustment on the
fly reel to control slack or
backlash and smoothly lowering the
rod tip when a fish makes a long
hard run. When the fish stops
running and is willing to give some
ground lift the rod up and wind in
on the reel to gain line back. This
technique will allow the angler to
tire the fish quickly and
efficiently to the landing net with
out harming it. This type of finesse
and smoothness is only achieved
through the familiarity of owning
your own equipment. These are all
critical reasons for owning your own
equipment and wading gear versus
renting or borrowing these items for
guided trips.
Back to
top
.jpg)
San Juan Photo Album 2007
This rocky deep blue water lake offers excellent fly fishing for
Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Carp and Crappie.
The Bass start turning on late April into early May when the
water temperature is above 50 degrees. The top water action for bass
starts when the water temp. is 57 and up. This usually starts
mid May all the way into October . Nothing like aggressive smallies
on poppers. Navajo Lake hold the current New Mexico state record
Smallmouth at almost seven pounds. Our Largemouth Bass are fewer in
numbers than the Smallmouth, but usually a lot larger. There is
always a good chance of catching a 6 to 10 lb. lunker.
.jpg)
All trips include FREE
flies, most of your equipment and rigging materials.
No hidden extras!
Full day trips also include lunch and liquids.
Not included in the price, New Mexico fishing
license, state tax (6.187%) and guide gratuity.
Full day - 1 $295.00
Full day - 2 $345.00
Half day - 1 $225.00
Half day - 2 $235.00
Lake trips are subject to a fuel surcharge, call for total.
Lake trips are done in our Ranger Bass boat
 |
