Jemez Adventures Short Fishing Notes – March 31, 2025

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. 

One of the worst things one can do to a Jemez stream at any time is to build “tourist” dams that consist of rock pile dams across the stream. These tourist dams promote siltation that kills the aquatic invertebrates – bugs – that are the base of the food chain for both wild and stocked trout. On a recent fishing trip to the Rio de Las Vacas, we found dams erected nearly every 20 feet in some sections. These areas were devoid of fish – after all if you were a fish why live where you are likely to starve to death? In sections where the dams weren’t present the fishing  for wild brown trout was quite good, but one had to walk a long way to find undammed water. I have asked tourist dam builders why they do it – the two most common reasons were either that they wanted deeper water for better fishing, or it was a fun project for the kids. The first of these is a self-defeating act that kills bugs and fish, while the second reason (kids) is a failure to raise children to appreciate our natural surroundings. These dams take hours to disassemble – but if you see one, please try to at least kick a few holes in it to save fish from being starved to death by it.

Fenton Lake fishing is improving with recent stockings, and the wild brown trout in the lake are also showing up in decent numbers - although average brown trout size seems down a bit. The lake received 776 triploid rainbows the week ending March 21^st. The Rio Cebolla in the Park was also stocked with 250 fish on the 21^st. The Cebolla can be frustrating to fish due to streamside vegetation growth but keeping casts short and “pushing” line and lure/fly downstream and then retrieving can be very productive. The Cebolla got another 400 stocked fish the week ending March 28, and should fish well into April. 

Other recent Jemez stockings included the Jemez River which was stocked with 1,500 fish the 21^st and another 1398 fish the week ending March 28. Jemez River fish stocking is focused under the YMCA bridge and as a result this spot gets crowded on weekends. The Kids Pond at Seven Springs fish hatchery got 451 fish on the 21^st, and another 449 fish on the 28^th – this is a great time to take the kiddos fishing!

Fishing for wild brown trout is getting better every week now. The upper Jemez, the San Antonio, the lower East Fork, the Guadalupe River, and the Rio de Las Vacas are all turning on for what should be a great spring bite – but go now before our low water flows gets even lower. A successful approach to fishing the Las Vacas last week was a #12 or #14 dry fly with an18 inch dropper to an unweighted #18 pheasant tail nymph – only one fish hit the dry, but over a ½ dozen hit the nymph. Early Spring is always a good time to have a small blue winged olive mayfly nymph imitation (e.g., a pheasant tail nymph or similar) tied to the end of your tippet.