Fly Fishing in New Mexico

A regional note specific to this state: the trout fishery here is concentrated in a single river corridor with multiple public access points, and the state agency has invested heavily in that corridor, and the most productive water is the section of the river that runs through the state park. New Mexico trout fishing is a small but technically diverse fishery built on the cold-water discharge of tailwaters and a series of high-elevation streams in the northern part of the state. The state has about 1,500 miles of fishable trout water, including the famous San Juan River tailwater, the Cimarron River, the Red River, and dozens more. The most famous trout river is the San Juan, a tailwater that runs through the high-desert plateau of northwestern New Mexico and produces wild rainbows averaging 18 inches. The state's trout program is administered through the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and the agency stocks the put-and-take rivers and lakes in the spring and fall while managing the wild trout water through a combination of slot limits and Trophy Trout designations. A regular New Mexico fishing license is required, and the cost is $25 for residents and $56 for non-residents, and the daily limit is 5 trout combined in most waters with a 2-trout limit on the San Juan tailwater. The unique regional quirk is that New Mexico requires a special trout stamp for the San Juan tailwater, and the daily limit is 4 trout in the tailwater.