# San Juan River Depression (Camera Question)



## Nathan (May 22, 2004)

I fished yesterday on the San Juan River and used olive and black wooly buggers with a small split shot to catch my personal best rainbow trout and then beat that record with another larger personal best. (18.5 and then 19.5 inches) These trout were toads.

I wish I could post some pictures for you but in the excitement of catching my first fish, my camera fell out of my flyfishing vest and was instantly killed in the 40 degree water.

My question is whether you all have experience with the Olympus Waterproof camera series. How good are the pictures that they take. I am thinking of getting one for my kayaking and fishing/ skiing expeditions, since I am always putting my cameras at risk.

These are some of them and I am looking at the 850 SW model.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=olympus waterproof camera&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

Thanks for the help.

Nathan


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Don't know about the camera, but I love the San Juan. Used to live in Albuquerque, and fished it about every month for years. Let me know when you join the 20-20 club. That's a 20" fish caught on a size 20 fly.

It's a weird river- huge wooly boogers and rabbit leaches in the morning, and then 18-22 midges mid day. Very technical river.

THE JAMMER


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## Nathan (May 22, 2004)

It was a great day of fishing! I caught 4 trout, 3 of which were 15 inches or better. This was a big deal for me, since i am used to catching 8-10 inch fish on average. One was around 15, one was 18.5 and one was 19.5.

What is the largest rainbow you have caught on the san juan? Are there any particular strategies to catching the larger fish? I am hoping to try for a 25" plus rainbow there next time and fish for a few days. One thing I noticed was that the 18 inch fish and 15 inch fish did not fight at all. I had them to the net in under 10 seconds. The 19.5 put up a nice fight and it maybe took 45 seconds to get into the net. Have you noticed the trout here dont fight much? I mean, I have caught 10 inch browns in Colorado that fought harder than these fish.

I was thinking that using a larger woolly bugger in the deepest water would yield the largest fish but I dont know. I also tried some nymphs and caught the small fish on it.


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## bleb (Mar 6, 2008)

I was fishing there with a friend who ;anded a legitimate 10 lber there. was from a boat and guided by John Tavener of sandstone anglers... great guide BTW. I always get lots of toads there . took my wife there for her first day flyfishing and got her hooked 20 20 club first fish and at leats 10 more same day!!! thats teh juan anything tiny and red!!!


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## Bruce J (Jun 27, 2004)

Yep, it's a great river. I've taken some absolute beginners there who had a great time and caught some great fish, but it can also be a lot of fun for the more experienced fly fishermen. On my last trip a few years ago, it was dry flies all day long. Sight casting to 20" trout with a size 24 fly is a blast!


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## davidb (May 10, 2006)

My best was a 27 incher on a #24 fly, over 10,5 lbs. My "secret" I was fishing near the dam and every time some joker cut me off upstream they would dislodge a bunch of nymphs and the bite was on.

They were unintentionally doing the San Juan Shuffle for me, caught four over 18" from the same spot. I was so pumped when someone apologized for the pot licking I babbled profuse thank yous and they thought I had lost a screw and might be dangerous, worked for me.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

It can be a very technical river, and sometimes beginners slam em. I have sat there on a run, which had an angler avery 20' on both sides, and watched 2 or 3 guys hook up every 5 minutes, and others get skunked. Of course I was one of the 2 or 3- LOL- not always.

Seemed the bigger fish I caught were early in the morning when they were hitting the 2-4 wooly boogers and rabbit leaches. About 9-10 out came the princes, and mayfly imitations, and then the tiny midge and san juan worms.

My best story from up there: I was fishing just below the church, and it was one of those days where you had an angler literally every 20-30' on both sides of the run, and at the bottom of the run there was this guy who was just a complete jack- you know, knew everything there was to know about everything- unfortunately he wasn't catching any fish. There was a guy about 4 positions above him, upstream, who was finished fishing, and he walked straight to the bank, went probably 30-40' away from the bank, and then started his walk downstream to go back to the parking lot. He then walked a good 50 yards below the "Jack" at the bottom of the run. As he politely, and correctly waded across the stream to the other side, the "jack" said, "Thanks for walking right throught the middle of my hole." The nice guy downstream then said, "Just how big is your hole anyway??" At which time everyone else on the run burst out with laughter. The "jack" was nyphing, as we all were, and wasn't covering more than 20-30' of water with any one drift. 

Funny place, the San Juan.

Tried fishing it in January once. WRONG. You had to keep your rod tip in the water, or else the water on your line would freeze, and not flow through the guides. WE did catch fish, however.


THE JAMMER


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## Nathan (May 22, 2004)

Yeah, my rod guides kept freezing huge ice blocks and the fly line would not move. It wasnt too bad though, just submerge the rod for 15 seconds every 3rd cast to fix it.

If you all were wanting to catch big trout in Jan or Feb and could pick from San Juan, Dream Stream or some other place, where would you go and why?

Thanks,

Nathan


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## Gigabite285 (Oct 16, 2006)

I have a 1030SW and like it a lot. It takes great pictures and is waterproofed well. We have taken a few release shots of fish that turned out very well.


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## Saltyfly (Dec 13, 2008)

*Olympus Waterproof Camera*

I have the 1030 SW. The camera is incredible with 10.1 megapixel. Supposedly waterproof to 30'. I haven't taken it that deep, but it does take good underwater photos in clear water. Its also shockproof for stadard falls. I attached a float to mine, you never know when your in the boat. All in all, very happy with camera and its under $300.


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## Nathan (May 22, 2004)

Can anyone post any sample pictures taken with this camera. I am nervous about the image quality since it will be my primary land and water camera.


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## Gigabite285 (Oct 16, 2006)

I can't figure out how to post some pictures up. I'll ask my dad tomorrow. I can tell you though that the quality very good though. We use it as our primary fishing camera, and we take our fish photos very seriously : )


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## delrod (Sep 13, 2005)

got olympus1030 for christmas. no fish pics yet but here are some taken with the camera on my marathon boat test drive last week. have always fished san juan in middle of feb. don't know why, we just started going and then did it every year. not this year, going for tuna in venice. anyway, fishing is good in feb. lot's of big pigs to catch. weather is iffy. one day 10 to 30 degrees and snow, 2 days later 30 to 65 degrees and sun. here is plug for gretchen, if anyone goes call her at her little lodge, enchanted hideaway. nice cabins, hot tub, very dog friendly(i think she'll even watch yours, has a run out back) and last time had drift boat for rent if you needed that.good price.


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## delrod (Sep 13, 2005)

all those pictures were taken with the image quality on vga and the compression on normal. while not knowing anything about computeritical stuff, that is very low on the list of choices. i was told that is as high as you need to go to post stuff on the web. the camera will go much higher in resolution than these. hope this helps.


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## bartfromcorpus (Oct 29, 2008)

The Olympus camera in question takes very good pictures - I suggest attaching a float to it as they can still sink.


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