Fly fishing in northern New Mexico. Click an area for more info.
Northern New Mexico offers a variety of fly fishing opportunities, without the crowds – if you know where to look.
Taos, New Mexico is located in the heart of the Southern Rockies. Nowhere else in the lower 48 can you find such a unique blend of magnificent scenery, beautiful weather and excellent fly fishing on a year-round basis.
From high mountain lakes and streams – Red River, Rio Hondo, Costilla Creek in Carson National Park’s pristine Valle Vidal, Coyote Creek below Angel Fire, Eagle Nest Lake – to “wild and scenic” river canyons like the Rio Grande Gorge and the more easily accessible but fantastically beautiful Cimarron Canyon, Northern New Mexico offers a variety of fly fishing opportunities, without the crowds.
Taos Mountain, Taos, New Mexico
Due to our southern latitude we always have something that is fishing well even in the middle of winter! In Taos you can ski at Taos Ski Valley one day and fish the next day on the geothermally heated Red River for wild “cutbows” in the warm New Mexico sun.
Taos is only an hour’s drive from great fishing and some of our favorite streams in Southern Colorado.
Taos is an excellent destination for those who like to do other things or are traveling with parties having diverse interests.Taos has world-renowned art galleries, award-winning dining and accommodations, white-water rafting, backcountry hiking and skiing, and technical climbing.
In the summer you can fish the beautiful cold waters of Northern New Mexico with one of our guides while your family goes shopping and gallery hopping, or your kids can go on a jeep tour, raft trip, horseback trail ride or llama trek. The Solitary Angler can book those activities for you as well!
Red River
Season: Year-Round Fishing!
- Flies: Stone Flies, Baetis, PMDs, Midges, Hoppers, and Caddis
- Type: Freestone Stream, with spring creek influence below hatchery
- Prices
Big Brown on the Red River, nothern New Mexico
The Red River is a spring-fed river and the main tributary for spawning and wintering fish coming from the Rio Grande Gorge, and it’s our only natural stream in Northern NM that offers excellent winter fishing.
The Fall brown trout run is a sight to see!
Thousands of browns, many over 18 inches, run up the Red River every fall to spawn. The browns feed aggressively during this migration and are challenging to land in the fast canyon pocket water.
Winter brings in the wintering and spawning cutbows and rainbows from the Gorge and they feed willingly on the midges, and occasionally blue winged olives and caddis. Of course there is a healthy resident population of rainbows and browns in the Red as well. Combine a winter trip on the Red River with a trip on the Culebra and/or skiing in Taos!
Valle Vidal
Season: July – November
- Flies: Big Stoneflies, Varied Mayflies, Midges, Caddis
And Hoppers! Hoppers! Hoppers! - Type: Medium sized tailwater with freestone qualities
- Prices
Valle Vidal
The Valle Vidal (VIE yay vee DOLL) unit of the Carson National Forest is a special reserve managed jointly by the Forest Service and the New Mexico Dep’t of Game and Fish. The Valle Vidal is one of the last holdouts of the rare indigenous Rio Grande Cutthroat trout. The Rio Grande Cut is the only indigenous trout species in the Rio Grande drainage. It’s a feisty little trout with very unusual and beautiful markings.
Rio Costilla
The Rio Costilla, the main fishery in the Valle Vidal, is a medium size tailwater springing from the bottom of Costilla Reservoir in Vermejo Park. The Rio Costilla is loaded with Rio Grande Cutthroats averaging 8 to 12 inches, and some much larger. It runs through beautiful, wide-open high mountain meadows, making it a superb stream for beginners.
There are several ponds and lakes nearby as well. Some lakes have an abundance of fresh water shrimp which the large Cutthroats gorge on. These are the places for float tube fly fishing at its best!
Rio Grande
Season: Year-Round Fishing!
- Flies: Stone Flies, Hoppers, Streamers, Big Bead Head Nymphs, Midges, Caddis.
- Type: Big canyon water, pockets, riffles, pools, and slicks.
- Prices
*Contact us for float trip prices and info!
Van with a La Junta cutbow at the convergence of the Rio Grande and the Red River,
The Rio Grande River flows out of Southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley into the 70 mile long Rio Grande Gorge, a sheer canyon running parallel to and slightly west of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos. The Rio Grande Gorge is the epitome of wild freestone river fishing. Uncontrolled by dams for the most part, the river is influenced almost completely by nature. As a result the trout, like the fishing, are unpredictable.
The spring (April) before run-off, during the classic caddis hatch, and fall are the best and most consistent times to fish the Rio Grande Gorge. Streamers work well for lunker cutbows and browns, especially for fall browns. We do some custom float trips* each year through some very remote parts of the Gorge but for the most part our trips are hike in and wade or drive up and wade.
For the adventurous angler who likes a chance at catching large wild trout that have rarely if ever been hooked or seen a fly, the Rio Grande Gorge is just what the doctor ordered.
PRIVATE WATER
Cimarron / Holy Water
Season: March – November
- Flies: Baetis, PMDs, Midges, Hoppers, Caddis, Stoneflies, Salmonflies, Scuds
- Type: Brushy stream with riffles, pockets, pools, and beaver ponds.
- Prices
Heavenly Cimarron
The Cimarron is a small tailwater located one hour east of Taos. Eagle Nest Lake, a large reservoir situated in the beautiful Moreno Valley, feeds this beautiful and challenging stream. The Cimarron is home to German Brown trout in abundance and a fair population of Rainbow trout. Fish range 7″ to 20″ in length, averaging 10 to 14 inches. Don’t be fooled by this river’s size, it’s loaded with willing brown trout!
The dry fly fishing from mid-May through July can be fabulous. Several varieties of stoneflies, mayflies and caddisflies hatch, sometimes simultaneously, bringing eager brown trout to the surface, often all day long. August and September bring out the terrestrials and bank-feeding browns. By October browns are running and fall baetis are hatching, providing some excellent low-water fishing.
Ask about our exclusive access on the Cimarron. It’s so special that we call it the “Holy Water”. It produces larger and more plentiful trout, consistently. Space is limited on the “Holy Water” so book early!