Sports And Outdoors
Los Alamos Daily Post
New Mexico’s State Parks reopened Dec. 3 and are now open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., during regular day-use hours.
There is no overnight camping and facilities are open to New Mexico residents only.
Several of the lakes in Northern New Mexico have started to freeze over. There is no ice-fishing allowed due to unsafe ice conditions.
Eagle Nest Lake State Park is open. It is closed to ice fishing. When the ice becomes safe to fish on, this is the best lake in New Mexico for ice fishing. Rainbow trout, yellow perch and northern pike are the species available, with possibly an occasional kokanee salmon. Call for current conditions at (575).377.1594.
Fenton Lake State Park is open. It is currently closed to ice-fishing. Throwing objects on to the ice is prohibited. When the ice becomes safe to fish on, this lake is a popular destination. It is stocked with rainbow trout during the winter.
There are also stocked Rio Grande cutthroat trout and wild brown trout in this lake. Call (575).829.3630 for current conditions.
Sugarite Canyon State Park is open. Lake Alice is completely frozen over and closed to ice fishing. Lake Maloya still has open water and the fishing should be at least fair. Lake Maloya is well-stocked with rainbow trout. It will likely freeze over later this winter and ice fishing can be good here. Call (575).445.5607 for current conditions.
Bluewater Lake State Park is open. There is some ice on the lake and it is currently closed due to increasing ice conditions. Temperatures here can vary by as much as 50-degrees, with lows in the single digits. It has been stocked with rainbow trout and you can still catch the big tiger muskies that this lake holds during the winter. Call (505).876.2391 for current conditions.
Storrie Lake State Park near Las Vegas is open Thursday-Sunday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fishing here should pick up as it was stocked Dec. 3 with 5,085 rainbow trout averaging 8.3 inches in length. Ice may start to form on this lake. Call (505).425.7278 for conditions.
Heron Lake State Park is open. The kokanee salmon snagging was very slow over the weekend. The best fishing may be from the bank for rainbow trout with the possibility of catching a lake trout. Call (575).588.7470 for conditions. El Vado Lake State Park is closed for the season.
Laguna del Campo near Los Ojos is closed.
Most high elevation lakes are now frozen over and may be inaccessible due to ice and snow.
Santa Cruz Lake near Chimayo normally does not freeze over and usually has open water. It is open Thursday-Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The fishing can be good here in the winter, although thin ice may form near shore in the morning. The lake level is low.
Abiquiu Lake is open to walk-in fishing. The lake level is low. The fishing has been slow for walleye and trout.
Ute Lake State Park is open. The fishing should be slow-to-fair for white bass. Conchas Lake State Park is open. Santa Rosa Lake State Park is open and anglers have been catching some crappie. Sumner Lake State Park is open and fishing may be fair for walleye.
Navajo Lake State Park is open. This lake does not freeze over. The kokanee salmon snagging is just about over. The best fishing may be for trout and possibly northern pike. It was stocked last week with a total of 47,587 small rainbow trout. Call (505).632.2278 for conditions.
Lake Farmington is open. This Lake is administered by the City of Farmington. It has been stocked and the fishing should be at least fair for rainbow trout.
Tiger Park Pond in Aztec was stocked Dec. 1 with 1,344 rainbow trout. Aztec Pond #1 was stocked with 192 rainbow trout. Fishing should be good.
Most small streams are now icing over and difficult to fish. The larger rivers are the best bet this time of year, especially below dams.
The Chama River below Abiquiu Dam is flowing at 50.1 cubic-feet-per-second. This is a low flow and fishing conditions are good. The water here is usually murky. The fishing has been good for stocked rainbow trout and there are some big. Wild brown trout here.
The Chama River below El Vado Dam is flowing at 102 cubic-feet-per-second. This is a good level for fishing, which has been fair-to-good for stocked rainbow trout and wild brown trout. You may catch some small Rio Grande cutthroat trout here. Please release them carefully and give them a chance to grow.
The Rio Grande streamflow is 382 cubic-feet-per-second at Taos Junction Bridge. This is below normal but still a good flow for this time of year. The fishing has been fair-to-good for rainbow and brown trout. The Rio Grande in the Pilar area was stocked Dec. 4 with 2,000 rainbow trout.
The Red River near the Red River Fish Hatchery is flowing at 30.6 cubic-feet-per-second. The fishing is normally fair-to-good here. The upper Red River above Questa is icing over.
Eagle Rock Lake near Questa is likely iced over. I have never heard of anyone ice fishing here, but it may be worth a try. Use extreme caution when testing the ice thickness.
The best winter-fishing river and well-known throughout the angling world is the San Juan River below Navajo Dam. The streamflow here is 367 cubic-feet-per-second, which is about 50-percent of normal. The fishing has been fair-to-good with a variety of fly patterns in the Quality Water. The fishing here is catch-and-release with flies and lures having a single, barbless hook. The fishing in the Bait Water below the Quality Water has been fair-to-good with flies, bait and lures. The Bait Water was stocked Dec. 1 with 3,320 rainbow trout.
The Pecos River above the town of Pecos is icing over. During the winter, the Pecos River is stocked with rainbow trout at Villanueva State Park, which is open. Fishing can be good after these stockings.
In the Albuquerque area, Tingley Beach is open again. Fishing should be at least fair for stocked rainbow trout. It was not stocked last week but should be stocked this week.
The Albuquerque area drainage canals are stocked with rainbow trout about every other week. The fishing should be fair in the Albuquerque, Albuquerque South, Belen Riverside, Corrales Riverside and Peralta drains.
Elephant Butte Lake State Park is open. Fishing this time of year for white bass and catfish can be very good if you can locate where the fish are schooled up, which they tend to do in the winter. Now is a good time to perhaps hire a guide, as they make it their business to know where the fish are. The water level is extremely low. It will likely slowly rise over the winter as they try to store as much water as possible to prepare for spring planting.
The Rio Grande below Elephant Butte Lake is barely flowing as they are not releasing water from the lake. The streamflow was 0.92 inches. The fish are congregated in the deeper pools. The fishing has been fair for catfish. It was stocked Dec. 4 with 1,299 rainbow trout.
In the Ruidoso area, the fishing remains good at Alto Lake and Grindstone Reservoir. These lakes are administered by the City of Ruidoso and reserved for residents and property owners of Lincoln County, as well as residents of Mescalero.
Alto Lake was stocked Dec.3 with 612 rainbow trout. Grindstone Reservoir was stocked with 762 rainbow trout.
The Ruidoso River was flowing at 7.62 cubic-feet-per-second at Ruidoso, which is high for this section of river. It was stocked Dec. 3 with 250 rainbow trout. Streamflow at Hollywood was 3.67 cubic-feet-per-second.
The State Game and Fish Department stocks many of the small municipal lakes in Southern New Mexico. Several lakes in the Carlsbad area receive heavy stockings. Carlsbad Municipal Lake was stocked Dec. 4 with 1,500 rainbow trout. Lake Van was stocked with 1,500 rainbow trout.
In Southwest New Mexico. Lake Roberts has been fair for trout and catfish. This is a trophy-bass lake where the limit is two largemouth bass-per-day 14 inches in size or longer.
Bear Canyon Lake has fair fishing for stocked rainbow trout. There are also catfish and crappie here.
Bill Evans Lake received a heavy stocking of rainbow trout two weeks ago and the fishing for them should be fair. There are catfish here. This is a trophy bass lake where the limit is two largemouth bass per-day 14 inches in size or longer. The state-record largemouth bass was caught at Bill Evans Lake.
Quemado Lake has been fair for rainbow trout. This lake can sometimes freeze because it sits in a cold spot where the temperature can fall dramatically despite its southerly location.
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