Our Favorite Time of Year Can you believe that the summer fishing season is almost over! Now with town not quite as busy as it has been, we can take a little break and do some fishing on our own and get ready for hunting season before heading to the Everglades. This time of year school starts and families start to return their normal lives of school, sports and other after school activities. The fishing has remained good even with some high temperatures the last few weeks. There were several days in the upper 80's and now this week back into the upper 70's. There are even a few Cottonwoods at Sunset Ranch turning yellow. {%image_id=44792%} Steve and I got to spend a few days looking for Mountain Goats up in the Silverton area. We road on the train and got to see the sludge that is on the Animas River from the mine spill. It looks like Animas water quality is back to pre-spill levels. The big concern is the sludge and how it will affect the aquatic life. We are very lucky to have no mines on the Upper San Juan River drainage, all of our streams and The Quality Waters were unaffected by the spill. Oh, we did find some Mountain Goats! {%image_id=44791%} The Quality Waters are a 622 cfs toady, after several days of higher releases to flush the lower San Juan where if joined with the Animas to help disperse the toxins in the mine spill. The town stretch of the San Juan is at 53 cfs today, the lowest this year. With the water getting lower on the freestone stretch of the Juan, the fish have been moving closer to the top of the pools and only being in the tailing sections of the pools when a hatch is actively going on. Lately there has not been much going on with hatches. The best times have been in the evenings for hatches. During the day we have still been doing well on the hopper dropper rig. {%image_id=44793%} {%image_id=44794%} Make sure to visit the Laid Up Charters web site (http://www.laidupcharters.com). . Scott Taylor http://highcountrycharters.com 970-946-5229 While you are in town make sure that you visit the following businesses! Need Fly Fishing gear? See Pop's Let it Fly Downtown Pagosa Springs, across from Kip's 970-264-3189 http://www.flyfishpagosa.com Hungry for Adventure? Pagosa Outside Adventures - Rafting, Biking, Kayaking, Tubing Downtown Pagosa Springs 970-264-4202 http://www.pagosaoutside.com Need Ski Rentals? Pagosa Ski Rental (PSR) Downtown Pagosa Springs 970-264-2866 http://www.skipagosa.com