Acristickid
Well-known member
Gila trout pronounced Gee- la
In New Mexico, the heart of Gila trout habitat is the Gila and Aldo Leopold Wilderness Areas. These areas of the Gila National Forest contain nearly the entire currently occupied habitat of the Gila trout. The Gila is a vast area of perennial rivers, steep walled canyons, rolling grasslands, dry uplands of juniper and pinyon pine, forests of ponderosa pine, aspen groves, and high mountains of spruce and fir.
Gila trout inhabit coldwater mountain streams, hunting insects and hiding in fallen branches and undercut banks; finding refuge in pools fed by groundwater seeps during droughts. There is a population native to Arizona as well.
These fish were thought to be so endangered that they were off limits to fishing g just a decade ago. There has been significant effort to restore Gila within its native range. Collecting native fish, relocating them to streams where they had since been expatriated. There is a hatchery program as well to preserve the future of the Gila which was the first fish to be actively managed to conserved. It was delisted and down graded to threaten in 2006. Angling for these fish was closed in the 1950’s. I didn’t bother researching the fish that much since it was closed to angling. Even as late as 2015 angling for Gilas was very limited ( if my notes are correct- only one stream was open then to angling) so I chose not to pursue. I think it would have been open if the 2012 Baldy Whitewater fire would not have impacted 6 of the 8 streams. Teams when in on horse back to try to save fish before the rains silted them in.
I enjoyed fishing for the Gila. I fished in a tight canyon with steep walls that keeps the stream well shaded. To my amazement in speaking with the forest service representative when I checked on conditions a week or two before I left they said that they’ve had a good amount of rainfall. I guess the moisture crosses over Arizona and dumps on the higher mountains of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. I fished in the Gila Wilderness area near Glenwood NM.
I haven’t spent a lot of thought on it but I’m wondering which trout is the most rare. I’m thinking Paiute Cutthroat or the Gila trout. But really it’s probably a Sheepshaven redband in northern CA that limited to a mile or two of water which you are not allowed to fish for.
Here’s some Gila water-
https://imgur.com/a/SY8I4qk
