Blue Sky Fly Fishing Co.

01/13/2025

1/1/2025
Hello Everyone and a Happy New Year to all! The river flow is around 350cfs. Water clarity is about 2'-3’. In the morning, when the water is cold, the fish are mainly in the deeper water. The fish are cold and lethargic so a slow presentation with streamers can produce a great result. Remember to strip set the fly. Woolly buggers, natural tan bunny leeches, mop flies have all been working in the deep slow waters. Egg patterns are also working well. #16-22 Red larva have been working well. Some areas of the river are having good winter midge hatch. There has also been a decent BWO’s hatch in the lower part of the river. Many tight lines to all of you, Mark Nesbit Blue Sky Flyfishing

01/01/2025

San Juan River Fishing Report 01/01/2025
Hello Everyone and a Happy New Year 🎆 to all.
The river flow is around 350cfs. Water 💧 clarity is about 2-3’. In the morning when the water is cold the fish 🐟 are mainly in the deeper water. The fish are cold and lethargic so a slow presentation with streamers can produce a great result. Remember to strip set the fly.
Woolly buggers, natural tan bunny leeches, mop flies have all been working in the deep slow waters. Egg patterns are also working well. #16-22 Red larva have been working well. Some areas of the river are having good winter midge hatch. There has also been a decent BWO’s hatch in the lower part of the river.
Many tight lines to all of you.
Mark Nesbit
Blue Sky Flyfishing

12/05/2024

12/5/2024 Hello Everyone, the river is flowing around 420 cfs. Water clarity is around 2-3 feet. The lake is starting to turn over. The water is not too chunky with moss. The fishing has been good. The brown trout are in the spawn mode. What worked for me yesterday was a gray #20-22 Rs2, orange egg and a red larva. There was a nice BWO's beatis hatch mid morning, and a really strong midge hatch later in the afternoon. Weather has been nice here for this time of year.

10/12/2024

Here's Robert, with a true "San Juan Football", not the pork chop, not the ham, but the hole hog of a Rainbow Trout that was caught in the Texas Hole, San Juan River, NM. Robert is the director of the Veterans group Warriors Mountain Rivers Adventures.

10/12/2024

Here's Jason with a great Rainbow Trout he caught in the Texas Hole, San Juan River, NM. Big trout, but not as big as the one Gretchen, his wife had caught. Jason is also part of the Veterans group.

10/12/2024

Here's Gretchen and a monster of a Rainbow Trout that she caught in the Texas Hole Tuesday. She was with a group of military veterans who come fishing together. She was guided by Cory McKee, who was working for Blue Sky Flyfishing. Robert Nuttall is the founder and director of the group
Warrior Mountain River Adventures. This is a great experience for all involved. It's a fun, and redirects your focus to a positive outcome for the Veterans. Robert takes them on different outdoor activities and adventures that are lasting memories for them. All the guides and I really enjoy fishing with them.

10/12/2024

10/9/2024 The fishing has been great. The river flow is around 600 cfs. Water clarity is good, about 3-4 feet. Some moss, but not too bad. Black flies, black midges and mayflies ( BWO's). What has been working for me is #22-24 gray foam wings, #22-24 RS'2s. #20-22 black or brown latex midges. #18-22 Mark's Mojo midge. Marabou jigs of different colors and sizes.

09/27/2024

Here's a Slab of a San Juan River Rainbow Trout caught in 3 Island Run, San Juan River, NM. it was quite the battle, extremely heavy current, #22 gray foam wing. Greg did a great job at landing this fantastic fish.

09/27/2024

Look at this beautiful Kokanee Salmon in its final stage of its journey. Kokanee are land locked Sockeye Salmon

09/27/2024

Here's Greg, with a really beautiful Brown Trout, caught in Three Island Run, San Juan River, NM. The browns are starting to get in their fall colors before they spawn.

09/27/2024

John and Tami, Tami, with a nice rainbow trout that she caught in the Texas Hole, San Juan River, NM

09/27/2024

This is Burr, and a chunk of a Rainbow trout, caught in Durangler's Corner, San Juan River, NM

09/27/2024

9/27/2024 Navajo Dam Release Change

With forecast sufficient flows in the critical habitat reach, the Bureau of Reclamation has scheduled a decrease in the release from Navajo Dam from 700 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 600 cfs for Friday, September 27th, at 4:00 AM.

Next week, on October 1st at 7:30 AM, Reclamation will begin a maintenance project that will necessitate a switch to the 4x4 for the release point. The release may fluctuate slightly during the switch, and the water downstream of the dam may be silty for a day or two following this release point change. The maintenance project will continue throughout October and November.

Releases are made for the authorized purposes of the Navajo Unit, and to attempt to maintain a target base flow through the endangered fish critical habitat reach of the San Juan River (Farmington to Lake Powell). The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program recommends a target base flow of between 500 cfs and 1,000 cfs through the critical habitat area. The target base flow is calculated as the weekly average of gaged flows throughout the critical habitat area from Farmington to Lake Powell.

This scheduled release change is subject to changes in river flows and weather conditions. If you have any questions, please reply to this message, call 970-385-6560, or visit Reclamation’s Navajo Dam website at

Bureau of Reclamation - Managing water and power in the West

09/15/2024

9/15/2024 Hello Everyone, the river has been fishing good with some nice fish being caught lately. Lots of good dry fly fishing being done. The river is flowing around 780cfs. The visibility is about 4-5 feet. What has been working for me is #22-24 calf hair parachute Adams, #22-24 gray or black for and aft. For nymphing I've been using gray #22-24 poly wing Rs's2, fluff beatis and #20-22 black or brown latex midges. The weather has been great and the trees are starting to get some colors. October is going to be beautiful so let's hit the river together. Tight lines, Mark.

09/03/2024

One of the really great perks of taking folks fishing is getting to enjoy my favorite pastime of fishing with really nice folks like Andrew and his daughter, Dillon. I'll bet you can tell from the smiles that we all enjoyed this special experience.

09/01/2024

8/31/2024 The river is flowing at around 580cfs. Water clarity is good with about 4-5 foot visibility. The fish are happy and feeding good. What has been working for me is #22-24 black bling midge, #18-20 Mark's Mojo midge , black Big Macs. #22 gray poly wing RS2s, fluff beatis. Some good dry fly action with #22-24 calf hair post gray Parachute Adams, #22-24 black for and aft. #14-16 Madam X's. Remember to dry dust your dry flies often. The dust helps accent the silhouette of the pattern, which is what the fish keys on. Here's a few photos of some recent trips.

08/18/2024

8/17/2024 The river is flowing around 670 cfs. Water 💧 clarity is good with about 5-6' foot visibility. The fish 🎣 have been happy 😃 enjoy the higher water level. Red larva from #16-22 have been working well. #20-22 gray scuds. #20-24 black or brown latex midges. #18-22 Mark's Mojo midge. #22-24 Poly wing RS's2. Fluff beatis. Here's a couple photos from recent days.

07/26/2024

7/25/2024 The river is flowing at around 670-700 cfs. Water clarity is good, the river has been fishing good in the quality water 💦 Fishing with leeches and red larva has been good
San Juan 🪱 worms are working well on the sand bars after a good rain 🌧️ storm. Some trout rising to tiny #22-24 fore&afts. Here's a photo of Chase with a big smile and a tight line, bent rod hooked up in the Texas Hole on the San Juan River,NM.
Here's a picture of Andrew, with a nice Brown trout, and his son, Will with a nice 👍 Rainbow Trout. Tight lines to all.
The Release.