Jemez Fishing News and Tips – June 1, 2025

These notes on Jemez Mountains fishing are excerpted After the Thunder newspaper published in Jemez Springs.

The last two weeks (5/16 -5/30) Jemez fish stockings are shown in the table below. The total number of Triploid (sterile) Rainbow trout stocked in the Jemez this period was 4,677. As the weather warms stockings will decrease due to lower water flows and high temperature issues. Please continue to knock down tourist  dams that increase water temperature and deposit silt that kills fish food. Our stream flows are very low now and may stay that way until the monsoon season. The Jemez gage got down to 12 cubic feet per second (cfs) last week – this is critically low and threatens all our fish, especially wild  stream born trout.

Fishing at Fenton Lake has been medium to good with salmon eggs, worms and power baits being the go-to offerings for bait fishers. Spin fishers have been doing well with small jigs and spinners fished deep and slow. Fly fishers have done well with streamers and buggers, but the usual favorite, nymphs under an indicator, has not been producing well for reasons known only to the fish! Stocked streams all fish well in the first week after stocking, while the 2^nd and 3^rd weeks after stockings are tougher to find fish.

Fishing for wild brown trout has been good recently, especially for streams with good stonefly populations (e.g., Rio Guadalupe, Rio de Las Vacas). We are entering the summer fishing season when dry flies rule. Attractor patterns like Humpies and Stimulators in sizes #14 and #16 fish well at this time of year. Grasshoppers and other terrestrial insects will become more important as summer progresses. The Rio Guadalupe “rock snot” problem is in full swing – forget nymphs and hopper-dropper rigs and go fully dry fly unless you enjoy removing slime from your flies after every cast! The Las Vacas above the Girl Scout Camp fished OK last week despite extremely low water. Smaller flies (sizes #16 and #18) seemed to get the most attention from the fish, but as temperatures warm fishing success in the Las Vacas will decline. The higher altitude streams (e.g., East Fork Jemez, upper San Antonio and Cebolla above 8000 feet, the Valles Caldera, Chihuaheños and Polvadera creeks, and the San Pedro Parks) will be the best fishing for wild brown and cutthroat trout in high summer. Tight lines and Good Luck to all.