Alto Lake: Joanne Rodriguez of Las Cruces caught a 22-inch rainbow trout using green and yellow PowerBait Sept. 27.

Chama River: Odessa Paul, age 4, of Albuquerque caught a 16-inch brown trout on the Rio Chama, above Abiquiu Reservoir, using a nightcrawler Sept. 19.

Eagle Nest Lake: Rick Torres of Albuquerque caught a 36.5-inch northern pike using a large orange spinner Sept. 27.

Fenton Lake: Lylah-Jane, age 4, of Albuquerque caught her first cutthroat trout. It was 15-inches and caught using salmon eggs Sept. 26.

Grindstone Reservoir: Daniel Mendoza of El Paso, Texas caught a 21-inch trout using PowerBait Sept. 19. Aaron Montano and Amaia Franco of Roswell caught a 20-inch rainbow trout using peach salmon PowerBait Sept. 19.

Hopewell Lake: Donna Montoya of Albuquerque caught a 21-inch, 3-pound rainbow trout using a silver #1 Mepps spinner Sept. 19.

Lake Van: Margarita Zavala of Roswell caught a 31-inch catfish using cut beef bait Sept. 23.

Pecos River: Dustin Greer of Belen caught an 18.5-inch brown trout using a hare’s ear nymph fly Sept. 27.

Red River: Rick Torres of Albuquerque caught a 12-inch albino trout using a black nymph fly under a green stimulator fly Sept.21.

The following reports came in late, but we thought they were worth mentioning.

Bosque Redondo Lake: Ashley Jimenez of Clovis caught an 18-inch catfish using hotdogs Sept. 12.

Chama River: Candi Gallegos of Albuquerque caught an 18-inch brown trout using a nightcrawler Sept. 5.

Northeast Fishing Report

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

Charette Lakes: Fishing for trout was good using worms, Fireballs, nymph flies in the mornings and dry flies in the evenings.

Cimarron River: Stream flow near Cimarron Monday morning was 9.78 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using fly dry dropper setups with zebra midges and tricos. The water level was low.

Clayton Lake: Fishing for trout was fair to good using PowerBait.

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 8.81 cfs. Portions closed Sept. 24 – Oct. 9, 2020: Rio Costilla from Costilla Dam downstream to the Valle Vidal Boundary including all tributaries and Comanche Creek from the road culvert crossing on FR 1950 downstream to its confluence with Rio Costilla and all tributaries. FR 1950 is open for public travel but stopping within the marked project area is prohibited. The primary goal of the overall project is to expand native Rio Grande cutthroat trout distribution in northern New Mexico by 120 miles with the majority of the project already completed. This year’s project will remove nonnative fish within the closed area with a tentative restocking of Rio Grande cutthroat in spring 2022. Places to fish nearby include Costilla Creek below the fish barrier, Upper Comanche Creek, Shuree Ponds, Middle Ponil Creek, Upper Powderhouse Creek, Little Costilla Creek, Vidal Creek and McCrystal Creek.

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 perch was good using worms. Fishing for pike was good using orange spinners.

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 fair to good using brown and green Pistol Petes and silver Mepps spinners.

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

Lake Maloya: Fishing for trout was fair using PowerBait.

Los Pinos River: We had no reports from anglers this week.

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

Monastery Lake: Closed due to Covid-19 health concerns. Check the Open Gate webpage for future updates.

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 18.6 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using salmon eggs, worms, hare’s ear nymph and bead head nymph flies.

Red River: Stream flow below the hatchery Monday morning was 31.7 cfs. Fishing for trout was good using dry fly dropper rigs with small black, red and brown nymph flies like zebra midges and RS2’s.

Rio Grande: Stream flow at the Taos Junction Bridge Monday morning was 159 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 58.3 cfs. Fishing for trout was fair using small attractor dry flies.

Rio Mora: Stream flow Monday morning was 11.1 cfs. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Rio Pueblo: Stream flow near Penasco Monday morning was 3.15 cfs. Anglers reported that the water level was very low and not good for fishing.

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 fair trolling using medium diving crankbaits. Fishing for large and smallmouth bass was fair in 10 to 15-feet of water using Senko worms, chatterbaits and swimbaits. Fishing for walleye was slow. Fishing for catfish was fair using punch bait. The surface water temp was in the upper 60’s and the water’s color was lightly stained.

Northwest Fishing Report

Abiquiu Lake: Fishing for bass was slow to fair using Ned rigs. Fishing for walleye was fair using jigging spoons and bottom bouncers tipped with nightcrawlers. 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 36.3 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 muskie was good using spinner baits, Rapala lures, soft plastic lures and water dogs.

Brazos River: Fishing for trout was good using prince nymph flies.

Canjilon Lakes: Fishing for trout was good using black dry flies.

Chama River: Monday morning flows below El Vado and Abiquiu were 605 cfs and 353 cfs, respectively. Fishing for trout below El Vado Lake was fair to good using nightcrawlers. Fishing for trout below Abiquiu Lake was fair using bead head nymphs.

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 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, so please check with the state park before you go.

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

Jemez Waters: Stream flow on the Jemez near the town of Jemez Monday morning was 5.62 cfs. Fishing for trout was fair using worms.

Laguna del Campo: Fishing for trout was good using yellow garlic scented 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 fair to good using watermelon plastic tubes and crankbaits. Fishing for kokanee salmon was slow.

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

San Juan River: Stream flow Monday morning was 706 cfs. Fishing for trout in the quality waters was good using size 22 black midges, chocolate foam wing emergers, black/brown crystal midges, red or orange annelids and size 12 olive bunny leeches.

Seven Springs Brood Pond: Closed due to Covid-19 health concerns. Check the Department’s Alerts page for future updates.

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

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

Southeast Fishing Report

Alto Lake: Fishing for trout was good using green and yellow PowerBait.

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

Black River: Stream flow at Malaga Monday morning was 19.4 cfs.

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: Fishing for catfish was fair to good using hotdogs.

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 good using peach salmon PowerBait.

Jal Lake: Fishing for catfish was good using homemade dough bait.

Lake Van: Fishing for catfish was good using cut beef bait.

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

Pecos River: Stream flow below Sumner Lake Monday morning was 94.7 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 3.67 cfs.

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

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

Tips and Tricks

Special Kokanee Salmon Snagging Season

Kokanee are land-locked sockeye salmon. Although not native to the Southwest, kokanee thrives in some of New Mexico’s deeper and colder plankton-producing lakes. In late fall, large schools of four-year-old kokanee gather to spawn and die.

A popular method for catching kokanee is snagging, the intentional taking of fish by hooking the body rather than the mouth. Kokanee are the only fish that may be legally snagged and only during Special Kokanee Snagging Season. If another species is caught by snagging, it must be immediately returned to the water.

Each autumn, the Department collects millions of kokanee eggs and milt to fertilize eggs and hatch fry. The young fry are used to stock Heron Lake, Navajo Lake, El Vado Lake and Eagle Nest Lake. The success of these collection operations is essential to maintain vibrant and healthy fisheries for anglers to enjoy. As a result, Heron Lake, Willow Creek and designated no-wake areas at Navajo Lake are closed Oct. 1–Nov. 12, and no kokanee salmon may be in possession while fishing during these closures at Heron Lake and Willow Creek.

Snagging Season Dates by Location

Oct. 1–Dec. 31: Open at Abiquiu Lake, Rio Chama (El Vado Lake to the west boundary of Rio Chama Wildlife and Fishing Area), Navajo Lake (excluding buoyed no-wake areas and shoreline within the no-wake areas at the Pine River Boat Ramp and Simms Boat Ramp), Pine River, El Vado Lake and Eagle Nest Lake.

Oct. 1–Nov. 8: Closed at Heron Lake, Willow Creek and Navajo Lake (buoyed no-wake areas).

Nov. 9–Dec. 31: Open at Heron Lake, Willow Creek and Navajo Lake.

Bag Limit (during Special Kokanee Salmon Snagging Season) Kokanee salmon – 12 per day – 24 in possession