FISHING LINE

CATCHES OF THE WEEK

Matthew Farmer of Albuquerque caught and released a 42-inch, 22-pound tiger muskie using a Westin Fishing Danny the Duck top-water lure on July 9 at Bluewater Lake.

Rebecca Calcutt of Albuquerque caught a 26-inch walleye using a crank bait on Saturday at Caballo Lake.

Gary Vigil of Española caught a brown trout measuring 24 inches and weighing 5½ pounds on the Chama River below El Vado using a black jig upriver toward the dam on July 11.

Michael Nee, age 12, of Edgewood caught a 20¼-inch largemouth bass using a white Gitzit on Saturday at Conchas Lake.

At Elephant Butte Lake, Marcos Renteria of Albuquerque caught a 4½-pound bass using a nightcrawler worm off Marina Del Sur’s dock on Saturday. … Justin Jimmer Dominguez, 3, of El Paso caught a 21-inch, 5-pound drum fish while bank fishing and using nightcrawlers on July 11.

Estevan Flores of Albuquerque caught and released a 29-inch catfish with a 20-inch girth at Santa Rosa Lake. He was fishing with a minnow hot dog combo on Friday.

AROUND THE STATE

SHADY LAKES: Bass and bluegill are biting on top-water plastics and worms. The trout pond was stocked July 1 with 12- to 16-inch rainbow trout (with more than 100 17to 20-inch trout).

NOTES from GAME & FISH: Streamflow on the SAN JUAN RIVER on Monday morning was 1,070 cfs. Trout fishing is fair to good using size 24-26 midges. Fishing below Texas Hole in the deeper runs is fair using San Juan worms, leech patterns and egg patterns. Fishing the bait waters was fair to good using nightcrawlers, Panther Martin spinners and Gulp eggs. Water clarity is good upriver from Texas Hole. Water clarity below Texas Hole is murky.

At NAVAJO LAKE, kokanee salmon fishing was good using green, pink and orange spinners tipped with corn fished 20-40 feet deep.

Fishing at BLUEWATER LAKE was good for tiger muskie using jerk baits, crank baits and spinner baits, and a few were caught on top-water lures.

At CABALLO LAKE, fishing was good using minnows for white bass.

Fishing at ELEPHANT BUTTE LAKE for white bass was good around Rock Canyon using live minnows.

Fishing at CONCHAS LAKE was very good using worms for bluegill.

Monday morning flows on the CHAMA RIVER below El Vado and Abiquiu were 314 cfs and 381 cfs, respectively. Fishing below El Vado was good using nightcrawlers, streamers, woolly buggers, flies, Panther Martins and PowerBait for brown and rainbow trout. Some brown trout up to 22 inches were caught last week.

At EAGLE NEST LAKE, fishing was good for trout using bright-colored spinners tipped with PowerBait.

Fishing at MONASTERY LAKE was good using spinners, dry flies and grasshoppers for trout.

Streamflow on the RED RIVER below the hatchery on Monday morning was 84.9 cfs. Fishing was good using Panther Martin spinners, tungsten bead-head nymphs and large dry flies. The water level is high, and the water is clear.

Streamflow on the RIO PUEBLO on Monday morning near Peñasco was 27.5 cfs. The water level is good, with good clarity. Small browns have been eager to eat flies, including parachute Adams, caddis and stimulators.

Fishing at UTE LAKE was good using nightcrawlers for bluegill. Fishing was good using ned rigs, plastic crawdads, tubes, senkos (rigged wacky) and grubs in 5-10 feet of water for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.

Streamflow on the PECOS RIVER near the town of Pecos on Monday morning was 121 cfs. Fishing was good using PowerBait, worms, salmon eggs, woolly buggers, leach pattern flies and Panther Martin spinners for trout.

Streamflow on the PECOS RIVER below Sumner Lake on Monday morning was 1,400 cfs. Fishing for catfish was good using chicken liver.

Fishing for carp at the ALBUQUERQUE AREA was good using nightcrawlers.

At TINGLEY BEACH, fishing at all ponds was fair using worms and flies for bluegill. Fishing was slow to fair using hot dogs and homemade dough bait for catfish.

Fishing on the upper JEMEZ and EAST FORK was good using dry flies and Panther Martin spinners for rainbow and brown trout. Stimulator, hopper and black flies were working well.

At FENTON LAKE, fishing was slow for trout. One angler reported there might be an algae bloom that is affecting the fishing conditions.