Weekly Fishing Report: June 26, 2019

By GEORGE MORSE
Los Alamos Daily Post
Sports and Outdoors

Now is a great time to plan a fishing trip to Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. 

The weather is nice and warm. You may get an afternoon thunderstorm, but fishing can often be very good during these rainy periods. Be sure to pack some rain gear with you. Take cover if there’s lightening. You don’t want your fishing pole to become a lightening rod.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Department has been making heavy stockings of rainbow trout throughout the area. Several of these stockings have been of bigger-than-average rainbow trout. The fishing in the smaller lakes and ponds remains good to very good at many locations. The streamflows are dropping in the smaller rivers and streams, improving the fishing conditions.

The only areas where the fishing remains slow are the big rivers like the Rio Grande and the Rio Chama. The Rio Grande is still blasting away at over 4,000 cubic-feet-per-second and it’s going to be sometime in July before the water drops down to a level that allows for good fishing.

The fishing for warmwater gamefish like bass, walleye, crappie and catfish is good at the larger reservoirs.

A new state-record bluegill was caught in Colorado at Totten Reservoir near Cortez. The fish weighed over two pounds. That’s one nice bluegill. Totten Reservoir is one of a number of small-to-medium-sized lakes in the Cortez area. The fishing is mostly for warmwater species, although some are stocked with catchable-size trout.

Trout fishing will begin to slow down in some of the lower elevation lakes as the water warms up and the trout move to deeper water seeking colder water temperatures.

The fishing is still slow at Abiquiu Lake and the water level is still low. A four-wheel drive vehicle is recommended for the launching of boats. The trout fishing at Abiquiu never took off this spring, possibly due to the low water levels. Anglers are catching a few smallmouth bass, walleye and crappie. Night fishing for catfish might be worth a try.

The Chama River below Abiquiu Dam is flowing at 1,490 cubic-feet-per-second and the fishing is still slow. The Chama River below El Vado Dam is running at 1,420 cubic-feet-per-second and the fishing for brown trout and rainbow trout has been fair. The Chama River below El Vado Dam was stocked June 17 with 488 rainbow trout.

El Vado Lake has had very good fishing for smallmouth bass.. No reports on other species. It wasn’t too long agao that El Vado was strictly a trout lake.

The fishing at Heron Lake has been slow-to-fair for rainbow trout. No reports on kokanee or lake trout.

Keep monitoring the streamflow in the Chama River above El Vado Lake. It is dropping and will likely be at a good level for fishing within a couple of weeks. The Chama River above El Vado was stocked June 17 with 986 rainbow trout. Most of the stocking takes place in or near the town of Chama. The fishing from the outlet of Heron Dam upstream 2.9 miles to Cottonwood Flats is with flies or lures with a single, barbless hook. The limit here is two fish-per-day.

The fishing in the Rio Brazos has been good. It was stocked June 17 with 680 rainbow trout.

The fishing has been good at Laguna del Campo near Los Ojos. It was stocked June 17 with 366 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 90 rainbow trout averaging 16.8 inches in size.

The fishing in the Canjilon Lakes has been fair-to-good. A Kid’s Fishing Derby will be held Saturday at the Upper Canjilon Lake. It may draw a crowd and parking here is limited. You may have to park along the road and walk up to the lake. For information, call (505) 412-8796.

Despite a recent stocking, the fishing at the Trout Lakes near Cebolla has been slow.

The fishing at Hopewell Lake between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras has been fair-to-good for rainbow trout and wild brook trout. It was stocked June 17 with 1,638 rainbow trout.

Still no reports from the Rio de los Pinos near the Colorado border. There are some nice camping spots here, but the flow may still be high (there are no streamflow-measuring gauges here). It has been heavily-stocked and the fishing should be good.

Over in the Jemez Mountains area, the streamflow on the Jemez River has dropped to 20.5 cubic-feet-per-second, greatly improving the fishing in the lower Jemez River, which was stocked June 17 with 1,000 rainbow trout. The fishing has also been good in the East Fork of the Jemez River, the Rio San Antonio near La Cueva and the Rio Cebolla near Fenton Lake. The Rio San Antonio was stocked June 17 with 824 rainbow trout. The Rio Cebolla was stocked June 17 with 799 rainbow trout. The Rio de las Vacas should also be good. All these streams also contain wild brown trout.

Fenton Lake has been good for stocked rainbow trout and has some big wild brown trout.

The fishing at the nearby Seven Springs Brood Pond at the Seven Springs Fish Hatchery has been very good. It was stocked June 17 with 401 rainbow trout and has a few wild brown trout. The fishing here is for kids under 12 years-of-age.

There have been no reports from San Gregorio Lake. This very shallow and weedy lake can suffer from winter kill and is normally good only after a stocking.

Santa Cruz Lake near Chimayo has been fair-to-good. This lake warms up a lot in the summer and the trout retreat to deeper water.

As already mentioned, the Rio Grande is still swollen with runoff and the fishing is slow.

The Rio Pueblo near Penasco is dropping, but still running a little high. The fishing has been good with worms. It has stocked rainbow trout and wild brown trout.

The Red River is being stocked from its headwaters down to the Red River Fish Hatchery. The West Fork and the East Fork each received a stocking June 17 of 301 rainbow trout. The Red River above Questa received a stocking June 17 of 901 rainbow trout. The Red River below Questa received a stocking June 18 of 699 rainbow trout. The fishing below the hatchery is rated as fair.

The Red River Hatchery Pond was stocked June 18 with 399 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 80 rainbow trout averaging 17 inches in size. The fishing here is for anglers 14 years of age and younger and 65 years of age or older.

The fishing has been good at Eagle Rock Lake near Questa.

A report came in from Cabresto Lake near Questa that the fishing was good using small fly patterns. This lake is not stocked. It has a population of wild brook trout and some wild cutthroat trout.

The Shuree Ponds in the Valle Vidal will open to fishing Monday (July 1). These Ponds are kept well-stocked with good-sized rainbow trout. The fishing is with flies or lures with a single, barbless hook and the limit is two fish-per-day. They were stocked June 19 with 501 rainbow trout averaging 15.9 inches in size. You have to drive to the town of Costilla near the Colorado border to access the Valle Vidal.

The fishing for rainbow trout at Eagle Nest Lake has been good with the best reports coming from bank fishermen using Power Bait. The fishing for perch has been very good. The fishing for northern pike has been good. A few kokanee have been caught while trolling for trout. Eagle Nest Lake was stocked twice last week with a total of 39,420 small rainbow trout.

The Cimarron River in Cimarron canyon State park was stocked June 18 with 2,424 rainbow trout. There are also wild brown trout here and the fishing has been good.

The Gravel Pit Lakes at Maverick Campground near Ute Park were stocked June 18 with 356 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 45 rainbow trout averaging 17 inches in size. The fishing has been good.

The fishing has been slow-to-fair for a mixed bag of largemouth bass, walleye and catfish at Stubblefield Lake. The state-record channel catfish was caught at Stubblefield Lake.

Maxwell Lake 13 on the Maxwell Lakes National Wildlife Refuge has been slow. The trout fishing here gets slow as the waterwarms up in the summer. Fishing for catfish and largemouth bass might be a little better.

The fishing has been good at Lake Alice and Lake Maloya in Sugarite Canyon State Park near Raton. Bigger fish will be found at Lake Maloya.

The trout fishing at Clayton Lake is still good for rainbow trout. It will likely slow down as the water warms up. An eight-pound walleye was caught last week. The state-record walleye was caught at Clayton Lake.

The fishing has been slow-to-fair for rainbow trout at the Charette Lakes. A 22-inch trout was caught last week. No reports on the perch fishing.

There were no reports from Storrie Lake near Las Vegas. The trout fishing here is likely slowing down as the water warms up. The best bet here might be fishing for catfish in the evening and at night.

The fishing has been good in Coyote Creek at Guadalupita State Park near Mora.

The fishing has been fair-to- good in the Gallinas River near Las Vegas

The Pecos River between the towns of Pecos and Cowles was stocked twice last week with a total of 3,002 rainbow trout. The fishing has been fair-to-good for rainbow trout and brown trout. Some big rainbow trout were caught last week.

The fishing has been good at Monastery Lake near Pecos. It was stocked June 20 with 900 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 95 rainbow trout averaging 14.9 inches in size.

The fishing has been good at the Cowles Ponds near the town of Cowles. They were stocked June 18 with 180 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 20 rainbow trout averaging 14.9 inches in size.

The fishing at Conchas Lake on the Canadian River has been very good for bluegill. The fishing for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass has been fair-to-good. The fishing for white bass has been good and the fishing for walleye has been fair.

The fishing at Santa Rosa Lake near Santa Rosa has been fair-to-good for walleye and catfish. The fishing for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass has been fair.

The fishing at Sumner Lake between Santa Rosa and Fort Sumner has been good for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. The fishing has been fair-to-good for catfish. The fishing for white bass and walleye has been fair.

Over in the Four Corners, the streamflow in the San Juan River below Navajo Dam was 600 cubic-feet-per-second. The fishing has been fair in the Quality Water with a variety of fly patterns. The fishing has been fair-to-good in the Bait Water below the Quality Water. The Bait Water was stocked June 17 with 9,685 small rainbow trout.

The fishing at Navajo Lake has been fair for crappie, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. The fishing for northern pike has been slow-to-fair.

The fishing was slow at Lake Farmington and there were no reports from Jackson Lake.

The fishing has been slow at Cochiti Lake. Just a few largemouth bass and white bass have been caught. The fishing was slow-to-fair for catfish.

The fishing at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque has been good for bluegill. The fishing for catfish has been slow.

The fishing at Elephant Butte Lake has been good for bluegill and catfish. It has been fair for white bass. It has been slow-to-fair for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, crappie and walleye.

The fishing in the Rio Grande below Elephant Butte Dam has been good for white bass and walleye. It has been good below Caballo Dam for catfish. The fishing at Percha Dam has been good for catfish and fair-to-good for white bass, walleye and largemouth bass.

The fishing at Lake Roberts near Silver City has been fair for trout and slow-to-fair for largemouth bass.

The fishing at Grindstone Reservoir near Ruidoso has been good for bluegill and fair-to-good for trout.

Alto lake near Ruidoso has been fair for trout and slow-to-fair for catfish.

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