By GEORGE MORSE
Sports And Outdoors
Los Alamos Daily Post

The weather has been warmer and it looks like the coldest days of winter are behind us as the days get longer.

The buds on the elm trees are starting to swell. In about a month, apricot trees here in the Espanola Valley should start to show signs of blooming. By the end of March many of them will be blooming heavily.

Although several lakes remain frozen over with safe ice, at least one lake reports unstable ice that anglers should call ahead and check on before heading out.

Heron Lake near Tierra Amarilla reports varying ice conditions. Anglers should call ahead at (575).588.7470 to check on current conditions.

They can also provide information on conditions at nearby El Vado Lake. El Vado Lake seldom freezes over completely and ice conditions here are seldom safe.

The other lakes in Northern New Mexico offering ice fishing still have solid ice.

Eagle Nest Lake has good fishing for rainbow trout and yellow perch. No reports on northern pike, but they can also be caught through the ice here. The ice here is plenty thick. Call (575).377.1594 for updated conditions.

Lake Maloya and Lake Alice at Sugarite Canyon State Park near Raton both still have ice fishing. The fishing for rainbow trout at Lake Maloya has been good. No reports from Lake Alice, which is a very small lake that receives less fishing pressure. Call (575).445.5607 for conditions.

The ice fishing remains good at Fenton Lake with ice about 13 inches thick. There are plenty of rainbow trout to be caught thanks to recent stockings. There may be a few Rio Grande cutthroats left over from a fall stocking. Anglers are reminded that just two cutthroats may be kept as part of a five fish-per-day limit. There are also some wild brown trout in Fenton. Call (575) 829-3630 for conditions.

Abiquiu Lake has open water. The lake level is still low and a four-wheel drive vehicle is needed to launch boats.

There were no reports from Santa Cruz Lake near Chimayo. There should soon be some open water here if there isn’t some already.

Monastery Lake is still closed to ice fishing. There may soon be some open water here too.

The fishing has been good in Manzano Lake at Manzano Mountains State Park near Mountainair. It was stocked Feb. 13 with 1,401 rainbow trout.

The Chama River below El Vado Dam has been fair-to-good for rainbow trout and brown trout. The streamflow was 102 cubic-feet-per-second.

There were no reports from the Chama River below Abiquiu Dam. There are some seasonal closures here because the State Game and Fish Department is conducting a stream habitat improvement project. The streamflow is 101 cubic-feet-per-second. Access may be difficult. Call (505) 685-3741 for information on access.

The streamflow in the Rio Grande at Taos Junction Bridge is a little above normal at 591 cubic-feet-per-second It was stocked Feb. 14 with 2,250 rainbow trout in the Pilar area. The fishing has been good drifting nymphs. Salmon eggs and spinners should also be worth a try.

The fishing in the Jemez River below Battleship Rock has been good using bait and flies.

The Red River below Questa has been fishing well this winter, but there were no reports from here last week. It is well-stocked and should be worth trying with flies or salmon eggs.

The Pecos River was flowing at 27.7 cubic-feet-per-second. The fishing should be good in the Villanueva State Park area as it has been stocked. The upper Pecos River above the town of Pecos may still be icy.

Over in the Four Corners area, the streamflow in the san Juan River below Navajo Dam was 382 cubic-feet-per-second. That is low for this time of year. The fishing has been fair-to-good in the Quality Water with a variety of fly patterns. The fishing in the Quality Water is limited to flies and lures with a single, barbless hook. It is strictly catch-and-release. The fly-fishing has been fair-to-good in the Bait Water where you may use any angling method and keep a limit of five fis-per-day.

No reports from Navajo Lake. In years past anglers would troll lures like Rapalas during the winter and catch some big rainbow trout and brown trout at Navajo.

Still no reports from Lake Farmington. I strongly urge anglers to give it a try here because it has been heavily-stocked for several weeks with rainbow trout. It was stocked Feb. 13 with 1,792 rainbow trout.

Jackson Lake in the Four Corners area received a stocking Feb. 13 of 2,016 rainbow trout. This is the first stocking here in quite a while.

The fishing for catfish at Cochiti Lake is slowly picking up and was slow-to-fair last week.

Bluewater Lake near Grants received a heavy stocking of 5,996 rainbow trout. Bluewater is more famous for its fishing for tiger muskies. This is the second big stocking of trout this winter at Bluewater. There have been no reports on the fishing here. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see an increase in the size and growth rate of the tiger muskies at Bluewater because of these heavy stockings. These toothy predators are not averse to gobbling up stocked trout by the mouthful.

Tingley Beach in Albuquerque continues to receive heavy weekly stockings of rainbow trout. It was stocked twice last

week with a total of 2,297 rainbow trout. The fishing has been consistently good here thanks to these heavy stockings.

The drainage canals in the Albuquerque area are receiving weekly stockings of rainbow trout. The Albuquerque, Albuquerque South, Belen Riverside, Corrales Riverside and Peralta drains all were stocked last week. Anglers are starting to catch some largemouth bass too. The fishing has been fair-to-good.

There is no more ice fishing at Quemado Lake. The fishing in the open water has been good for rainbow trout with spinners and bait.

There were no reports from Elephant Butte Lake. This time last year the fishing at Elephant Butte was starting to pick up and the fishing for catfish was good. It could start picking up here soon. Fish tend to school up this time of the year and if you can find out where they are the fishing can be very good. Hiring a guide here might be the way to go because they usually know where the fish are in this big lake.

There were no reports from the Rio Grande below Elephant Butte Dam. There is practically no streamflow here and the fish are likely confined to the deepest pools.

The fishing in the Ruidoso area should be good. Alto Lake has been fair for rainbow trout. It was stocked Feb. 10 with 999 rainbow trout.

There were no reports from Grindstone Reservoir near Ruidoso. The fishing here should be good for stocked rainbow trout. It was stocked Feb. 10 with 1,500 rainbow trout.

No reports from the Ruidoso River. It was stocked Feb. 10 with 500 rainbow trout and could be worth trying.

In the Silver City area, Bill Evans Lake was stocked twice with a total of 2,476 rainbow trout. The fishing should be good.

The largemouth bass in Bill Evans could soon become more active. The road to the north side of the lake has been closed as the Department is conducting a habitat improvement project. The south side of the lake and the boat ramp are open.

No reports from Lake Roberts. The trout fishing here should be at least fair if not better. There are rainbow trout and Gila trout in Lake Roberts. The largemouth bass may be more active soon here. Lake Roberts and Bill Evans Lake are trophy bass water where the limit on largemouth bass is two fish-per-day at least 18 inches in size or longer.