By GEORGE MORSE
Sports and Outdoors
Los Alamos Daily Post

This time of year, the best fishing is usually found in the lakes and reservoirs. Trout will be cruising the warmer, shallow water sometimes surprisingly close to the bank.

The warmer weather we have been having recently will soon be moving trout to deeper water. Fishing in the early mornings and evenings will be more productive soon. This will also be the case for warmwater species like walleye and catfish.

Streamflows decreased or stayed relatively stable in the smaller streams of Northern New Mexico this past week. It is a little early but runoff may have peaked already. The streamflow levels dropped in the Pecos River and Jemez River.

The streamflow in the upper Chama River above El Vado Lake and the Brazos River saw a significant decrease. It will not be long until this will be in prime condition for some great fishing.

Brazos Falls near Tierra Amarilla is running. Be sure to see it now because in a month it will no longer be there.

The streamflow of the lower Chama River depends on how much water is being released below El Vado Dam and Abiquiu Dam. This also influences the flow in the Rio Grande in Española.

The Rio Grande has been running below normal in Northern New Mexico. The snowpack in Southern Colorado was not as deep as that in Northern Colorado. Streamflow at Cerro near the Colorado border is well-below normal.

The State Game and Fish Department  stocked 23,923 small kokanee salmon in Navajo Lake April 23, bringing the total of kokanee salmon stocked In Navajo Lake to 221,649 this year. Navajo Lake has the best kokanee salmon fishing in New Mexico.

Tingley Beach and the drainage canals in the Albuquerque area are no longer being stocked with rainbow trout. Tingley Beach is being stocked with other species. It was stocked May 30 with 300 18-inch channel catfish and with 50 largemouth bass averaging 16.3 inches in size.

Clayton Lake State Park and the Charette Lakes are open for fishing. The Charette Lakes  between Springer and Wagon Mound should be good for some nice, holdover trout. They also have yellow perch. Lower Charette Lake was stocked May 14 with 1,914 rainbow trout.

Clayton Lake is now open. Clayton Lake was stocked May 6 with 3,057 rainbow trout. The state-record walleye was  caught here. Clayton Lake is a designated trophy bass water. The limit is two largemouth bass-per day at least 14 inches or more in length. There  are also catfish here. Be sure to check out the dinosaur tracks at Clayton Lake.

Please note that Laguna del Campo near the village of Los Ojos is now open. It was stocked May 20 with 383 rainbow trout.

Fenton Lake State Park has  open water. It was recently-stocked with rainbow trout and has some wild brown trout. Anglers have been catching some cutthroat trout. It was stocked April 16 with 800 Rio Grande cutthroat trout. Only two cutthroat trout may be included in the daily bag limit of five-per-day. It was stocked  May 29 with 1,524 rainbow trout. For more information and current lake conditions call 575. 829.3630.

The Rio Cebolla, which flows into and below Fenton Lake. It was stocked May 29 with 156 rainbow trout. It was stocked May 8 with 2,998 fingerling Rio Grande cutthroat trout. It also has wild brown trout.

The Jemez River streamflow Sunday was 37.1 cubic -feet-per-second. This is lower than last week and below normal. The Jemez River was stocked twice two weeks ago with a total of 1,699 rainbow trout.

The upper tributaries of the Jemez River are open. Streamflows are beginning to drop here. The Rio de las Vacas was stocked  May 16 with 428 rainbow trout. The San Antonio River was stocked May 22 with 636 rainbow trout. All the Jemez tributaries have wild brown trout. The Rio Guadalupe was stocked May 8 with 2,998 small Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

The Seven Springs Brood Pond, also known as the Kid’s Pond, is open. It is located at the Seven Springs Fish Hatchery. The fishing is for anglers 11-years of age or younger. It was stocked May 22 with 383 rainbow trout. It also has some wild brown trout and some Rio Grande cutthroat trout from an earlier stocking. The limit is three trout-per-day.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area near Chimayo, which  reopened March 1. It was stocked May 2 with 2,552 rainbow trout and is open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m Thursday through Monday. For updated conditions, check the Bureau of Land Management website at blm.gov/visit/santa-cruz-lake-recreation-area or call 505.351.1438.

The BLM also manages the Orilla Verde Recreation Area along the Rio Grande at Pilar. Camping is on a first-come basis. No reservations. The Rio Grande streamflow was 1,080 cubic-feet-per-second at Taos Junction Bridge. This is higher than last week and well-below normal.

The Rio Grande at Pilar was stocked May 29 with 1,698 rainbow trout. The Rio Grande was stocked May 30 with 39,488 sub-catchable rainbow trout. It has wild brown trout, some northern pike and smallmouth bass. In the Albuquerque area, there are channel catfish.

From the Colorado state line downstream to the Taos Junction Bridge, the limit is two-trout-per-day in the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande Gorge above Pilar was stocked May 29 with catchable-size rainbow trout. It was stocked Nov. 27 with 43,846 fingerling Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

Eagle Nest Lake has open water, fishing should be good for rainbow trout, yellow perch northern pike and an occasional kokanee salmon. It was stocked May 22 with 4,884j rainbow trout averaging 8.5 inches.

Remember, if you catch a pike at Eagle Nest, you cannot put it back in the lake. You have to kill it. For more information and current conditions, call 575.377.1594.

The streamflow in the Cimarron River below Eagle Nest Dam was 22.9 cubic-feet-per-second. This is higher than last week. Near the town of Cimarron it was measured at 36.8 cubic-feet-per-second. It was stocked May 29 with 2,425 rainbow trout. Check the Carson National Forest website to see whether campgrounds are open.

The Cimarron Gravel Pit Lakes at Maverick Campground are open. They were frozen, but are open now. They were stocked May 29 with 355 rainbow trout.

Lake Maloya and Lake Alice at Sugarite State Park near Raton are open. Lake Maloya was stocked May 22 with 599 catchable-size rainbow trout. Lake Alice is open for fishing. It was stocked April 16 with 351 rainbow trout. Lake Maloya has open water. Call 575.445.5607 for current conditions.

Heron Lake State Park is open now. There is open water for bank fishing, which has been fair for rainbow trout. It was stocked April 30 with 24,996 sub-catchable rainbow trout.

Call 575.588.7470 for conditions at both Heron Lake and El Vado Lake.

El Vado Lake State Park is closed. Try fishing at the north end of the lake where the Chama River comes in.

Storrie Lake State Park near Las Vegas is open. It was stocked May 14 with 1,523 rainbow trout.

The fishing for bass, walleye crappie and white bass should be improving as the water warms up at Conchas Lake  State Park.

The streamflow at Pecos Canyon State Park was measured at 156 cubic-feet-per-second. This is a little lower than last week and below normal. The fishing has been fair-to-good for rainbow trout and wild brown trout. It was stocked twice last week with a total of 2,550 rainbow trout. At Villanueva, the Pecos River was stocked May 21 with 169 rainbow trout. The streamflow at Anton Chico was 108 cubic-feet-per-second. This is below normal.

The Mora Fork of the Pecos River was stocked May 21 with  441 rainbow trout. Holy Ghost Creek was stocked May 23 with 348 rainbow trout. 

The Cowles Ponds were stocked May 22 with 152 rainbow trout.

Cow Creek was stocked May 28 with 425  rainbow trout.

Morphy Lake State Park is now open.

Fishing is good for stocked rainbow trout and some cutthroat trout. It was stocked May 20 with 2,294 rainbow trout.

Monastery Lake near Pecos is now open. It was stocked May 31 with 1,008 rainbow trout.

Coyote Creek State Park was stocked May 31 with 680 rainbow trout. The Coyote Creek Pond was stocked with 510 rainbow trout.

Over in the Four Corners, Navajo Lake State Park is open. Camping is by reservation only. Trolling minnow-imitating lures like Rapalas could produce a trophy brown trout. It was stocked April 22 with 19,989 sub-catchable rainbow trout. Fishing for northern pike has been fair-to-good. Bass fishing has been fair. Boating conditions are good. Navajo Lake does not freeze over. Call (505) 632-2278 for conditions. 

Bluewater Lake State Park was stocked March 12 with 4,199 rainbow trout. Fishing will be good until most of these trout are  caught or eaten by tiger muskies. Musky fishing may be slow.

McGaffey Lake near Grants was stocked May 16 with 999 rainbow trout. It was stocked May 23 with 119 channel catfish.

Other lakes in the Four Corners area are now being stocked. Lake Farmington was stocked April 16 with 1 004 rainbow trout. Aztec Pond Number 1 was stocked May 1 with 405 rainbow trout. Tiger Park Pond in Aztec was stocked May 1 with 637 rainbow trout.

Popular fishing locations on Carson National Forest include the Canjilon Lakes, the Trout Lakes near Cebolla and Hopewell Lake between Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarilla. They are now open.

Hopewell may be reached by hiking in. It now has open water. The fishing was reported to be very good for stocked rainbow trout and wild brook trout. It was stocked May 22 with 1,583 rainbow trout.

The Canjilon Lakes were stocked for the first time this year May 22 with 1,177 rainbow trout. There are also some brook trout here.

The Trout Lakes were stocked May 29 with 1,193 rainbow trout.

The Rio de los Pinos is near the border of  Colorado north of Tres Piedras. It  was stocked May 21 with 1,530  rainbow trout. It has wild brown trout.

The best river in the state and well-known throughout the angling world is the San Juan River below Navajo Dam The streamflow on the San Juan was 377 cubic-feet-per-second. This is a little higher Han last week, but way below normal. The San Juan offers world-class  fishing for big trout.

The fishing has been good with a variety of fly patterns in the four miles of Quality Water below the Dam. The fishing here is catch-and-release with flies and lures having a single, barbless hook. It is heavily-stocked with small rainbow trout that grow quickly in the fertile waters.. It was stocked May 6 with 79,274 sub-catchable rainbow trout. There are big, wild brown trout in the Quality Water. Some of these fish would likely shatter the state record if they could be kept and weighed.

The fishing in the Bait Water of the San Juan below the Quality Water has been fair-to-good with flies, bait and lures. A regular daily limit of five trout may be kept here. There are some big brown trout here, too. It was stocked May 15 with 1,943 rainbow trout.

Abiquiu Lake is open, including the boat ramp and picnic areas. Boat ramp may be closed periodically. Camping is open. It is managed by the Corps of Engineers. Reservations may be made at www.recreation.gov. The fishing has been slow for walleye, catfish and smallmouth bass. There are some good-sized trout in Abiquiu. Call 505.685.4371 for more information.

The Chama River below Abiquiu Dam is flowing at 543 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week and below normal. The water is murky. The fishing is likely fair for stocked and holdover rainbow trout. There are a few big, wild brown trout here. It was stocked May 1 with 1,398 rainbow trout. The limit here is two-fish-per-day.

Streamflow in the Chama River below El Vado Dam was 492 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week and below normal. It has wild brown trout. It was stocked Oct. 25 with 36,990 one-inch Rio Grande cutthroat trout. The state-record brown trout was caught here. It was stocked May 20 with 340 rainbow trout.

Above El Vado Lake, streamflow on the Chama River at La Puente was 460 cubic-feet-per second. This is lower than last week. It was stocked May 20 with 850 rainbow trout. Above the town of Chama streamflow was measured at 253 cubic-feet-per-second.

The streamflow in the Brazos River was measured at 316 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week. It was stocked May 20 with 425 rainbow trout. The Brazos Lodge Pond was stocked with  255 rainbow trout.

The Rio Pueblo near Penasco streamflow was measured at 110 cubic-feet-per-second. This is lower than last week and below normal. It was stocked May 28 with 1,062 rainbow trout. It has wild brown trout.

The Sipapu Pond was stocked May 28 with 100 rainbow trout.

The Red River below the Fish Hatchery is flowing at 92.4 cubic-feet-per-second. This is the same as last week and below normal. It was stocked May 23 with 595 rainbow trout.

The Red River above Questa was stocked May 28 with 2,484 rainbow trout. The West Fork and the East Fork of the Red River were each stocked with 255 rainbow trout.

The Red River Hatchery Pond is open Fishing is for anglers 11 years of age or younger and 65 years old or older. The limit is now five-fish-per day. It was stocked May 23 with 341 catchable-size rainbow trout.

Eagle Rock Lake near Questa is open. It was stocked May 29 with 425 rainbow trout.

The Shuree Ponds on the Valle  Vidal are closed until July 1.

Cabresto Lake, a small, high-elevation lake accessible by four-wheel drive vehicle near Questa, has good fishing for wild brook trout and wild cutthroat trout. It has some open water.