Report:

Overall Impressions: Water Level high to moderate (est. 1000 cfs near mogote), visibility ranged 3-6 feet, high winds all 3 days noon-6pm, lots of sun, snow only at 9500 ft+ on shaded slopes, more snow at higher elevations. Fish were fat and healthy.

5/28: Fished Conejos river at the bridge between Menkhaven and Mogote just upstream from Sheep Creek, in the fly-only water. Fished from about 7pm until dusk. 3 fish landed in about 1.5 hours, 14-17". All 3 fish were caught within 5 feet of the bank, fish were holding tight to cover and undercut banks to get some relief from the strong current. 17" & 14"fish came on a size 8 black stonefly nymph, the 15" fish came on a size 10 Orange Stimulator. I was fishing a dry/dropper rig with the stone nymph on bottom about 3' below the Stimulator.

5/29: AM- fished the same water as the night before, but went farther upstream, about 1.5 miles. This day was truly an epiphany for me, because it was the first time I used streamers in the conejos. I fished all day with a 2.5" white maribou conehead streamer (gold cone) on a size 6/8??? hook. The streamer had HUGE fish following it out of every prime lie. I never realized the Conejos has so many fish 20 inches or better. I saw one fish in less than 12 inches of water that would have easily gone 6-7lbs and 24 inches, a huge rainbow that followed the streamer right in to the bank. There were about 1/2 dozen fish in all that followed or struck the streamer between 9am and 2pm that would have gone 18-22" in a little more than 1.5 miles of river.
PM- Fished the river at the big bend below confluence w/sheep creek, used muddler minnows (size 8/10) and olive & black wooley buggers with moderate success, catching 2 fish in an hour. Fished from 8pm until dusk. Biggest fish following the muddlers would have pushed 20". BEWARE: These fish are strong, and will break you off, use 4lb.+ tippet if you intend on getting a picture.

5/30: Fished the lake fork from confluence with the conejos up to big lake. Lake Fork was in excellent shape above Rock Lake, somewhat poor below. The water below rock lake had a bunch of huge suckers in it, as did rock lake. About 1/8 mile upstream from rock lake there's a 5 foot waterfall though, and above that there were nothing but FAT healthy browns (no brooks or cutts). I believe the waterfall is keeping the suckers from moving upstream. Caught a dozen or so browns above Rock Lake fishing small (1 inch) Rapala lures in brown trout coloring. Beaver ponds were in FANTASTIC SHAPE... there must be at least 7 or 8 good ones on the way to Big Lake. Big lake had clarity to about 10 feet, full of 15-17" browns with an occasional larger fish. Fished big lake from 3pm until 6pm, caught and landed 7 browns 12-18" with a few bigger guys that got away.

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