Fishing Report: Rio Rancho resident catches 28-inch brown trout in the San Juan River

San Juan River: Chuck Lees of Rio Rancho caught a 28-inch brown trout on Feb. 22 using an olive leech fly. Stream flow was 403 cubic feet per second on Feb. 24. Fishing for trout in the quality waters was fair to good using size 24 and size 26 black, olive and grey midge pattern flies, size 22 red and crème larva, chocolate emergers and olive leech pattern flies. Fishing for trout in the bait waters was fair to good using egg patterns and pheasant tail nymph flies.

Albuquerque Area Drains: Aidan Cashman, 9, of Los Lunas caught a 13-inch rainbow trout in the Belen Drain on Feb. 17 using corn. Fishing for trout was fair to good using corn and salmon eggs.

Fenton Lake: Isaac Gonzales, 11, of Los Lunas finished in 2nd place at the Fenton Lake Ice Fishing Derby on Feb. 15 by catching a beautiful 17-inch rainbow trout using a wax worm. Marta Tarin of Albuquerque caught a 17-inch rainbow trout the next day using worms. The lake is open for ice fishing with ice reported at 13-inches thick. Fishing for trout was good using ice fishing jigs tipped with worms and glow ice jigs tipped with salmon eggs. Please remember that only two cutthroat trout are allowed to be harvested per day within the regular five-fish limit.

Chama River: Morning flows on Feb. 24 below El Vado and Abiquiu were 99.5 cubic feet per second and 49.1 cubic feet per second respectively. Fishing for trout below El Vado Lake was fair to good using midge flies, streamer flies, PowerBait and PowerBait worms.

Cochiti Lake: Fishing for catfish was good using garlic-scented chicken and hot dogs.

Jemez Waters: Stream flow on the Jemez River was 28.9 cubic feet per second on Feb. 24 near the town of Jemez. Fishing for trout was good below Battleship Rock using worms, salmon eggs, orange egg pattern flies and orange mop flies.

Manzano Lake: Fishing for trout was fair to good using corn and PowerBait.

Tingley Beach: Fishing for trout was good using garlic PowerBait, garlic corn and flies.

Eagle Nest Lake: The lake is open for ice fishing. Fishing for trout was good using small ice fishing jigs, spoons and PowerBait. Fishing for perch was good using Swedish Pimple jigs tipped with mealworms. We had no reports on other species.

Lake Maloya: The lake is open for ice fishing with ice reported at 17-inches thick. Fishing for trout was good using dough bait.

Red River: Stream flow was 42.3 cubic feet per second Feb. 24 below the hatchery. Fishing for trout was fair to good using mop flies and salmon eggs.

Rio Grande: Stream flow was 605 cubic feet per second Feb. 24 at the Taos Junction Bridge. Fishing for trout was good using nymph flies.

Santa Cruz Reservoir: Fishing for trout was fair to good using lime twist PowerBait, PowerBait Trout Nuggets and salmon-flavored PowerBait.

Ute Lake: Fishing for walleye was slow jigging in 40 to 45-feet of water. The surface water temperature was 44 degrees Fahrenheit and the main lake was clear.

Alumni Pond: Fishing for trout was good using garlic peach PowerBait, corn and marshmallows.

Bill Evans Lake: Fishing for trout was good using a variety of PowerBait, blue and silver Kastmater lures and small spoons.

Elephant Butte Lake: Fishing for white bass was slow trolling silver deep diving lures. Fishing for largemouth bass was slow using jerk baits. The surface water temperature was 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lake Roberts: Fishing for trout was good using Peacock Lady flies.

Rancho Grande Ponds: Fishing for trout was good using silver Kastmaster lures.

Trees Lake: Fishing for trout was very good using rainbow PowerBait, green PowerBait, peach PowerBait, shrimp and spinners. Fishing for bass was slow to fair using dark-colored plastic worms and crawdad crankbaits.

Young Pond: Fishing for trout was fair to good using garlic peach PowerBait, corn and marshmallows. Anglers reported lots of moss being in the water.

Alto Lake: Fishing for trout was good using salmon eggs, worms and garlic peach PowerBait.

Chaparral Park Lake: Fishing for bluegill is good using live worms.

Corona Pond: Fishing for trout was good using PowerBait and spinners.

Grindstone Reservoir: Fishing for trout was good using flies and Kastmaster lures.

Lake Van: Fishing for trout was good using green garlic PowerBait.

Santa Rosa Lake: Fishing for walleye was fair. Fishing for crappie was good.

Stocking report

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish stocked 250 triploid rainbow trout on Feb. 17 in the Animas River and 104 rainbow trout into Aztec Pond #1. Another 1,302 triploid rainbow trout were released that same day into Tiger Pond.

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish releases fishing reports twice a week on wildlife.state.nm.us.