Is it the End or just the Beginning?

  Sorry for the radio silence the last couple months, I was on the standard of “ if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all.” As stated in our last blog post around the beginning of August it was a lot of Doom and Gloom along with some personal issues I was dealing with.  Which lead to a lack of content during that period. Things continually got worse here in Southwest Colorado through August and September, a total lack of Summer monsoons, continually dropping water flows, with rising air and water temperatures. Threats of a few monsoons in September which never really came to fruition but cloud cover in cooler temperatures did provide a few opportunities for decent enough fishing on our waterways that were ethically safe to fish. The one problem we experience here was as these weather events unfolded many of our lesser ethical outfitters over promoted guided trips and fishing during the short periods of what normally would be good weather conditions, but ignorantly or greedily too soon, for too long, some in fisheries that were truly suffering or just completely unethical to be fishing. This in turn harmed many of our fish in local fisheries due to the extreme stress that have been put on them all year. This being said if you watched the river flows on the USGS or DWR streamflow gauges you would have noticed continually dropping water flows as well as rising temperatures even with cloudier cooler air and somewhat wetter weather. Because time and time again, everytime it seemed like we were going to start coming around with cooler, wetter weather a heatwave of abnormally hot, dry, and even worse extremely windy weather patterns would follow making any relief we did get null and void because it would be even worse than before within a few days, mostly due to extremely high evaporation rates.

Sticking to Sacred Waters C.A.R.E. Mission we had Advocated and Educated Conservation and Rehabilitation as much as possible about water temperatures their stresses on trout through our loaner thermometer & temperature chart program as well as Advocating with the U.S. Forest Service about Outfitters not being proper stewards of the forest, abusing fisheries, and misleading tourist and local anglers alike on improper fishing ethics and etiquette, Thankfully the USFS did address these issues & Outfitters which hopefully in turn educated the ignorant ones and let the immoral ones know they're being watched. This also may have helped educate their prospective clients, area anglers and saved a few more fish lives .
We had also as many of you know shut down most of our Conservation Waters/Ranches anywhere from late June into early July from all guiding and fishing to Conserve and Rehabilitate these waters and their fishes till about last week. After receiving recent boost in water flows we are seeing higher quantity & quality of trout on said Waters/Ranches due to these efforts. Which would not have been possible without the Sacred Waters CO business model or generous contributions from are selfless donors and donor members. To all Donors, Thank You. I cannot say enough thank yous’ to our donors and donor members as should everyone who may fish here locally or future members. We have accomplished a lot here in our Sacred Waters and it has not only benefited our Ranches but has benefited our local fisheries public or private as a whole. Thank you again, Sacred Waters Donors & Donor Members for making this all possible. So should anyone else who is not a Donor, Donor Member, Guest, Charity participate, always remember well into the future as you fish around here the quality of fishing be it on Sacred Waters Conservation  Waters or waters affected by and influenced by our Conservation Waters that these 2017 & 2018 Donors & Donor Members made this possible. Sacred Waters CO will continue doing the best we can to save what we can. But everything above or below our Conservation Waters we don’t have any control over. On the bright side for many is fish don’t have boundaries so the fishes protected in all our waters will help repopulate everything else that gets abused & destroyed every year. This is our reality every summer just a lot worse this summer. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Many of you may know we have gone through an extreme drought in Southwest Colorado in 2018. This has become one of the worst droughts in recorded history until just recently. It has finally turned to Autumn here in Southwest Colorado we have received rain and snow throughout the last two weeks which has brought most of all closer to average flows for this time of year. Being stated in my last blog post as well as talked about throughout this year if history repeats itself we should be perfectly fine. To explain, weather patterns tend to be very cyclical in nature and within recorded history these extreme droughts have happened almost on schedule every 15 years. History shows after a drought such as this one, we have normally experienced earlier, longer, and heavier snowfall Winters for 2 to 3 years after. Optimistically speaking we are already getting there, snowing daily in the High Country, raining below 9,000' or so and much more forecasted here in the near future currently.

As titled is it the end of the season or just the beginning?

On an Extremely Positive Happy Note. We are still here! We survived our first two years, and worst craziest years at that, we are only stronger now and growing. Things continue to look great and into the future Sacred Waters CO will continue to gain momentum, to say the least.

With recent weather rain and snow we are seeing a boost of water in our streams getting & holding out much closer to average with a lot of movement of trout moving in Fall migrations to either spawn or to find wintering pools to survive the ice of winter. Our fishes here are on a heavy feeding period after a long hot dry summer in preparation to spawn and or to migrate to wintering polls in fatten up for the long icey winter.

Speaking of migration and spawning fishes some of you who follow us on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram may have noticed other Advocacy and Education topics such as careful wading, not fishing over spawning fish, etc this time of year and promoting Redducation movements such as mind the redd #mindtheredd , no redd raping #noreddraping , not a spawner #notaspawner ,  #carefulsteps #conscientiouscasts #forfuturegenerations , #leavespawningtroutbe , #redducation #reddawareness .

https://flyfishtie.com/blog/f/spawning-trout--stay-off-redds-dont-fish-to-them 

https://www.troutprostore.com/class/how_trout_spawn 

https://mindtheredd.org/

https://www.facebook.com/mindtheredd/

https://www.instagram.com/mindtheredd/?hl=en

As our season continues here through the Fall some of you who follow us here, on social media, and/or during guided trips will notice us pushing this message forward all throughout the Autumn and then again in the Spring/Early Summer when the Rainbows & Cutthroat Spawn. As Donors, Members, or followers of Sacred Waters CO you have embraced ethical fishing, so if your on social media please don’t be afraid to help us drive this message using the hashtags mentioned above.
So on that note:
ATTENTION: "Please Do Not Fish for Spawning Fish!”
Brook Trout, Brown Trout, and Kokonee Salmon are in pre-spawn, full spawn or just entering post-spawn. If you see two generally trophy sized trout parred up on a redd just admire their size & beauty and walk away. Ultimately you are saving the lives of possibly hundreds - thousands of fish you will have the chance to catch in the future by leaving those two fish to continue to finish their spawning ritual.
"Please be careful wading around too much this time of year, especially in easy to wade shallow gravelly side channels, tailouts and heads of pools or fishing in such areas, these are usually places fish make redds and spawn. If you see clean depressions in the gravel, or what looks to be a pile or pit of clean gravel please avoid wading through it."
NOTE: There is NO Snagging of Kokonee Salmon Allowed in the Williams Creek Drainage!!!
If a guide or friend is putting you on redded up/spawning fish, may want to question this, it is not illegal in Colorado, but does not make it right or ethical. It is illegal in some places, some sections of fisheries, some time frames, etc. Please do some homework and be aware of such laws, closures, etc.
Examples:
A Redd or referred to by some as a bed. Is a pile or depression of clean sand or gravel.
Spawning fishes, signs:
1. Sitting on a redd.
2. Will not leave an area or if they do spook off they come right back.
3. Two fish of the same species but not always same species very close together or touching, or erratically turning sideways, slapping their tails on the bottom, and the obvious the sight of sperm &/or eggs being deposited. Or discharged upon handling after being caught.
4. Most to All the fish are in shallow waters, side channels, very heads or tails of pools.
5. If it's Springtime and you are supposed to be fishing in a primarily Rainbow &/or Cutthroat trout fishery. Or it's Autumn and you're supposed to be fishing a primarily Brown Trout or Brook Trout/Char fishery.
If it's a fairly mixed species fishery and your guide has you fishing areas stated above in #4 and especially if most of your fishes being caught are that time of year's species to spawn.

Thank You

We are currently in the best fishing in the year of 2018!
On warmer days when it hasn't stormed or in between waves of storms through the day we're catching a lot of trophy size fish on dry flies & during colder, stormier times or murkier/higher water conditions doing the same tons of big fish just on nymph rigs as well as on streamers.

As for the future:
Currently we are still experiencing wet weather with good light steady rain and snow with our local waterways remaining full and cold at around near average or slightly above average streamflows. This should hold strong this way due to most rain has been fairly light and steady really soaking in and filling up the aquifers as well as the snow up high slowly melting into the system and most nights getting below freezing slowly the melt this should all hold out till full on Winter to the benefit of our fisheries.
Current forecasts show this trend to continue short-term to long range as of present. What this means to us anglers though is one; my main concern as we started approaching Autumn was if we didn't get a good boost of water and it did quickly turn to winter and got cold that we would have major ice events/issues and a bad winterkill of our survivors (fishes) now a total relief that this is no longer a concern.
Secondly if the long range projections are correct another benefit is since they are currently showing above average precipitation and above average temperature all throughout this whole Winter which is normal for an El Nino year which is what we are finally coming into now. We not only will be able fish even longer and more often through this Fall, Winter, and Early Spring we should also have exactly what I hoped for and mentioned since this drought started a good water year next year and well hopefully the next few years, if history does repeat itself. Which should also really boost the health of our fisheries for years to come.
Finally, if this is the case and predictions are becoming fairly accurate again I should, could, and would be able to as in the past predict our future weather, water, hatches, and fishing conditions much better as I"ve always done in the past and help plan & schedule events and guided trips farther out and more accurately. Unlike this years weather curveballs that were thrown at us (even the professional meteorologists couldn't accurately predict) and my optimism (& maybe the professional meteorologist too) that we’d come out of this drought sooner which we did not till now.

Now for the Fishing Report:
Well, you all know weather, water, and actual fishing all go hand and hand so it’s an all of the above report but I'll try to not get too weather nerdy on you here.
We had Awesome Fishing the last two weeks first off the cooler weather and cloud cover before it actually started raining and snowing definitely made the fish way happier and active feeding heavily especially on dries. We had excellent dry fly fishing with comfortable air temperatures not only for us humans but preferred comfort zone temps for all our trout, char, & salmon species as well as optimal feeding/highest metabolic rate temps. As the rain & snow started, our streamflows rose and got muddy-murky a little more than normal due to the lack of flow since Nov of 2017, including a lack of a full-on real snow run-off season this past Spring allowing an overabundant amount of sediment collecting in our waterways. Now, not so much we had a big push of water come through the San Juan went from around almost all-time record low flow of 11-12 CFS to around 300 cfs in about 48 hours, then another quick drop funneling the water & bedload of sediment down even more in about 24 hrs from 300 cfs to about 60 cfs, then the wet weather came back with another big wave of water blowing out the rest of the river junk gaining around 65 cfs in 24hrs for around 60cfs to around 125cfs, and now has held fairly well and steady right around average other than a few bump ups during heavier precipitation events which has really helped moving most of that bedload through the system and is holding out much clearer waters now. All this hydrological movement had even given us a few new or better pools in some areas.
Days that we personally fished or guided at those murkier to muddy water conditions fishing was still great just more on the nymph or streamer bite, but as soon as we would get a window of clearer water &/or warmer sunnier times the fish would go right back to keying in on dry flies again. Our daily average air temps of 50f-mid 60’s the last two weeks other than the last few days of colder snowier weather but should return later on this week into next week which is awesome and perfect. This could keep the dry fly fishing good enough but all and all, all fishing will remain great till we get shut out by full on consistent below freezing Winter weather icing up our waters.
We experienced fantastic terrestrial insect dry fly fishing recently due to a phenomenon I have explained to many of you in past conversations or writing but to explain again. Generally in the late Summer or Early Fall we tend to have not only some of these drastic cool downs, but also normally these rain/snow storms which tend to start as high winds before it hits and high winds following the storm out. What happens during such events is terrestrial insects (landbased bugs) grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, ants, flies, ladybugs, etc. get blown into the water more often and in high quantities than during normal day to day. Other phenomenons happen too with these drastic swings in temperature the these terrestrial insects can be stunted or frozen in flash freezes/frosts at night and they can not hold on to the trees, grasses, etc. and uncontrollably fall into the water more often. The other phenomenons are with flying ants and ladybugs. Some of you may of heard of or seen these winged ant or ladybug hatches/migrations locally anywhere from late August into early October which does get a lot of press on the San Juan Tailwater in NM with the ants. This does provide some fantastic fishing opportunities when it is happening, but other strange things most people don't realize is with these intense swings in weather we can create uplifts/lofting of air from ground level up into the atmosphere which in turn carries terrestrial insects from lower elevations &/or warmer climates up into our mountain fisheries also with said uplift/lofting events it can also freeze some of these flying/winged terrestrial insects/bugs when they get to high enough altitude they become stunted or even die and they drop helplessly into the water becoming easy meals for the fishes at a time of year that we do not tend to have much aquatic insect activity/hatches. And finally, it’s what we’re used to, as for the fishes are used to… By late Summer through the Autumn we have very little to sometimes no aquatic insect activity most days and if we do have any they tend to be smaller aquatic insects (size #22 or smaller- Baetis, Tricos, Midges) which sometimes is not worth the effort of larger fishes to target. But the fish have in this time frames mostly been eating terrestrial insects and as that source becomes even more abundant and easier to capture as stated reasonings above or the total opposite they become lesser & lesser due to the change of Season/Weather the fish had become very familiar with this food source and are looking for this food even harder as it becomes more scarce as well as with the lack of much other food sources this time of year.
What we can possibly look forward to here in the near future, of course all of this I just explained. But as for other possible dry fly fishing opportunities and hatches. We could still see some Tricos around after these storms move out, definitely will continue to see Baetis & Midge hatches all Fall, Winter, and Spring, and our last chance larger aquatic insect hatch is the October Caddis. These are the largest of our Caddis species ranging from size #6-12 and a very underutilized hatch/fly. Generally most anglers have never even seen our Oct. Caddis because they tend to hatch late in the evening and at night and with it getting somewhat uncomfortably cold as the sunsets this time of year many anglers pull off the water before the caddis even start hatching, other than that the effects of this hatch can last throughout the day same as stated above with the terrestrials they been eating them all night and/or nymphing with Oct. Caddis larva or pupa can produce very well when all else seems to be a lost cause because these insects are active, moving about and hatching making them accessible to the fish. Of course if the dry fly bite does totally turn off as it gets too cold, go to nymph rigs they will always produce as usual, flies such as The Turd (rubberlegs, girdle bugs), other stonefly nymph patterns being not only some of our largest insects & protein sources but some of our most abundant and accessible food sources year round. With this add moisture and some flooding worm patterns are & will produce even more. Also with Fishes such as Brown trout, Brook Char, and Kokonee Salmon just starting to spawn or will be spawning very soon egg/spawn patterns are starting to produce and will continue to well into the future. Finally the cold weather classics of midge larva & pupa and Baetis type nymphs are/will continue to produce till next Summer.

East Fork of the San Juan, (EFR): The East Fork Ranch held out all throughout this drought never breaking lethal water temperatures all Summer. Now the water was extremely low & clear making for tough fishing all Summer till just recently. Stealth mode sight fishing with dry flies or dry/dropper rigs was the name of the game, producing well during the dog days of drought. Now with boost of more water, good color, and cooler temps fish have really turned on. Dry flies are still producing but on days that are colder &/or water is up with a little too much color nymphing is actually possible now with high numbers of trophy size fish being caught more easily and regularly. In the upcoming weeks fishing should remain excellent on the EFR two concerns in the future is too much snow and possible road closure of the East Fork Road for the Winter and spawning fish safety. As of present we have a lot more brookie and browns moving about the ranch and being caught more regularly than normal on prespawn feed up and have yet to witness any fishes spawning or any redds. We have experienced on the EFR when these fishes do get more and more into fullon spawn mode is we can normally avoid these fishes and their redds by selectively targeting certain sections of the Ranch that doesn't have as much spawning habitat, only fishing dry flies to avoid accidentally catching spawners. The only concern or problem we could see on the EFR is if the forecasts are off some and the water drops and clears too much and being that the EFR is one of the main spawning areas of the entire San Juan River system.  If the water does get too low and crystal clear with so many fishes spawning in the EFR by full-on spawning time that most every tailout, riffle, gravelly place will have spawners on them. One problem with this we have experienced is when it gets to that time and if water is low & clear we maybe doing everything in our power to avoid sections with a lot of spawning habitat but so many spawners on the ranch even the biggest, fastest, deepest pools will have spawners on the tailout and as we approach a pool and those spawners possibly scatter off and rip around the pool depending on the water conditions they tend to spook all the other fishes. Second if low, clear water conditions do persist and we can not avoid spooking off spawners in all sections of the EFR we will just Shut it down completely to allow them peace to do their thing and make us more fishes for the future.

Weber Ranches, (-W4): Upper San Juan River Proper three of the 4 Weber Ranches did have a rough & tough Summer but through the Sacred Waters Mission they have survived and are actually thriving waters. We shut down the 3 lower Ranches by June 29th due to lethal water temps. These three sections got down to flows as low as 11 CFS by the worst of this drought (mainly due to mismanaged irrigation pull offs between the Upper Ranch and other 3 ranches) photos above show it at the lowest as well as after we finally received some rain here. The Upper -W4 stay with safe water temps throughout the Season only touching 66-67F a couple times on the hottest afternoons, we had and continue to have excellent dry fly fishing in this section of faster pocket water all season as some of you may have noticed in photos above &/or on our social media pages. When walking the lower 3 ranches the amount of trophy size fishes that took sanctuary in these section was almost unbelievable and SWCO model kept them safe and unabused during the worst drought in 16 yrs. After receiving our first big blow out of rain/water I ran through quick 2 hour scout run only 3 days after the rain started in brown water and again could not believe how fast these fishes spread back out throughout the ranches and how healthy & fat they actually are after such a rough year(also pictured above) a lot of nice fish landed in brown water in a short period. As the water started dropping and clearing with only 2 days of no rain ran a full day guide trip through the same section and the fishes had spread out even more and were feeding heavily with a lot of trophy size trouts caught on dry flies and nymphs. All four -W4 Ranches are fishing extremely well still lots of dry fly fishing and nymph or streamer fishing. While having a lot of big deep pools &/or fast bouldery pocket water these ranches will provide good fishing opportunities through the season till the river freezes with little worry of spawning fishes. there are 1-3 spawning areas on each ranch that we can easily avoid by walking around and not having to wade through or near and not disturb the spawning fishes at all with plenty of good water to fish for non spawning fishes. 

Fairway Ranch: San Juan Proper below downtown Pagosa Springs. This ranch has been shut down to fishing and guiding for almost an entire year. When we first started Sacred Waters CO the Fairway Ranch did not really fit into our original model, nor at the beginning could I justify a lease at my first budget projections. So we allowed another Outfitter to have that lease for our first season/last year and wow you'd be amazed on even with catch and release flyfishing how an unethical, greedy guide service can abuse and almost completely destroy a fishery. When approached by ranch owner in the Fall of 2017 that he still wanted to work with us and not the other outfitter as well as some other ranch owners we decided to create the Bronze level to help fit these ranches into the SWCO model. This ranch generally experiences some termal issues every Summer due to it's elevation, further downstream, as well as below the hot springs the unethical fishing and overguiding by the other outfitter did way more damage than ever even imaginable. We took over in Sept. 17 had a few early fall storms and blow out fish did start migrating back into the ranch waters also with it being warmer water with deep pools it tends to be a highly concentrated wintering area. But, when Nov.17 hit the drought started to worsen as the water dropped extremely low and clear a lot of fish evacuated in addition we had a lot of bird kill all throughout the winter so we continually decided not to guide this ranch till it recovered fully.. Again in the Spring as our somewhat of a run-off happened we seen fish movement into the ranch and started fishing much more like it used to, then the Summer Drought hit hard so we shut it down again around the 1st of June due to hot water temps. (All explained in other posts in the past also.). We are now again seeing fish repopulating the ranch and if everything holds true for this Fall, Winter, and Spring we will have good fishing All year into next year on Fairway. This is a year round location due to it does not freeze in the Winter so any of you looking to extend your fishing and fish the best times of year Fairway will help you accomplish that. There is very little to almost no spawning activity ever on the section due to mainly larger deeper pools and larger boulder waters as well as possibly the hot springs influence so great all year location. 

Pick_Bar Ranch and Wommer Ranch: Los Pinos/Pine River (Tailwater) fished great all year due to it is a bottom release tailwater fishery and being that most of its water is for irrigation purposes it stayed full and cold with average flows of 500-600 CFS all Summer. Our two ranches on this river were also mainstays of our guiding during the drought of 2018. We did shut them both down on August 25th due to PRID shutting down the flows with Vallecito Reservoir almost drying up and irrigation demands tapering off. As the water slowly drop fishing was great much easier wading and fishing at lower flows but without having/knowing a deadset plan for flows from PRID with them stating that they would push anywhere from 30cfs down to 5 cfs depending on the reservoir level and still being hotter weather we were concerned for one of the only times ever that we have termal issues on the Pine as well as the last few trips through the Pine fish were getting much more skittish with the bright skies and low, clear water. Luckily they never got to a point in the lake that the Pine dropped below 20 cfs since the slow down of flows and now with the wetter weather they are pushing more fishable flows of 80cfs or more. Generally we wont guide or fish the Pine below 70 cfs so this is a major positive not only for more locations to fish but with reasonable flows still in place the overall healthy of the fishery is less of a concern at present.   


​Events:
Sadly but necessary we had to change the dates of a Veterans Fishing Events with Patriot Anglers & Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Groups all throughout this year and ended up Cancelling most all of them due to the conditions. We really planned and had scheduled at least one charity group event for each month this Summer but the weather had other plans this year but hopefully this wouldn’t happen again for at least a few more years. Fortunately we do have a rescheduled Patriot Anglers  Event coming up here soon from Oct. 21st-27th. We are also trying to find a good window of weather to get another Pagosa School District Special Needs/Disabled Kids Group Event out before it gets too cold and wintery.
Volunteers/Donations:
​Anyone interested in helping during or to prepare for these events please feel free to contact us.

As of present we may need help cleaning up the lake areas of willows & weeds for better/easier access and less things to get line tangled around.
We have one fence ladder that may need repaired soon or completely replaced we’ll see when we get on that, I had band-aid repaired it a few times now. May need some lumber and heavy duty outdoor screws or bolts.
Anyone having an extra large SUV or Van that holds 7 or more people, a large gas or charcoal grill, a gas generator (for electricity), a pop-up canopy/tent (that can fit 2 sets of tables & chairs), a folding table, lawn or folding chairs, and/or portable picnic table you don't mind letting us borrow for a day up to a week or we will take off your hands permanently as donations to Sacred Waters.
Anyone interested in providing food or cooking food, we provide hot meals at lunch being that it may be colder than usual and a warm meal will be a lot nicer than our standard coldcut sandwiches or cold fried chicken guide trip lunches. Looking to do some BBQ grilling, or have crock pots/slow cookers of BBQ, stews, soups, chilis, etc.

Anyone interested in Guiding/assisting guests we are good for now on guides but please feel free to contact us in case we have a guide get sick, have something come up, or have a guest that may need more full time 1 on 1 assistance. Plus for future reference we can add you to our list.

Please Contact Us through the website by clicking this Contact Us link provided or via email or telephone as soon as possible about Volunteering or Donating for these upcoming events. We will accept anything throughout this next week or by the 18th of Oct. So we can adjust, plan, and purchase accordingly. Thanks

Partnerships & C.A.R.E.ing: 
​Veterans Outdoor Recreation Therapy Project 
V.O.R.T.P. is to help you and your family to reconnect with yourself and community through the great outdoors. V.O.R.T.P is an organization inspired and operated by Veterans, for Veterans. 
https://vortp.com/ 

Huge Congratulations to Our Wonder Woman and Vallecito Lake's Citizen of the Year Award Winner Michelle Wagner 
Michelle not only is our Secretary, & Professional Angler here at Sacred Waters CO. She as selflessly Volunteers with many Charities as well as a Officer &/or Board Member of other nonprofits such as Vallecito Service League, Vallecito Sporting & Conservation Association, Silver Spruce Academy, Braided (womens flyfishing group), and more. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone as caring and hardworking as Michelle. Congrats Michelle 



New or Renewing Donor Memberships:
Donation amounts for 2017 Charter Donors are set for Life at the discounted rate if renewed Annually as discussed last year and in your emails & member agreements/contracts.

2017 Donors that have not renewed by December 31st, 2018 will not get the 2017 discounts again in the future. *Please keep that in mind former Donors from 2017 other than possible promotions in the future 2017 Charter Donor Lifetime Donation Level Discounts will not be received unless renewed Annually.* Donor Member fees will only increase in the future as we are growing.

Being that we are now just getting into the Best Fishing of 2018, it looks like it may last a little while longer and most all existing Donor Members are done or almost done with all their fishing days for the Season of 2018 we are still accepting New Donor Members for 2018 and willing to take 2017-18 renewal memberships that held out so far this year. We still have almost 3 whole months until 2019 Membership Season Starts and being that late Fall, Winter & Early Spring  Fishing are very underutilized times even though they tend to be the very Best Times to fish here, we are willing to extend this year's current memberships and any New or Renewed 2018 member benefits till June 1st 2019.

For New/1st Time 2018 Donors/Members their rate will be set for 3 yrs at discounted rates listed below benefiting them to renew Annually if we ever have to raise the rates in the future. *FYI: Discounted 2018 Rates below will be set for 3 years if renewed annually these rates will return to normal or only increase as we are growing.*

Starting January 1st 2019 All Donor Level Rates at minimum will go back to the Original Prices or possibly increase after our next board meeting discussions & decisions for the 2019 Season.

Discounted Rates for New Donor Levels for 2018 :
Bronze Level: Was $150.00. Now Only: $100.00, Applicable Guide Fees Apply and less (-)$25.00 on total Guide Fee on Bronze Level Donor Trips for all your trips in 2018 up to December 31st of 2018. *2018 Discount Saving of (-)$75 to $125 depending on number of anglers Only till 12/31/2018.*
Silver Level:   Was $3500.00. Now Only: $3400.00,  Less(-)$25.00 off for Guest Guide Fees for all trips in 2018 up to June 1st of 2019 if paid by 12/31/2018. *2018 Discount Saving of (-)$100 to $175 depending on number of anglers Only till 12/31/2018.*
Gold Level:  Was $5500.00. Now Only: $5200.00, Less (-)$25.00 off for Guest/s Guide Fees per person per trip for all Trips in 2018 up to June 1st of 2019 if paid by 12/31/2018  . *2018 Discount Saving of (-)$300 to $375 depending on number of anglers Only till 12/31/2018.*
Platinum/Corporate Level:  Was $10,000.00. Now Only: $9500.00 . Less (-)$25.00 off for Guest/s Guide Fess per person per trip for all of 2018 up to June 1st of 2019 if paid by 12/31/2018.  *2018 Discount Saving of (-)$500 to $575 depending on number of anglers Only till 12/31/2018.* 

*Please keep in mind if you do donate in 2018 this will also be your membership renewal level for up to 3 years if you consecutively renewed annually.*
(*After January 1st of 2019 all Donor Member Level Packages will go back up to Original Pricing, Guest/s Fees will also return to original pricing, and all level prices are subject to increase as we expand through the future.*)  

Please​ review the FB & IG Social Media Pages and our Websites. I hope it can help show you all more easily and clearly the Efforts and Accomplishments SWCO has put forth with yours and others donors generous donations.

Your Support of Sacred Waters is even More Crucial than ever..... And if you want to get some of the best fishing anywhere in a 100 miles of Pagosa Springs, CO in the future here. Donate Today and help us protect our local fisheries. We can't really predict or control/change the weather, but we can provide the best fishing at the best times and protect our waters and fishes at the worst times. We can only accomplish this with your generous donations.


Thank You, Tight Lines;

Joseph Eichelberger   

Founder, President of Sacred Waters Co
Professional Angler, Custom Fly Tyer/Designer
Freelance Outdoors Writer, Photographer, & Fisheries Consultant

Contact Us:
http://www.sacredwaters.co

(970)-444-2187

Sacred Waters CO
135 Country Center Dr F 166
Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

joe@sacredwaters.co

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