New Mexico Fly Fishing Anniversary Trip
You might think that after spending a couple hundred days each year chasing bass on the Bassmaster Elite Series and at home, I’d want to do anything but fish when I had a little bit of time to myself. That’s not the case, though. While tournament bass angling will always be my first love, I’m obsessed with every aspect of the sport. In recent years I’ve made repeated trips to Venice, Louisiana, to catch big redfish and other inshore species, and in 2019 I went to Alaska to chase halibut, trout and salmon.
Fortunately, my wife Jennifer also loves to fish and travel. She’s accompanied me on pre-practice trips to various tournament fisheries and would never say “no” if she has the time off from work to go somewhere with me. For our fifth anniversary we decided to take a trip to New Mexico to catch big trout on a fly, enjoy some amazing scenery, and decompress a little bit at the end of a long tournament season. One of my hunting buddies had gone there with his son, and he gave me the number of his recommended fishing guide, who also happens to be a fisheries biologist. I started to research it and learned that we’d be really close to Colorado’s “Million Dollar Highway,” one of the most scenic drives in the world. We booked the trip as soon as we saw the pictures.
I’d done a little bit of trout fishing with a fly rod in Alaska, but I’m not an expert by any means. While I can flip or crank without giving it a second thought, the fly rod requires a lot of concentration and patience. Otherwise, when I saw a fish and got ready to cast to it all of my stuff would be tangled up.
In bass fishing using the right crankbait or the right gear ratio can make all of the difference in the world. Those same types of subtle adjustments made an even greater difference when chasing these finicky trout in crystal-clear water. There were a few people fishing around us and they didn’t catch nearly as many browns and rainbows as we did, and that’s because our guide was completely dialed into the bite. He adjusted the size of the midges we were fishing, and even tinkered with the size of the indicator. All of those things made the difference between a great day and a skunk.
More than anything, I left in complete amazement at how good a trout’s eyesight is. The midges we were fishing were microscopic. If they weren’t the right size or you didn’t drift them flawlessly, you simply wouldn’t get bit. Without our guide’s expertise and coaching, we would’ve struggled. Fortunately, he was patient with us and our catch rate increased every day. On the first day, Jennifer caught two and lost around 10. I caught seven and lost about 10. The next day, our catch rate went way up. She struggled in the morning, but put a few clues together in the afternoon and by the third day she probably landed 25 trout. Most of them were about 18 inches, but we caught several that were in the 22- to 23-inch range.
It was gratifying to measure our improvement as the three days of fishing went on. At first, I know that I was simply pulling too hard. With that tiny barbless hook you need to set it, but you can’t put too much pressure on them. At the same time, it’s barbless, so if you give the fish any slack they get off. It’s part art, part science, just like bass fishing. Because the water was so clear, we saw a ton of fish and after a while I got clued in to which ones were active. My goal was to make as many good presentations as possible to the fish most likely to bite. I’m convinced that my bass fishing experience, including my understanding of current breaks, helped, and I’m guessing that a good sight fisherman would excel with trout, but we have a long way to go to become advanced anglers.
I’d love to go back and get better with the long rod. If you’re considering something similar, there are tons of great places to rent in Durango, Colorado, and lots of strong, hungry trout waiting for your tiny flies.
