More cold and snowy weather kept me off the river in the first half of February. On 2/17 I fished with Joe at the confluence and unbeknownst to us we were behind another angler. Water temp was 48-52* and we did see a few Caddis but no rising fish.. On 2/20, a warm and overcast day and water at 52* at 11am. I got a few nice fish but it was slow and there were few bugs..On 2/22 I fished with Rita and water temps were from 52-56* and a fair amount of bugs {Caddis-Mayflies}. Some of the Browns we got were very skinny…We didn’t see any spawners..On 2/25 I fished alone and water temps were 52-55*. Fishing was slow and fish seemed to be holding deeper and reluctant to elevate. Water level is also up a bit but clear..We have had some -0* nights and this may explain the skinny fish as they weren’t around the last time we had a winter like this. On 2/26 with water temps 50-55* we had a good day especially after the Mayflies came off at 1pm..The Mayfly emerger fished as a dropper worked well during the hatch and the Caddis larva later..On 2/29 Rita fished alone . She saw some nice fish but they weren’t interested…Slow day.
NM Fishing Reports
Red River Fly Fishing Report 01/25/2004
More snow this year and it almost seems like old times with nighttime temps below 0* and some good snow in the mountains..We really need this moisture. I fished alone on 1/7 and water temp was 48-50*.. There was a nice Mayfly hatch at 1pm and fish were active for a while. On 1/10 it was warm and sunny and I fished with a client and water temp was 46-50* and we saw some spawners..Fair fishing..D&D…On 1/29 I fished with Rita and the trails were a little sloppy from more snow the past few weeks. There were a bunch of other anglers around so we didn’t fish long..Fair on droppers especially Mayfly emerger.
Red River Fly Fishing Report 12/25/2003
The only day I fished this month was 12/4..Water was low and clear and 52* at 1pm. Lots of Cutbo spawners but they seemed to have lockjaw..I did get one 18″er and a couple of Browns to 14″ on droppers.
Red River Fly Fishing Report 11/25/2003
On 11/5 I fished alone by the Hatchery for a few hours.I saw some big Browns spawning..On 11/17 I fished with Sam and we got into some nice fish. He got 2 Browns,18″ & 20″ and some good residents 12-14″.
Red River Fly Fishing Report 10/25/2003
10/21 with Joe and Rita..Conditions excellent but fishing was slow…Best fish Joe’s 14″ Brown..With clients on 10/30 conditions again great, 15/45cfs and 54-60* but fishing slow.
Rio Grande Fly Fishing Report 10/25/2003
Flows in August were about 50cfs {State Line}but temps got into the high 60*s by mid afternoon and fishing dropped off. Not prime yet. September was excellent with flows about 60cfs and Rita camped at Big Arsenic for 5 days{ 9/25-9/30}and fished up and down a mile or so and caught over 200 fish {guesstimate}. Again D&D combos were the best method to hit the smaller pocket water that holds some nice fish. She got a few Cutbos to 20″ but mostly Browns 13-18″. October was windy on most days which made fishing more difficult but the first half of the month was great on calm days. We got some snow around the middle of the month and it seemed to slow fishing considerably.
Cimarron River Fly Fishing Report 10/25/2003
Flows remained at 20cfs thru the middle of the month and by the 15th the Browns were actively spawning on the Cita. The Trico hatch continued in the morning and fishing was steady most days with no drop off in the afternoon. We saw a Bald Eagle take a real nice Brown off of a redd. I guess he didn’t know it was all Catch+Release there.
Red River Fly Fishing Report 09/25/2003
I fished alone on 9/18 and flow 25/55cfs and 57* at 11am. Water was murky from big rain a few days ago and fishing slow…On 9/23 I fished with Rita, 20/50cfs and 54-62*..Good day but not great.. Water still off-color from big rain.
Cimarron River Fly Fishing Report 09/25/2003
The lows were back to a manageable 20cfs early in the month and with cooler temps fishing picked up. There was a nice Trico hatch about 9am most mornings anf fish were taking a Para-Adams #18.
Rio Costilla Fly Fishing Report 08/25/2003
Flows remained the same {30-60cfs}and very low on weekends {10cfs}. The water got murky but not as bad as last year. Low flows combined with fishing pressure made for a poor month on the Costilla. Temperatures were again in the high 60*s on sunny days and also contributed to slow fishing. They shut off the flow on 9/5.
Cimarron River Fly Fishing Report 08/25/2003
Flows remained at 35cfs for the first week of August and fishing was good on Caddis patterns. On 8/6 flows increased to 60cfs and this was too high to fish in the Public section but was quite good down on the Cita where the water can spread out a little. On 8/12 the flow increased again to 93cfs and wading was impossible in the Public water and a few of the beaver dams in the Quality Water blew out and made the lower river too murky to fish. On 8/20 with the flow reading on the internet at 15cfs I was driving down to the Cita and the flow looked considerably larger than even the 93cfs last week. We fished the Cita all morning and at lunch lots of dirty water came down and ruined our afternoon. It takes 5 hours for water to get from the dam to Ute Park. Flow was up to 150cfs as Raton and Springer were having trouble with their domestic water supplies.
Red River Fly Fishing Report 07/25/2003
Rita is back from Spain and the fish were glad to see her. We fished on 7/12 and flow was 21/51 and tems 64-66*….She had about 75 hookups, Browns 10-12″ and a few to 14″..Moth-Caddis…D*D.