Fishing Red River

July 31 – August 1, 2009

Summer Fishing in Northern New Mexico

Friday…

It has been awhile since my fly rod has sliced through the clear air of Northern New Mexico shooting a replica of an aquatic insect to land on the cool clear trout waters to lure a brown trout to my creel. Much needed therapy was awaiting me on our arrival to Red River, New Mexico. I rented a cabin for the night for my wife Ella, my grandson Brandon, his sister Kyra and me.

With the truck packed by 6:00 am, we were ready to leave on our trip, and Kyra got a bad tummy ache. Kyra and Grandma decided it would be best she stay home and wait for the next trip, which was upsetting for me because Kyra loves to go fishing with us so much.

We were on the road by 7:00 am, arrived in Red River about 11:00 am, and went to check in but could not until 1:00. We drove up and down Red River to check the water condition, which was higher than normal but crystal clear. The weather was great. We went back to town to eat lunch then walked around to do some shopping. We all agreed it would be nice to enjoy the day in town and fish all day tomorrow.

By mid-afternoon, we in our cabin and the daily summer rain came down for about 45 minutes…a slight drizzle but rain none-the-less. Brandon was concerned about the stream becoming muddy and I explained to him because of the bottom structure of this stream it will be clear by morning.

Brandon and Ella left the cabin for a while in the late afternoon to do some more shopping and by 6:00 pm were eating a great dinner that Ella prepared for us. We crashed in the sack by 9:00 pm awaiting a great day of fishing Saturday. Early to bed…early to rise…

Saturday

The early bird gets the worm… Literally, in Ella’s case because she likes to bait fish. We checked out of the cabin and we were fishing the river early. We fished the Red River downstream fishing every good spot we could access down to the town of Questa. We then drove to the Red River Fish Hatchery and went downstream to fish the Red River box. The fishing on the upper Red was slow today but fishing was about to get much better in the canyon.

We hiked in a about a half mile and came to a large deep hole and I told Brandon that I would guarantee him that he would catch fish in this hole. This is the hole where my daughter Denita caught her first fish when she was about 12. She was at this hole and said, “Daddy, I just can’t seem to catch a fish.” I told her where to cast and how to drift the bait and she caught a 15” brown and that’s all it took to give her the confidence she needed. I gave Brandon the same instructions and he caught a nice brown and as it turned out…would be the largest catch of the day. Grandma caught a nice rainbow shortly after Brandon caught his fish.

I was thinking how this is usually what Ella does…first and biggest. Well it was Brandon’s turn on this day. Brandon is always bragging about how good of an angler his Grandma is. Last year when he and I were fishing in the Valles Calera and talking about how nice it would be to have Grandma with us he said, “Grandpa, it seems as if she could wave her arms and the fish would just jump into her creel.”

Well I digress…I caught a few small ones on the old reliable…peacock nymph. I would not fish Red River without a peacock nymph or black grasshopper patterns especially in late July or early August. Prince nymphs and pheasant tail nymph’s work very good as well. This water is good for dry fly fishing but I have always preferred to fish nymphs and streamers here. I guess is just goes back to bait fishing when I was a kid.

We fished several holes downstream and you could say it was a good to fish the Red River box. Clear water, great weather and hungry fish. We got back to the truck by 1:00 loaded our fishing stuff into the back and drove to a sheltered table for a nice lunch. We sat in the slow cool breeze having lunch and discussed where to go next.

We talked about going to the Rio Hondo near twinning but finally picked the Rio Grande near Pilar. We arrived to find the river off-color but easily fishable. We went Ella’s favorite spot to fish. It was very hot by then and with the water low, the water temperature was making the fishing slow. This is the spot where Brandon caught an 18-inch brown when he was 5 years old. He did not even want to touch it, but that is ancient history now. It was apparent that catching an 18 inch brown was probably not going to happen today. We fished for a couple hours longer and it was becoming obvious the water temperature would be too high until evening rise. We chose to head back home.

We arrived home about 6:30, unpacked the truck and headed for the showers. Brandon won first spot. I guess it was his day.

I plan to take Ella and Kyra to Pecos on August 29 to go fishing and Brandon and I are going to camp and fish on the Rio de los Pinos for a couple of days the weekend of September 12. It is about time I get him up there...he is 12 already. We will be fishing, wading, and trying to bring trout to our nets that are not easy to catch. This will be fun.

What a Great weekend…

…tight lines…Phil