5/10 Update

I'm a teacher, and haven't gotten out fishing as much as I would like this last month, and definitely haven't had time to make any fishing videos.  But, I've collected some good information on where to go and...where to not go.  

The Jemez area streams are good, as always at this time of year, but things will shut down earlier this year due to the winter's drought.  I had some fun on the Guadalupe a couple weekends ago, but the water level was low and the fish were wary.  My best fish was a 12 inch cuttbow, but most of the afternoon was smaller browns.  Do dry-dropper rigs here--I caught about 2/3 of the fish on the nymph and 1/3 on dry.  A size 16ish brown pheasant tail seemed to do the trick.  For most of the fishing, the dropper doesn't need to be very deep (no more than a foot), but you may want to change the depth when you reach some of the deeper pools.

The East Fork was good, but again I caught a lot of small guys.  I did land one nice size brown for that size of stream--working on the video soon.  

I had some fun at Fenton Lake a while ago too, but it was crowded and I didn't catch anything big (there's a theme here...).  The evening and morning hours are where it's at there.  If you have a float tube, bring it.  It's really nice to get away from the crowds on the shore and it's fun to reach some of the areas where the steep bank and trees make it very difficult to fly fish from the shore.   

A fishing buddy of mine (shout out to you, Pablo!), has fished the Pecos and had some luck.  But...again, the water is low and the fishing is going to decline.  The fish are being shy in the way they usually are in late summer.  Here's to hoping we don't lose trout this summer to overheated streams!

And...drumroll... where not to go.  SNOW LAKE.

My step-dad fished there last weekend, and he said it was disgusting.  The water is very warm, weedy, and smelly.  NMDGF is stocking it with trout, but it really sounds like the conditions are not at all healthy for them.  He said he caught a trout that was infected with parasites--covered in sores and with worms (larva of some kind?) crawling out of the side of its body.  I did not enjoy writing that last sentence...  

But, if you want to try to catch some carp, go for it!  The report is that there are many rising carp there, and I've heard they put up a fight.

I've been wanting to get down to the Gila to catch Gila trout, but with the drought conditions it really sounds like it's going to have to air for another year.  It's quite a drive from Santa Fe, especially when there's good fishing 1-2 hours from my front door.

Thanks for reading!  Find me on Instagram @flyfishinggrrl and don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel Flyfishing Grrl.