CATCHES OF THE WEEK

Luther Harris of Albuquerque caught a 26-inch walleye on Feb. 5 at Santa Rosa Lake. He was using a green curly tail grub and fishing near the boat dock.

Daniel Vick, 13, caught a 22-inch rainbow trout at Eagle Nest Lake on Saturday.

Joey Lujan of Grants caught a 24-inch 6-pound rainbow trout on Sunday at Quemado Lake. He was using PowerBait.

AROUND THE STATE

SANDIA LAKES: We will be open Monday for Presidents’ Day. The lakes were recently stocked to capacity with very nice rainbow trout ranging from 12 to 16 inches on average. While weather has kept some anglers away, catch rates are very high following stocking with five fish limits common. Jason Wiebenga, senior biologist

TINGLEY BEACH: Trout fishing in the Tingley Beach Children’s and Central Ponds has been good to great. The New Mexico Department of Game & Fish stocks the Children’s and Central every week just in time for the weekend. Best reports are from anglers using PowerBait and salmon eggs and spinners. Trout fishing in the South Catch and Release Ponds slow to good using small bead-head nymphs, copper John, leeches. Joe Martinelli, curator

ISLETA LAKES: Fishing at both SUNRISE and TURTLE lakes has been very good for trout. Both lakes were fully stocked on Friday and another full stocking will take place this week. Anglers have caught bag limits using Pink Zeke’s bait, Salmon Egg, Yellow and White PowerBaits as well as salmon eggs. Some catfish activity has also been reported on warm weather days, using shrimp. Both lakes are open and free of ice. Fishing hours are 7 a.m.-4:45 p.m., seven days a week. Carlos Trujillo, Isleta Lakes & RV Park

SHADY LAKES: In February, Shady Lakes is open on weekends only. We will also be open on President’s Day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shady Lakes has an abundance of trout in the Easy Catch Trout Pond. They are averaging 12 to 14 inches out of this pond and are biting on anything. (Except we don’t allow corn for bait). The fish in the Big Trout Pond are running a 17-inch average. We have not re-stocked trout yet for the 2013 season. The best success for trout tends to be with worms, power bait and salmon eggs, although many of the bigger trout are caught out on flies, lures, and trout chow. Bass at this time of year are slow as expected. We suggest small crankbaits in the open water and small plastics such as artificial crawdads near the iris on the banks. Or try mini macs and spinner baits with a slow retrieval. Bluegill and catfish aren’t awake yet. Jan Phillips, director

NOTES from GAME & FISH: Monday morning water flows on the CHAMA RIVER below El Vado and Abiquiu were 155cfs and 57cfs respectively. Trout fishing below Abiquiu was good using copper John Barrs, small spinners and PowerBait.

Trout fishing on the ALBUQUERQUE-AREA DRAINS was good for anglers using PowerBait, salmon eggs, corn salmon egg combinations, parachute adams, egg patterns and San Juan worms.

Ice thickness at BLUEWATER LAKE as of Sunday was about 7 inches. Fishing for trout was slow to fair using ice jigs and salmon eggs.

Water flow on the SAN JUAN RIVER below Navajo Lake as of Monday morning was 340cfs and expected to be reduced to 250cfs. The release will be increased as required to resume meeting downstream target base flows starting at 7 a.m. on Friday. Fishing in the quality water section was good using San Juan worms, red annelids, streamers, copper John Barrs, chocolate emergers and leeches. Fishing through the bait waters was fair to good using salmon eggs, worms, copper John Barrs, spinners and small spoons.

Fishing at NAVAJO LAKE was slow but there were a few northern pike caught by anglers using swim baits and jerk baits.

Fishing at ELEPHANT BUTTE was slow with just a few white bass and black bass reported. Best baits were grubs and slab spoons.

Ice thickness at EAGLE NEST LAKE over the weekend was reported at 24 inches. Fishing was slow to fair using ice jigs tipped with worms or wax worms for perch.

Trout fishing at QUEMADO LAKE was fair using PowerBait. Anglers doing best were fishing the open water right along the edge of the ice.