Kayaking NM's Spring Runoff with Atom Crawford

Photo courtesy of Atom Crawford.

With near record snow pack levels in the mountains, New Mexico’s rafters and kayakers are psyched about the potential for a high and mighty runoff season.

“We’re extremely excited about what should be some awesome flows,” says Atom Crawford, 39, of Dixon, an avid kayaker who lives on Embudo Creek. “This could be an amazing year.”

Snow pack levels for the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, Sangre de Christo, San Juan, Pecos and Cimarron river basins are all well over 100 percent of normal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service snow data found at www.nm.nrcs.usda.gov


And that means big water and plenty of it for commercial rafters like Steve Miller of New Wave Rafting of Santa Fe.

“If we don’t have an abnormally warm spell in April, we can expect to have some of the best runoff conditions since the eighties,” he says. “It should be pretty outrageous.”

And that’s what kayakers like Crawford are counting on to produce exhilarating runs on runoff swollen streams like Embudo Creek, the Rio Pueblo de Taos, Red River and the upper box of the Rio Grande.

Crawford, a multi-media designer who works at the Lab in Los Alamos, also expects the high water this year to really bring out the “extreme” river runners.

“And that kind of kayaking means there’s no margin for error,” he says.

Crawford says after 16 years of kayaking and a couple of near death experiences, he’s finally learned how to say no to that kind of challenge.

“There’s a limit to what I’ll do now,” he says. “When it gets too high, I’ll be up on the bank breaking out the camera.”

Crawford routinely posts kayaking pictures and stories to his blog at www.newmexicoh2o.blogspot.com

Those interested in more action will find a two-hour video available at his other website, www.newmexicoh2o.com ,
that features footage of kayakers running various northern New Mexico waters.

The video contains scenes of noted Santa Fe kayaker Ed Lucero running Embudo Creek during flood stage. Lucero may be best known for his 105-foot world record plunge off Alexandra Falls in Canada in the summer of 2003.

Ironically Crawford, a Dixon native and Taos High School graduate, said he got into kayaking after a rafting accident on the Rio Grande that nearly killed him.

Crawford was 15 years old at the time and was riding along with a friend and his father when the raft flipped in the infamous “Toilet Bowl”.

Crawford said he was trapped under the raft and kept going under the water before his friend’s dad managed to pull him out.

“I was terrified, I saw fish down there and thought I was going to die, “ Crawford said of the experience.

His fear of the drowning kept him off the river until he met a girl whose dad kayaked and he thought of taking up the sport in an effort to conquer his fear of the water.“Then I got hooked and everything became centered around it, where I went to college, who I hung out with. It became my life,” he says.

But once he overcame his fears, Crawford grew cocky about his river running talents and once again found himself swimming with the fish.

It was on a stretch of water called Canyon Creek in Washington state in 1998 where Crawford was attending Evergreen State College.

“It was in flood stage, outside the banks, we shouldn’t have even been there,” Crawford says.

The group of kayakers, including his good friend Benjie Howard, had stopped at a place called “Thrasher” rapids where a deep, roiling plunge pool had formed behind a giant, submerged boulder.

“You could have thrown a log in there and it wouldn’t have come out for days, “ Crawford says of the dangerous, swirling pool.

As the rest of his group moved on past the past the pool Crawford was overcome by a sudden impulse.

“I thought to myself ‘I’m bad, I can run this,’” Crawford says.

Before anyone could stop him, Crawford and his kayak were going over an eight-foot drop into the pool below.

“I was just thinking I had made it when it (the current) sucked me back into the maw,” Crawford says.

The powerful, current churned Crawford about, ripping his helmet and shoes off and snapping his kayak in half.

“It would let me go but then it’d suck me back down, slamming me against the bottom,” Crawford says. “I knew I was going to die and all I could think about was how my mom was going to feel.’”

The he blacked out.

“I guess once I relaxed and quit fighting it just spit me out,” Crawford says.

He was then swept downstream and into a rock where the impact brought him to.

“I lucked out,” Crawford says. “That was a real wake up call. Before that I thought I was invincible. Now I know better. I’m not afraid to back down from a challenge.”

Yet despite the harrowing tales, Crawford says he doesn’t know of anyone being killed kayaking during runoff season in New Mexico.

And that may be because kayakers who take to these waters during those conditions are well aware of the dangers involved and prepare accordingly.

Crawford, a certified white water instructor, says his number one safety precaution is never kayak alone. Always paddle in groups of three or more which allows members to assist each other when a mishap occurs, he says.

“And they will,” Crawford says.

And while running creeks at high water can be an intense, challenging endeavor, kayaking provides more leisurely opportunities to just drift quieter waters and relax, Crawford said.

“Being on the water can be a magical thing,” Crawford said. “You can forget abut everything except what you’re doing while you’re out there.”

Crawford said he carries a collapsible spin fishing rod with him during some trips and will cast a lure in search for big brown trout on stretches of water like the Rio Grande near Cerro.

“That’s an amazing place,” Crawford said. “The only people I’ve ever seen down there are the occasional skinny dipper and John Nichols fly fishing.”

Nichols, author of the New Mexico trilogy, Milagro Beanfield War, Magic Journey and Nirvana Blues, lives in Taos and writes about fishing forays into the Rio Grande Gorge in his book The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn.

Crawford says he was inspired by the likes of noted kayakers, Marcia Ready of Taos, Lucero of Santa Fe and he spent many years learning the sport by paddling with Aaron “Sven” Rane of Taos. Photo Courtesy of Atom Crawford

Crawford said those who are interested in the sport should read William Nealy’s illustrated guide to kayaking, check out one of Kent Ford’s kayaking videos and perhaps join the Adobe Whitewater Club of New Mexico down in Albuquerque.

Kayakers also use the Genoveva Chavez swimming pool in Santa Fe on Wednesday evenings for practice sessions and those interested in the sport can obtain some exposure there, Crawford said.

For more information go to the Chavez Center website.


Those who are interested in more advanced kayaking can contact Crawford through his website for assistance.

In the meantime, those looking for someone else to do the driving will find plenty of opportunities to float the big river this spring with experienced guides from operations such as Miller’s.

It should be noted that New Wave Rafting which has operated from an office on Cerrillos Road for many years, is now moving to a new location on the Rio Grande near Embudo, Miller says.

“The cost of gas is killing us,” he said.

The company used to transport clients in buses and vans out of Santa Fe but can’t afford to provide that service anymore, he said.

Miller said clients can now meet the tour operator down on the river and will find directions and other information on their website at www.newwaverafting.com .

The company begins runs on the Rio Grande April 19th, Miller said.

This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

Guide Jerry Burton's Tips on Early Spring Fishing

Glenn Jaramillo,42, of Santa Fe enjoys a beautiful day off from work to flyfish the murky waters of the Peco River below Villa Nueva State Park on Monday, March 10, 2008.

Now is a good time for anglers to get in some early season fishing before the snowpack melts, sending torrents of high, muddy water downstream.

“Every spring there’s this window of opportunity, “ says Jerry Burton, a fishing guide for the Reel Life Fly Shop in Santa Fe.

Longer, warmer days bring out the trout and opportunistic anglers can find some good fishing on area streams by following a few tips, Burton says.

Do your homework by paying close attention to New Mexico’s stream flows found on the US Geological Service website at http://nm.water.usgs.gov/.

Anything below 150 cubic-feet-per-second (CFS) of water flow is probably going to be fine to fish, he says.

Watch the peak high and low water flow pattern to determine the best time of day to fish. This time of year it’s usually from 10 a.m. to about 3 p.m. on a stream like the Jemez, Burton says.

Don’t be put off by off-color water, but instead use it to your advantage to get closer to your work without spooking a fish.

Fish an area methodically and use high visibility patterns like a prince nymph with a gold bead head or a black woolly bugger laced with crystal flash.

Work along the edge of currents, up close to the banks and in spots where trout may be resting and the current brings food to them.

“They’re not going to waste a lot of energy chasing stuff,” he says. “So you have to get it right on top of them.”

Also, fish open areas exposed to the sun, as trout will be more active in these warmer areas, he adds.

Those fishing with bait such as worms and salmon eggs have an added advantage when fishing murky water as trout rely more on their powerful sense of smell to detect food under those conditions.

“There’s a reason you always see a picture of some kid in the newspaper who's caught a big brown on a worm,” he says. “It’s the smell.”

Burtons suggests the Pecos River and Jemez Mountain streams could provide good fishing before the runoff gets to roaring.

And when that happens, Burton suggests heading south into the Gila for some prime fishing.

Runoff in the Gila is generally over by late March and early April providing anglers numerous opportunities to fish for rainbow, brown, brook and some Gila trout, Burton says.

And those lucky enough to catch a Gila trout have Burton to thank.

Burton, 67, is a retired US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist whose work in New Mexico included the Gila trout recovery and restoration project.

The native trout was listed as endangered back in the mid-1960s. Fishing for it was prohibited and a long running and exhaustive project was undertaken to bring it back from the edge of extinction.

The effort resulted in a prospering Gila trout population which allowed the USFWS to down list the trout from endangered to threatened.

And it was Burton, by then retired, who filed the petition to down list the trout.

“You know, at what point do you say they’re past the level of needing that level of protection?” Burton says. “We met all the criteria set in the recovery plan so someone had to say ‘we’re finished here.’”

And that someone was Burton because no one else seemed to be willing to step up to the table and make that effort.

“A lot of people were worried about their job security,” he says.

But Burton, a life-long angler and hunter, and plenty of others in the state wanted to have the opportunity to fish for the native trout once again.

And when that happened it would validate all the work he and so many others put into saving the native trout, he said.

So it was he who petitioned his former employers in 1997 to down list the trout.

The State Game Commission has since opened three streams containing pure strain Gila trout to fishing and many other streams in the Gila Wilderness are being stocked with Gila trout, which are raised in a federal fish hatchery in Mora.

Burton says the Gila Wilderness and National Forest provides great, early season fishing for those willing to head south. Check the state Department of Game and Fish and Gila National Forest websites for more information on where and when. Jerry Burton Winter 2008Burton was born and raised in Oshkosh, Wis., one of six kids. His mother, Helen, was a homemaker and his father, Joe, was a machinist at the nearby North American Rockwell Plant that produced farm machinery.

He grew up riding his bike down to the Fox River or nearby Winnebago Lake where he’d fish for walleye, perch and anything else he could catch. He took up duck and deer hunting as he grew older.

Burton said his dad was a Depression era survivor who stressed his children’s need for good jobs skills, so Burton took industrial arts classes, like machine shop, while in high school.

Burton was preparing for a career like his dad’s in manufacturing until he took the college entrance exams and discovered he was good at academics too. He was accepted at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh and graduated with a bachelor of science in biology.

During college he married his longtime sweetheart, Sue DeYoung, and worked second shift as a machinist at his dad’s factory. The couple lives in Albuquerque, as do their two children, David and Stephanie.

Burton said he went into biology because of his love of the outdoors and while in college a guidance counselor noted the USFW was hiring and suggested he apply. He did and that’s how he got his start with the federal agency.

Burton said in his 28 years with the service, he is most fond of his days working in North Carolina where he assisted the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation in developing a self-supporting, recreational, hunting, fishing and camping program.

The Indians possessed over 30 miles of prime trout streams, which were stocked with up to a ton of fish a week with close to 90 percent of those being taken by anglers, Burton says.

“Boy, we sure sold a lot of niblets corn down there,” he says with a laugh.

Burton says he discovered the stocking program had no ill effect upon the native trout, as they seemed to only eat corn on the drift rather than those suspended upon a hook.

Burton noted that the Cherokee reservation bordered the scenic Great Smokey Mountain National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway, which made for excellent working conditions.
“Those were six, great years,” he said.

Burton says he would later use skills he learned assisting the Cherokees when he was transferred to the state of Washington where he worked with local tribes on salmon and steelhead trout issues.

And it was in the late stages of his career -- as the Endangered Species Act became law --that he was transferred to New Mexico to specialize in that area of work.

Burton remains active with local conservation groups such as New Mexico Trout and the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited and frequently speaks before these groups.

This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

NM News - Game Commission Kills Two Fly Rule

State Game Commissioners have shot down a proposal to limit anglers to the use of just two flies when fishing in New Mexico.

“I’m very disappointed,” Larry Johnson, treasurer of the San Juan Guide Association, said of the commissioners’ Feb. 21 failure to adopt the proposed two-fly rule.

Johnson, owner of the Soaring Eagle Lodge on the San Juan River below Navajo Dam, went before the commissioners representing a long list of guides, fly shop owners and anglers who backed the proposed limit on multiple fly rigs.

They claim that the use of the multiple fly rigs is damaging the state’s premier trout fishery by foul hooking and ensnaring fish, which causes unintentional injury and death.

They report increasing sightings of dead fish and entangled waterfowl as reasons behind the proposal. (see related story .

There is currently no limit on the number of hooks or flies an angler can use when fishing.

The proposed rule change would have had no impact on anglers who use bait and would have only applied to those who fly fish, especially on the state’s special trout waters, where catch and release is encouraged, flies and barbless hooks are required and harvesting is severely limited.

The San Juan River below Navajo Dam is such a special trout water and draws thousands of fly fishermen annually to stalk the resident population of an estimated 75,000 trout, averaging 18-inches in length.

Johnson argued before the commissioners that the San Juan fishery generates an estimated $25 million dollars a year for New Mexico’s economy and preserving the quality of the fishing experience there was essential.

Chief of Fisheries for the state Department of Game and Fish Mike Sloan reported to commissioners that public comment ran two to one in favor of the adoption of the rule with just as many calling for limitation of the rule to the San Juan only.

Sloan noted that while the issue had elicited a great deal of response from the public, there was none from any of the state’s angling organizations.

Mike Maurer, president of New Mexico Trout, in speaking before the commissioners claimed his organization hadn’t been made aware of the proposed rule change and thus didn’t have time to respond.

State Game Commissioner Jim McClintic, who noted his lifetime membership in New Mexico Trout, said he had received a lot of correspondence complaining about a lack of notice about the proposal. Newly appointed Commissioner, Oscar Simpson, also questioned the lack of notice and timing of the proposed rule change.

Opponents also argued that there was no scientific evidence to back the proponents’ claims and said statewide enactment of the rule, as state Department of Game and Fish officials proposed, was too far reaching.

Opponents also said that the use of three fly rigs was a widely used, traditional and appropriate practice among many in the fly fishing community and questioned the need to restrict its use without scientific evidence to prove its harm.

Sloan noted that the issue had been posted on the department’s website seeking public comment, and advertisements were placed in statewide papers announcing the rule change and where to go for public meetings.

The department proposed statewide adoption of the rule for uniformity’s sake, concedes much of the evidence of damage done by the rigs is anecdotal and was presenting the rule change prior to printing a new fishing regulation handbook.

The proposal was brought up for a vote upon the motion of Commissioner McClintic who remarked that he didn’t like the way the issue had been handled.

The majority of the board voted no with Commissioner Sandy Buffett, who had suggested tabling the motion for further study, the lone vote for adoption of the rule.

“It’s just what we hoped for,” Maurer of New Mexico Trout said of the commissioners’ decision. “If it had been restricted to just the San Juan we might have gone along with it.”

Johnson said his organization would regroup and consider their options.
“But we’re not done with this yet,” he said after the hearing.

More Gila Trout News

In other action the commissioners also voted to extend the Gila trout season in Black Canyon by an additional month to accommodate those frequenting the Gila wilderness and national forest in southern New Mexico during the hunting season.
The new season runs from July 1 to Oct. 31.

This is a catch and release area with barbless hooks or lures required and anglers must possess a free, special permit available online from the department.

Black Canyon Creek contains pure Gila trout and can be reached by motor vehicle.

Last year commissioners opened up select sections of the Gila to limited fishing, the first time since 1966, after the recovery efforts allowed the fish to be down listed from endangered to threatened.

Commissioners have now voted to also open lower Mogollon Creek to fishing for Gila trout this summer under the same conditions as Black Canyon.

This stretch of river requires about a six-mile hike in.

Anglers will also find opportunities to catch Gila trout on Iron Creek which features a two fish bag limit but also requires a lengthy hike in and is open year round.

Yvette Paroz of the department’s Conservation Services Division reported to commissioners that excess pure strain Gila trout reared at the federal hatchery in Mora were recently released into Gilita, Willow and Sapillo Creeks and the Gila Forks area.

Some of those fish were brood stock up to 20 inches in length and anglers have recently submitted catches to the department for consideration as the state record Gila trout catch.

(See related Gila Trout stories - Gila Open to Fishing and Gila Restoration Update )

Roadtrip NM - Gutierrez Canyon in Cedar Crest

Outdoor enthusiasts have a new area to explore in the Sandia Mountains south of Santa Fe with the recent addition of 700 acres of Gutierrez Canyon to the inventory of public, open space.

Located south of the Post Office in the village of Cedar Crest about 50 miles south of Santa Fe on State Highway 14, is a dirt lot that leads to the newly acquired public land.

“It’s owned by the people now and they can go use it,” said Jay Hart, director of the City of Albuquerque’s Division of Parks and Recreation whose Open Space Division will manage the property.

Visitors will find rudimentary trails laced throughout the piñon and juniper studded foothills and deep canyons harboring, towering ponderosa pines and plenty of wildlife, says John Peterson, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field supervisor who lives nearby and was instrumental in the properties’ acquisition.

Peterson said hikers can expect to find sign of wildlife including bears, bobcats, coyotes and the occasional mountain lion or even a ringtail cat in the area. Hawks, buzzards and eagles can be seen soaring in the updrafts above the hills too, he said.

Peterson, a longtime Cedar Crest resident, says the former ranchland has always been used by locals for hiking and horseback riding and the potential threat of development prompted him to work for public purchase of the $2.3 million property owned by the Milne family of Albuquerque.

Peterson found an ally in his effort with the Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit organization that works to conserve land for public use, and was able to secure $1.25 million from the state Legislature last year.

Then the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department kicked in $450,000 and the City of Albuquerque added a final $500,000 to the pot.

The city became involved because they already owned an adjacent 300-acre piece of land within Gutierrez Canyon that it had acquired from the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) back in the 1960s.

The city’s Open Space Division oversees 30,000 acres of public property scattered throughout the metropolitan area and surrounding counties and ranks first in the nation in open space per capita.

The state’s funding was contingent upon finding a public entity with appropriate resources and experience to manage the property, Hart said.

So when Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez committed the city to taking on the new parcel of land, a deal was offered to the Milne family, Hart said.

Although the state was $100,000 shy of the appraised $2.3 value, the Milnes agreed to accept and turned the property over to the public.

The new open space area will be named after John Milne, the former longtime superintendent of Albuquerque’s Public Schools for whom its football stadium behind Roosevelt Park is named after.

“I think he would be delighted,” said Milne’s granddaughter, Ruth Schifani, an Albuquerque lawyer who along with her four brothers approved the purchase.

Schifani said her grandfather purchased the property from the State Land Office for 10 cents an acre back in the 1930s. It was never developed and family members used it sporadically for an occasional hiking or camping trip.

“When we wanted to go up to the mountains, that’s where we’d go,” she said.

The family generously allowed locals to continue to use the land for recreational purposes and was more than willing to sell it to the public when an offer was tendered.

“We’re delighted it’ll continue to be enjoyed by the neighbors and the public,” Schifani said.

Peterson, the city’s longtime, volunteer steward of the city’s original Gutierrez Canyon open space, said the new parcel now opens up the entire canyon area to greater public use.

In the past, those who wanted to use the open space in Gutierrez Canyon would first have to know how to get to it through a maze of local neighborhoods.

But now with access to the entire property available right off State Highway 14, it’ll be easier for out-of-towners to find it.

Curtis Johnson, owner of the Turquoise Trail Center strip mall located next to the Post Office, says he psyched about the new open space.

He envisions eventual development of a parking area, trailhead and restrooms on the open space property and expects that to be good for his center’s businesses.

“Maybe we’ll bring in a coffee shop and bike shop to serve them,” he said.

Johnson lives across the highway from the Milne Open Space and is pleased it will remain undeveloped.

Hart said rules governing the open space area include prohibitions against the use of motorized vehicles such as ATVs (All-Terrain-Vehicles) or dirt bikes, no hunting or shooting is allowed and no camping, open fires or woodcutting is allowed.

“We want to maintain it in its natural state as much as possible” he said.

But dogs on a leash, mountain bikers, and those riding horses are more than welcome to enjoy the open space, he said.

Signs marking the open space area have yet to be installed but should be in place by this summer, Hart said.

In the meantime hikers need only look for the open dirt lot next to the Post Office and then head off into the gully and the surrounding countryside. Trails and property boundaries are readily apparent.

The new hiking area provides a great day trip for those living in Santa Fe with stops in the funky, old mining towns of Cerrillos and Madrid or perhaps a side trip up to Sandia Crest overlooking Albuquerque available along the way.


If You Go:
Take State Highway 14 out of Santa Fe past the State Penitentiary, the town of Cerrillos and on through Madrid. Continue on State Highway 14 to Cedar Crest and stop at the Post Office located next to Turquoise Trail Center. Park in the dirt lot adjacent to the Post Office and hike down into the gully and follow trails north and east. No trail signs or other services available. About 55 miles, one-way. An alternative return trip involves following State Highway 14 to its end, crossing under I-40 and heading west into Albuquerque along the frontage road, which emerges, on the top end of Central Avenue. Follow into town and then jump back on I-25 and head north. Adds about 25 more miles to the return trip.


This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

NM News - San Juan's Winter Wading Season Ends Early

The wading season on the San Juan River ended abruptly this week for most anglers after the federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) increased the water flow from Navajo Lake by fivefold to accommodate higher than expected snow runoff.

Flows have been cranked up to 3,000 cubic-feet-per-second (CFS) to release water stored in the reservoir above Navajo Dam in an effort to make room for almost twice the usual amount of runoff from snow in the San Juan Mountains.

“There’ll be quite a bit more depth and a whole lot more push,” Marc Wethington, fisheries biologist for the state Department of Game and Fish, said of the river he has worked for the past twelve years.

The river’s flow is expected to remain at 3,000 CFS until sometime in May when it’ll be increased to 5,000 CFS and then held at that level for about a month, as has been the usual practice in past years.

The higher flow of 5,000 CFS not only delivers stored water downstream to designated users but also mimics the annual spring flooding experienced by natural rivers.
The higher flow helps scour out silt and sediment in the riverbed which promotes a healthier fish habitat.

For most years, during the winter and early spring, the flow on the San Juan River typically remained at a reduced level of about 500 CFS which allowed anglers to easily wade and fish.

But with the increased snow pack this year, the usual winter wading season has been cut short leaving some guides concerned about a possible loss of business.

“I think the proposed flows of 3,000 CFS for almost four months will profoundly hurt the fly fishing industry in the San Juan River Valley,” Jude Duran wrote on the forum at Mike Mora’s Fly Fishing the San Juan River, a website at www.ifly4trout.com.

“While this may be temporarily good for the fish and a small portion of the river bottom," he wrote. "This is bad for the valley, bad for recreational anglers these four months and could be dangerous for anglers who fall or don’t know the river well.”

Duran, 28, of Flora Vista, is an independent guide with six years work experience on the river.

However, not all guides on the San Juan River are as concerned about their business as Duran.

“It’s not all doom and gloom,” said Larry Johnson, 54, of Soaring Eagle Lodge and a 10-year veteran of guiding on the San Juan River.

Johnson said the increased flows will be great for the river’s fish habitat and will mean stronger, healthier fish come summer.

As for his business, most of his customers prefer to fish from a drift boat and the higher flows are great for that type of fishing, Johnson said.

Those who might shy away from the higher flows could be locals who wade and fish the river.

But Johnson noted that the higher flows will open up other areas of the river to waders such as the back channels and areas that had been too shallow to hold fish at previously lower levels.

Johnson said anglers should get out there and safely explore these new areas for a whole new, and perhaps more meaningful, angling experience.

Johnson suggested that waders use a staff for stability, a floatation device in a case of an unexpected spill and heavier tackle to deal with the river’s increased flow.

Wethington said increased flows for lengthier periods of time would produce exceptional conditions for insects to thrive which in turn nourishes the river’s trout population.

“Look for stellar conditions this summer,” he said. “Particularly in the bait waters.”

Wethington said he intends to continue stocking lower stretches of the river which have undergone recent habitat improvement projects.

Wethington noted that under high water conditions these trout will have an opportunity to spread out and hide from the near constant fishing pressure that the popular river usually sustains.

Thus, these fish will have an opportunity to grow stronger and healthier in preparation for their eventual encounter with the many anglers who visit the state’s premier trout fishery on a daily basis.

Wethington noted that the current higher flows would require more caution when wading but that stronger, more experienced anglers who are familiar with the river’s terrain, shouldn’t have a problem.

Anglers spend about 250,000 hours a year fishing on the San Juan River below Navajo Dam. It is home to an estimated 75,000 trout and is estimated to contribute $20 million to $30 million to the state’s economy annually, Wethington said.

This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.