Jemez Adventures Short Fishing Notes – March 17, 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. 

Spring fishing is here! Fish seek calories at this time of year as they recover from winter. Insects at this time of year are small – think size #16 nymphs and small spinners or spoons with spinning gear. The lower elevation streams are already starting to fish well for wild brown trout, examples include the Rio San Antonio from Battleship Rock to La Cueva (try above battleship, at the Rincon, Spence, and Dark Canyon, and at the La Cueva Picnic Area before its stocked, the Jemez River from Hummingbird to Battleship, the San Antonio just above NM 126 and farther up as we approach April, and an early season favorite of mine, the East Fork at Las Conchas Rec Area. Stocked fish will now be going to the upper Jemez River drainage at Battleship Rock, La Cueva, and the Cebolla in Fenton Lake State Park. 

Fenton Lake fishing is good due to recent stockings. Fish deep near the bottom for the next 2 – 3 weeks until spring warming starts to bring the bugs up closer to the surface. The most recent stocking on March 4 added 1000 rainbow trout to the lake, and the Kids Pond received 250 fish. This is a productive time for fly fishers to tie on a weighted wooly bugger and spin fishers to try lures that fish deep and slow.