New Mexico Fly Fishing Blog

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report April 1999 On 4/7 the first bugs were spotted in the Pilar area. On 4/9 I fished in Pilar and got a few fish to 15" but the fish weren't really on the Caddis yet. I fished alone on 4/12 at John Dunn Bridge in Arroyo Hondo and the fish...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report April 2000 First report of Caddis in Pilar on 4/4. Flow was about 200cfs at the State Line which is ideal. The bugs moved upstream faster than in previous years and were all over the Box by 4/9 when I fished in the Wild Rivers area. The...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report September 2000 Flows were very low this year at 60cfs {State Line}. At this level many more pockets in the Box were fishable and you could cross in spots. We started fishing the Grande in early September and the first half of the month...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report April 2001 First Caddis spotted in Pilar on 4/2. Flows were about 400cfs {State Line} and not quite clear but fishable. Altho there wasn't much snow this year the water never got real clear and fishing was fair at best. You had to work...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report September 2001 By mid September the flow was about 120cfs {State Line} and clear. Lots of anglers in the Box this year and fish were spooky. We fished a lot with a 2 nymph combo and an indicator {Weighted Stonefly nymph or Cranefly Larva...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report April 2002 Another dry year and when the first Caddis was spotted on 4/6 the flow was 100cfs {State Line}. In April the fishing around Pilar was good from 3pm til dark on Caddis dry #14. Best fishing was sight casting to rising fish. The...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report September 2002 On 8/2 the flow was 47cfs {State Line} and Rita landed a 22" Cutbo in the Box that weighed about 6lbs. Water temps were 64-66* and it was cloudy with a light rain. The flows this Fall are lower than I have ever seen and...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report April 2003 First Caddis spotted in Pilar on 4/2. In April flows were 80-120cfs and fishing was great in the Box thru May. On Good Friday, 4/18, a client got a 21" Brown on a Prince nymph early in the day and 2 18" Browns later on Caddis...

Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report September 2003 Flows in August were about 50cfs {State Line}but temps got into the high 60*s by mid afternoon and fishing dropped off. Not prime yet. September was excellent with flows about 60cfs and Rita camped at Big Arsenic for 5...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report July 1999 The first half of July was excellent with Stonefly patterns {Stimulator #12}and on low flow days {Fri-Sun.} a dry only worked well and on high flow days {Mon.-Thurs.} we added a dropper {Caddis Larva or Pheasant Tail #16}....

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report August 1999 Because of easy access the Costlla gets lots of fishing pressure and by August the fish get picky. They tended to be wary of the large Stonefly patterns they saw so much of in July and tended to go for smaller bugs. PMD...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report July 2000 Flows fluctuated wildly between weekdays and weekends and in mid July flows got up to 125cfs on high flow days and down to 10cfs on weekends. The high flow was better fishing Stimulator #12 on the edges, pockets and any slower...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report August 2000 In early August flows were back up around 100cfs on weekdays and fishing was good with Hopper-dropper combos and Caddis dries later in the day. Low flows were about 40cfs and consequently fishing was better on weekends than...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report July 2001 High flows were around 100cfs most of the month and low flows were around 25cfs. Fish were very active on weekdays, possibly because of overcast weather on the best days. These fish like low light situations and the lack of...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report August 2001 Flows were around 60cfs on weedays and 30cfs on weekends. Like July, fishing the faster riffles was effective on weedends with Hoppers and on weekends the slower water with a Hopper-dropper combo. There was less pressure...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report July 2002 Long term drought has drasticly reduced water levels in Costilla Resevoir. Flows in July never got above 30cfs but water was clear and fishing fair thru the month on dry flies {Stimulator-Caddis -PMDs}.Lots of fishing pressure...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report August 2002 By August the Resevoir was almost empty and the outflow was was murky with lots of debris in the stream. Water temps got into the high 60*s for the first time in my memory. Fishing was poor and they shut off the flow on 9/4....

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report July 2003 Flows were a little better than last year {30-60cfs} but with the fishing pressure this stream gets the fish got real spooky in a hurry. We caught a lot of fish but they were mostly small {6-10"} and even in the faster water...

Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report August 2003 Flows remained the same {30-60cfs}and very low on weekends {10cfs}. The water got murky but not as bad as last year. Low flows combined with fishing pressure made for a poor month on the Costilla. Temperatures were again in...

Cimarron River Fly Fishing Reports June 1999 Flows remained the same {30-60cfs}and very low on weekends {10cfs}. The water got murky but not as bad as last year. Low flows combined with fishing pressure made for a poor month on the Costilla. Temperatures were again in...

Cimarron River Fly Fishing Reports July 1999 Flows were around 10cfs for most of the month and water temps got up to 70* on sunny days which made for tough fishing. In July the fish switch their attention to Caddis and fishing a dry Caddis early and late when temps...