By GEORGE MORSEThe State Game and Fish Department has been liberally stocking lakes and streams in Northern New Mexico with good-sized rainbow trout averaging over 16 inches in size. Anglers looking to catch a big, hatchery-raised rainbows should have a great time this summer.
The news this week is the opening date for fishing the Shuree Ponds on the Valle Vidal. The opening date for fishing these ponds is Saturday (July 1). Fishing at Shuree is limited to artificial flies and lures with a single, barbless hook. There is a two-trout limit and a 15-inch size limit. In preparation for the opening, the Department has stocked 500 rainbow trout averaging over 16 inches in size.
The Valle Vidal is a beautiful piece of high mountain country well worth the trip by itself. There are herds of elk to be seen. All of the streams on the Valle Vidal are catch-and-release, limited to artificial flies and lures with a single, barbless hook. The Shuree Ponds are the only waters where you are allowed to keep trout.
The Chama River below El Vado Dam received a stocking of big rainbow trout. Check the streamflows on the united States Geological Survey website for this location. There are some big brown trout in this stretch of water too.
The Cimarron River Gravel Pit Lakes were stocked with big rainbow trout. The Gravel Pit Lakes are located near the Ponderosa and Maverick Campgrounds in Cimarron Canyon State Park.
Eagle Nest Lake does not normally receive plantings of big rainbow trout since its waters are fertile enough to grow big trout. However, the Department stocked 1,200 big rainbows here last week. The trout fishing has been good here and there are perch and northern pike to be caught too.
Hopewell Lake received another stocking of big rainbows last week and the fishing for stocked trout is good now. Fly fishers should try to catch the evening rise at this lake, when dry flies can be effective for the brook trout that inhabit the lake.
Laguna del Campo will be drained and not refilled again after the lake closes for fishing October 31. For now, the fishing is still pretty good and it was stocked with big rainbows last week.
Morphy Reservoir is a pretty little lake on a state park near Las Vegas and it is well-stocked. It received a planting of big rainbows.
The Red River Hatchery Pond received a planting of big rainbows. The Hatchery Pond is limited to anglers 12 years old or younger and 65 years old or older. The Red River below the Hatchery has been fishing well.
Although the fishing in the Chama River below Abiquiu Dam is rated as slow, there was a 25-inch, 5.43-pound brown trout caught Sunday. I know because I caught it. The water may be murky, but the fish are there. Be patient.
The streamflow in the Rio Grande keeps dropping and is now less than 1,000 cubic-feet-per-second at Taos Junction Bridge. The fishing will keep getting better as the streamflow drops.
The streamflow in the upper Chama River is dropping and the fishing is good. The Rio de los Pinos is always well-stocked and a good destination. You have to drive into Colorado before you reach the turnoff to this river, which hugs the border between New Mexico and Colorado.
Abiquiu Lake is rising rapidly. When I first fished there this spring, I could walk out on a little peninsula and fish. A couple of weeks later, the peninsula was gone and where I had been fishing was an island. Now, the island is gone and underwater. The fishing for smallmouth bass and walleye has been good.
The water level in El Vado Lake is higher than I’ve seen it in years and that should help the fishing there. Heron Lake is also rising and hopefully the fishing for kokanee salmon, which used to be some of the best in the state, will bounce back after suffering from low water levels in recent years. Thank you Lord for that big snowpack.
