New Mexico fishing and stocking reports for September 15

09/15/2020

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This fishing report, provided by Dustin Berg of Go Unlimited (supporting disabled anglers) and the Department of Game and Fish, has been generated from the best information available from area officers and anglers. Conditions encountered after the report is compiled may differ, as stream, lake and weather conditions alter fish and angler activities.

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(Valid April 1 to March 31; 2020-2021 licenses are on sale)

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEPARTMENT:

As COVID-19 continues to force all of us to make changes to our daily schedule, the Department would like to remind you that together we can make a difference. To help minimize the spread of the virus:

Practice social distancing
Wash your hands regularly
Avoid non-essential travel
Wear a face covering
Avoid interacting with large groups

Click the flyer to the right. Please share it with your friends and family.

Take the Bass Challenge!

To promote bass fishing opportunities in New Mexico and encourage anglers to branch out and discover new fishing waters and bass species, anglers can now participate in the New Mexico Bass Challenge. Catch the four bass species listed below that are found in and inhabit lakes within New Mexico (spotted bass, white bass, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass) to receive your certificate and a challenge coin.

The Department is continuing to adapt our ways of working to conserve wildlife for all New Mexicans. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Department biologists and conservation officers continue to conduct wildlife surveys, contact anglers and OHV recreationists and stock fish in open waters throughout the state.

Our teams are wearing personal protective equipment for everyone’s safety while working in small groups for maximum social distancing. We ask for your help to keep everyone safe and healthy by following the NMDOH public health emergency order by wearing PPE while staying at least six feet away from staff and equipment.

Catches of the week

Abiquiu Lake: Andres Alvarado, age 17, of Santa Fe caught and released a 26-inch walleye using a jigging spoon Sept. 13.

Alto Lake: Eugene Heathman, of Ruidoso, caught a 3-pound rainbow trout during a rain shower using a fluorescent green rooster tailed spinner Sept. 9.

Cimarron River: Frank Franco, of Los Lunas, caught a 20-inch rainbow trout using a nightcrawler Sept. 5.

Hidden Lake in the Pecos Wilderness:Rick Torres, of Albuquerque, caught a 12-inch Rio Grande cutthroat trout using a gold spinner Sept. 6.

Laguna del Campo: Joshy, age 10, Davina, age 5, and Jess, age 2, of La Puebla, caught 20-inch, 18-inch and 16-inch rainbow trout, respectively, using garlic PowerBait Sept. 9.

Rio Grande: Agustin Coss, of Albuquerque, caught a 19-inch rainbow trout using a Poundmeister fly in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area Sept. 11.

Trees Lake: Jesus Tarazon, of Deming, caught a 29-inch, 10-pound, 12-ounce catfish using live bait Sept. 12.

If you have a catch of the week story or just want to tell us about your latest New Mexico fishing experience, send it to us at funfishingnm@gmail.com. We may include your story in our next report.

For catches of the week, include name, age, hometown, date, location, type of fish, length, and weight if possible and bait, lure or fly used.

Northeast Fishing Report

Cabresto Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Charette Lakes: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Cimarron River: Stream flow near Cimarron Monday morning was 10.9 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using worms.

Clayton Lake: Fishing for catfish was fair using chicken liver.

Conchas Lake: Fishing for bass was good using green pumpkin plastic tubes and white buzz baits.

Costilla Creek: Stream flow, near Costilla, Monday morning was 10.7 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Cowles Ponds: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Coyote Creek: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Eagle Nest Lake: Fishing for rainbow trout was fair trolling spinners tipped with PowerBait. Fishing for kokanee salmon was slow to fair.

Eagle Rock Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Fawn Lakes: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Gallinas River: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Hopewell Lake: Fishing for trout was good using Pistol Pete’s spinners.

Lake Alice: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Lake Maloya: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Los Pinos River: Fishing for trout was good using Woolly Buggers and bead head nymphs.

Maxwell Lake 13: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Monastery Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Morphy Lake: Closed for a renovation project on the dam, and no firm opening date is set.

Pecos River: Stream flow near the town of Pecos Monday morning was 23.5 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Red River: Stream flow below the hatchery Monday morning was 40.0 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using dry fly dropper rigs with small nymphs like zebra midges and RS2’s.

Rio Grande: Stream flow at the Taos Junction Bridge Monday morning was 174 cfs. Fishing for trout was good near Taos using dry fly dropper setups and nymph rigs with flies such as Poundmiesters, mayflies and caddis nymphs.

Rio Hondo: Stream flow Monday morning near Valdez was 12.3 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Rio Mora: Stream flow Monday morning was 4.2 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Rio Pueblo: Stream flow, near Penasco, Monday morning was 4.57 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Santa Cruz Reservoir: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Shuree Ponds: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Springer Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Storrie Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Stubblefield Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Ute Lake: Fishing for white bass was good vertical jigging blade baits and slabs in 20 to 30-feet of water. Fishing for large and smallmouth bass was fair to good using top water baits early in the day and Senkos, Hit Worms and drop shot Berkley Flat Nose Minnows later in the day. Fishing for walleye was fair to good jigging blade baits and live minnows in 20 to 25-feet of water. Fishing for catfish was fair using punch bait. The main lake water surface temperature was 69 degrees Fahrenheit and clarity was clear.

Northwest Fishing Report

Abiquiu Lake: Fishing for bass was slow to fair using Ned rigs. Fishing for walleye was fair to good using jigging spoons. Due to low water levels, anglers are advised to use four-wheel-drive vehicles to launch boats and watch for obstructions on the water.

Animas River: Water flow below Aztec Monday morning was 137 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Albuquerque Area Drains: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Bluewater Lake: Fishing for tiger musky was good using spinner baits and Rapala lures. Hours of operations are currently Friday through Monday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Hours are subject to change. Check with New Mexico State Park before you go.

Brazos River: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Canjilon Lakes: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Chama River: Monday morning flows below El Vado and Abiquiu were 605 cfs and 396 cfs, respectively. Fishing for trout below El Vado Lake was fair to good using nightcrawlers. We had no reports from below Abiquiu Lake.

Cochiti Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

El Vado Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Fenton Lake: Fishing for trout was very good using a variety of different flies. Fishing for trout was fair to good using salmon eggs, PowerBait and worms. Hours of operations are currently Friday through Monday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Hours are subject to change. Check with New Mexico State Park before you go.

Heron Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Jemez Waters: Stream flow on the Jemez River near the town of Jemez Monday morning was 5.62 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Laguna del Campo: Fishing for trout was good using garlic PowerBait.

Lagunitas Lakes: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Lake Farmington: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Manzano Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

McGaffey Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Navajo Lake: Fishing for bass was good using watermelon red flake 3-inch plastic worms. Fishing for kokanee salmon was fair using pink and purple spinners tipped with corn fished 80 to 100-feet deep.

San Gregorio Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

San Juan River: Stream flow Monday morning was 773 cfs. Fishing for trout in the quality waters was good using size 24 black and grey midge pattern flies. Fishing in the bait waters was good using silver Panther Martin spinners and PowerBait.

Seven Springs Brood Pond: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Tingley Beach: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Trout Lakes: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Southwest Fishing Report

Alumni Pond: Fishing for catfish was fair to good using shad and liver baits.

Bear Canyon Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Bill Evans Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Caballo Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Elephant Butte Lake: Fishing for white bass was good using Sassy Shad and chartreuse Berkley Flicker Shad.

Escondida Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Gila River: Stream flow Monday morning was 20 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Glenwood Pond: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Lake Roberts: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Percha Dam: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Quemado Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Rancho Grande Ponds: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Rio Grande: Stream flow below Elephant Butte Monday morning was 1,040 cfs. Fishing for bass, walleye, crappie and catfish was good at Eagle Point using worms.

Snow Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Trees Lake: Fishing for bass and catfish was slow.

Young Pond: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Southeast Fishing Report

Alto Lake: Fishing was slow for all species aside from some fair fishing for trout during last week’s rainstorm using rooster tail spinners.

Bataan Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Berrendo Creek: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Black River: Stream flow at Malaga Monday morning was 32.2 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Blue Hole Park Pond: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Bonito Lake: Closed until further notice by the city of Alamogordo due to fire damage. It appears now that the lake will be out of commission until 2022.

Bosque Redondo Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Bottomless Lakes: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Brantley Lake: Fishing for bass was good using watermelon and pumpkin-colored plastic worms.

Carlsbad Municipal Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Chaparral Park Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Corona Pond: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Eunice Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Green Meadow Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Greene Acres Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Grindstone Reservoir: Fishing for trout was fair using PowerBait.

Jal Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Lake Van: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Oasis Park Lake We had no reports from anglers this week.

Pecos River: Stream flow below Sumner Lake Monday morning was 87.5 cfs. Fishing for catfish was good using worms and minnows.

Perch Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Ruidoso River: Stream flow Monday morning at Hollywood was 5.28 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Santa Rosa Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Sumner Lake: We had no reports from anglers this week.

Tips and Tricks

Chicken liver is a favorite bait among many catfish anglers. If you have ever used liver as bait, you know that it is slimy and hard to get to stay on your hook. There are two tricks to helping keep liver bait on your hook and in the strike zone of hungry catfish.

Make pre-rigged frozen baited hooks a day or so before you leave to go fishing. To make these pre-rigged baits, take a treble hook and do your best to get your liver bait hooked onto all three hooks. When done, it should be a clump of liver covering as much of the hook and shank as possible. Place the baited hook into an ice-making tray. Repeat until you have a full tray and then place the tray in the freezer. When you go fishing, keep your pre-rigged baits cold using an ice chest, so they do not defrost. When you get to where you are fishing, simply tie on a pre-rigged bait and cast out (with a weight if needed). The frozen bait will thaw underwater, releasing the scent that attracts catfish.
Another way to keep liver bait on your hook is to use pantyhose as a sort of netting that holds the bait together. Cut 5-inch strips of the legging. Place the liver bait in the pantyhose and fold the hose around the liver. Using a circle hook, fasten all the ends together, essentially forming a ball of liver encased in pantyhose. This technique works great for keeping your bait on your hook and, since the pantyhose are breathable, plenty of catfish attracting scent will be released slowly.
Here is a video demonstration of how to build this bait.

Closure Information:

The Department reminds anglers it is their responsibility to be aware of closures and contact land managers for properties of interest when restrictions are lifted.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
New Mexico State Lands
New Mexico State Parks
New Mexico Open Gate Properties
New Mexico Wildlife Management Areas
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Consult local government websites for information regarding specific city and town fishing access.

New Mexico fishing and stocking reports for September 15, 2020

Check out the latest stocking report Get your New Mexico fishing license

(Valid April 1 to March 31; 2020-2021 licenses are on sale)

Closure Information:

Check out the latest stocking report

Get your New Mexico fishing license