New Mexico fishing and stocking reports for September 17

09/17/2019

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This fishing report, provided by Dustin Berg and 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; 2019-2020 licenses are now on sale)

Catches of the week

Bluewater Lake: Kenneth Epaloose of Zuni caught a 39-inch, 17.5-pound tiger muskie using an 8-inch swimbait Sept. 8.

Conchas Lake: Madison Bogle of Dexter caught a 3.5-pound largemouth bass, and 14 others, using a Randy rig in shallow water Sept. 14.

Eagle Rock Lake: Yonah Leon, age 5, Sol Leon, age 8, and Kamaeli Leon, age 11, of Taos caught 13 trout using Berkley floating PowerBait Aug. 22.

Fenton Lake: Joey Velasquez of Bernalillo caught a 17-inch trout using PowerBait Sept. 15.

Navajo Lake: Mani Loveless of Tijeras caught her first pike. It was 26-inches. On her next cast she caught a 3.5-pound smallmouth bass. Both were caught using a gold 4-inch crappie crank bait Sept. 8.

Rio Grande: Jordan Sierra of Albuquerque caught and released a 30-pound flathead catfish using cut carp Sept. 14.

San Juan River: Deavon Tabish Moran of Albuquerque caught a 23-inch rainbow trout using a chocolate emerger Sept. 7.

Seven Springs Brood Pond: Kaitlynn Flora, age 7, caught and released five trout. Ashlynn Flora, age 4, caught and released four trout and her twin sister Brooklynn Flora, age 4, caught two trout, releasing one and keeping a 17-incher. The Floras are from Rio Rancho and they caught all trout within two hours using pink PowerBait Sept. 14. Owen Tucker, age 8, of Albuquerque caught and released over 30 trout and filled his limit with five rainbow trout measuring between 18 and 21-inches using a variety of nymphs and dry flies Sept. 14. Coen Crandall, age 7, of Rio Rancho caught a 19-inch, 3-pound, 2-ounce rainbow trout using garlic PowerBait Sept. 15.

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 32.5 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using PowerBait, terrestrial fly patterns, caddis dry flies and small nymph flies.

Clayton Lake: Fishing pressure has been light. Anglers reported fishing as slow with only a few trout and catfish caught. The boat ramp is closed due to low water levels.

Conchas Lake: Fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass was good using drop shot rigs, crankbaits, senkos and creature baits. Fishing was fair to good for white bass and walleye using live minnows. Fishing for catfish was good using hotdogs. We had no reports on other species.

Costilla Creek: Stream flow near Costilla Monday was 59.4 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using small dry flies such as yellow sallies, hoppers and spruce moth flies. Fishing for trout was also good using nymph flies.

Cowles Ponds: Fishing for trout was good using PowerBait.

Coyote Creek: Fishing for trout was fair to good using salmon eggs.

Eagle Nest Lake: Fishing for trout was good using salmon peach PowerBait and woolly buggers. Fishing for perch was fair to good using worms. Fishing for pike was fair using streamers and spinners. We had no reports this week on other species.

Eagle Rock Lake: Fishing for trout was good using floating PowerBait, salmon eggs and worms.

Fawn Lakes: The last report was that high runoff water has created poor fishing conditions.

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

Hopewell Lake: Fishing for trout was good using Pistol Pete spinners with a bobber.

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

Lake Maloya: Fishing for trout was good using PowerBait.

Los Pinos River: Fishing for trout was good using terrestrial flies with a small bead head dropper.

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

Monastery Lake: Fishing for trout was good using PowerBait.

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

Pecos River: Stream flow near the town of Pecos Monday morning was 62.1 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using salmon eggs, PowerBait, wooly buggers, leach pattern flies and Panther Martin spinners.

Red River: Stream flow below the hatchery on Monday morning was 52.9 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using salmon eggs, nymph flies and Panther Martin spinners.

Rio Grande: Stream flow at the Taos Junction Bridge was 519 cfs. North of Espanola the water clarity was improving and fishing for trout was fair to good using streamers and beadhead nymphs. Fishing south of Albuquerque for catfish was good using cut bait, hotdogs and nightcrawlers.

Rio Hondo: Stream flow Monday morning near Valdez was 22.7 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using small hopper flies and nymph flies.

Rio Mora: Stream flow Monday morning was 14.9 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Rio Pueblo: Stream flow Monday morning near Penasco was 10.2 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using a variety of dry flies and small bead head nymph flies.

Santa Cruz Reservoir: Fishing for trout was slow.

Shuree Ponds: We hand no reports from anglers this week. Fishing is open on the Valle Vidal, including Shuree Ponds, July 1-Dec. 31.

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 smallmouth bass in 8 to 15 feet of water was good using Chigger Craws, Senkos and Berkley Gulp Minnows. Fishing for largemouth bass was slow to fair. Fishing for walleye was slow with anglers reporting only a few being caught using deep diving crank baits. Fishing for white bass was good using jigging spoons and blade baits. Fishing for catfish was good using chicken liver, nightcrawlers and cut bait. Fishing for bluegill was good using worms. Fishing for crappie was slow. The main lake was clear and the water temperature was in the upper 70s.

Northwest Fishing Report

Abiquiu Lake: Angler activity was light but limited reports indicated fishing for walleye and bass was fair to good using brown and chartreuse curly tail grubs. Fishing for catfish was fair using nightcrawlers. The lake has remained open to anglers but not swimmers due to the presence of blue green algae. 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 328 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Albuquerque Area Drains: Fishing for bass was fair to good using nightcrawlers and small crankbaits. Fishing for bluegill was good using small dry flies and small worms.

Bluewater Lake: Fishing for tiger muskie was fair to good using swimbaits, jointed crankbaits, Rapala X-Raps and top water lures. Fishing for catfish was fair using hotdogs. Fishing for trout was very slow.

Brazos River: Fishing for trout was fair to good using Panther Martin spinners and salmon eggs.

Canjilon Lakes: Fishing for trout was good using Panther Martin spinners and PowerBait.

Chama River: Monday morning flows below El Vado and Abiquiu were 803 cfs and 271 cfs, respectively. Fishing for trout below El Vado Lake was very good using tungsten bead head green scud flies, double brown hackle peacock flies, salmon eggs, worms, Panther Martin spinners, nightcrawlers and PowerBait. Fishing below Abiquiu Lake for trout was fair using PowerBait, flies and worms.

Cochiti Lake: Fishing for catfish was slow to fair using minnows and nightcrawlers. We had no reports on other species.

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

Fenton Lake: Fishing for trout was good using garlic flavored PowerBait and rainbow PowerEggs.

Heron Lake: Fishing for trout was slow using PowerBait and salmon eggs.

Jemez Waters: Stream flow on the Jemez near the town of Jemez Monday morning was 24.3 cfs. Fishing for trout in the Valles Caldera, Rio San Antonio and East Fork was good using terrestrial pattern flies, wax worms and gold spinners.

Laguna del Campo: Fishing for trout was fair to good using gold spinners and PowerBait.

Lagunitas Lakes: Fishing for trout was very good using terrestrial pattern flies.

Lake Farmington: Fishing from shore for smallmouth bass was fair to good using small jerk baits and top water jitterbugs.

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

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

Navajo Lake: Fishing for pike was fair using swimbaits. The best pike fishing reports came from anglers fishing the San Juan arm of the lake. Fishing for bass was slow but some anglers reported having success using white crank baits. Fishing for kokanee salmon was good using pink and orange spinners tipped with corn fished 60 feet deep near the dam. Anglers reported having success fishing for kokanee using Double Whammies, Kokanee Killers and other assorted spinners. We had no reports on other species.

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

San Juan River: Stream flow Monday morning was 1,200 cfs. Fishing for trout in the quality water was good using small midge larva, chocolate emerges and pupa fly patterns size 24 and 26 in dark colors. Top water fly fishing for trout was fair using midge clusters and Griffith Gnats around grassy banks. There were a lot of mosquitos last week and bug spray is recommended.

Seven Springs Brood Pond: Fishing for trout was good using garlic PowerBait, pink PowerBait, salmon eggs and nymph and dry flies.

Tingley Beach: Fishing for catfish was slow using shrimp, hotdogs and chicken liver.

Trout Lakes: Fishing for trout was good using PowerBait.

Southwest Fishing Report

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

Bear Canyon Lake: Fishing for crappie was good fishing 7-feet deep using a slip bobber rig with a 1/16-ounce pink jig head with a red and white plastic on the jig head. Anglers also reported catching crappie using watermelon minnow imitations with red glitter and squiggly tail. Fishing for bluegill was fair using worms and bright colored flies.

Bill Evans Lake: Fishing for bass was slow.

Caballo Lake: Fishing for white bass was fair to good using chartreuse crank baits. Fishing for bass was slow.

Elephant Butte Lake: Fishing for white bass was very good jigging white and yellow Bomber slab spoons. Anglers also had success fishing for white bass jigging Kastmasters and trolling white crankbaits on the north end of the lake. Fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass was slow to fair with anglers reporting catching a few at night using silver lures that dive just below the water’s surface. Fishing for catfish at night was good using beef liver bait, shrimp, red spinners, yellow grubs, worms, minnows, homemade dough bait and hotdogs. Fishing for walleye was fair to good at night using Rooster Tail spinners and Super Dupers.

Escondida Lake: Fishing for catfish was fair to good using nightcrawlers, cut bait and hotdogs

Gila River: Stream flow Monday morning was 54.8 cfs. Fishing for trout was fair to good on the Middle Fork.

Glenwood Pond: Fishing for trout was fair to good using flies and rainbow colored PowerBait.

Lake Roberts: Fishing for catfish was good using hotdogs.

Percha Dam: Fishing for all species was slow.

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 527 cfs. Fishing below Elephant Butte for catfish was fair using worms, cut bait and homemade dough baits for catfish.

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

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

Southeast Fishing Report

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

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

Berrendo Creek: Fishing for bass was fair using yellow and blank spinner baits.

Black River: Stream flow at Malaga Monday morning was 13.0 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 the spring of 2020.

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

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

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

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 good for anglers fishing from kayaks trolling spinners. Fishing for trout was good from the bank for anglers using PowerBait.

Jal Lake: Fishing for catfish was fair using hotdogs and homemade dough baits.

Lake Van: Fishing for catfish was fair using shrimp, cheese and stink bait.

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

Pecos River: Stream flow below Sumner Lake Monday morning was 1,270 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

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

Ruidoso River: Stream flow Monday morning at Hollywood was 7.97 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using flies and salmon eggs.

Santa Rosa Lake: The lake level was dropping due to water release and anglers reported that fishing was slow.

Sumner Lake: Fishing for largemouth bass was fair using top water lures early in the mornings. Fishing for catfish was fair to good using worms and minnows. We had no reports on other species.