By GEORGE MORSESports And Outdoors
Los Alamos Daily Post
Los Alamos Daily Post
The cold spell came as predicted last week. A hard freeze wiped out tomato and chile plants, as well as other frost-tender plants here in the Espanola Valley.
The weather has turned seasonal again with warm days and very cool nights.
Still no snow in the mountains.
The place to go right now if you are looking for a big trout and don’t care that it came from a hatchery is Santa Cruz Lake near Chimayo. It was stocked Oct. 7 with 218 rainbow trout averaging 20 inches in size and over three pounds apiece.
Several of these fish were caught last week but there should still be some left. Santa Cruz was also stocked Oct. 8 with 3,608 catchable-size rainbow trout, so you should catch some fish even if you don’t hook one of the big ones.
There was also a stocking of 96 big rainbow trout averaging 20 inches and three pounds Oct. 7 in the Chama River below Abiquiu Dam. The streamflow here was still heavy Monday at 867 cubic-feet-per-second. A lot of these fish were likely stocked a little ways below the dam where there are picnic tables set up by a bend in the river. It would be a good place to try.
The kokanee salmon snagging at Navajo Lake continues to be good near the dam. While you are there, wet a line in the San Juan River below Navajo Dam. For the second week in a row, an angler hooked and released a big brown trout (29 inches) in the San Juan Quality Water. The streamflow here was 610 cubic-feet-per-second. The fishing has been good in the Quality Water with a variety of fly patterns. The fishing has been very good in the Bait Water below the Quality Water. The Bait Water was stocked Oct. 11 with 1,991 rainbow trout.
In the Jemez Mountain area, the fishing remains good at Fenton Lake. Most of the catch is stocked rainbow trout, but there are some big brown trout here.
A big brown trout was caught Oct. 11 at the Seven Springs Brood Pond at Seven Springs Fish Hatchery north of Fenton Lake. There are also some big rainbow trout here. The fishing here is for anglers under the age of 12 years old. It was stocked Oct. 9 with 451 rainbow trout.
The streams in the Jemez area are running low and clear. They all contain populations of wild brown trout. The Jemez River was stocked Oct. 9 with 999 rainbow trout.
In the Chama area, the best fishing will be found in the smaller lakes rather than the big reservoirs. There have been no reports from El Vado Lake or Heron Lake. The fishing has been fair-to-good at the Canjilon Lakes. The fishing has been good at the Trout Lakes near Cebolla. Laguna del Campo near Los Ojos has been fair-to-good and there should be some big stocked rainbow trout here.
The fishing in the upper Chama River above El Vado Lake has been good and the flow is low and clear. The trout fishing in the Chama River below El Vado Dam has been good for rainbow trout and brown trout. The Brazos River was stocked Oct. 7 with 800 rainbow trout. The fishing has been good.
The fishing has been fair-to-good for stocked rainbow trout at Hopewell Lake between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras.
There are wild brook trout here and they should be spawning now. They may be gathered around the inlet. You might be able to catch some small brook trout in the stream below Hopewell Lake.
The Rio de los Pinos north of Tres Piedras was stocked Oct. 9 with 1,798 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 200 rainbow trout averaging 15.1 inches in size. The fly-fishing here has been good with terrestrial patterns. The flow is low and clear. There are also wild brown trout here with brook trout near the headwaters.
Conditions have not changed at Abiquiu Lake. The water is still low and a four-wheel drive vehicle is needed to launch a boat. No reports on the fishing. Do not let your pets drink water from the lake.
The Rio Grande is flowing a little below normal at 338 cubic-feet-per-second at Taos Junction Bridge. The fishing has been good for brown trout and rainbow trout.
The fly-fishing has been good in the Rio Pueblo near Penasco. The flow is low and clear. There are stocked rainbow trout and wild brown trout here.
They are still stocking a lot of trout in the Red River area. The Red River below the town of Questa was stocked Oct. 8 with 699 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 300 rainbow trout averaging 15.1 inches in size. The Red River Fish Hatchery Pond was stocked Oct. 8 with 466 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 100 rainbow trout averaging 15.1 inches in size. Eagle Rock Lake near Questa was stocked Oct. 11 with 498 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 150 rainbow trout averaging 15.4 inches in size. The fishing has been good.
Still no reports on the fishing at the Shuree Ponds on the Valle Vidal. There was a Facebook post by an angler who had good luck there. They are stocked with good-sized rainbow trout.
They caught some big northern pike at Eagle Nest Lake last week and the pike fishing has been good. The fishing for rainbow trout has been good. No reports on the perch fishing or the kokanee salmon snagging.
The Cimarron River in Cimarron Canyon State Park has been good. There are stocked rainbow trout and wild brown trout here. It was stocked Oct. 8 with 2,424 rainbow trout. The Cimarron River Gravel Pit Lakes were stocked Oct. 8 with 400 rainbow trout.
There were no reports from Stubblefield Lake. There are plenty of catfish swimming around in this lake. It was stocked Oct. 10 with a total of 22,194 channel catfish averaging 10.5 inches in size. The state-record channel catfish was caught here. There are also largemouth bass and walleye in this overlooked lake.
No reports from Maxwell Lake 13 on the Maxwell Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This lake closes Oct. 31 to and it is definitely worth trying before it closes for some good-sized holdover rainbow trout.
No reports from Lake Maloya at Sugarite Canyon State Park near Raton. This is surprising because the fishing should be good here. It was stocked Oct. 7 with 2,999 catchable-size rainbow trout and with 300 rainbow trout averaging 14.9 inches in size.
Clayton Lake closes Oct. 31. It received a stocking Oct. 9 of 4,632 small largemouth bass. Although not well-known for its bass fishing, some very big bass over 10 pounds are occasionally caught here.The fishing for trout has been fair-to-good, as has the fishing for catfish. The boat ramp is closed.
The Charette Lakes close to fishing Oct. 31. They should be worth a try for some nice-sized trout as they are well-stocked and receive light fishing pressure. There are also yellow perch in this lake, but there have been no reports on how the fishing for them has been.
The fishing has been good at Coyote Creek at Guadalupita State Park near Mora.
No reports from Storrie Lake near Las Vegas.
The fishing has been good at the Gallinas River near Las Vegas. There are stocked rainbow trout and wild brown trout here.
The streamflow on the Pecos River is low and clear. The fishing has been good in this heavily-stocked stream and there are also some nice brown trout here. It was stocked Oct. 8 with 2,500 rainbow trout.
Monastery Lake near Pecos has been good for stocked rainbow trout.
Conchas Lake on the Canadian River has had good fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass this year. The fishing for white bass and walleye has been fair. The fishing for catfish has been good.
As already mentioned, the kokanee salmon snagging at Navajo Lake has been good.
There have been no reports from Cochiti Lake. It might be worth a try. There are northern pike here and they could be biting. There are also largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and walleye. The catfishing can be good. These species should be feeding in shallow water looking to fatten up for the lean winter months ahead.
The fishing at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque has been slow. They should soon be stocking rainbow trout here as the weather cools down. The drainage canals in the Albuquerque area have been fair-to-good for bass. The drainage canals should also soon be stocked with rainbow trout.
The fishing for white bass has been very good this year at Elephant Butte Lake. Lately there has been a lot of topwater action as schools of white bass chase schools of baitfish. Look for minnows breaking the surface in their attempts to escape. When the topwater action cools down, try jigging with Kastmasters or slab spoons.
They have cut back the streamflow in the Rio Grande below Elephant Butte Dam to almost nothing. This concentrates the fish in deep pools. The catfishing has been fair. The Rio Grande below Caballo Dam has been good for walleye, white bass and catfish.
In the Ruidoso area, the trout fishing at Alto Lake and at Grindstone Reservoir has been good. Some good-sized rainbow trout from earlier stockings are being caught The fishing in the Ruidoso River for stocked rainbow trout has been fair.
Lake Roberts near Silver Cty was stocked with two different species of fish. It was stocked Oct. 10 with 501 channel catfish. On Oct. 9, it was stocked with 2,160 rainbow trout. There were no reports from here. It should be at least fair if not good for trout and catfish. You might hook a big largemouth bass at Lake Roberts.