New Lees Ferry Fishing Synopsis and Forecast by Terry Gunn

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Today’s Fish rating
Upriver: 7.5
Walk-In: 6.00
Key: 1 = Go fish somewhere else
10 = Rent a helicopter and get here now!

Today’s Weather: Mostly Sunny, High 101 Low 73

Up River crowd rating
1.0 No crowd
Walk In: 0.0 No Crowds
Key: 1 = Sleep late and fish where you want.
10 = Very crowded, get up early!

Fly Fishing: Reports for today were that San Juan worms and scuds were very productive during rising water. Dry fly with a dropper rigs effective in eddies, which are packed with risers. Cicadas are definitely starting to buzz. Whether you’re wading or drift fishing, both are producing good numbers.

We are using the usual suspects, San Juan worms, zebra midges, laser midges, brassies, and of course large foam cicada patterns.

Walk in: We have had a few good reports from this section. Anglers were fishing from the boulder field all the way to the confluence over the weekend. From what we have heard having great success with San Juan worms and midge patterns. Hope to see you soon… tight lines T
The trick to this section is weight and drift. Get the right amount of shot and a good dead drift and you’re in the money. We did see a good amount of anglers in this section and most reported doing very well.

Spin Fishing: Fishing with glo bugs and San Juan worms on the bottom seems to be the trick. Also, the famed panther martin has been working overtime out there. Just cast it toward the shore with a slow retrieve.

BE SURE YOU CRIMP THE BARBS.

• 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

Lees Ferry Fishing Synopsis and Forecast by Terry Gunn 6/29/09

Visit www.leesferry.com for daily fishing reports and updates.

Recent Fishing Conditions: Summer arrived with the mild temperatures and calm winds, a welcome relief from our crummy spring weather. The weather has warmed of late and the cicadas are starting to sing and the fish are just now starting to key in on them. It is too early to tell what “kind” of cicada year it will be…every year is different. I have seen the bite last only 2 weeks and other years last well into late August. Our cicadas are unusual in the fact that they hatch every year, most places they occur every 7 or 14 years. I have seen 4 hatches that were so intense that the fish would come up off the bottom in the middle of the river to eat a cicada that has landed on the water. Watch our daily reports for up to date reports on the cicada hatch.

The water flows will increase in volume for July and August. These two months usually provide the best and most consistent fishing of the entire year here at Lees Ferry and they are also the least crowded. In the higher water most all of our fishing is done from the boat, drifting with heavy nymph rigs or casting big cicada dry flies into the rocky shores. The largest fish of the year are usually caught in the summer months and it is during these 2 months that the trout experience tremendous growth rates due to the high water transporting large quantities of food around.

For those who were fortunate to be here during the 8,000 constant flows in early July, they likely experienced the best fishing of their lives. There were many days where more than 100 fish were hooked per rod, fishing was off the charts (we rated it a “9” only because no fish over 10-lbs were landed). You may remember from my previous reports my mention of our prolific spawn of 2007 and that the river was full of small fish that disappear from the time that they reach 3” and reappear when they are 12” long…well, they showed up in mass immediately following the 8,000 constant flow. They are everywhere! For the first time in many years we are catching fish of all sizes, from 10’’ to 20” which is typical of a very healthy river. The only downside is that our average fish size has dramatically decreased; the river is still chock-full of big fish but the challenge is getting your fly past the smaller and not so smart little fish.

The current health of the river is outstanding…better than it has been in years. Last year’s above normal runoff into Lake Powell delivered and stirred up countless tons of nutrients into the water and this nutrient rich water is passing through the dam and into the river. Algae is everywhere in the river and this provides food and habitat for the aquatic food base that the trout depend upon. Lake Powell has risen more than 30-ft this year and is still rising which is good news for us and all of the people in the southwest who depend on this water for household use and electrical generation. The rising lake and the nutrient load will guarantee 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. Last 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 increased nutrient load in the lake and river is evident this spring by the 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 increasing we will be spending more time fishing from the boat than wading. Fishing techniques have been mixed between using a “heavy nymph rig” which is a 9 to 12-ft leader, strike indicator, split shot, and dual fly rig, a “double tiny” rig with a long leader and 2 bead-head midges on 7X, or a dry and dropper rig. I have been using 6 and 7X 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.

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/.

The experimental steady flows that occurred in September and October 2008 (12,000 constant) were beneficial to the river and are scheduled again for 2009. 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.

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. Last 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 has detected whirling disease in a very small percentage of Lees Ferry trout that were collected for a random sampling. A more 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 Operations Update
The purpose of this notification is to confirm that the release volume from Glen Canyon Dam for July 2009 will be 800,000 acre-feet. Hourly and daily average releases from Glen Canyon Dam for July 2009 will be scheduled through Western Area Power Administration to be consistent with the Glen Canyon Dam Operating Criteria (Federal Register, Volume 62, No. 41, March 3, 1997) and to also achieve, as nearly as is practicable, this monthly volume.
We anticipate the release volume for August 2009 will be 800,000 acre-feet. This will be confirmed in a subsequent notification toward the end of July.

Glen Canyon Dam / Lake Powell
The inflow to Lake Powell reached its peak for WY2009 on May 28, 2009 when it reached 54,921 cfs. Since that time the inflow has decreased somewhat and is averaging over 44,000 cfs over the past 7 days as of June 9, 2009. The unregulated inflow during May was well above forecasted levels at 2.9 million acre-feet (maf) which was about 400,000 acre-feet above the May forecast. The elevation of Lake Powell is currently rising at about 6 inches per day. During the month of May 2009, the elevation of Lake Powell increased more than 18 feet to 3629.7 feet above sea level (70.3 feet from full pool) on June 1, 2009. The elevation of Lake Powell will likely increase another 10 to 12 feet during the month of June and is projected to peak by mid August at near 3642 feet above sea level. The snowpack this year has melted earlier than expected and is all but melted out at this point except in the very high elevation regions.

For June 2009, the scheduled release volume from Glen Canyon Dam is 625,000 acre-feet which is an average daily release of approximately 10,500 cfs. During weekdays, the peak release rate from Glen Canyon Dam during the afternoon will be approximately 13,000 cfs will the early morning lows will be about 7,000 cfs. During the weekends in June, the peak afternoon release rate will be approximately 12,750 cfs and the early morning lows will be about 7,000 cfs. The projected release volume in July will be approximately 830,000 acre-feet (average daily release of approximately 13,500 cfs) with an approximate afternoon peak release rate of about 17,500 cfs.

The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center‘s June final water supply forecast for Lake Powell for the April to July runoff season remained unchanged at 7.1 million acre-feet (90% of average). While the unregulated inflow during May was 2,900,000 acre-feet which was over 400,000 acre-feet above forecasted levels, it is possible that the unregulated inflow during June and July will be less than expected due to the early runoff conditions that have occurred so far this year. The unregulated inflow to Lake Powell forecasted for June is 2.3 maf while for July the forecast is for 1.1 maf.

The operation of Lake Powell in this June 2009 24-Month Study is pursuant to the December 2007 Record of Decision on Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead (Interim Guidelines), and reflects the 2009 Annual Operating Plan (AOP). Pursuant to the Interim Guidelines, the Upper Elevation Balancing Tier is the operational tier for water year 2009 for Glen Canyon Dam.
The April 2009 24-Month Study projected the end of water year elevation at Lake Powell to be below the 2009 Equalization Elevation of 3639 feet and the projected end of water year elevation at Lake Mead to be above elevation 1075 feet. Pursuant to Sections 6.B.1. And 6.B.4. of the Interim Guidelines, the annual release volume will be 8.23 million acre-feet from Glen Canyon Dam during water year 2009 which is reflected in the June 24-Month Study.

Upper Colorado River Basin Hydrology
The overall precipitation rates during October and November 2008 were well below average at approximately 55% and 80% respectively. In December, however, conditions improved significantly with precipitation measuring approximately 185% of average. Unfortunately this wetter trend did not continue with precipitation in January, February and March measuring 95%, 75% and 65% of average respectively. In April and May conditions returned to a wetter pattern with precipitation measured at 120% and 105% of average, respectively. The overall water year precipitation rate through June 9, 2009 is 101% of average.

The Climate Prediction Center outlook for temperature over the next 3 months indicates that temperatures in the southwest have an increased probability of being above average while precipitation also has an increased probability of being above average in the Upper Colorado River Basin.

Upper Colorado River Basin Drought
The Upper Colorado River Basin continues to experience a protracted multi-year drought. Since 1999, inflow to Lake Powell has been below average in every year except water years 2005 and 2008. In the summer of 1999, Lake Powell was close to 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 average. 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. As of June 9, 2009 the storage in Lake Powell was 14.8 million acre-feet (63 percent of capacity) which is 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 June 1, 2009 of 34.5 million acre-feet which is 58 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. Choices of rooms are ONE king-size bed, TWO doubles and TWO queen-size beds. Also our group unit we call the HOUSE, sleeps six with two baths, dining area, kitchen, patio with a view, and cable TV. Rates vary with season. 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

Copyright © 1996-2009 Lees Ferry Anglers and Flyshop
All rights reserved Lees Ferry Fishing Report

Terry Gunn
Lees Ferry Anglers Fly Shop, Guides, & Rentals
Cliff Dwellers Lodge
http://www.terrygunn.com
http://www.leesferry.com
http://www.cliffdwellerslodge.com
800-962-9755