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Mountain streams, ponds offer Red River anglers plenty of action
RED RIVER, N.M. — When trout fishing in the waters in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range, you have two choices, the pristine, clear streams or any of the various ponds which are stocked throughout the year. Obviously, there is an advantage to each. There seems to be no better place on earth when you are standing in or by a fast-flowing mountain stream, surrounded by an Alpine forest, almost chilled to the bone (in July, at that) and carefully drifting a fly across a small pocket near a rocky bank. You hold your breath as you await the lightning-fast hit of a rainbow, brown, brook or cutthroat trout. The streams are stocked well and often by the Department of New Mexico Game & Fish with most experienced anglers culling to a five-fish limit (in most areas) or catching and releasing in order to perpetuate the existence of many trout.
Lampreys put a bite on lake trout
Lake trout, once the dominant predator on Lake Michigan, are so rare these days that salmon have replaced them as the fish of choice whenever a backyard boil is in order. While most longtime big-lake anglers admit today's salmon and steelhead are far more fun to catch, high-fat lake trout have a one-of-a-kind taste after being boiled with potatoes, salt and onions and smothered in melted butter. "They're a little better tasting, a little more moist," said Denny VanDenBerg of Kewaunee, who has been boiling fish for almost 50 years. "They might fight like a log, but then again, so do walleyes." Brian Frerk of Green Bay gives away almost all of the salmon and trout he catches while fishing with his 6-year-old son, Josh. He may not fully understand, then, the love affair with lake trout by those who grew up with them when they were the only game in town in the 1960s or who targeted them in spring or whenever nothing else would bite on slow days from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Area lake/fishing report
New Melones Lake is currently holding 2.16 million acre-feet of water, at 89 percent capacity, at 1,067 feet above sea level and 21 feet from capacity. Surface water temperature is approximately 78-84 degrees. Water is stained, with mud lines forming on main lake points, with high-water ramps.
Trout is excellent for both trollers and for those fishing at night under lights. New Melones is kicking out plenty of big, fat, healthy trout. Most trout have been picked up at around 40 to 80 feet deep, in the main lake near the spillway/dam/Rose Island area, or in the mouths of major creek arms, such as Angels or Carson Creek. John Darroch trolled a shad-patterned Excel spoon 40 feet deep to catch a pretty 2.4-pound brown trout near Glory Hole Point. Michi Marshall landed a 4.6-pound rainbow while trolling a silver Apex.
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