Winter Fly Fishing Newsletter!
All of us guides, and our rock 'n roll GM Ralph Blanchard, would like to thank you all for joining us last season; it was another banner year. We are all getting excited for the 2008 season by tying flies and locking in bookings. There is a lot of snow in the mountains, so there will be plenty of water for our stealer float and wade trips. We would like to welcome you all back for more adventures, laughs and trout on the fly. The San Juan and Animas have been fishing pretty well of late and we are looking forward to February and March when more of our fisheries open up.
Cheers,
Will, Chris, Ralph, Tim, Josh, Rick and Marc

Winter Fly Fishing Report
Will Blanchard's Animas River Report: 1.15.08
Water: clear/cold. Water Temp: cold, but no ice
Weather: Fished mid day. 38-40 F
Insects: Some midges. The midge hatch will be strong from late January through February.

The Animas has been fishing well near Durango. The trout are in good shape and feisty. February tends to warm up a bit. As the mercury rises the midges start hatching on regular basis. It is going to be another great year on the Animas.

Booking for 2008
Our calendar is starting fill for the 2008 fly fishing season. This is just a little reminder for those that have not yet booked to look over your calendar and fishing plans. There are still plenty of spots, but the sooner we get your dates on the books the better. Feel free to try last minute bookings, however no guarantees that you'll get one of us. We do however have the dogs on the ready. Charlie and Kispa are pretty good on the river but stink at rowing, matching the hatch or driving our trucks with the drift boats in tow. We want to fish with you all, so start booking today!

Locations and the prime times to fish them
Animas: Feb, March, April, part of May. Hoppers late June, Aug and September
San Juan Colorado: April, part of May. Early June is Prime. Then way too low.
San Juan New Mexico Quality Waters: Year-round. Fun during high flows due to minimal crowds and very little float traffic.
San Juan New Mexico Lower River: Great early; March through May. Then too high till flows drop. Late June through July should be prime.
Rio Grande: Early floats start in April. May can be too high. Money hatches start around the 15th of June with giant stones, drakes, caddis and PMDs.
Dolores: Spring is ok. Early summer through the fall is good.
Root Pond: Spring time. May offers best hatches and incredible dry fly action.
Creeks/Train Trip: Summer and fall.

Animas Valley Anglers Blog
Will set up a blog for Animas Valley Anglers. It is a fun place to see what's up with Will, Animas Valley Anglers, random photos and other tippets of info. Feel free to check it out from time to time and remember to check out our main site for news, fishing reports and photos. gottrout.blogspot.com | Animas Valley Anglers Main

New images and photo bar info
New images and galleries are up, plus more on the way. Check out images at the blog and click to our photo main page | Babine Steelheading | crazy Babine logging roads

Top to bottom: Steve Rentmeester fished the Animas this past fall and had a bang-up day with Chris Meyer. Many big fish were hooked and landed. This brown was taken from Pump House Run. Second shot is a nice rainbow Chris Meyer found late this fall on the Animas River. images: Chris Meyer

Kispa checking out a Babine steelhead on a rather cold day. Buck steelhead Will landed this past December on the Babine River. Creede Colorado Golden Pick Pond Hockey Tournament. Will, Chris and Tim played on an all guides team called the Frozen Fish. Despite playing hard they did not win very many games forcing the team to change their name to the Fileted Fish. Good times for sure and it was great to get back to Creede during the non-angling season. images: Will Blanchard and Serra Buck More images by Will Blanchard in this article: durango telegraph article

AvA Newsletter
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