By GEORGE MORSE
Sports and Outdoors
Los Alamos Daily Post
The Western United States, particularly the states that are part of the Colorado River drainage are facing an unprecedented water crisis.
A severely below-normal snowpack and warm temperatures in March have led to low streamflows and reservoir levels throughout the region.
Glen Canyon Dam, which impounds Lake Powell, is in danger of reaching “Dead Pool” meaning no water could be released. Reservoirs upstream from Lake Powell, like Flaming Gorge in Utah, have been ordered to release more water to prevent this catastrophe.
The City of Denver Water Board intends to drain Antero Reservoir, a well-known fishing lake, because of lack of water. It is just April. We still have all of summer to go through.
A late freeze has wiped out much of this year’s fruit crop, although The Fruit Basket in Velarde reports they were able to save their crop.
The Department stocked a total of 29,245 rainbow trout weighing 13,581 pounds. Most of the stocking will now be in Northern New Mexico.
It looks like there will be one of the weakest spring runoffs in memory this year. The snowpack is already disappearing, and the weather has been unseasonably warm and dry. This is reflected in streamflow measurements.
Several lakes in Northeast New Mexico opened for fishing. Morphy Lake State Park, Clayton Lake State Park, Charette Lakes and Maxwell Lake 13 opened after being closed for the winter. Clayton Lake was stocked March 30 with 3,598 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 400 rainbow trout averaging 15.4 inches.
There should be good fishing for holdover rainbow trout at Charette and Maxwell Lake 13. Lower Charette Lake was stocked April 6 with 2,250 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 251 rainbow trout averaging 15.1 inches. There is also some good-sized yellow perch here. The fishing at Morphy Lake has been good. It was stocked April 15 with 3,001 rainbow trout. Maxwell Lake 13 was stocked April 23 with 1,999 rainbow trout.
Streamflow in the Rio Grande was well-below average near the Colorado border and stayed so further downstream over the past week. At Taos Junction Bridge Sunday, April 26 was 203 cubic-feet-per-second. The streamflow at Cerro near the Colorado border was 89.8 cubic-feet-per-second. The streamflow at Embudo was 218 cubic-feet-per-second. All these readings are much below to extremely below normal. They are all lower than last week.
The Rio Grande is one of the most reliable fishing locations. It is well-stocked with rainbow trout, especially in the Pilar area. One of the few benefits of the low streamflow is that conditions are very good for fly-fishing anglers.
The diminished streamflows are evident in the tributaries of the Rio Grande that originate in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The Santa Cruz River, Embudo River, Ojo Caliente River and Rio Pueblo are all running extremely below normal.
Anglers should be reminded that they will need to purchase a new fishing license. In New Mexico, the license year runs from April 1 until March 31 of the following year.
Fenton Lake State Park is open. Camping is by reservation only. Fenton was stocked April 22 with 2,340 rainbow trout. There are also wild brown trout and some Rio Grande cutthroat trout. Only two cutthroat trout may be kept as part of a five-fish limit.
The Rio Cebolla flows into and out of Fenton Lake. It was stocked April 8 with 400 rainbow trout. There are also wild brown trout.
The Jemez River streamflow was 16.5 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week and extremely below normal. It was stocked March 31 with 999 rainbow trout and has wild brown trout.
The Rio de las Vacas, a Jemez tributary, was stocked April 15 with 499 rainbow trout. The Rio San Antonio, another tributary, was stocked April 8 with 750 rainbow trout. All Jemez River tributaries have wild brown trout.
The Seven Springs Brood Pond, also known as the Kid’s Pond, was stocked April 15 with 644 rainbow trout. It is a few miles north of Fenton Lake. Fishing is for anglers 11 years old or younger.
Santa Cruz Lake near Chimayo is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The state-record rainbow trout was caught here. There are also wild brown trout. It is open Thursday through Monday. It was stocked April 23 with 2,568 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 300 rainbow trout averaging 15.5 inches.00
The Rio Pueblo near Penasco received its second stocking of the season April 22 of 1,200 rainbow trout.
The streamflow on the Red River below Questa was 29.8 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week and much below normal. It was stocked April 14 with 701 rainbow trout and has wild brown trout.
The Red River Hatchery Pond was stocked April 14 with 399 rainbow trout. Fishing is for anglers 11-years old or younger and 65-years old and older.
Eagle Rock Lake near Questa is not frozen. Ice fishing had been good for rainbow trout. Use caution. There is now open water. It was stocked April 9 with 500 rainbow trout.
Cabresto Lake is a high-elevation lake accessible by four-wheel drive. It has good fishing for wild brook trout and wild cutthroat trout. It may still be frozen over. Use caution if attempting to ice fish.
Abiquiu Lake is managed by the Corps of Engineers. The fishing has been fair-to-good for walleye and smallmouth bass. It was stocked April 7 with 737,613 walleyes. There are some good-sized trout in Abiquiu, and they are now being caught trolling. There are also largemouth bass. Camping by reservation. Call 505.685.4371 for more information.
The streamflow in the Chama River below Abiquiu Dam was 222 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week. It was stocked twice two weeks ago with a total of 2,355 rainbow trout. There are some big, wild brown trout here. The limit here is two-trout-per-day.
Heron Lake State Park is open, and bank fishing is fair. The water level is dropping and the banks are muddy.
El Vado Lake State Park is now open for fishing and boating. Call 575.588.7470 for more information.
The streamflow in the Chama River below El Vado Dam was 309 cubic-feet-per-second. This is a little lower than last week. It has wild brown trout and stocked rainbow trout. The state-record brown trout was caught here. It was stocked April 15 with 543 rainbow trout.
The Chama River above El Vado Lake streamflow was 251 cubic-feet-per-second at La Puente. This is lower than last week and much below normal. It was stocked April 14 with 1,073 rainbow trout.
The Rio Brazos streamflow was 120 cubic-feet-per-second. It was stocked April 15 with 543 rainbow trout.
Over at the Four Corners, the fishing has been fair at Navajo Lake State Park. Trolling minnow imitating lures like Rapalas could produce a trophy brown trout. The fishing for northern pike has been fair-to-good. Crappie fishing has been good. Bass fishing has been slow. Navajo Lake has the best kokanee salmon fishing in the state. It was stocked twice with a total of 466,721 kokanee salmon. Camping by reservation only. Boating conditions are good. Call 505.632.2278 for more information.
The San Juan River below Navajo Dam is the best river in New Mexico and well-known in the angling world. The streamflow was 612 cubic-feet-per-second, much higher than last week and below normal. It has world-class fly-fishing for big trout.
The first four miles of river below the dam is known as the Quality Water. Angling is strictly Catch-and-Release using artificial flies and lures with a single barbless hook. Quality Water is stocked with small rainbow trout that grow quickly. It was stocked March 2 with 17,721 sub-catchable rainbow trout.
There are also big, wild brown trout. Some of these brown trout would shatter the state record if they could be kept and weighed.
The Bait Water below the Quality Water has good fishing, and a five-fish limit may be kept here. There are big brown trout here, too. It was stocked April 20 with 2,005 ⁰rainbow trout.
Lakes in the Aztec area are now being stocked. Aztec Pond #1 was stocked April 1 with 347 rainbow trout and with 39 rainbow trout averaging 15.4 inches. Tiger Park Pond was stocked April 20 with 1,477 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 150 rainbow trout averaging 15.5 inches.
Lake Farmington was stocked Apri 8 with 3,011 rainbow trout.
Hopewell Lake is a small, high elevation lake between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras. It has stocked rainbow trout and wild brook trout. The ice may be breaking up. There have been reports of good fishing.
Lake Maloya and Lake Alice at Sugarite Canyon State Park near Raton are open. Alice was stocked April 13 with 500 rainbow trout, and Lake Maloya was stocked with 3,004 rainbow trout. Call 575.445.1507 for information.
Eagle Nest Lake State Park is closed to ice-fishing but has mostly open water. The bank fishing has been good for rainbow trout. There is also northern pike, yellow perch and kokanee salmon. If you catch a northern pike at Eagle Nest you must kill it. You cannot release it back into the lake. The state-record kokanee salmon was caught here. Eagle Nest was stocked April 7 with 9,999 rainbow trout. It was stocked April 9 with 300,495 kokanee salmon averaging 1.3 inches. The Lake is open for boating, but the docks are not in. Call 575.377.1594 for information.
Clayton Lake State Park is where the state-record walleye was caught. It was stocked April 11 with 41,566 walleye fry. There are also catfish and some big largemouth bass. Be sure to check out the dinosaur tracks.
The Cimarron River received its first stocking of the season. It was stocked on April 21 with 2,425 rainbow trout. There are also wild brown trout. Streamflow below Eagle Nest Dam was 12.0 cubic-feet-per-second.
They have been catching some big catfish from Stubblefield Lake. The state-record channel catfish was caught here.
Morphy Lake State Park near Mora is now open. It was stocked April 15 with 3,001 catchable-size rainbow trout.
Coyote Creek State Park near Guadalupita received its second stocking of the season April 20 of 799 rainbow trout. The Coyote Creek Pond was stocked April 7 with 599 rainbow trout.
Storrie Lake State Park near Las Vegas is open. It was stocked April 16 with 3,033 catchable-size rainbow trout.
The Pecos River in Pecos Canyon State Park is open. Fishing has been fair for rainbows and wild brown trout. It was stocked April 21 with 1,502 rainbow trout. The Pecos River near Villanueva was stocked April 16 with 200 rainbow trout.
The streamflow in the Pecos River was 36.8 cubic-feet-per-second, which is extremely below normal. It is lower than last week.