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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.
Angling for change
When are anglers more likely to catch trout, and with what success? According to the commissions study, anglers caught slightly more stocked fish after opening weekend than during the first-day crush. The catch rate was 1.0 trout per hour opening weekend and 1.13 fish per hour afterward. On wild trout streams, fishermen caught 1.76 brook trout per hour on small streams, 0.51 brookies per hour on large streams, and 0.56 brown trout per hour on large streams. Ken Undercoffer looks at the state's wild trout and sees enormous potential. "Devoted trout fishermen pursue them from early spring well into the fall, and sometimes even into winter," said Undercoffer, a former Greensburg resident who lives in Clearfield and serves as president of the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited.
Like shooting fish in a barrell
I just got home from a week-long road trip and I think I may have found some of the best fishing on the planet. That is if you like yanking on halibut until your arms feel like they're full of wet cement and hooking so many coho salmon that it seems a little like bluegill fishing out of a 5-gallon bucket.And the best part of the deal is this angling paradise is relatively close.My base of operations was Juneau, Alaska which is a short three-hour flight from Sacramento, with a stop in Seattle. On assignment for Fish Alaska Magazine, my orders were to explore and report back on the fishing opportunities available in the waters within easy striking distance of Alaska's capital city.On day one, my assistant Khevin and I rented a car and buzzed around the Juneau road system, where we found massive amounts of salmon in all the small streams we visited, catching more than we could count on fly and conventional tackle.
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