Jemez Adventures Short Fishing Notes – July 15, 2024

These notes on Jemez Mountains fishing are excerpted from the Friends of Fenton Lake articles that appear in the After the Thunder newspaper published in Jemez Springs. They provide a window into Jemez fishing as a function of time and are reported twice a month. 

NMDGF recent stockings in the Jemez have slowed to a crawl as summer temperatures rise. The last stockings were in the Rio Cebolla and the Brood (Kid’s) Pond on June 28. Jemez streams won’t be stocked again until fall, and Fenton Lake stockings will be dependent on water temperatures. Wild fish are active with browns eating bugs on top in the Guadalupe, East Fork, Jemez, Valles Caldera, San Antonio, Cebolla, Rio Puerco, and the Las Vacas. Cutthroats will be looking to fatten up  in the San Pedro Parks streams (e.g., Rito de Las Perchas, upper Las Vacas, and Las Palomas), and the Chihuaheños, Polvadera, and Cañones creeks in the northern Jemez should all fish well for the next month or two. This is the time of year for dry flies in sizes #18 to #14. Fishing early before surface water temperatures rise is an excellent strategy at this time of year.