ABQjournal: Fishing Line

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December 24, 2003

Fishing Line
MERCURY ALERT New Mexico environmental officials have issued
warnings about eating mercury-contaminated fish. Contact the Surface
Water Quality Bureau, (505) 827-2470, for specific guidelines.
AROUND THE STATE
NAVAJO: Like last week, little or no fishing pressure. No reports.
Shannon Haley at the park office
SAN JUAN: As of Tuesday, the river was flowing at 250 cubic feet a
second and continued to be clear only to about 1 foot. Navajo Lake is still
turning over. Quality water has been fair to great, depending on choice of
flies, for catch-and-release of 6- to 20-inch trout, mostly rainbows; fair
with dry flies, good with nymphs, and great with streamer patterns like
gray Bunny Leeches and olive Woolly Buggers. Other flies that work well
are egg patterns, orange San Juan Worms, red Larva and chocolate Foam-
Wings. Very few reports from regular water, but they indicate fishing good
for 6- to 14-inch rainbows on salmon eggs.
Peggy Harrell at Abe's
JICARILLA LAKES: Current information not available. Early last
week, all lakes had some ice cover. Horse and Enbom were completely
covered, while Mundo had thin ice. Anglers are advised to use the utmost
caution when venturing onto any ice.
Jim White, fisheries biologist, Jicarilla Game and Fish
HERON LAKE: Little or no fishing pressure. No reports.
Marilyn Morrison, Stone House Lodge
CHAMA RIVER below EL VADO: As of Monday, flow was about
284 cfs (compared to 140 cfs early last week). Little or no pressure; no
reports.
David Cooper, El Vado Guest Ranch
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ABQjournal: Fishing Line

ABIQUIU: No pressure at the lake. There has been some on the river
below the dam, where on Saturday one angler caught a 15-inch brown on
worms.
Phillip Martinez, Corps of Engineers ranger
FENTON: As of Tuesday, the lake was mostly ice-covered, with some
open water. No safe ice.
Bill Pentler, park ranger
SANDIA PUEBLO LAKES: Fair to good for 9- to 13-inch rainbows
on PowerBait, salmon eggs and corn.
Paul Holmes, lakes manager
COCHITI: Little or no pressure at the lake, and no reports. The
stilling basin is getting stocked with rainbows; no reports, but it should be
good for 11.9-inch rainbows.
Murray Lewis, Mainstream Bait Shop
NORTHERN WATERS: Rio Grande water is cold (below 40
degrees) and fishing is slow for 6- to 16-inch rainbows and browns.
Probably best with small beadhead nymphs (size 18 and smaller). The Red
River below the hatchery is low, and fishing is fair to good — but with a
lot of people out on the river over the holidays. Best for 6- to 16-inch
rainbows and browns with small beadhead nymphs. As of Tuesday, the
Cimarron was flowing at less than 1 cfs; it's extremely difficult to fish and
not recommended. On the Valle Vidal, the Rio Costilla is extremely low
and not recommended.
John Rainey, Los Rios Anglers, Taos
EAGLE NEST: As of Monday, the lake was frozen over. Thickness
on Sunday was about 5 inches near the south boat ramp. Thickness at
other parts of the lake unknown. What reports we have indicate fishing is
fair. A few anglers, fishing Sunday through the ice near the south ramp,
caught some 14- to 17-inch rainbows on night crawlers, roe sacs and
crappie jigs. There was a little snow on the ice Monday.
Sue Finley at Mountain View Cabins
MALOYA and ALICE: As of Tuesday, Maloya was about 95 percent
frozen, but there was no safe ice and the only open water was in the
middle. Lake Alice is frozen over but not considered safe; thickness was

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ABQjournal: Fishing Line

not consistent, ranging from 3 to 8 inches. Also, at this time of year, the
city of Raton usually draws water from Lake Alice, making the ice
treacherous.
Jaime Romero, assistant manager, Sugarite Canyon State Park
BRANTLEY: Boating is only recommended in the river channel due
to the low lake level. Boating activity continues light, with little fishing
pressure.
Shane Phipps, park manager
BLUEWATER: As of Tuesday, the lake was pretty much covered with
a thin layer of ice — not safe ice, and no suitable open water for fishing
from the bank.
Gary Jewell, park superintendent
SELECTED SOUTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST WATERS: Slow
at Santa Rosa and Sumner. Fair for trout on the Pecos River below
Sumner Lake using salmon eggs, PowerBait and small spinners. Continues
good for trout at Bosque Redondo using PowerBait, salmon eggs and wet
flies under a bubble. As of Tuesday, Quemado had a thin layer of ice and
was unsafe for fishing. Fair at Bear Canyon for trout, using PowerBait,
salmon eggs, prop flies under a bubble and spinners. At Bill Evans, use the
same baits as at Bear Canyon for some good trout fishing. Fishing is good
and should stay that way through the winter months with regular trout
stocking. If you want to try for the big bass at Bill Evans, use jig-and-pig
combinations or big-trout imitations fished slowly in deep water.
Bill Dunn's Report for the Department of Game and Fish
ELEPHANT BUTTE: Very little change from last week.
Exceptionally light pressure, probably due to frequent cold and windy
conditions. Fair to good for striped bass, with most of them at 12 pounds
or less (and occasionally one at 17 pounds or better). Best opportunity is
likely to be between Kettle Top and the dam, drifting or trolling slowly
with live bait at 20 to 25 feet. Action continues slow for largemouth and
smallmouth. Probably best in 6 to 15 feet of water with soft plastic
retrieved across the bottom. Some 1 1/2- to 3-pound catfish are being
caught with shrimp over baited holes.
Bob Brewster, Butte Fishing Guide Service

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WINTER STOCKING: In the Middle Rio Grande Valley, drains plus

Tingley Beach were stocked last week as follows with 9 1/4-inch rainbows:
Bernalillo (none — this drain was being worked on and its stocking
diverted to Tingley Beach), Corrales (500), Albuquerque Upper (192) and
Lower (360), Peralta (500), Belen Riverside (500), and Tingley Beach (740).
Victor Trujillo, manager, Red River Hatchery All content copyright ©
ABQJournal.com and Albuquerque Journal and may not be republished without
permission. Requests for permission to republish, or to copy and distribute must be
obtained at the the Albuquerque Publishing Co. Library, 505-823-3492, or through
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