RIO GRANDE CUTTHROAT TROUT NO LONGER AN ENDANGERED SPECIES CANDIDATE SANTA FE –New Mexico’s state fish, the Rio Grande...
Fishing
Cimarron is Starting to Fish Well
The Cimarron is starting to fish well with a pre-runoff inflow from the tributaries and should improve weekly thru June. We are still using Ute Creek Ranch and the Cimarroncita.
The Red hasn’t really had it’s usual good Spring but is getting there and the bestfishing will probably be post runoff this year. The caddis and mayfly hatches have begun but the deluge from the snowpack is due later this month.
We’ll be fishing the Culebra and the Conejos this year as usual and both have plenty of water. Â
The Valle Vidal opens July 1 and we have some new private water on the lower Costilla which will start to fish after the dam opens on April 15. There are also some new lodging opportunities in Amalia for those who don’t relish the long ride back to Taos or Red River.
Our Spring Pike season was a bust this year with ice and high flows on the Rio Grande but last Fall we started really exploring the Ute Mt. area by the Colorado border and this Fall it should be great in October and November when flows on the Rio stablize. Rita has a new 13′ raft with a fishing frame and we will be using that in the Fall on the Grande. She will be here most of the summer with a few trips to Montana in the Spring and Fall.. You can check out some of her adventures at rioroseflyfishing.com.
We hope you had a happy and healthy winter and hope to see you streamside this season.Â
Superfly Competition on the Conejos
We kicked off the season with the Superfly competition on the Conejos. Jon Harp put on another great event and we had the usual Conejos weather, wind, snow and one beautiful day for the finals. The snowpack above Platoro is in good shape and summer flows from the resevoir should be adaquate. The river should be fishable by mid June in time for the Stonefly and Green Drake hatches.
       The Rio Grande Cutthroat Restoration Project on the Rio Costilla [Valle Vidal] is in the second year of a 15 year duration. They applied a piscicide to the upper reaches of Commanche Creek and all the tributaries thereof. They put a fish barrier by the Little Costilla Peak trail along the road to Shuree and will restock that area this summer with pure Cutts. They will concentrate on the lower part of Commanche and its tributaries this year so the Rio Costilla will still fish well from July 1st thru September. Â
       The Rio Grande and the Red are getting to peak flows and should be chugging for a while. The Red should improve over the last few years. After the flash flood event in ’07, which killed a lot of brown trout the fishing in the canyon fell off precipitously and still hasn’t returned to its former glory. We were down last fall a few times and had fair days. The river looked good as far as gravel, bugs and health of the fish were concerned. The numbers should improve this year barring another cataclysmic event.
     Rita has been in the Bahamas, Yucatan and currently in Montana doing what she does best, catching lots of fish. She will be back in NM by June 1st and guide here until mid August and then she is back up north and a month of guiding on the Kootenai, Yaak and Clark Fork in NW Montana. She has been doing some drift boat guiding on those bigger Montana rivers. This winter I got to Baja and fished the Sea of Cortez for a few weeks but mostly watched the snow fly and prowled the upper Rio Grande looking for Northern Pike.
    We hope to catch up with you this spring/summer/fall. Ed And Rita Adams