Lady of the Lure

By Karl F. Moffatt | For The New Mexican

9/19/2007 -

You could call her the queen of the San Juan River.

She's that good-looking gal behind the counter at famous Abe's Motel & Fly shop. The one dispensing expert advice on how to fish the blue ribbon trout waters or offering to guide a couple of lucky anglers below legendary Navajo Dam.

And in the man's world of flyfishing, it's a role she relishes.

"I love this job," she said, "And being a woman doesn't hurt either."

Peggy Harrell and her younger brother and sister grew up out in the Oil Patch of Hobbs. Their father was an auto mechanic while Mom worked for the telephone company. In the summer, the family would vacation in Texas, renting a cabin at a lake where the kids learned to fish.

"All the guys would get to go out in the boat, but us girls always got left behind on the shore," she said. "I felt bad, but maybe it was just because they didn't know what to do with us if one of us had to pee."

During her career she has had to overcome other gender-based obstacles in order to achieve respect as a fishing guide.

"When I first started out, it seemed I'd get a lot of guys who didn't listen to me or questioned everything I said," she said. "Or maybe someone would try to squeeze into my hole out on the river. I always felt like it was because I was a woman."

But Harrell said that changed, as she grew more experienced, confident and assertive.

"Now I feel like most clients who ask a lot of questions just want to know what my qualifications are," she said.

Harrell said she's been fishing on the San Juan River for almost 30 years and guiding for the past 15. She ended up in this remote corner of the state because her husband was a lineman. The couple moved to the area so he could work a job at one of the nearby power plants.

Harrell said her husband was an avid outdoorsman and he taught her a lot.

"We would go snagging for salmon up on the lake and then shoot ducks and fish for trout down on the river," she said. "We were in heaven here."

But the husband moved on and Harrell stayed behind, making a go of things in the small community of Navajo Dam. Harrell's 34-year-old daughter, Nicole, lives nearby, and she has five grandchildren.

"I don't know if he (her former husband) knows what I'm doing these days, but I'd like to thank him for nursing me through a lot of those early fishing trips," she said.

Harrell also credits Chuck Rizuto of Rizuto's San Juan River Lodge with giving her a start in the fishing business, along with a little help from Jane Fonda.

The way Harrell tells it she heard Fonda, the famous movie star and Vietnam War activist and her media mogul husband, Ted Turner, were floating the river with Rizuto one day.

So Harrell wandered down to Texas Hole to see the famous couple as they fished from their boat parked just off the bank.

Harrell says she struck up a conversation with Fonda after which the celebrity made a point of asking Rizuto why he didn't have female guides on his staff.

Harrell said the next day Rizuto offered her a job.

"He was my mentor," Harrell said. "I learned a lot from the man."

And one of her first trips was to guide movie actor Kevin Costner on the river.

"I had to pinch myself at the end of the day," she said. "Imagine, I got to go fishing with Kevin Costner."

Harrell, who now works the counter at Abe's and guides for Born n' Raised, said she enjoys working with a lot of men.

"And I enjoy being a woman," she said. "So that certainly hasn't hurt the business."

Harrell likes to point out that fraternity of fishing guides on the river don't treat her like she's "just one of the boys" and that's something she proud of.

Harrell, a 1970 graduate of Sandia High School in Albuquerque, said one of the most satisfying parts of her job is teaching clients how to successfully fish the San Juan River.

"And the primary key to that is an absolutely drag-free drift," she said. "You can't learn that fishing out of a drift boat."

Harrell said she often feels sorry for those who take an expensive and productive float trip down the river but then find in ensuing days — while wading on foot — they may not be having as much luck.

That's because the boat provides a perfect platform from which to dead drift an angler's offering through the water, while the guide steers the boat to the best holes, picks the flies to use, sets the rig for the proper depth and tells the client when to set the hook.

"The poor guy hasn't learned a thing for himself," she said.

A client who takes a wading trip with a guide like Harrell receives a half or full day of instruction on how to read the water to detect fish, how to determine which flies to use and at what depth and other techniques like casting and how to detect a strike and then play and land a fish.

"That client walks away with enough information and hands-on experience to continue fishing the rest of this river with sucess," she said. "When I hear them say I learned a lot, you taught me a lot, that makes my day."

Harrell has some sage advice to those venturing out on the San Juan to stalk the river's great population of big rainbow and brow trout, especially this fall.

"Always stop at one of the fly shops and ask what's working and where," she said. "It's amazing how many people come up here, fish all week, and then stop in on the last day and tell me what a lousy trip they had. They should have come to see me first."

Harrell has found that verbalizing to customers what she can't show them down on the river a challenging, but rewarding, part of her job.

"When they come back and say 'hey that worked,' I always feel good," she said.

And anglers need to remember the basics when fishing the heavily fished but well populated waters of the San Juan.

Harrell said stealth and a delicate presentation important on the San Juan if anglers want to be successful, especially during the fall when the water is so clear.

During her guide work Harrell has also been tapped to serve as an ambassador for the guides and fly shops on the San Juan. This spring, she got to travel to California to speak to several fly-fishing clubs about fishing the fabled river.

Surprisingly, when Harrell's not working, she's fishing.

"I love to fish, I gotta have my fix," she said.

During her off-time Harrell can often be found cruising Navajo Lake in search of bass and other freshwater fish with her boyfriend and fellow fishing guide, Mark Nesbit of Blue Sky Fly Fishing.

Harrell can be reached at peggy@blueskyflyfishing.com. For more information regarding guide rates and the latest fishing info go to www.sanjuanriver.com/guide.htm.



Harrell talks shop

Favorite time of year to fish the river: "I tell people the best time to be on the San Juan is any time you can be here. But for me, it's got to be the two weeks after the water comes down (in early summer)."

Favorite spot to fish: "Above the cable hole in the catch and release area; there's no boats to deal with."

Favorite fly: "Right now, it's the grey Zebra midge."

Favorite piece of equipment: "A magnetic fly holder, it works easier and better than a patch."

Favorite rod and reel: "A Sage DS 9-foot, 5-weight rod armed with a Galvan reel."

Biggest pet peeve about clients: "People who try to teach the sport to their children too soon and clients who don't listen to me. Most kids don't have the physical capabilities or attention span before the age of 12. Why hire me if you don't want my advice? Both can be a waste of my time."

Most common mistake anglers make: "Overcasting! Casting over fish and casting too far to control the drift."

Favorite river: "I fish the San Juan almost exclusively.
I've been spoiled by the size and quantity of fish here."

Contact Karl Moffatt at www.talesfromthefarbank.com