New Mexico

[billfrech]

My wife has a desire to go to New Mexico for vacation. Not sure why other than she has never been there.

My question is if I agree to this request am I going to be able to do any fly fishing?

Any experience and recommendations would be appreciated... including what time of year to go

Thanks all

 

[dryflyguy]

I spent a week on the san juan river once in october- and it's a pretty neat place. Loaded with fish - although most of what I caught tended to be on the small side. Did get a few nice ones though. I'm sure I would have done much better if it wasn't for my aversion to fishing subsurface.
But it was still a worth while trip.

 

[Maurice]

Hey Bill buy some sinkers and the fish get bigger.

 

[raftman]

New Mexico is absolutely stunning. My wife and I spent some time there this summer - mostly in Santa Fe and Taos - both really great places. Taos is more of a town than a city, but it's got a great fly shop and lots of artsy places. Santa Fe is a city - awesome place - with a ton of stuff to do and really great museums.

The only place I fished was up north of Taos on the Rio Grande - we camped at the Rio Grande Norte National Monument - it's BLM - and it's probably one of the best places I've ever camped (and I've camped at hundreds of places). We got a site right along the rim of the canyon so we could walk down to the river (quite a walk) every day.

Even if you don't want to camp, you could easily find places to stay in Taos to explore the area - you've got the Rio Grande, a ton of small mountain streams, and then the Red River near Questa (not much of a town there).

Anyway, what I'm saying is this - we LOVED New Mexico - great food, great culture, great outdoors. If you're looking for more specifics, feel free to PM me.


Here's a good resource - http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/taos/rio_grande_wsr.html

 

[Chaz]

The White Mountains, I think that's right, have trout. And there are rare endangered trout in NM. Some are on public land other on reservations. If you fish on one of the reservations, make sure you get that tribes licence and be respectful. You can find information in the Behnke book of NA trout and salmon. The key is if in the back country know where you are fishing and what you are fishing for and make sure it's not protected.
NM is beautiful.

 

[billfrech]

Thanks everyone for all the input.

Anyone have any thoughts on best time of year to go?

 

[dryflyguy]

Weather wise, it gets pretty hot there in the summer. I went in late october, and it was very comfortable then. High temps were in the '70's. And never saw a drop of rain for the whole week - just blue skies and bright sunshine.
And the san juan is supposed to get nice BWO hatches at that time of year. But all of that nice weather hindered them during my stay. I was told by many other fishermen though, that they would have hatched good if we had gotten any overcast or rainy weather

 

[e-setter]

Orvis did a podcast with a guide from New Mexico that you may want to check out. You can find it if you go to this link and browse to the Doc Thompson podcast that was published on August 23.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Pecos River in Pecos. Runs out of a wilderness area. Hatchery in Pecos puts a ton of fish in the river and Monistary Lake. It was cold am in the summer when I fished due to the altitude. GG