It had been over a month since I had last gone fishing. I needed to get away and I needed to catch some fish. I also needed to give my legs a workout after too many weeks of sitting and writing stories about high school sports.

Since I like to catch wild fish and like to go where there’s few if any fishermen, I decided to try one of my favorite spots. It’s a stretch of the Chama River between Heron Dam and El Vado Lake. This stretch of the river requires some effort to get to. You have to hike down to the river from Heron Dam, then negotiate a rough trail along the river bank to reach some of the prime spots. You have to keep an eye out for poison ivy and rattlesnakes.

The fishing makes the effort worthwhile. This stretch of the river holds big, wild rainbow and brown trout. There is plenty of food for the trout and the cold water coming from below Heron Dam is ideal for trout. The fish are firm and fat. The cold, fast water makes them strong and they fight harder than trout I catch from other areas.

After paying my $5 day-use fee and parking above the dam, I noticed that there was a pretty good flow coming down the Chama River for this time of year. I hiked down to the base of the Dam and there were two fisherman resting before climbing out. They had fished right where the outflow from beneath Heron Dam enters the Chama. They hadn’t had any luck, although one said he had caught a smallmouth bass. I was surprised, as I’d never caught a smallmouth here before. Smallmouth have become established in El Vado Lake and it looks like they are working their way up the Chama River.

Upon arriving at the River, I was surprised to find that it was actually quite a bit higher than when I had last fished here in July. I think they’ve increased the water released from Heron Dam. Heron Lake is still really low. I think the low water level has adversely affected the kokanee salmon fishery in the Lake. That fishery is nowhere near as good as it once was. It would be nice if they could fill up the Lake again, as it was once one of the prettiest lakes in New Mexico. Now it is surrounded by barren, dry mud flats from where the water used to be.

I planned to hike about a quarter of a mile downstream from Heron Dam to a spot where I was pretty sure I’d hook some fish. On the way downstream, I found a small trout (about 10 inches) that was stranded in a backwater and obviously struggling to stay alive. It looked like it was taking its last gasps. I tried to revive it, but it was too far gone. Upon examining it, I noticed it had a forked tail and I realized it was actually a small lake trout.

There is an established population of lake trout in Heron Lake. As the name suggests, they primarily inhabit lakes. They prefer cold water (less than 60-degrees) and this time of year are found in deep water. I think this poor little laker got sucked into the water released from the bottom of the Dam and was beaten up on the trip through the outlet gate. One positive thing was it indicated that lake trout are still reproducing in Heron Lake.

I reached the spot I planned to fish. Within a few minutes, I hooked the first fish of the day. It fought well and turned out to be a nice rainbow trout of about 14-to-15 inches with a fat belly. A little while later, I hooked another fish, but it felt weird. It was more like reeling in a log than a fish. It turned out to be a large sucker. No wonder it didn’t put up a fight. I released it.

Despite having caught a trout and a sucker from it, I had a feeling there were more trout in this spot. A few casts later, I hooked another fish and this felt like a trout. After a strong fight, I landed another fat rainbow trout of about 17 inches.

A little while later, I hooked another fish that felt even bigger than the first two trout. When I finally got a look at it, I could tell it was longer than the first two. It is difficult to land fish here because of brush and rocks along the shoreline. Since I don’t use a net, I have to work the fish up to the bank where I can get a grip on them behind the gills. This looked to be a 19-to-20 inch fish, another rainbow trout.

Surprisingly, on this trip and the earlier one in July, I did not catch a brown trout. I know they are in there because I’ve caught them in the past. The rainbow trout appear to be thriving. Many of the rainbow trout I catch have faint orange slashes beneath their lower jaws, which indicates somewhere in their ancestry some genes from cutthroat trout got mixed in.

I likely could have caught more and possibly bigger fish had I stayed longer. I had already killed three fish and that was plenty for us to eat. At 70 years old, it takes a lot longer to hike back to my truck than it did when I first started fishing here when I was in my 30’s. The fishing has stayed consistently good for all those years.

After thanking the Lord for the fish I had caught, I packed up and headed back. On the way, I periodically stopped to dip the fish in the river so they didn’t dry out. On the steep part of the trip, my breathing got heavy and the muscles in my calves started to hurt. I thanked the Lord again after I reached the top. I’m not particularly religious. To be able to hike into a beautiful canyon where I have the river to myself and to catch some beautiful fish, then be able to hike out, I am grateful to whatever power that has made it all possible.

The final reason to be grateful comes when I get home and clean the fish. They have that beautiful orange meat that wild fish have and will make a superb and healthy meal.