New Mexico Fly Fishing Reports March 2005
NORTHEAST AREA CHARETTE LAKES Opens for the season today at noon. CLAYTON LAKE Opens for the season today at noon. COCHITI LAKE Not much fishing pressure over the past week but one shore angler managed to catch a good smallmouth bass while casting a Rat-L-Trap. CONCHAS LAKE There has been very little fishing pressure on the lake. The walleye and bass should start moving to shallower water this month as the weather warms but we had no reports from anglers this past week. EAGLE NEST LAKE Due to thin ice conditions, the lake has been closed indefinitely to ice fishing. Contact the state park office at 505-377-1594 for updated conditions. LAKE MALOYA/ LAKE ALICE The ice is still about 10-to-12 inches thick on Lake Maloya and fishing was good this past week. Anglers did well using home made dough baits, salmon eggs and corn. They also did well using the same baits and fishing the open water at the north end of Lake Alice. MAXWELL LAKES Open for the season today at noon. MCALLISTER LAKE Opens for the season today at noon. PECOS RIVER Water flow near Anton Chico on Monday was 165cfs. The water has been quite murky the past week or two and fishing has been slow. Dry weather this week should improve conditions and make for some good trout fishing. Try using egg patterns, copper john barrs, small spinners, salmon eggs and power bait. RED RIVER Water flow near Questa was 12cfs as of Monday. We had no reports from anglers this week. RIO GRANDE As of Monday, water flow near the Taos Junction Bridge was 565cfs. Fishing was rated as slow-to-fair this past week by anglers using spinners, salmon eggs, worms and wooly buggers. SANTA CRUZ The lake is free of ice and fishing should be very good as the lake was recently stocked with over 12,000 rainbow trout. STORRIE LAKE Trout fishing was reported as excellent by anglers fishing from the bank this past weekend. They were catching 8-to-16 inch rainbows. The best bait was salmon eggs. The lake is open to boating but we had no reports from boaters. UTE LAKE The Ute Lake marina has closed temporarily but the boat ramps are open and in good condition. The water temp on the main lake this past week was about 44 degrees and up to 48 degrees up the river channels. Fishing for black bass was slow and there were only a few reports of white bass and walleye taken in 25-to-32 feet of water on jigging spoons. NORTHWEST AREA AREA DRAINS We had only a few reports from anglers this past week and all report fishing as slow with a few trout taken on salmon eggs. ABIQUIU LAKE There was no fishing pressure at all on the lake this past week. It is free of ice and this is a good time to look for brown trout at the north end of the lake and in the river channel. BLUEWATER LAKE Bank fishing for trout was rated as fair using salmon eggs, corn and worms. CHAMA RIVER Water flow below El Vado Lake on Monday morning was 259cfs and 602cfs below Abiquiu. Fishing was slow at both locations but there were a few brown trout taken on night crawlers fished below El Vado. EL VADO LAKE There were no reports from anglers again this past week. FENTON LAKE There is some open water at the upper end of the lake and in spots along the bank. Fishing was slow this past week. Anglers should call the state park office at 505-829-3630 for updated conditions. HERON LAKE Warm weather has eliminated most of the ice on the lake and bank fishing for rainbow trout has been good for anglers using salmon eggs and corn. They are also catching a few kokanee and small lake trout. FARMINGTON LAKE No reports from anglers this week. JEMEZ WATERS We received several fair-to-good fishing reports this past week from anglers fishing the main Jemez, the East Fork and the San Antonio. The best reports came from anglers using egg patterns and copper john barrs. There were also quite a few fish taken on salmon eggs. NAVAJO LAKE The lake level continues to rise with good boating access. Fishing pressure was very light over the past week but anglers should still be able to catch some good size browns up the Pine Arm. Try light line trolling with large crank baits. SAN JUAN Water flow below Navajo Dam on Monday morning was 333cfs. Fishing was reported as good by anglers using red annelids, egg patterns, San Juan worms and wooly buggers fished on the upper river. A few were also taken on dry flies in the evening hours. Anglers fishing the bait waters reported good success using jerk baits, copper john barrs and wooly buggers. Some good size trout were also taken on worms, power bait and salmon eggs. SOUTHWEST AREA BEAR CANYON There were no reports from anglers this week. BILL EVANS LAKES Fishing was good using power bait, corn and salmon eggs for trout. Fishing was fair using senkos and Gulp worms for bass. There were no reports on other species. BURN LAKE Fishing was reported as good-to-very good by anglers using power bait, corn and salmon eggs for rainbow trout. CABALLO LAKE The white bass are starting to get a little active with the warmer weather. Anglers reported catching a few this past week. Some were trolling crank baits while others were using jigging spoons. ELEPHANT BUTTE Striped bass fishing was reported as fair to “hot” this past weekend. Anglers using umbrella rigs, jigs tipped with night crawlers and slab spoons reported very good catches. Most of the fish taken on jigs were caught in 2-to-14 feet of water and were taken in the early morning and late evening hours. Most of the fish taken on umbrella rigs and slab spoons were caught between Rattlesnake Island and Long Point. They were taken at depths of 14-to-25 feet. Several good size white bass were also taken on these rigs. Anglers fishing for white bass did well in the Long Point/Kettle Top area. They were using jigs, spoons and live bait. Anglers using prepared dough baits and blood baits reported good catches of catfish. We had no reports on other species. ESCONDIDA LAKE We had no reports from anglers this week. GILA RIVER Waters on the main river and on the Forks remain quite high from recent rains. We had no reports from anglers this week. GLENWOOD POND There were no reports from anglers this week. LAKE ROBERTS Reduction on lake levels began this past weekend to prevent waters from going over the spillway. This reduction was necessary due to heavy rain and snow in the area over the past few weeks and is not expected to significantly affect recreation. There were no reports from anglers this week. PERCHA DAM There were no reports from anglers this week. QUEMADO LAKE There were no reports from anglers this week. RIO GRANDE Below Elephant Butte, water flow was 13cfs as of Monday. We had no reports from anglers fishing this stretch or from below Caballo. SOUTHEAST AREA BATAAN LAKE A golden algae bloom has caused a serious fish kill on this water and on Carlsbad Municipal Lake. BOSQUE REDONDO Anglers reported trout fishing as fair this past week with the best baits being salmon eggs and corn. A few were also taken on prop flies and spinners. BOTTOMLESS LAKES Fishing was fair this past week for anglers using power bait, corn and salmon eggs for trout. BRANTLEY There were a few anglers fishing the west side of the lake this past week but we had no reports from them. The main road into the park is closed for construction but there is detour access to the park. GRINDSTONE Fishing was slow with a few trout taken on salmon eggs. LAKE VAN We had no reports from anglers this week. PECOS Below Sumner Lake, water flow on Monday was 19cfs. Fishing was fair using salmon eggs for trout. There were no reports on other species. PERCH LAKE Fishing was slow-to-fair this past week for anglers using prop flies, power bait and salmon egg/corn combinations for stocked trout. RUIDOSO RIVER Water flow as of Monday was 17cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week. SANTA ROSA LAKE The lake level continues to rise providing good access for boating and fishing. As of Monday, the surface temperature was 47 degrees. Fishing this past week was reported as slow for all species. SUMNER LAKE We received another good walleye report this past week. It was from anglers trolling and casting orange/crawdad Rapalas and blue and chrome Rat-L-Traps. STOCKING REPORT: Crews stocked 32,468 rainbow trout averaging 11.1 inches in length in the following waters: BURN LAKE, CHAPARRAL PARK LAKE, CHARETTE LAKE LOWER, EUNICE LAKE, GREEN MEADOW LAKE, GREENE ACRES LAKE, HARRY MCADAMS PARK POND, JAL LAKE, MCALLISTER LAKE, NED HOUK PONDS, OASIS PARK LAKE, PECOS RIVER-Village of Pecos to Villanueva, SANTA CRUZ RESERVOIR & YOUNG POND.WINTER FISHING TIPS: March is a great month for white bass fishing. The fish are starting to move into the shallows and will be looking to spawn by the end of the month or early April. They can be caught trolling crank baits, using jigs tipped with grubs or tubes, casting crank baits, in line spinners, spoons or jigs to the bank and retrieving slowly, on live bait or at times on top water lures. Look for white bass activity to pick up on Elephant Butte, Caballo, Percha, Conchas, Ute, Sumner and other New Mexico waters.