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Thursday, February 04, 2010

Bill Dyroff's Fishing Line Fishing Weather Report Submit Your Fish Story

Fishing Line



      CATCHES of the WEEK: None qualified.
    OUTDOOR NOTES
    LOOK AHEAD TO KIDS' FISHING FAIR at TINGLEY BEACH: A Kids' Fishing Fair at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque is set for Feb. 27 (a Saturday), 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Children ages 4 to 12 are invited to learn about fishing at more than a dozen hands-on Education Stations. Every child who participates gets a "bag of goodies" to take home. Free and no registration required. For information: Tingley Beach, 1800 Tingley Drive, (505) 248-8514, or www.cabq.gov/biopark.
    THREATENED & ENDANGERED SPECIES TOUR at BITTER LAKE: Enjoy a free, guided tour at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, just northeast of Roswell, on Saturday, 9:45 a.m. to noon (Tours are on the first Saturday of the month, October-April).
    ...The tour guide will escort participants through areas normally closed to the general public, pointing out interesting facts about this distinctive desert oasis. Several species are found nowhere in the world except at Bitter Lake NWR. Bring hiking shoes, drinking water, clothes for changing weather and, if you have them, binoculars.
    ANNUAL JICARILLA APACHE ICE FISHING DERBY SET FOR SATURDAY: The 4th Annual Jicarilla Apache Ice Derby will be Saturday (Feb. 6) at Mundo Lake and Stone Lake combined, beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. It will be open to the general public as well as Jicarilla Apache Tribal members.
    n A registration/judges table will be set up at the Mundo Lake pullout off the J-8 Road, 7 to 10 a.m. Entry fees are: $25 for adults with a valid Jicarilla fishing permit, $30 for adults who do not possess a valid Jicarilla fishing permit (includes day permit). Entry fee for age 12 and under is $5. Registration includes a commemorative t-shirt..
    n Contestants must follow Jicarilla fishing regulations, excluding creel limits, identified in the Apache Non-Tribal Member Fishing Proclamation available on the website www.jicarillahunt.com.
    n Prizes will be awarded in the adult division for first to third place in total creel weight as well as one prize for the longest fish (length in millimeters). In the kids' division, prizes will be awarded to the three longest fish (in millimeters) caught (one per contestant). There will also be randomly drawn door prizes for registered contestants. An on-site raffle ($10 per ticket) will be held for a guided cow elk hunt valued at $1,000 (100 percent of proceeds from this raffle will be used to buy trophy rainbow trout for the 2010-11 season).
    n For more information please call Kevin Terry, fisheries biologist, at 575.759.3255, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    A Few Timely Reminders About Ice Fishing:
    n Ice thickness has built-in problems, especially no practical way to predict carrying capacity all over the ice surface.
    Believe this — An unidentified weak spot or thin ice is always a possible problem — frequently sudden and urgent.
    n Never fish on ice alone. Wear a life jacket, and have one or more throw ropes readily available to your fishing party (especially a rope with a throwing weight at one end).
    n Consider using a boat. Not commonly done, but an ultimate safeguard is having a small, easily portable boat close at hand to support an angler in an ice hole and tow him and a rescuer to safety. Incidentally, that small, portable boat is also great for lugging ice fishing equipment across the ice. A variety of options for this ... but a good example is a 12-foot or less lightweight aluminum boat.
    AROUND THE STATE
    SAN JUAN RIVER: Flowing Monday at 480 cubic feet a second and clarity still at about 3 feet. Some of the best patterns have been Red Larva, Red Hots, egg patterns (peach or egg color), gray Foam-Wing Emergers and gray Johnny Flash flies — plus I suggest Griffith's Gnats (size 18 and smaller) and Parachute Adams (about size 22).. No reports from the Bait Water — recommend trying salmon eggs or big, juicy worms.
    Peggy Harrell at Abe's
    JICARILLA LAKES: As of Tuesday. The trend for catch rates lately has been steadily heading downhill at both Mundo Lake and Stone lake. At MUNDO LAKE, there is a 3-inch layer of slushy ice on top of 4 inches of water, which is on top of 11 inches of solid ice. In the mornings and throughout cold days, the top layer of slushy ice is stable enough to support a person. Fishing at Mundo has been slow — and bait seems to be fishing better than jigs lately. Rosenberg Tafoya (fisheries technician for Jicarilla Game & Fish) and I were out on the ice for three hours this morning. I fished a number of jigs with only one hookup.., Rosenberg caught one fish on a green jig — and that was about it for us. Four anglers next to us faired a little bit better on PowerBait — several bites, a couple of hookups and two fish on the ice by the time we left. Only one report from STONE LAKE this week, but the hearsay was pretty bad. On Saturday there were about 15 anglers on the ice and only one fish among them. One report came from a group of seven anglers who fished 3.5 hours without a single bite. Stone Lake is known for off-and-on fishing and hopefully Saturday will be an on day for our 4th Annual Jicarilla Ice Derby.
    Kevin Terry, fisheries biologist, Jicarilla Game & Fish
    HERON LAKE: As of Monday, Lots of ice around the edges, and lots of open water. No reports of any fishing, and the boat ramp not likely to be used at this time of year.
    Marilyn Morrison, Stone House Lodge
    RIO CHAMA below EL VADO: Flowing Monday afternoon at about 100 cfs (reported last week at 98 cfs), and greenish as usual. No real change from last week, and that report is repeated. Extremely light fishing pressure, and no angler reports. Recommend using night crawlers, Panther Martins or Rapalas at this time of year.
    David Cooper, El Vado Guest Ranch
    FENTON LAKE: As of Tuesday. A reminder — Ice fishing is not permitted and there are no plans to open the lake for ice fishing. About 2.5 feet of snow on the ground. Four-wheel drive advised for roads in the park.
    Paul Lisko, park manager
    HOPEWELL LAKE: As of Tuesday. About 5 feet of snow in the area. No one observed ice fishing.
    John Grasso, Tres Piedras Ranger District Staff
    ISLETA PUEBLO LAKES: As of Monday, the lakes were stocked with trout ranging 13 inches and up. Anglers report catching 5-fish daily limits on various baits — including peach, salmon, garlic, chartreuse and corn-flavored PowerBait. Olive and black Pistol Petes are also doing well. Frequent trout stockings will continue through the season. During colder temperatures, lake conditions change and freeze overnight. Please call the Isleta convenience store, (505) 244-8102 for updates.
    Curtis Thompson, Isleta Lakes Game Warden
    TINGLEY BEACH: As of Feb. 2 (Tuesday). Central and Children's Ponds will be stocked by the N.M. Department of Game & Fish with 3,000 rainbow trout in time for the weekend. CENTRAL POND received 2,000 trout on Monday and the CHILDREN'S POND was stocked with 1,000 trout on Tuesday. Trout fishing in both ponds has been excellent. Anglers have been reporting great success with olive-colored Leeches and Pistol Petes, Super Duper lures, and when fishing 2 feet off the bottom with yellow PowerBait, salmon eggs and even marshmallows. Youths age 11 and younger don't need a fishing license to fish public waters in New Mexico, including Tingley Beach. Trout fishing in the South/Catch and Release Pond has been excellent. Anglers are reporting big catches when using red San Juan Worms, tiny Midges and big Egg Patterns.
    Rebecca Houtman, Tingley Beach curator
    SANDIA PUEBLO LAKES: As of Wednesday. Anglers are reporting very high catch rates, with most taking 5-fish limits of rainbows... Many purchase a second permit and most easily fill the two limits. Trout range from 11 to 20 inches. The lakes will be stocked Sunday with 16-
    to 26-inch rainbows.
    Jason Wiebenga, Wildcat Environmental Services, for Sandia Lakes
    NOTES FROM N. M. GAME & FISH: Fishing is slow at ABIQUIU LAKE. —Fair to good on the RED RIVER near the warm water springs below the hatchery, but slow on the rest of the Upper Red River. Try using egg pattern flies, black Woolly Buggers, Beadhead Nymphs, green Caddis Larvae or a black Midge. — The CIMARRON RIVER is frozen. — Trout fishing in the Albuquerque, Corrales, Belen and Bernalillo DRAINS was reported fair using pink PowerBait and salmon eggs. — QUEMADO LAKE is frozen with only the openings near the Solar Bees (water pumps). Ice fishing has been slow with the best results in the shallower waters near the Cove boat ramp. — Fair at UTE LAKE for white bass and walleye; fish deep at about 50 or 60 feet with jigging spoons and blades. — No reports from anglers at ELEPHANT BUTTE.
    From the New Mexico Fishing Report of Jan. 26
    EAGLE NEST LAKE: As of Monday. Ice thickness is about 22 inches, and fishing sporadic for 14-inch rainbows. Besdt on good days with PowerBait, roe sacs or baited jigs, especially all alopng the west and northeast sides. Good for 10-inch-average perch on worms
    Sue Finley, Mountain View Cabins
    SPRINGER LAKE: As of Monday. Ice thickness at the lake is about 6 inches — and we have 8 inches to a foot of snow in the Springer area. Recall that the lake is "Closed to ice fishing" per New Mexico fishing regulations.
    Jim Angel at Sky Chief in Springer
    MALOYA and LAKE ALICE:
    As of Tuesday. No change. Last week's report is repeated. Ice thickness is about 14 inches at LAKE MALOYA. Good for stocker-size rainbows on doughbaits, PowerBait and salmon eggs. Lake Alice has thin ice and is closed to fishing,
    "Mac" McGiver, park manager
    SUMNER LAKE: As of Sunday. Fishing for walleye has picked up. Limits were caught on Saturday with fish lengths at 16 to 17 inches — plus a 28-inch walleye was caught. Best reports on jigging a white tip jig in about 40 feet of water. Slow below the dam for trout.
    Ray Drake at the state park
    FOR THE BIRDS
    National wildlife refuges in New Mexico have reported the latest counts of migrating species:
    BOSQUE DEL APACHE: As of Jan. 28. Light geese, 25,740 (9,625 last week); Canada geese, 377 (288 last week); sandhill cranes, 7,550 5,852 (5,852 last week); ducks, Unable to survey due to weather (36,443 last week); bald and golden eagles, 27 (10 last week); swans, 0 (1 last week); white pelicans, none (same as last four weeks); hawks and owls, 57 (33 last week).
    MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY: As of the fourth week of January. Light geese, 43,965; sandhill cranes, 21,918.
    LAS VEGAS: As of Feb. 1. Light geese, 2,100; Canada geese, 2,100; sandhill cranes, 400; ducks, 2,500; bald eagles, 3 adult, 2 immature; swans, 8.
    BITTER LAKE: As of Feb.3 for the crane count, Jan. 15 for other counts. Light geese, 20,912; Ross' geese, none; Canada geese, 195; sandhill cranes, 4,800; ducks, 3,515.
    MAXWELL: As of Feb. 1. No new survey for Maxwell. The count of Jan. 11 is repeated. Light geese, 10; Canada geese, 200; sandhill cranes, zero; ducks, zero; bald eagles, zero; golden eagles, 1.