JUNE DAYS ON THE UPPER PECOS. 



425 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY L. D LINDSIEY, 



A CAMP VISITOR. 



the large fish. I usually fish these pools 

 from down stream, using only one fly, 

 which I snap sharply down on the surface 

 of the pool many times, after which the 

 fly is allowed to sink beneath the surface 

 of the water and drift with the current. 

 1 his is the process by which I catch most 

 of my big trout, and even bass, and it is 

 wonderfully effective. 



The Mora branch, 2 miles above the 

 forks, is a stream of clear, cold water, 

 rushing swiftly between narrow canyon 



walls. The water pours over a ledge of 

 rocks, tumbling madly down into a series 

 of pockets, or pools, where it churns into 

 foam, then falls over another ledge into 

 other pools and longer reaches of more 

 quiet water. The trout there are of the 

 black spotted variety, and they run in size 

 from 6 to 12 inches. The pools swarm 

 with them, and if the angler cares to use 3 

 flies to the leader, he can hook 3 trout at a 

 cast. I used to whip these pools from be- 

 low, standing on some rock, from where I 

 could see the trout in the pool above. 

 Using one fly, I could usually tease the 

 largest trout in the pool to rise to it. A 

 royal coachman is the best killer, in that 

 river. I have seen a lady stand at the 

 edge of one pool in the Mora river and, 

 using 3 royal coachmen flies as a lure, fill 

 a 12 pound creel in one hour and 20 min- 

 utes, with trout varying from 6 to 10 

 inches in length. 



After reaching a point one mile below 

 the forks, on the Pecos river, the pools are 

 longer and deeper, and the fish are corre- 

 spondingly larger. From that point down 

 to Pecos I alternate between royal coach- 

 man, professor, cowdung and gray hackle, 

 tied to a number 6 or 8 hook. In Color- 

 ado streams, the coachman is the fly, but 

 a well tied gray hackle is my favorite fly 

 on any New Mexico or Colorado stream. 

 From a point 7 miles aboA r e Pecos to Val- 

 ley ranch is my choice of the Pecos river 

 fishing, and in June, after the snow water 



IN CAMP ON THE MORA. 



PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN. 



