Never Underestimate the Worm, The San Juan Worm That Is

It had been a month since I’d fished the Weeb. I was wondering if the runoff was slowing down yet. As I approached the river the water was nice and clear. It was still a little high with the water reaching the pretty green plant growth that the wet spring had to offer - definitely fishable. The fish should be in good shape with all the food the high water had stirred up.



I started out using the yellow sally nymphs that I already had tied on from the previous trip to the Weber. I used these as I hurried downstream to my favorite stretch where I would turn around and fish upstream back to the truck. I noticed light mayflies coming off the water during my hike downstream so I switched to two different mayfly nymph imitations. I immediately caught a small brown and checked its throat contents with a stomach pump. The sampling revealed it had been eating a ton of worms along with a few mayfly nymphs like I had just tied on. I quickly replaced one of the imitations with a brown, bead head San Juan Worm.

This proved to be a correct move because I subsequently caught five more browns and one white fish from the same run. This was despite the frustratingly strong wind. The next run had trees along the bank that hung out over the river and the water was quite a bit deeper. After fishing the stretch with the same setup that worked so well on the previous stretch, I caught nothing, I added a second BB split shot and moved the indicator up the line another six inches.



I then proceeded to eat a granola bar, rest a minute and then start at the beginning of the run again. Half way through the run I had a take and connected with a medium size brown. Now with my hopes up a little more, I continued to the top of the run. I cast into the fast, shallower water that immediately dumped into the deeper, slower water. After a couple of casts I was fast into a …..snag. This snag ended up taking my lower fly and sinkers. I sat down, took off my hat and ate another granola bar. The wind was now dying down luckily. I tied on another piece of 4X fluorocarbon with a triple surgeon’s knot. On the 5 inch tag end I tied on another San Juan worm. On the other end which was 6 or 7 inches long I tied a double overhand knot at the end and added two split shot.

This time, trying to avoid the snag, I casted up and across making sure I lifted the line before getting too close to the snag. After a couple more casts, I hooked a jumping brown. This was a nice fish but it got off just as I was starting to work it closer.

OK, off to the next run. The next run was where I had caught a beautiful 19 inch brown prior to the runoff. This time, I didn’t even get a strike. I proceed to the deep hole just upstream. I had caught 5 or 6 white fish in this deep hope on my last trip. Again, not even a strike. Just then a couple of spin fishermen came around the bend. I talked with them a bit and surprisingly they had been catching a few. In fact, I saw the first one catch a 17 inch brown from the deep hole I had just fished. I never expected that. I should try streamer fishing next time.

Well, I did happen to catch a nice size white fish on the next bend. The spin fishermen had never seen a white fish before so I was able to show them one. They were impressed with the size. By now it was time to head back. I wished them well, hiked through the pasture full of sheep, climbed the ladder over the fence and went to the truck for a nice drink of …warm water.