FISHING LINE
CATCHES OF THE WEEK
Emilio Hernandez, 11, of Albuquerque caught a 4-pound, 6-ounce, 21-inch long carp at Cochiti Lake’s Tetilla Peak dock fishing with a hot dog Saturday.
At Elephant Butte Lake, Kristen Ferguson of Los Lunas caught her first walleye. It was 30 inches long and weighed 7.8 pounds. She caught it using minnows on live bait jigs Saturday.
Samantha Quinonez of Las Vegas, N.M., caught a 19-inch rainbow trout that weighed 3.2 pounds. She caught the fish using garlic PowerBait Sunday at Lake Maloya.
Laura Walker of Amarillo caught and released a 5.06-pound black bass using a minnow on a crappie rig Saturday at Ute Lake. To top it off, it was her 60th birthday.
AROUND THE STATE
HERON LAKE: The Dr. Tom and Christie Sames family from Amarillo had one of the best fishing days at Heron in the past several years. Eight-year-old Caden, 5-year-old Taylor and mom, with a little coaching from dad, landed 10 rainbow trout (9½ to 16 inches) and three nice kokanee salmon (13½ to 15 inches). They also missed at least 10 strikes that didn’t hook up. They were trolling yellow Panther Martins and orange spinners with yellow “squid skirts” from the dam to the rock point at Salmon Run. The water continues to rise and is still a little murky, but is getting more of that plankton-green color. There are still not many people fishing. Don Wolfley, Stone House Lodge
NOTES from GAME & FISH: Streamflow on the SAN JUAN RIVER on Monday morning was 1,040 cfs. Trout fishing above Texas Hole is fair to good using size 24 to 26 midges. Fishing below Texas Hole in the deeper runs is fair using San Juan worms, leach patterns and egg patterns. Fishing the bait waters was fair to good using night crawlers, Panther Martin spinners and Gulp eggs. Water clarity is good upriver from Texas Hole. Water below Texas Hole is murky.
Fishing at ELEPHANT BUTTE LAKE for white bass was good using live minnows and sassy shad. Fishing was good using worms, minnows, homemade dough bait, hotdogs and chicken liver for catfish.
At BLUEWATER LAKE, fishing was very good for bank and boat anglers fishing for tiger muskie using jerkbaits, square bill crankbaits, spinnerbaits, streamer flies. Tiger muskie were caught on top water lures, as well.
At TINGLEY BEACH, fishing at all ponds was fair using worms and flies for bluegill. Fishing was slow to fair using worms, hot dogs and homemade dough bait for catfish.
Fishing the ALBUQUERQUE AREA DRAINS for bass was good using microcrankbaits, Whopper Ploppers and plastic worms.
Monday morning flows on the CHAMA RIVER below El Vado and Abiquiu were 204 cfs and 337 cfs, respectively. Fishing below El Vado was good using night crawlers, streamers, woolly buggers, flies, Panther Martins and PowerBait for brown and rainbow trout.
Fishing on the upper RIO CEBOLLA and EAST FORK was good using dry flies, Panther Martin spinners, salmon eggs and worms for rainbow and brown trout. Stimulator, hopper and black flies were a few flies that were also working well. The hot weather has slowed the fishing on lower elevation Jemez waters.
Streamflow on the CIMARRON RIVER near Cimarron on Monday morning was 33.7 cfs. Fishing was good using woolly buggers and dry flies.
At CONCHAS LAKE, fishing was very good using worms for bluegill.
Fishing at HOPEWELL LAKE was good for trout using worms, salmon eggs, peach PowerBait and large fly patterns, such as woolly buggers and Pistol Petes.
At LAKE MALOYA, fishing was good using Pistol Petes, spoons, spinners and PowerBait for trout. Fishing at LOS PINOS RIVER was good for anglers using woolly buggers and parachute Adams flies.
Fishing at MONASTERY LAKE was good using PowerBait, spinners, dry flies and grasshoppers for trout.
Stream flow on the RED RIVER below the hatchery on Monday morning was 73.6 cfs. Fishing was good using salmon eggs with split shot weights, Panther Martin spinners, tungsten bead head nymphs and large dry flies.
At UTE LAKE, fishing was very good using night crawlers for bluegill. Fishing was good for smallmouth and largemouth bass using ned rigs, plastic crawdads, tubes, senkos (rigged wacky) and grubs on brushy points and deeper drop-offs.
Fishing at ABIQUIU LAKE for walleye was good. Several people caught limits using jigs with chartreuse or yellow curly tails, or yellow crank baits, in 10-14 feet of water.