Having just returned Sunday from Platoro, Colo., where the water level in the reservoir there was the highest I can ever remember and opening up the SUN where a flooded picnic shelter from Abiquiú Lake was featured on the front page of the B section, I thought about how these high water levels in our rivers and streams will affect the fishing this summer.
At Platoro, the fishing was fast and furious in the reservoir. It didn’t take long after casting for a trout to bite. When cleaned later, the stomachs of these fish were absolutely bulging with small worms. Needless to say, worms were the best bait. I have caught thousands of fish on worms over the years, but I’ve never seen so many worms in a fish’s stomach before.
With the high water levels flooding ground that hasn’t been under water for many years, I figured the water was driving the worms out of the ground and the trout were feasting on them. The first day out, I caught a rainbow trout, followed by a brown trout and then I caught a splake. I was thinking to myself, “All I need now is to catch a brookie,” and to my surprise, that’s what happened.
Those of you not familiar with splake, they are a hybrid trout created by crossing a brook and a lake trout. The resulting hybrid closely resembles a brook trout, but lacks their red spots. They also have a deeply-forked tail similar to lake trout. They have been widely stocked in Colorado.
Having never eaten a splake, I fried up this one for lunch the following day — delicious.
If you don’t like to fish with bait, a San Juan worm could be a killer fly to use, judging by the amount of worms in the trout’s stomachs. I also caught some nice browns on Panther Martin spinners in Colorado.
Prime Time
The present is a prime time to fish now that the water levels in the rivers and streams throughout Rio Arriba County have dropped. The higher water levels of previous weeks made fishing difficult, but also triggered a feeding frenzy in the trout. With lower water levels, the fishing is easier, but the trout are still in a feeding mode.
One prime spot is the upper Rio Chama above El Vado Lake. I can hardly wait to fish this stretch of water. The flow on the Rio Chama at La Puente was 430 cubic feet per second Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey. That’s a prime level for fishing.
The same could be said for the Rio Grande, which was at 1,410 cubic feet per second at Embudo Monday, below average for this time of year. The Rio Grande should yield some big trout.
Eddie Campos, of El Rito, reported that the small streams in that area have good fly-fishing for cutthroats right now. The Vallecitos River holds some surprisingly big browns in its lower waters that can be caught this time of year.
The bank fishing for trout in the larger lakes may slow down soon, but the high mountain lakes like Hopewell and Canjilon should be good. The trolling for kokanee salmon at Heron Lake should yield some fat fish, as water levels are high there too. El Vado Lake holds some monster trout and is high as well. The inlet where the Rio Chama comes in would be a good spot to try.
Abiquiú Lake should have some smallmouth bass that are biting. You don’t need a boat to catch them, as the fish should be in shallow water this time of year. Fishing the coves and shallows could yield some sizeable bass. The walleye fishing has been hot lately and those trolling for walleyes at Abiquiú are sometimes surprised to catch a big brown trout.
This is a great time of the year to go fishing. Later this summer as the water warms it will slow down a little, but this fall there could be great fishing for big brown trout as they prepare to spawn. These trout are living high on the hog right now, and they should grow several inches between now and October.