LEAVING THE WHITE RIVER IN SEPTEMBER BY DENNIS SCHULE

Making the decision to go fish somewhere else in September seems a little crazy but that's exactly what my wife, Mary, and I decided to do again this year. Usually we head off to Montana, Alaska or somewhere out west for a little break from the guiding season here in Arkansas on the White River. September brings fewer crowds and much more pleasant temps for a vacation.  

So this year we decided to hook up to our travel trailer and head out to Durango, Colorado.  Prior to leaving I made most of the necessary reservations including booking a guide to fish the San Juan River in New Mexico and also booked our tickets to take a ride on the Durango/Silverton narrow gauge railroad.  We were to fish the San Juan River on September 9th.  Our tickets to ride the railroad were for September 7th.

On the recommendation from one of my fishing clients, I booked our guide with Duranglers located in downtown Durango, Colorado.  

We departed Midway, AR. on September 3rd and arrived at the United Campground just outside Durango, Colorado.  This is a really nice, private, quiet campground with all the amenities a campground should have.  The Durango/Silverton train passes right through the campground and our campsite was located about 100 feet from the train.

Once we got the camper all set up we decided to head into Durango and do the normal tourist stuff.  Walking around downtown Durango we immediately realized what a great little town this is.  It is very clean and loaded with shops and restaurants.  It took a little while to adjust to the altitude change.  Coming from the flatlands of Midway, AR and arriving in Durango which sits at around 6,000 feet, you had to work a little harder to catch your breath.  Durango also has a fantastic walking/biking path that runs for about eight miles along the Animas River.  It meanders right through town and ends outside of town by the Home Depot.  We took advantage of the path and exercised our dog Tyrone at a much higher altitude than normal.

We stopped into Duranglers Fly Shop to confirm our reservation for the San Jun River and were pleasantly surprised with the shop.  Duranglers is very well stocked with clothing, gear and fly tying supplies.  If they don't have what you are looking for you probably don't need it. 

On September 7th, we boarded the Durango/Silverton train and headed for the 4 1/2 hour train ride to Silverton, Colorado.  Most of the trip travels along the Animas River with fantastic scenery.  Upon arrival in Silverton, an old mining town, you have a couple of hours to grab lunch and tour the town, which doesn't take long.  Then you board the train for the ride back to Durango.  We found out that we had the option of taking a charter bus back to Durango instead of riding the train.  We should have taken advantage of this option as the ride back seemed a bit long.

On September 9th we met out guide, Les Vance, at Duranglers Fly Shop.  As I said this is a very well stocked fly shop.  The staff is tremendous, friendly and knowledgeable, and very willing to help.  I would highly recommend Duranglers Fly Shop to anyone wishing to fish in the Durango area or the San Juan River in new Mexico.

We loaded our gear into Les's Toyota SUV and headed for New Mexico, which is about a 50 minute drive.  During the ride Les and I talked about the guide business and shared some stories about guide trips that would otherwise be kept in the vault with anyone other than another guide. We arrived at our put-in location, Texas Hole, below Navajo Dam, and we slipped into our waders while Les launched his drift boat.  Les rigged our rods and tied on midges so small you could hardly see them.  Then we hit the river and started our drift.

Mary, as usual, hit first with a nice fat rainbow.   After Mary landed a couple more rainbows I finally got on the board.  We managed to catch fish for the entire day with numbers pushing 30 fish.  We didn't manage to catch one of those mojumbo San Juan fish but still had a blast.  Les was an excellent guide.  He knew the river very well and continually changed flies keeping us in fish all day. 

We drifted about 3 1/2 miles and did have the opportunity to exit the boat and wade fish in a couple of spots.  Overall, the fishing was very good and it was great for me not having to do anything other than fish and relax.  At the end of the day the rain moved in and we got pounded at the take-out location but it never negatively impacted our day.  

If you are planning on fishing the San Juan River I would recommend contacting Duranglers Fly Shop and request Les Vance to guide you on your trip.

The last leg of our Colorado trip was heading to Mesa Verde National Park to view the Indian ruins.  We arrived at Mesa Verde on September 12th and immediately headed for our campsite.  We once again got the camper set up and checked out the park map to see where we could go to do some self-guided tours.  We spent that afternoon taking in some of the sites and scenery.  

The next day we did some more self-guided tours and hiking and were amazed at how these Indian ruins are so well preserved.  The National Park Service has done a tremendous job at controlling the tourists to make sure they don't destroy the sites.  The next day we took two ranger-guided tours.  These tours require reservations and the purchase of tickets.  The prices are very reasonable for what you get.  The first tour started out with a medical emergency involving an elderly gentleman who probably shouldn't have been on the tour in the first place. It appeared that he had numerous medical problems. The sites are sitting at about 7,000 feet in elevation and involve climbing ladders and crawling through tunnels. Both ranger- guided tours were very informative and the rangers really knew their stuff.  

If you are ever in this part of Colorado you should make it a point to visit this National Park.

Overall it was a really good trip to Colorado and New Mexico.  The only thing I didn't accomplish was to fish the Animas River.  Due to heavy rains, the Animas River blew out and turned to chocolate milk for three days.  So I guess we just have to return someday and give it a try.  It is a very interesting river with a lot of potential.

As for now, we are back in beautiful Arkansas and the White River is fishing well.  It's back to the guide trips.  I say I'm back to work but others just laugh.