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Today’s Fish rating
Upriver: 5.50
Walk-In: 5.00
Key: 1 = Go fish somewhere else
10 = Rent a helicopter and get here now!

Today’s Weather: Partly cloudy, Chance of PM Showers, High 54 low 37

Winter weather is here but most all of our boats are covered and heated for your fishing comfort.
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

Fly Fishing: As the week progressed so did the fishing. Double nymph rigs using midges and San Juan worms with some weight are the rig of choice. The larger trout are believed to be hunkered down deep and staging for spawn. We are expecting another deep water spawn this year. Some redds have been spotted in some deeper areas where there were none just last week.

We believe the river is ready to pop, with lower flows just around the corner (in March & April) and more and more sun creeping into the canyon each day, we should see a lot more midge activity.

Walk in: I have had only a few reports for this section. Word has it fishing well in the morning hours then slowing up somewhere around noon. When the flows peak fishing shuts off in this area and starts up again after 3 or 4 in the after noon. We are still counting on the zebra midge and San Juan worm to do the work, and they are.

Spin Fishing: Spin fishing is reported as successful. Bouncing glo-bugs on the bottom with some weight is the rig of choice. Treble hooked gold or silver lures such as Panther Martins and Rapalas, as well as marabou jigs are a couple of more choices you can go with.

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 Report and Forecast by Terry Gunn 12/13/09

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

Recent Fish rating
Upriver: 8.25
Key: 1 = Go fish somewhere else 10 = Rent a helicopter and get here now

Recent Fishing Conditions: High Water = Big Healthy Fish. Many of you probably remember that for many years the winter months at Lees Ferry were considered prime season…this winter should be no exception. Current water releases from Glen Canyon Dam are higher than they have been since the beginning of the drought in 1999. High water moves food around and gets the fish in a feeding mood and makes for very predictable and good fishing. The reason for the high water is an effort to equalize Lake Powell and Lake Mead. If there is sufficient snowpack the higher than normal water flows will continue for a year or more with a goal to release 10.765 MAF (million acre feet) compared to the 8.23 MAF of water that has been released every year since 1999. This bodes very well for the current and future fishing. Fishing has been getting better every year for the past several years and I predict that we will see fishing this coming year that rivals the banner years in the 90’s. The peak fishing periods of 1984-1988, and 1994-1999 were all preceded by high water years.

Recent Fishing: My client from 12/11 said that he caught more pounds of trout in his first day of fishing at Lees Ferry than in all his previous days of fly fishing combined. The fish are fat, strong, and hungry. The current high flows will continue for December and increase slightly in January and drop in Feb., and lower again in March. The high water is likely to stimulate a strong spawn, we are already seeing a few fish spawning in the normal places.

With the higher water flows we are drifting and fishing from the boat using a “heavy nymph rig” which is a 9 to 12-ft leader, strike indicator, split shot, and dual fly rig. The higher water limits the areas that you can wade so drifting can be more productive. We have been seeing a bunch of fish feeding on the surface eating midges and black flies; these fish are very selective but can be tough.

Spin Fishing should be off the charts with higher flows. I would be drifting a large pink glow bug, red rubber worm, or san juan worm, on the bottom at the same speed as the current. Adjust your weight so that the fly or lure is just ticking the bottom.

The current fish population is better than we have seen in many years with several different year classes present in good numbers and all in perfect physical condition. 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 in June. 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 caught fish size has decreased; the river is still chock-full of big fish but the challenge is getting your fly past the smaller, and not so smart 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 rose more than 30-ft in 2009 which is good news for the fishing 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 a healthy trout population and good fishing will continue for the next several years.

New Product Review: Over my guiding career there have been a few products come to market that have revolutionized our sport; a couple of products come to mind…neoprene then goretex waders really changed the way we fish. For the first time since graphite was introduced there has been a revolutionary fly rod release with new Sage Switch Rod. The “Switch” refers to the design of this rod allowing it to be used as either a single hand rod or as a spey rod. This is the ultimate “big water rod” that changes the game when it comes to casting heavy nymph rigs and long leaders. The Switch makes it easy to cast leaders that are 12 to 15-ft long with dual flies and heavy split shot. At the same time the rod has a soft tip that allows one to use tippets as light as 6X! I keep two of these rods (11-ft 5-wt and 11-ft 6-wt) on the boat for my clients to use when we are fishing heavy nymphs and everyone that has used the rod wants one for themselves. If you fish big water and are looking for a rod to improve your fishing and mending look no further than the Sage Switch series. I have nicknamed it the “hero” rod because it makes everyone a casting hero.

Lees Ferry Fishing Tips: 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 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!

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

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. More recent samplings have 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 / Lake Powell

The unregulated inflow volume into Lake Powell in January 2010 was just below what was forecasted at the beginning of January. The unregulated inflow to Lake Powell for the month of January was 304,000 acre-feet (75% of average). This was about 26,000 acre-feet below the unregulated inflow volume that was projected in the January 2010 24-Month Study. For this reason, the elevation of Lake Powell at the end of January was about 2 inches below what was projected in the January 2010 24-Month Study. The end of January Lake Powell elevation was 3622.14 feet above sea level which was over 4 feet lower than the elevation on January 1, 2010. The release volume for January 2010 was 900,480 acre-feet. Daily peak releases for power generation in January were 17,500 cfs during the morning and afternoon with lows of approximately 9,500 cfs in the very early morning hours. In February 2010 the scheduled release volume for the month is 640,000 acre-feet. Peak releases each day for power generation in February will be approximately 14,000 cfs with lows of about 8,000 cfs.

In addition to the daily fluctuation pattern, instantaneous releases from Glen Canyon Dam also fluctuate to provide approximately 40 megawatts of system regulation to maintain stable conditions within the electrical generation and transmission system. These momentary fluctuations for regulation are very short lived and typically balance out over the hour. Glen Canyon Dam also provides a level of reserve generation that can be called upon when unanticipated outages occur within the generation system. When an outage event occurs, reserve generation at Glen Canyon Dam can be called upon and this additional reserve generation is typically maintained for 2 hours or less. The official Water Supply Forecast (April-July Unregulated Inflow Volume) for Lake Powell issued by the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center was updated during the first week of February and is now 5.8 million acre-feet (maf) which is 73% of average. The January official forecast for Lake Powell unregulated inflow was 6.2 maf which was 78% of average.

Based on the updated February forecast, the February 2010 24-Month Study projects that the water year release volume from Lake Powell will likely be 8.23 maf pursuant to the Interim Guidelines. However, the operating tier for Glen Canyon Dam in water year 2010 is Upper Elevation Balancing and under this tier there is a possibility for an April adjustment to the operational plan which could incorporate either Equalization releases or Balancing releases. Given the current conditions of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, it is possible, if hydrologic conditions become wetter than what is currently projected, that an April adjustment to Equalization could occur. If this adjustment were to occur in April, the projected water year release from Glen Canyon Dam could be greater than 10.5 maf.

As of early February, given the hydrologic conditions within the Colorado River Basin and the range of possible inflow scenarios that could occur in 2010, Reclamation estimates that there is about a 25% probability that an April adjustment to Equalization will occur. This estimate is based on many factors that are changing through time. Reclamation will update this estimated probability each month to provide stakeholders some probabilistic estimate of the possibility that Equalization will occur in water year 2010.

Upper Colorado River Basin Hydrology

In the Upper Colorado River Basin during water year 2009, the overall precipitation accumulated through September 30, 2009 was approximately 95% of average based on the 30 year average for the period from 1971 through 2000. For water year 2010 the dry conditions have persisted. Estimated percentages of average precipitation for the months thus far in water year 2010 are as follows: October 85%, November 40%, December 130%, January 100%. The Climate Prediction Center outlook (dated January 21, 2010) for temperature over the next 3 months indicates that temperatures in the northern reaches of the Upper Colorado River Basin have an increased probability of being above average. Accumulated precipitation over the next 3 months are projected to be near average in the Upper Colorado River Basin (above Lake Powell) while are projected to be above average in the Lower Colorado River Basin (below Lake Powell).

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, 2008 and 2009, drought conditions eased somewhat with net gains in storage to Lake Powell. As of February 9, 2010 the storage in Lake Powell was 13.93 million acre-feet (57.29 percent of capacity) which is still below desired levels while the overall reservoir storage in the Colorado River Basin as of February 9, 2010 is 33.14 million acre-feet (55.72 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, 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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