It's interesting to note that the worm (annelid) pattern bearing the river's name is often viewed as only slightly above Balls O' Fire or Captain America Power Bait. But in white or tan, size 8 or 10, they can save the day in dirty water. Size 8 leeches range from pure-white bunny leeches to chamois-leather concoctions. Woolly Buggers need no explanation; effective sizes include anything from sizes 8 to 2. Before I was told that No. 2s were way too big to prove effective on the San Juan, I regularly caught copious numbers of large fish on them, even during prime conditions. Go figure.

TINY THINGS
I guess even during the best of times, standard-issue SJ terminal tackle can give the average angler pause. That is, until your brain adjusts to the notion of size 20 to 24 nymph and pupa patterns, and the 2- to 3-pound leaders that hold them. (I refuse to work in X numbers, since modern technology has made every brand different. I also eschew the moronic snobbism of describing common bugs with a dead language like Latin.) Tying knots is something to be worked out in its own good time; I can always tell when I've spent too much time on salt water when I start to have grave doubts about landing anything bigger than a 6-inch stocker on hair-fine material.

"Getting on the reel" becomes an important San Juan skill. After hookup, let the fish run and resist the habit of stripping. If you haven't done this before, accept the fact that you're going to break off some fish before you work out the bugs. The $500 disk-drag reels I see on the SJ always give me an excuse to ridicule the fools who spend such amounts. The average clicker-drag model gets it done with subtle pressure applied to the rim with sensitive fingertips. Too, you won't be casting long and fine on the SJ. Quite literally, you can catch trout off the rod tip. Bring a light rod -- a 9-foot 4- or 3-weight -- and you'll break off far fewer fish while setting the hook than someone with a much stouter rod. Also, a lightweight fly rod will give just the right amount of give and excitement when your strike indicator rushes against the current and you try to cross the fish's eyes.

WINTER DRIES
Even in the dead of winter, the tiny midge often provides purists their beloved dry-fly angling. I call it the agony and ecstasy of fly-fishing.

Yes, trout are rising in droves right before your eyes. Yes, they can be caught, sometimes in good numbers. No, it's not easy.

Casting size 24 and smaller dries precisely and with perfect timing can be frustrating beyond words. The patterns are simple: Griffith's Gnats and generic hackle patterns. Size 24 is standard, but I recall a day when nothing but size 32 (I'm quite serious) would do the trick. I had caught very few trout on the 24s, discovered the 32s -- I owned the only six in our group -- and plied them with 1.5-pound tippet. Yes, I cleaned up that day.

Sheer size aside, the frustration in midge fishing comes from an utter plethora of insects, and pure and simple timing. The bugs can look like pepper shaken onto a bowl of soup. Trout become so mesmerized by the steady conveyor belt of food that they become like carousal horses, porpoising in fixed intervals and very narrow lanes. When they are up, they won't take anything that's not on their noses. Your cast must not only be precisely within that four-inch-wide lane, but on the water when the trout is ready to take it. A bit of study before shooting out casts is in order. I love this kind of fishing, because I have a Sage 2-weight that makes me look good at it. But I have friends who hate it without reservation.

I've seen these winter midges hatch in the middle of snowstorms, and during late evenings following a bright, warm winter day. It's not so much a matter of planning for dry-fly action, as recognizing it when it happens and being willing to drop everything else to take advantage of the fun (or tedium) of the dry-fly opportunity -- even if you might catch more fish on nymphs.