Due to a major construction project, Cliff Dwellers Hotel and Restaurant will be closed from January 5, 2009 to February 6, 2009. Lees Ferry Anglers Flyshop, Guide Services, and Boat Rental, along with Gas Station will remain open throughout the construction process. Thank you for your understanding and we plan to be open for dinner Friday, February 6, 2009.

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Today’s Fish rating
Upriver: 6.5
Walk-In: 6.5
Key: 1 = Go fish somewhere else
10 = Rent a helicopter and get here now!

Today’s Weather: Mostly Sunny / High Temp. of 55 degrees with a low of 32 degrees

Today’s Crowd Rating
Upriver: 1.0 NO CROWDS!
Walk In: 1.0 No Crowds
Key: 1 = Sleep late and fish where you want.
10 = Very crowded, get up early!

Today’s Fly Fishing: The last report I received was on 1-22-09 by Natalie Jensen.
She reported the fishing as great! They caught fish all day bouncing glo-bugs. Every now and again the fish would get wise to the glo-bug so she would switch over to a San Juan worm and pick up a few more fish then switch back to the glo- bug.

They caught a lot of fish in the 17 inch range, some larger and a few smaller as well. All in all she reported one of her best days guiding. Along with the fish they caught they had a very fun day.

Check this out!!!
I would also like to inform all of you folks out there that starting November 10th, 2008 thru February 19th, 2009 lodging at Cliff Dwellers will be $55.00 plus tax for one or two people, $10.00 extra for each additional person, with a maximum of four to a room. We are also offering our three bedroom house for $200 plus tax. The house can accommodate up to 6 people. Call 1-800-962-9755 to make reservations

Walk in: I have not received any new reports for this section in the last few days. Last I heard fishing was good.
Early morning is best for this area, once the water peaks it will slow down until evening. San Juan worms, glo –bugs, and black and silver zebra midges are the flies of choice. If you have fished this section please e- mail a report to us and I will gladly pass it along to the others.

• If you have some news you would like to report about fishing lees ferry, the walk-in section or up river please e-mail your report to: anglers@leesferry.com Attn. Lees Ferry Fishing Report
• We would be happy to have your input, and pass it along !!!

Ted Welling Lees Ferry Anglers & Cliff Dwellers Lodge

Spin Fishing: Had one guide out a few days ago. She reported having a great day, using mostly glo bugs and san juan worms. Also, black and olive jigs are very effective. Stop by and check out the rig for bottom bouncing and we will fill you in on whatever else is happening.

Lees Ferry Fishing Synopsis and Forecast by Terry Gunn 11/12/08

Recent Fishing Conditions: At a time when just about everything you read is bearing bad news, it gives me great pleasure to bring you some good news: The fishing at Lees Ferry is not just good it’s great! The fish are in the best shape and size that I have seen in several years and everything points to this being a trend that I expect to continue. Fishing is just going to get better and better as 2009 arrives…. Isn’t it great to hear some good news for a change! Not only is the fishing upriver great but rumor has it that the Walk-in area is fishing extremely well. One other thing; there has been no one here…come up (you can probably book a guide for tomorrow) and see the best fishing in years and you will likely have the river to yourself. Read on for the full story.

The experimental steady flows that occurred in September and October (12,000 constant) were as I predicted, beneficial to the river. In years past, the flows in September and October have been the lowest flows of the year and have reset the “green line” to the 5,000-cfs level from the 12,000-cfs level of the summer flows. This has effectively reduced the food supply in the river by a significant amount. Then the higher flows of November and December arrive; but because of the declining sun angle and the shade of the cliffs, photosynthesis and aquatic production in the river declines and the areas of the river that were desiccated by the low flows do not regenerate until the following spring. This did not happen this year because of the steady flows in September and October the green line stayed high. The current fluctuating flows (7,500-cfs to 13,000-cfs) are continuing to keep the green line higher than in years past. There have been prolific midge and black-fly hatches every day and it appears as though the scud population has a higher density than any time since 2004.

The trout spawn last winter was off the charts, never has there been such a productive spawn in the river. The high flows of summer and the steady flows this fall provided the perfect rearing habitat for the fry and fingerlings. I’m seeing them all over the river and they are growing fast! In addition to last winter’s great spawn, the survival rate from the spawn of 2006-07 was substantial and the river has a very good population of smaller fish that are growing fast.

The fish that we have been catching are probably averaging 16 to 17 inches and most are thick, fat, and heavy. We are also catching lots of larger fish, 18 to 20-inches. I have recently had clients hook into fish that were probably much larger, but as you well know, the big ones almost always get away.

Is this a peak before another down turn in the fishery? No, this is the beginning of a trend that is set to continue for at least a couple of years, and if nature cooperates and gives us moisture in the Rocky Mountains, and Lake Powell continues to rise, this trend of healthy trout populations and good fishing will continue for the next several years.

The turning point and the beginning for the recovery of the Lees Ferry fishery occurred in 2005 when Lake Powell had the first above normal snow-pack and runoff year since 1997. This year we had almost exactly the same conditions. The above normal winter snow pack and runoff into Lake Powell in 2007-08, stirred up a tremendous amount of nutrient laden sediment that had accumulated at the lake mouths of the Colorado River, San Juan River, and the Green River. Lake Powell elevation increased 43-ft. and the rivers flowing into the lake mixed the sediment and nutrients into the lake water. It usually takes several months before we see this mixing affect the nutrient load in the water that enters the river from Glen Canyon dam. I believe that we are just now starting to see that as evidenced by the recent warmer than normal water temperatures. The river temperature this time of year is normally 48-degrees but the recent temperature has been 54-degrees which is the IDEAL water temperature for trout. The increased nutrient load in the lake and river will be evident this coming spring by the enormous and dramatic increase in aquatic vegetation and aquatic organisms throughout the river.

For those of you that remember what the fishing was like in 1999 and 2000…you should be as excited as I am about the current conditions and what the increased nutrient load should do for the fishing at Lees Ferry.

Lots of stuff happening at the Ferry and it is all good!

Recent Fishing: With the water flows once again fluctuating and lower flows; we have stopped fishing from the boat and have been wading the riffles. The best fishing technique has been using a “heavy nymph rig” which is a 9 to 12-ft leader, strike indicator, split shot, and dual fly rig. I have been using 6X fluorocarbon tippet and feel that the lighter tippet results in a much higher success rate than say 5X. Anglers might argue that they break fish off on such light tippet but my argument is that in order to break a fish off, you first have to first get a fish to eat your fly and you are going to get more eaters with lighter tippet than heaver tippet.

When wading the riffles you need long dead drifts. There are 2 types of drifts; perfect dead drifts and all other drifts. Perfect dead drifts catch fish at Lees Ferry; all other drifts don’t catch fish here. You get a dead drift by mending the line, then throwing slack line on the water. If your line is straight from your rod tip to your indicator or you move your indicator during the drift, then your drift is not perfect and will not catch fish. The key to success is to stay over fish, get the flies down to the bottom, and get a long, perfect dead drift.

Flows should increase in December and I predict another year of a normal and strong spawn. I have already seen a few fish spawning; I have not seen this is several years.

We have recently lost a couple of friends who have contributed much to the sport of fly fishing. Mel Krieger passed away last month after a brief illness from a brain tumor. Denny Breer, from Trout Creek Flies and Green River Outfitters, passed away 11/07, he was involved in a freak accident. Our hearts and best wishes go out to all their families.

The high flow experiment, 4/08, was basically a non event as far as the fishery is concerned. It came and went with few visible changes to the river or the fishery. For more details and to see my complete comments go here: http://coloradoriverconservancy.org/

For details on Lake Powell conditions and snow-pack, go here: http://lakepowell.water-data.com/

For a real time graphic view of water releases and ramp rates go here: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/uv?09380000

New guides at Lees Ferry Anglers. The last couple of years we have had several long time guide staff move on to bigger and hopefully better things. This past year we had 3 new guides join our team, though new to our organization they are not new to guiding. Luke Blaser, Tom Jones, and JD Miller have joined our team. They bring with them a couple of decades of combined guiding experience on various waters around the world, college degrees, and an enthusiasm for guiding that is contagious. I’m proud to introduce these fellows and I’m sure that you will agree that they are a great addition to our team.

The AZ Game and Fish Department recently detected whirling disease in a small percentage of Lees Ferry trout that were collected for a random sampling. A recent sampling turned up no sign of the disease, which may mean that it was a “one time” exposure, where the disease was not established or that the disease is present but at a very low prevalence. Anglers should still use caution in cleaning their equipment both before and after they have fished here or in other waters. For more information visit: http://www.whirling-disease.org

Glen Canyon Dam Operations
The monthly release volume for January 2009 is scheduled to be 800,000 acre-feet. Daily average releases during January will be about 13,000 cfs. Monday through Friday releases will peak each afternoon to about 17,000 cfs with early morning releases of approximately 9,000 cfs. Weekend afternoon peak releases will be about 16,750 cfs with morning low releases near 9,000 cfs. The currently scheduled release volume for February 2009 is 600,000 acre-feet which will result in an average daily release of 10,800 cfs. Afternoon peaks will likely be about 13,800 cfs and early morning releases will likely be about 7,800 cfs. Snowpack conditions in the Upper Colorado River Basin improved significantly during the month of December. On December 1, 2008 the snowpack above Lake Powell measured only 57% of average. By December 31, 2008 this snowpack had improved to 108% of average. As of January 12, 2009 the snowpack measured 110% of average. The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center has issued the first water supply forecast for 2009. The Lake Powell forecasted unregulated inflow for the period from April through July 2009 is 8.0 million acre-feet (maf) (101% of the average during the period from 1971 to 2000). Based on this forecast, Reclamation is currently projecting a shift in operations from Upper Elevation Balancing to Equalization in April 2009 (see Interim Guidelines Section 6.B.3). For this reason, the January 24-Month Study projects the annual release from Lake Powell during water year 2009 to be 9.236 maf. As forecast conditions change, Reclamation will update these projections monthly.

Upper Colorado River Basin Hydrology
Precipitation rates during October and November 2008 were well below normal at 55% and 80% respectively. In December, however, conditions improved significantly with the estimated precipitation rate of about 180% of average. The overall water year precipitation rate through January 12, 2009 is 105% of average. The Climate Prediction Center outlook for temperature and precipitation over the next 3 months indicates equal chances for both temperature and precipitation in the Upper Colorado River Basin. This means we can likely expect near average temperatures and near average precipitation over the next 90 days.

Upper Colorado River Basin Drought
The Upper Colorado River Basin is experiencing a protracted multi-year drought. Since 1999, inflow to Lake Powell has been below average in every year except water year 2005 and 2008. In the summer of 1999, Lake Powell was essentially full with reservoir storage at 23.5 million acre-feet, or 97 percent of capacity. During the next 5 years (2000 through 2004) unregulated inflow to Lake Powell was well below normal. This resulted in Lake Powell storage decreasing during this period to 8.0 million acre-feet (33 percent of capacity) which occurred on April 8, 2005. During 2005 and 2008 drought conditions eased somewhat with net gains in storage to Lake Powell. On September 30, 2008 the storage in Lake Powell was 14.5 million acre-feet (60 percent of capacity) which is still well below desired levels. Reservoir storage in the Colorado River Basin continues to be below desired levels with the overall Colorado River system storage as of January 1, 2009 of 33.3 maf which is 59.4 percent of capacity.

Check out: www.kutv.com/content/outdoors/default.aspx

I have had some people that are fishing on their own (unguided) tell me that they are having a difficult time catching fish. The fishing has changed from the peak of 2000 and many people are not adapting to the new conditions. The current fish population is lower than it was in 2000 and there are not fish “everywhere” in the river like there were several years back (this is probably the reason that we are seeing better conditioned and larger fish today). Just because you might have been successful in one spot on the river in the past does not mean that particular spot is always good. There are many times of the year that the water flows, or conditions are not right to hold fish at “famous” spots such as 4 mile or Dam Island. It is often challenging, even for a good guide, to stay on top of where the fish are and what they are eating; but we do have the advantage of spending a lot of time on the water.

Lees Ferry Anglers - Fly Shop Specials:
“GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE!!”
*****CLOSEOUTS******
PATAGONIA- Women’s Stretch Jacket was $315.00 now $175.00
Call for all current sale items as they change quickly.

Cliff Dwellers Lodge:
Our lodge has rooms with cable TV (20 channels), in-room coffee, and the basic amenities. Choice of rooms are ONE king-size bed $80.00 plus tax, TWO doubles $75 plus tax, and TWO queen-size beds $85 plus tax for 1 to 2 people. Also our group unit we call the HOUSE, sleeps six with two baths, dining area, kitchen, patio with a view, and cable TV. We are excited about the cool fall season and have some great “black board” specials planned. Patio dining is available. (Enclosed in the winter months)

Meet the Guides:
THE GUIDES AND STAFF OF LEES FERRY ANGLERS have thousands of days on this water, and over 100 years combined fish-guiding experience. Captains’ Terry Gunn, Jeff English, Skip Dixon, Rick Smith, Natalie Jensen, J.D. Miller, Luke Blaser and Tom Jones make up our guiding staff. Lees Ferry Anglers is proud of our fly-fishing guide team! Wendy Gunn, Sandy Willie, Ted Welling, and Kris Stoudt work in the fly shop to provide you with the best customer service in the industry.

Email: anglers@leesferry.com
Lees Ferry Anglers
HC-67 Box 30
Marble Canyon, AZ 86036
Toll Free 1-800-962-9755
Direct 1-928-355-2261
Fax 1-928-355-2271

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